Executive Summary

A marketing transformation

Oryon had established a strong reputation for high-quality diagnostic imaging, but the business had outgrown the systems, processes and commercial infrastructure that had supported its early success.

The objective was not simply to improve marketing performance, but to create the commercial platform needed to support investment, expansion and sustainable growth. Over an 18-month programme, ReStrategy worked alongside the leadership team to strengthen six interconnected growth pillars: positioning, team capability, digital platform, CRM and data, demand generation, and measurement.

Together these initiatives transformed the way the business attracted customers, supported referrers, measured performance and prepared for its next phase of development.

Why Growth Had Stalled

Like many successful founder-led businesses, Oryon had reached an important point in its evolution.

The company had built an excellent clinical reputation and a loyal referrer base, but the systems, processes and commercial infrastructure that had supported its early growth were no longer sufficient for the next stage. The business was looking to attract investment, expand its clinical capacity and accelerate growth, yet much of the organisation remained dependent on the knowledge, relationships and day-to-day involvement of a small number of individuals.

As the business grew, this dependency began to expose wider challenges.

Several experienced members of the marketing team had moved on, leaving limited internal capability and few documented processes. Commercial activity had become increasingly reactive, with significant time spent managing day-to-day demands rather than building long-term capability. The leadership team recognised that future growth would require stronger foundations rather than simply increasing marketing activity.

The brand itself had also become fragmented. Three separate businesses had gradually been brought together under a single organisation, but the customer experience still reflected that history. Multiple websites, overlapping messaging and inconsistent positioning created unnecessary complexity for patients, referrers and prospective partners. While the quality of the clinical service remained high, the market proposition no longer reflected the ambition of the business.

ReStrategy provided clear strategic direction across our positioning, websites, CRM, content and campaigns.

Jessica Weir, Head of Marketing, Oryon

Behind the scenes, the commercial infrastructure had also become increasingly difficult to manage. Salesforce had evolved through a series of workarounds and custom developments that few people fully understood. Customer journeys were difficult to follow; lead sources were largely invisible and there was little ability to measure marketing performance or identify where opportunities were being won or lost. Marketing Cloud had enterprise-level capability but relied heavily on SQL developers, limiting the team’s ability to execute campaigns quickly and confidently.

At the same time, growth relied heavily on continual investment in paid digital acquisition. There was relatively little educational content, few repeatable campaigns to nurture relationships and no consistent referral engine to generate demand over the longer term. Marketing was working hard, but without the data, content and measurement needed to compound results.

Perhaps most importantly, the leadership team recognised that many of these issues were symptoms rather than root causes. The business needed more than a refreshed website or a new marketing plan. It needed a stronger Commercial Growth Platform capable of supporting long-term growth, providing greater operational visibility and giving future investors confidence that the organisation could scale beyond its founders.

The objective was therefore twofold: maintain business momentum and continue generating revenue in the short term, while simultaneously building the people, systems, brand and commercial infrastructure that would support the company’s next phase of growth.

That meant transforming not just marketing, but the entire Growth Platform on which the business would build its future.

Building the Growth Platform

All successful Growth Strategies follow the same journey.

• Define where you will play and how you will win.
• Build the capability, systems and commercial engine to deliver consistent demand.
• Scale through leadership alignment, measurement and continual improvement.

Before rebuilding the commercial infrastructure, we first needed to realign the business around a clearer identity, stronger positioning and more compelling commercial messaging.

DEFINE: Position and Competitive Strategy

Positioning for Growth – Clarify the proposition

Every growth strategy starts with understanding what makes a business worth choosing.

Before refreshing the identity or updating the website, we needed to understand what made Oryon genuinely different. We immersed ourselves in the business, analysing internal data, interviewing the CEO, and leadership team, and speaking with referrers, members of the Clinical Advisory Board and recently appointed employees.

This helped us identify four foundations that would shape every commercial decision: the customer problem Oryon exists to solve, the belief driving the business, the strengths that set it apart from competitors and the personality that defines the customer experience. In a market dominated by large hospital groups and private healthcare brands, Oryon couldn’t compete on size alone. Instead, we identified where the business could create genuine competitive advantage and built a clear commercial narrative around those strengths.

That strategic positioning became the foundation for a new creative brief, the appointment of design agency Yolk and the development of a distinctive new look that aligned the organisation behind a shared vision for growth.

Alex challenged some of the thinking and brought a strategic sales and marketing perspective to the team.

Jessica Weir, Head of Marketing, Oryon

BUILD: Turning Strategy into Execution

A strategy only creates value when it is implemented.

The build phase comprised four initiatives.

Team Transformation

Build capability

Sustainable growth depends on capability as much as strategy. Before recruiting, we took a step back to define the work the business needed to do, rather than simply replacing people who had left.

We began by reviewing every marketing function to understand what capability the business genuinely needed rather than simply replacing people who had left.

By balancing in-house expertise with specialist agency support, we created a leaner operating model that retained commercial knowledge while giving the business flexibility to scale specialist skills. The marketing function was restructured, a new Head of Marketing recruited, and competency frameworks introduced to support consistent performance and development.

The result was a stronger internal capability with clearer leadership, greater accountability and a team better equipped to support long-term growth.

Digital Platform for Growth

Improve the experience

We rebuilt Oryon’s digital experience around the needs of its two core audiences: patients and referring clinicians.

Rather than forcing both groups through the same journey, we created distinct navigation, content and calls-to-action that reflected how each interacted with the business.

Working with Popcorn and Yolk, we developed a new website architecture, integrated it with Oryon’s Secure Portal and operational systems, and introduced a modern design that improved usability and consistency.

The platform also supported new commercial initiatives, including CPD education, webinars and the Practitioner Finder directory, strengthening relationships with referrers while helping patients find the right specialists. Underpinning the entire architecture was a renewed focus on SEO and AI search, making it easier for prospective patients and clinicians to discover Oryon organically.

CRM & Data

Connect customers and intelligence

Growth depends on more than generating enquiries, it depends on being able to capture, understand and nurture them.

Oryon’s CRM had evolved over more than a decade, leaving a complex Salesforce environment with bespoke developments, synchronisation issues and limited visibility of the customer journey. As a result, valuable data was unavailable for marketing, segmentation was restricted and communications relied heavily on one-off campaigns.

Working alongside a specialist Marketing Cloud consultant, we audited the platform, resolved critical synchronisation issues and unlocked around 40% more contact records for marketing activity. We then rebuilt customer journeys, introduced lifecycle marketing and improved audience segmentation, enabling more timely, relevant communications throughout the customer journey.

While the CRM transformation continues to evolve, the project established the foundations for a more intelligent and scalable marketing operation, giving the business greater visibility, better customer engagement and a platform capable of supporting future growth.

Activate Demand Generation

Create a repeatable content engine

With the foundations in place, the focus shifted to creating on-going demand.

Rather than relying on product-led promotions and clinic updates, we developed a credibility-led content strategy designed to engage referring clinicians while building confidence among prospective patients.

At its heart was expert-led education, positioning Oryon as a trusted clinical partner rather than simply a diagnostic provider. The programme included the Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Bones webinar series and the relaunch of the Annual Spinal Symposium, delivered in partnership with leading orthopaedic consultants and Oryon’s radiologists.

Together, these initiatives attracted more than 1,000 webinar registrations, generated over 150 paid symposium delegates and strengthened relationships with more than 20 consultants who went on to contribute further content. Every event became the catalyst for articles, videos, social content, on-demand learning and new website resources, creating a repeatable content engine that supported referral growth while strengthening Oryon’s visibility across search and AI-powered discovery.

SCALE: Embedding Long-Term Growth

At this point ReStrategy’s work was done. The transformation complete and the business poised for expansion.

Measurement & Insight

Learn, optimise and scale

One of the biggest barriers to confident decision-making was the lack of visibility into marketing performance.

While significant investment was being made in digital acquisition, it was almost impossible to identify which activities were generating enquiries, which leads were converting into bookings or where marketing budget was delivering the greatest return.

Once the new website, CRM improvements and data integrations were in place, we implemented end-to-end attribution, including UTM tracking, Google ID tracking and enhanced reporting frameworks that connected enquiries and bookings back to their original source.

For the first time, the leadership team could see how prospects were discovering Oryon, how they progressed through the customer journey and which marketing activities were driving commercial outcomes. The result was more than improved reporting; it provided the confidence to make better investment decisions and continually optimise future growth initiatives based on evidence rather than assumption.

Outcome

Alex helped us bridge the gap between strategy and execution. She helped us connect activity to actual business outcomes like referrals and growth.

Jessica Weir, Head of Marketing, Oryon

The commercial platform was rebuilt, the marketing function strengthened and the organisation gained the visibility needed to make better commercial decisions. The refreshed brand, digital platform and measurement capability helped create investor confidence, enabling Oryon to secure investment and begin the next phase of expansion through new clinics and upgraded MRI scanners.

What ReStrategy Delivered

Reflection for CEOs

• Growth rarely stalls because of marketing alone. More often, it reflects weaknesses across capability, systems, positioning and commercial infrastructure.
• Building a Growth Platform while maintaining business as usual is difficult but essential. Waiting until growth slows further usually makes change harder.
• Marketing and sales activity becomes significantly more effective when the fundamentals are in place. Strong teams, clear positioning, reliable data and meaningful measurement create the conditions for long-term demand generation.