I’m so excited to tell you about my amazing client, Alison Behrens Braly (she/her), aka The Self Care Enthusiast. She’s a self care coach and she’s amazing at what she does.
(And when she’s not working on that…you can probably find her hanging out with her pups Daphne & Rosie, browsing YouTube for new Dollar Tree crafts, or making fun decals for her house on her Cricut).
When I met Alison, it was November of 2020, and the pandemic had dried up her client flow.
See, most of her clients had come from doing local IRL workshops. But with the ongoing lockdown, she needed to find a way to attract clients online.
She knew that meant content marketing, but she was super overwhelmed with everything she felt like she had to learn and implement all at the same time.
During our conversation, we boiled down a few key struggles that were really holding her back:
- She had a blog on her business’s website, but getting herself to blog was like pulling teeth
- Since she’d taken to Instagram in the panini, she’d sharpened her message and seen an uptick in likes, but not in new clients.
- Whenever she created any content at all, be it blog post, email, caption, or IG Story, she was starting entirely from scratch, and was therefore spending a lot of time and energy creating brand new content all.the.time.
But after doing a Conquer Your Content Calendar Intensive with me – Alison was able to:
- blog consistently for a whole year (and love it!)
- signed her first cold client AND re-signed them multiple times!
- better manage the energy she spent on content creation (“I even sometimes WORK AHEAD (DUN DUN DUN) ;)”, she told me recently 🤣 )
Here’s what we worked on to make this happen:
1. She had MAJOR Overwhelm & Decision Fatigue
Alison was feeling super overwhelmed by all the things she felt like she had to do right away, when all she wanted was to do the thing and get the results (i.e. the type of engagement that leads to clients (not just likes), plus, obviously, new clients).
She was talking to me about doing workshops, and webinars, and maybe learning how to create an online course, and, and, and…
And the sheer mountain of stuff she felt like she ought to be doing was overwhelming her.
In her Conquer Your Content Calendar Intensive, we tackled her overwhelm with two prongs.
First, we figured out the Content Marketing Ecosystem that would work best for her for right now.
This is my framework for deciding which content platforms to focus on that support your energy and work for your brain, while also working together in a strategic way to promote your offers.
So we went through all the ideas and options she felt like she should be working on creating, and decided what would support her goals, work for her capacity, and be enjoyable for her, and what could be tabled for later on.
This way, she could stop spending her energy wondering what she should be doing, and instead she could just do it.
Second, the Content Calendar itself removed a lot from her list of “things to figure out/decide”.
She no longer had to think of new ideas all the time, because the content calendar has 12 content ideas based entirely on her own thoughts and ideas.
She no longer had to think about how to tie it into promoting her services, because each content idea in the calendar includes a suggested CTA so that you don’t have to worry about if you’re selling too much or not enough.
She no longer had to decide on the fiddly bits like the URL slug for her blog posts, or the SEO research, or the headline, or any of that, because it’s all already in the content calendar for her.
Once Alison and I narrowed in on her Content Marketing Ecosystem and tackled her overwhelm, she’s made a point to really evaluate what works for her and what doesn’t before she pursues a piece of content, and she’s been able to blog consistently for a whole year! (We’ll be coming back to this, it’s a big one 😄 )
2. She was bored with her blog & wanted to feel inspired to create
Alison already had a blog on her website, but she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d posted. She told me that getting herself to blog was like pulling teeth, because the posts she was creating weren’t inspiring, and she wanted to feel inspired to create her content, not just have it be another boring chore on her list.
But the thing was, in our brainstorming session, the things she had to say about self care were far from boring, and I knew they would sparkle and get the attention of her ideal clients.
All the brilliant, interesting, eye-catching ideas were there. Alison just needed help channeling them into her content marketing in a way that was interesting to her, and interesting to her ideal clients.
Which is exactly what I do for you in the Conquer Your Content Calendar Intensives! Because it’s absolutely critical that your inner spark shines through your content.
Firstly, it keeps your own mind engaged and interested in your content marketing, because you’re tapping into ideas that naturally excite you!
And secondly, it really catches the attention of your ideal clients in a next-level way.
Instead of publishing the same old ideas as everyone else in your industry, you’re being a thought leader! You’re saying interesting things with passion and in a way that makes sense to your ideal audience. And that will make them sit up and take notice of you. You’ll establish yourself in their minds as the only (in Alison’s case, self-care) person to follow (and eventually, when they’re ready for it, to work with).
Once Alison had support channeling her interesting ideas about self care into strategic content ideas, blogging wasn’t boring for her anymore! This is the main thing she attributes to being consistent with her blogging for a whole year.
AND! She was able to sign her first ever cold client (not a referral, not from a workshop), and she’s re-signed them multiple times since!
3. She struggled with repurposing, and spent ~a lot~ of time creating from scratch
Alison was really struggling with repurposing her content, which meant she was spending an inordinate amount of time creating all of her content from scratch — her Instagram posts, her blog posts, her email newsletters, her IG Stories, everything was all created from scratch.
This, of course, was extremely time consuming, but also energy taxing, and since Alison has a chronic illness, her energy is limited. This meant it was extremely important to her to really get the most bang for her content-creation-buck.
Thankfully, in Conquer Your Content Calendar Intensives, your second call with me is all about repurposing within your content ecosystem so you can make the most of your energy.
Based on that call, I then create a custom Repurposing Checklist just for you that shows various ways you can repurpose your content, that all work for your brain – and it even shows how much energy it takes to do each with spoon emojis. That way, if you’re having a low energy day or week, you can just choose the low-spoon repurposing items on the checklist and call it done. And if you’re having a high-energy day, you can do the higher-spoon ones!
Having a custom repurposing guide that works for your brain and is flexible to your energy capacities is important so that you can get your good ideas out in front of people, without burning out on content creation.
Once she had guidance on how to repurpose her content effectively and in a way that worked for her, she’s been able to manage her energy better — which means her time is better managed and she’s even been able to work ahead on her content calendar!
In Alison’s own words:
My energy around content creation is WAY different now. The biggest change is the ease with which I create and stay on top of my content creation.
Content creation used to be a CHORE, and the idea of “what works for ?” and “what excites/energizes me/am I enjoying this?” has really helped with how I think about it.
I have been so excited to put my shit out there, and as I've done so, I've learned so much and made some big shifts – I've created a work hours schedule that actually WORKS for me, I've found the tone I want to use across all of my social channels, and I'm honestly excited about continuing to find out more about what works best for me.
I've also signed my first cold client AND re-signed them multiple times.
The intensive and the content calendar are so incredibly personalized and YOU LISTEN. You listen and you interpret. You were able to hear what I said about my issues around content creation and go, “Bam! What about this?” It's a GIFT.
Give Claire your money. I have actually said this to other humans. “You are hating creating content? You need Claire. Give her your money.”
— Alison Behrens Braly, The Self Care Enthusiast
Ready to see these results for yourself?
Because everything Alison achieved is more than possible for you too. With a Conquer Your Content Calendar Intensive, you’ll get all the same custom-to-you support to transform your creative ideas into a strategic content calendar, so you can create content that works for your brain & energy levels.
Click the button below to learn more about Conquer Your Content Calendar Intensives.
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to email me at claire@clairepaniccia.com or DM me on Instagram @conqueryourcontent
I can’t wait to work with you!