Employer Brand Strategy
Most organisations don't have a clear answer to the question their people are quietly asking. The Compass Method gives them one.
The Problem
Most organisations don't have a clear answer to the question their employees are quietly asking - why here, why now, why stay? Without one, culture drifts, engagement drops, and the people you can least afford to lose start looking elsewhere.
An EVP doesn't just help you attract talent. It gives your people a reason to stay, and your leaders something real to say when it matters most.
Most companies either have no EVP, have one buried in a deck that nobody uses, or have paid £50k+ to an agency for something generic that didn't reflect who they actually are.
The result is the same either way - messaging that doesn't differentiate you from anyone else competing for the same people.
Complexity kills more good ideas than anything else. The best employer brand is usually the simplest version of a smart idea, executed well.
The Compass Method
The Compass Method examines your employer brand from four directions. Together, they give you a clear picture of where you are, where your competitors are, and where your positioning needs to go.
What is the mission and vision? What core beliefs shape your culture and how does this extend to the employee experience?
Who do you compete with for talent and how do they position themselves? Where do you have a genuine advantage?
What behaviour, values, and characteristics unite your best people? What does a great hire actually look like?
How is your industry viewed and how does this help or hinder you from an employment standpoint?
How We Work Together
A one-day workshop where we map the Compass Method to your organisation. You leave with your framework, research plan, all templates and tools, and a 90-day execution roadmap. You keep full control of delivery.
Everything in the Workshop plus three days of research conducted by Steve - stakeholder interviews and competitor analysis. Takes you further through the process with proper evidence behind the findings.
Complete EVP development from research through to finished positioning, messaging architecture, and implementation framework. Steve leads every stage. Creative development available as an additional workstream.
Facilitated workshops helping managers and leaders communicate more effectively. Delivered by Steve or licensed for your L&D team to run internally.
Not sure which is right for you? Book a 20-minute discovery call and we'll work it out together.
About
“Complexity kills more good ideas than anything else. The best work is usually the simplest version of a smart idea, executed well.
Steve Swain, Founder
Twenty-five years in environments where marketing had to earn its place. Regulated industries, enterprise sales cycles, boards who wanted numbers not narratives. That shaped how I think about brand work - it has to be simple, it has to be honest, and it has to actually get used.
The Compass Method came out of a pattern I kept seeing, across agencies and in-house roles alike. Employer brands built around what leadership wanted to say rather than what employees actually experienced. Frameworks that looked good in a presentation and gathered dust everywhere else. The methodology exists to fix that - research-led, grounded in reality, and built to be used rather than admired.
I founded S. Swain Consulting to give growing organisations access to that thinking without the agency price tag or the generic output.
Organisations worked with
Evolution Gaming · Vodafone · Hilti · GMAC · Walgreens Boots Alliance · TJX
Get Started
No hard sell. No obligation. If it's not the right fit I'll tell you that too. Just a straight conversation about where you are and whether the Compass Method can help.