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Get a real-time quoteSolving the commoditisation of expertise
An Artful Science® is a UK differentiation strategy consultancy founded in 2006 by Stephen Shaw. It specialises in helping founder-led consultancies, advisory practices and professional-services firms tackle the commoditisation of expertise.
The problem is not always that competing firms have become the same. It is that buyers are given much the same reasons to choose them: experience, specialist knowledge, tailored advice and proven results. When meaningful differences disappear from the comparison, price becomes an easier basis for the decision.
An Artful Science addresses this problem by examining what buyers can actually distinguish, rather than simply helping businesses describe themselves differently.
Its proprietary Substitution Margin™ diagnostic compares the strongest published reasons for choosing one firm with those of a credible competitor. It establishes where those reasons overlap, where meaningful separation survives and whether the differences are supported by evidence.
The consultancy's 5° Of Newness™ methodology connects five disciplines: testing strategic assumptions; developing defensible competitive differentiation and proprietary intellectual property; shaping buyer decision criteria before shortlisting; building an attributable body of thought leadership; and creating digital infrastructure that preserves and compounds that expertise.
The objective is not simply to make a firm sound different. It is to establish, demonstrate and preserve a reason to be chosen that competitors cannot readily substantiate.
Explore the Substitution Margin™ competitive diagnostic:
https://anartfulscience.com/deep-dives/the-substitution-margin/
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Min project size
$5,000+
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Hourly rate
$200 - $300 / hr
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Employees
2 - 9
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Locations
London, England
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Year founded
Founded 2006
1 Locations
- London , England
Service Lines
- Branding
- 20%
Select Focus Area
- Branding Focus
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- Brand strategy
- 60%
- Brand messaging
- 30%
- Naming
- 10%
- Business Consulting Focus
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Industries
- Business services
- 85%
- Advertising & marketing
- 5%
- Financial services
- 5%
- Legal
- 5%
Clients
- Small Business (<$10M)
- 80%
- Midmarket ($10M - $1B)
- 20%
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Our Story
Founded in 2006 by Stephen Shaw, An Artful Science® was built around a problem facing expertise-led businesses: firms can possess genuinely different capabilities yet become almost indistinguishable when buyers compare them. The consultancy specialises in tackling the commoditisation of professional expertise. Its work examines why valuable differences disappear from buyer decisions, how defensible competitive advantage can be established, and how that advantage can be preserved as the business
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