The Story Intensive

It’s not groundbreaking. Storytelling as a pillar of marketing is nothing new. With all due respect to a so-called Marketing Guru whose name may or may not rhyme with Bonald Niller, the hero’s journey has been a part of marketing since John Brinkley was able to convince the public that goat testicle transplants were a good idea.

You need to tell a good story.

Look, you gorgeous human, you’re not an online android - and you don’t want to be.
Your strengths lie in your heart, your compassion, and your sheer delight in the work you do.

You’re ready to let passion intersect with purchase.

What will you do to nail your niche and highlight your biz?

If you’re not naturally a verbal storyteller, how are you going to maximize your marketing?

And for the love of all that is good, how in the heck will you keep shiz consistent?

Enter: 

It’s more than just nailing your One Sock - setting responsible boundaries around a hyper-personal story or aspect of yourself. This is then applying responsible boundaries to the ENTIRETY of your content marketing.

We are going to build a narrative that markets your business FOR you using the Human First Framework™ to fully examine your brand’s stories and objectives in order to create a content marketing plan that plays to your strengths and jives with how you work best. No matter how your business grows and shifts and expands, the Story Intensive teaches you how to ground your Brand Story and center your Meaningful Message.

The Story Intensive

We start with a small application. I want to ensure that this is the right Intensive for you, and that you’re ready to fully commit a month to completely revamping your content marketing.

Let’s just assume you’re a perfect fit (still reading? You probably are). After you’re welcomed into the Intensive, you’re immediately brought into our private Slack channel to meet your Intensive cohort. You are invited to share more about what you do, and get to know the other humans you’ll be journeying with.

Then... it’s go time and oh boy do we have a lot of work to do in just 8 short, fabulous weeks. And since we’re using the signature Human First Framework™ to revamp your content marketing and storytelling, let’s break down how it’ll go down by module.

So how does it work?

Before you can do pretty much anything with upleveling your storytelling and content marketing, we have to know what stories you’ve got! As implied by the name of this first phase of the framework, it’s time to do some digging. Whether or not you think it’s an appropriate story for your business doesn’t matter in this module within The Story Intensive - lay it ALL out on the table. You’ll be surprised with what bubbles up and actually is integral to your Brand Story. Alongside all that story-mining, you’ll also take a quick pass at your Core Values so that when it comes to clarifying your Brand Story and Meaningful Message, you can ensure things are aligned with your values (aka Human First!) and always coming from a place of purpose.

Excavate

Weeks 1&2

In a nutshell:

Multiple strategies for how to mine your stories;
A quick & dirty primer on core values;
Guidance on where you aren’t digging deep enough;

Excavate workbook

A group coworking call;
1 small group call with your cohort (max 4 folks per cohort);
An opportunity to add on a 1:1 at a discount with yours truly.

Plus

Excavate







Now that we’ve got all your stories out on the table, it’s time to start sorting through what you actually want to share with your audience and what isn’t for public consumption - it’s all your decision, no putting it to your followers first (gotta keep it Human First Biz Second™!). Once you’ve clarified some boundaries, you’ll define your Core Listener (similar to an ideal audience avatar but a little more personal to you and a little more rooted in values); this Core Listener will be who you imagine telling these stories to and will clarify WHY you’re called to tell the stories you’re feeling called to tell. We’ll also take some time to clarify the Meaningful Message that knits your stories together, spanning the personal and professional.

Clarify

Weeks 3&4

In a nutshell:

Multiple strategies for how to sort the stories you’ve mined in Excavate;
Guidance on how to create healthy boundaries for what stories you want or don’t want to share with your audience at large;
Core Listener typing to clarify who it is you are telling these stories to;
Structure for defining your Meaningful Message;


Clarify workbook

A group coworking call;
1 small group call with your cohort (max 4 folks per cohort);
An opportunity to add on a 1:1 at a discount with yours truly.

Plus

Clarify







Obviously you can’t start telling all the stories all the time on all the platforms (ugh, just thinking of what that content calendar would look like gives me hives). With the clarity of where your story boundaries are and who exactly you’re telling these stories to, you’ll identify how you feel most comfortable telling stories and prioritize those avenues of storytelling (aka what platforms work for YOU and then how can you repurpose that content onto the platforms that aren’t necessarily your jam).

Prioritize

Weeks 5&6

In a nutshell:

Overview of how to tell stories on different platforms;
Multiple strategies to identify how you feel most comfortable telling stories;
Goal setting for *one* platform;
Guidance on how to repurpose across other platforms that aren’t in your storytelling comfort zone;

Prioritize workbook

Prioritize




A group coworking call;
1 small group call with your cohort (max 4 folks per cohort);
An opportunity to add on a 1:1 at a discount with yours truly.

Plus




Now that you know where you feel most comfortable telling stories, and how to repurpose that content across platforms, it’s time to make that fabled CONTENT CALENDAR aka the-boots-on-the-ground-how-to-make-sh*t-happen plan. You’ve mined a lot of stories and set a lot of goals, and our final two weeks together are all about making it HAPPEN. We’ll be using my favorite content model - the Hub, Hero, Hygiene model as developed by Google - to help you figure out how to create content consistently (all aligned with your Brand Story, Meaningful Message, and Core Values - of course!).

Strategize

Weeks 7&8

In a nutshell:

Content calendar templates for you to try out and see what makes most sense to you;
Overview of the Hub-Hero-Hygiene model and guidance on how to break down your stories with this model;
Metric tracking templates so you can better assess what’s working and what isn’t;

Strategize workbook

Strategize




A group coworking call;
1 small group call with your cohort (max 4 folks per cohort);
An opportunity to add on a 1:1 at a discount with yours truly.

Plus




To be clear, this is a lot of work in a very short amount of time. You could very well do a lot of this DIY-style, on your own connecting a variety of half-assed Pinterest downloads and lead magnets.

Honesty time. The DIY method is not going to get any sales in the door this quarter. It IS going to take a huge amount of time and energy (two of your most precious resources!) to do it on your own.

Running a business is hard enough. Make it easier on yourself.

This isn’t just about telling a good story, it’s about telling the RIGHT story for you and your audience. The right story connects to the right people at the right time, bringing you the clients that need you right now.

All storytelling comes with actual vulnerability and responsible boundaries, of course. No emotional dumping here!

you're ready to tell a better story.