Ep. 10: Priorities and Milestones to Personalize Your Marketing Roadmap and Move Forward
In this final episode of the audio series, we’re breaking down the Storyspark Roadmap and how to apply the milestones and systems to prioritize action step in your business. If you haven’t yet downloaded this, I have a printable and Editable version over at https://www.maxwildestories.com/overthinking-marketing/. Go get it and come back.
Is It Shiny Objects or is It Overstimulation: the Neurodivergent Entrepreneur’s Dilemma
When you spend any amount of time in online entrepreneurial space, you get hit with the education firehose. You need a VIP day, no wait, a digital product, no wait, you need to sign corporate contracts, it’s better to productize your offer, go build a course, and that’s just on what to sell, now how to do it.
I said this in a reel before but I want to say it in on this series: is it shiny object syndrome or are you just overstimulated? The algorithm, our inbox, these all make us feel scattered and unfocused by design.
I want to be clear that I’m not saying folks are trying to mislead you. I believe that everything works, but not everything works for you.
This is why I am platform or format-agnostic. I’m not a podcast producer, or a video strategist, or a Pinterest manager. When you are ready to build flagship or ongoing nurture content, it should be connected to what you find enjoyable and what you are strong in.
I have a YouTube channel because I do believe in using video to repurpose, and I do reasonably well with scripting and recording, but at the editing stage I got hit with insane blocks and resistance. I have never managed to be consistent for longer than a month.
Yes, I can outsource it to a video editor but in my early stages, I needed to be able to DIY to get initial traction. On the flip side, editing the audio for this series feels like a breeze and I don’t think I’ve procrastinated on doing this at all.
Harnessing your strengths may take experimentation, and I give you permission to abandon the projects or ongoing tasks that feel draining or you don’t feel pulled or passionate about being consistent with or completing.
Priorities & Milestones to Personalize Your Marketing Roadmap
So looking at the Storyspark Roadmap, I have four phases or systems that I build with or alongside my clients. We’ve discussed them through this series and I’ve given you action steps to take throughout, but I also wanted to use this episode as a way to decide for yourself what comes next and where you want to prioritize your spoons.
PHASE 1 - Uncover Your Unique Value
You’re probably now tired of hearing me talk about messaging, so I’ll keep this as brief as possible. Clarifying your core message, if you haven’t already, is one of the most impactful aspects you can focus on.
It doesn’t have to be intricate; you can have a Google document with elevator pitches and positioning statements or ways to describe your work & offers. In fact, I have one that I copy and paste from all the time. You can also make an external-facing touchpoint to get feedback, like a capabilities deck or one-pager.
This is also where an outside perspective really comes in handy. We’re so close to our own work it becomes hard to explain it to others. You know you’ll have a good command of the when you have people remembering your business unprompted, having folks approach you for your subject matter of expertise for visibility opportunities, and you start to feel proud of (or at least not embarrassed by) your website copy.
PHASE 2 - Cultivate a Content Ecosystem
I love the Content Ecosystem building phase because it reminds me of my tabletop gaming days and the “choose your own adventure” books from when we were younger. You get to build the sandbox that your ideal clients play in to feel supported and educated.
Here’s where it’s easy to get stuck. This is more on the strategy side; it’s the blueprint that helps you to decide what structures to build. You don’t have to move on from this only after everything has been written and published.
The goal here is to know what topics and potentially even titles will serve on the different levels to your content ecosystem: the surface-level topics or questions that serve as a way to introduce your work (and topics to pitch for visibility), deeper ways to engage in your work including flagship content and resources, and start to think through the themes or pillars that will show up in your ongoing nurture content.
You’re not married to these choices, but the big-picture helps your marketing and sales come together more intentionally and feel interconnected because it is. Without this, reactively created content takes so much more energy and isn’t as effective because it’s disjointed.
You’ll know that this is working not because every branch or tree on the content ecosystem is filled out, but your pathway forward for what to write or record becomes clear.
Here, I started on writing my pinned 3-grid of Instagram posts because I wanted an external place to direct people to and grouped it to be about me and my story, then about the process I take folks through, and the third being my offers and how to work with me, and the why.
It took the external pressure off of ongoing social because they were pinned, but it was also a bite-sized version of the content I planned to create for my flagship content that became this audio series. This also helped give me feedback, so I wasn’t tinkering by myself without getting feedback from the people I was trying to talk to.
PHASE 3 - SPARK Repeatable Sales Strategy
This is the point where we’re moving out of the strategy and into creating and implementing the plan we’ve created. I’ve talked enough about sales for two episodes, so I’ll just say that you’ll know you are on your way when you have flagship content with a clear call to action toward your services and somewhere to point folks when they’re not quite ready yet.
This doesn’t have to be intricate with a bunch of email sequences and automations. I keep it all in my project management system: folks I’m currently talking to, where they’re at in the process, and set due dates when to follow up with them.
You can layer in complexity or polish your flagship content once it’s already out there, and you get feedback on it. More than anything, it just needs to be published and put out there first.
PHASE 4 - Capacity-Building Marketing Processes
I put this at the end, but this is something that throughout the process, really helps prevent us from exhausting or pushing ourselves too far. It just needs to be in place before we’re committing to any big projects or creating ongoing nurture content.
We talked about this last episode, but getting a flare or falling off isn’t a sign that you have “failed” here; it’s part of the cycle and, honestly, part of being a human being.
In my experience, you never master this system, but you know you are prioritizing capacity when you listen to your body signals and adjust your schedule appropriately. When you are further along, you have a media library you can dip into during your slow periods.
Pulling it into a Roadmap
All of these come together for prioritizing marketing that feeds your business instead of algorithms and tech billionaires.
We’re giving ideal clients a way to engage in our body of work in ways that feel good for them and are more effective to sustain our businesses and give us lives that don’t rely on an endless stream of content to keep afloat.
You don’t have to do all of this at first. Look at what would make a difference to your business. Take this in order, or use the energy tracking you’ve done as a guide for what feels doable to you or what to work on once you’re feeling up to it so you can shift out of overthinking your next steps.
How You Can Get Continuing Support (Free & Paid)
I plan to walk my talk. I discussed asking for the sale without anxiety and how to feel good about your pitch, so if you’ll bear with me, I’m going to discuss how to work with me to continue the work if you decide we’re a good fit.
If you like the idea of creating flagship content to promote your business but know you don’t have the spoons, you can have me write this. For this audio series, I’m going to discuss Storyspark Connection, which is my offer that gives you support so you have everything you need to write and implement for yourself with me in your back pocket.
We do this through 1x1 strategy sessions, a robust resource library, async feedback, and personalized integration time. In the th
Is Storyspark Connection a copywriting offer? Is it coaching?
But for the specific offer I’ve been promoting this month, it’s a done-with-you offer that isn’t coaching, more like guided strategy while having your hand held through the process. I hand over templates and resources for each aspect of the journey: messaging, content strategy, sales process, and marketing implementation.
We have three strategy calls that discuss a plan on these growth systems and how to weave in your uniqueness, values, and capacity. From there, we have a monthly integration session that gives you space to develop impactful marketing materials and feedback to break out of overthinking.
Call this role what makes most sense to you: strategist, advisor, coach, mentor. I just want to give you every tool possible to build a sustainable marketing practice that you can iterate on and evolve with as your needs change.
What deliverables do I get? What do they help me to do?
In Storyspark Connection, you walk away with a roadmap that helps you prioritize which steps to take that are going to have the most impact.
This could be revamping your messaging, updating your website to reflect a pivot in offerings or who you serve, or creating a follow up process for inquiries/sales calls to explain your offers.
But more than this, we work through your messaging, content ecosystem, and sales strategy to help you talk about your work with more ease and less confusion.
You’re given the templates to build marketing systems with time to implement and feedback so you’re not spending weeks on getting it “just right.”
In three months, you have one system ready to go released into the world to promote your work and a comprehensive playbook that outlines the steps to continue the work (and how to plan for your fluctuating capacity).
Saving you spoons is priceless.
Unless you’re neurodivergent, chronically ill, or disabled, you probably don’t think about how much of our mental load goes into making decisions. But we are. And believe me, it sucks.
This is especially true if you’re self-employed and wearing all of the hats in your business.
It’s why I created the Shifting Overthinking audio series to begin with, but don’t underestimate the power of a back pocket marketing strategist that you can offload some of the creative problem solving to.
Need validation that you’re on the right track (with best practices and data to back it up)? I can do that.
Need encouragement to do the damn thing? I can help find ways to make it feel enjoyable instead of a drag.
Need to be told to go sit on the couch because you have a migraine but still convinced you should be working? Oh goodness, can I do that.
If you are ready to:
Co-create a unique marketing plan that matches your capacity
Lay groundwork strategies that your marketing can build on
Take marketing off your back burner without burning out through clear, prioritized action steps
Grow your audience and attract clients, but not at a price of your well-being or values
Who’s in? Let’s discuss what this could look like for you at bit.ly/story-chat
And, if now’s not the right time, that’s okay. Join us over at the Storyspark Lounge where we gather and discuss balancing our lives and obligations with building a creative business in a place you don’t have to perform.
I’m holding a bonus session where we gather and discuss the three most common places we overthink: topics, titles, and tech. If you have the roadmap you’ll get all of the details for that.
