Designing My Ever-Evolving Offer Ecosystem | Episode 104

Hello hello and welcome back to the Purpose & Progress Podcast.

Quick disclaimer that this is the last episode in a while. Maybe forever, more likely just for a hiatus period.

I’ve been questioning just about everything. Pretty sure you can relate if you’re a deeply feeling deep thinker like I am. And this podcast is one of those things.

I’m now 104 episodes and nearly 3 years in. I’ve loved creating this podcast. But I’ve also felt detached from it for quite a while now and like I’m wanting to make changes but can’t actually commit to any. I did a whole episode about this almost 2 years ago, episode 55, linked in the shownotes. And I’ve been thinking about my why a lot, which I talked about and gave you prompts around in episode 92.

I’m going to be re-releasing all my past podcast episodes via my newsletter, always linked in the shownotes, or you can go directly to ashleesang.com/orbit. I always felt like each episode never got the justice it deserved because I just cruised right through to the next one, so I’m going to try to be more intentional this second time around sharing them. It’s also strange because some of the people I interviewed have completely different or non-existent businesses now. Which also speaks to the fluid, constantly evolving nature of entrepreneurship, life, and the intersection of both.

So that was my big announcement about the podcast.

Today’s official topic is related, tangentially. We’re talking about my offer ecosystem—how it’s designed to feed into itself, who it’s for, and how it’s evolved over the past nearly 7 years.

And we’re talking about this for 2 main reasons: as always, so that you can put some fresh perspective and inspiration behind reimagining your own offer suite. And so that you know how it might look and feel to work with me on your values-aligned messaging, marketing, and decision-making.

First I’ll talk about my current offer suite, then I’ll talk about the path to get here. Then I’ll wrap up some audience-related ideas that are directly transferrable to how you think about your offers and positioning.

I’ve been dreaming up completely new offers, audiences, and price points, so who knows how this will continue to change, but here’s a snapshot of the past and the here and now.

Ok, so first how my offers are designed and how they feed into each other. The goal of anything I do in my business to is share messages that matter and spark confident, meaningful action. Basically to connect you and your big ideas with the people who need and want what you have. And then to reap all the ripple effects of impact that come with this work together.

And while most people have an offer ladder than slowly brings people up from least expensive and high-touch to most, mine is more of an ecosystem. You can hop in and out at any point and any cadence. I’m not sure this is the most strategic. It does give a lot of options, which I love, but it can also lead to overwhelm, decision fatigue, and confusion. But because I’m so anti-prescriptive business practices, it feels better for me to be able to meet my clients where they are in terms of bandwidth, budget, and past branding investments. Plus, it leaves the door open for ongoing or repeat collaboration. Without crunching any actual numbers, I’d say at least half my clients end up working with me more than once. That avoids the lead gen element, which is the hardest part of the sales process in my opinion. It also makes my work easier and more impactful because I already know about their vision and voice and values, etc.

So I currently have 4 official, evergreen services and 1 content subscription meets community.

The most recent addition and most affordable offering is a private “About You Audit”. I host free public versions of this offer, which is one of my biggest lead magnets to grow my email list. I’ll link the next public version, as well as the private one. Either way, it’s first impressions feedback about your overarching online presence, positioning, and copy. I do this via a single-page glimpse (like Home, About, or an offer page), or with social profiles, executive bios, product/service pages, etc. I’ve even done with with CVs, pitch emails, or cover letters.

The next offer, which is by far my most popular over the years, are Quick Win Consulting Calls. These 1-(or 2-)hour pick-my-brain, ask-me-anything style calls allow us to co-create in real time. Topics run the gamut, from chatting through your landing page or overarching positioning, ideal audience aspirations/vocabulary/needs, content ideas, getting real-time feedback, launching something new, etc. If you’re looking for a boost of momentum and have a laundry list of questions to run through, or a really specific topic you want clarity on, this is for you. I offer a slight discount for a 2-hour call vs just 1.

I also offer ongoing Messaging Momentum. ****This is a full month of asynchronous access to my brain, so you can send a message or share a working doc over the course of the month anytime something big or small comes up and I give feedback, suggest copy edits, and make sure the big-picture is aligning with the tiny details. That way, you have the time and space to implement, with empathetic accountability along the way! This is useful for longer-term projects (like establishing your online presence, honing your website or social profile/s, working on specific campaigns, outreach to partners, etc.). With this, you have me “on-call” and in your corner whenever you want a second set of eyes, validation, or a bit of gentle push back. I also offer a slight discount for a 3-month stint vs 1 month at a time.

And then my bread-and-butter cornerstone offer for years has been a Messages That Matter Intensive. This brand messaging strategy aligns your values with your outreach and all the other moving parts of your brand. This would then directly inform all your subsequent copy, content, and conversations so that you’re able to switch seamlessly (but still super consistently) between contexts and audiences. This includes a pre-questionnaire, 2 live calls (kick-off deep-dive and wrap-up to reveal the guide and go through use cases), a 6-element brand messaging guide, and a follow-up Quick Win Consulting Call for empathetic accountability. This really comes down to positioning yourself and honing all that you are and do into a digestible idea! I used to offer this as a single-day intensive or VIP Day, which I learned about from Jordan Gill of episode 58, linked in the shownotes. But now with 2 kids and to accommodate time zone differences and such, it’s now over the course of a week.

So those are the current core services. As you can imagine, you could start anywhere—a call to build trust and gain momentum, then dive into a strategy intensive, then continue on with thought partnership via Messaging Momentum as you implement. Or start off with a strategy intensive and carry on with multiple consulting calls. Etc, etc.

I also do some custom scopes, normally around actually creating copy although sometimes around content strategy or other deliverables. But this is fairly rare these days. In the early days of my buisness, I ONLY did custom, done-for-you scopes, so that’s been a shift over the years.

Besides direct services, I have this new subscription that I’m super excited about, which is called Conscious Marketing, Curated. For years, I poured so much of my time and energy and curation-focused brain into my free newsletter. It’s my favorite thing to produce each week. So a few months back, I decided to take all my favorite elements and translate that into a paid subscription, with some bonus perks. Basically, this is a container for content and contact points that create pathways between people and ideas. So I send 2 juicy, curated emails per month that switch between deep-dive lessons learned, prompts and inspo, resource round-ups and rabbit-holes, and bits and bobs to make your business AND your life better. It also includes 1 group meet-up per month (sometimes AMA-style consulting access, sometimes facilitated networking, always with space to request intros to people in my orbit). This is purposefully a different day/time each month. This makes it harder to plan around as a sure bet, but it also means it’s not accidentally ALWAYS a conflict for your schedule. And then I wanted to bake in some direct access to me, so the subscription comes with 1 private About You Audit per quarter. The subscription also comes with 1 public-facing feature per year on my public newsletter (~1000 people) and to fellow subscribers. It used to include a podcast shoutout too before I planned to take this hiatus. Lastly, it comes with access to all my Conscious Marketing & Values-Aligned Business Guided Workbooks & Templates, which I’ll talk more about in a minute. But this subscription is meant to be a bit of an experimental playground, so these elements might ebb and flow as I get more subscribers and hear what would be useful and needed.

Like I just mentioned, I have a whole suite of guided templates, which I’ll link in the shownotes, that are pretty affordable and obviously completely DIY, although you could bring them to a 1:1 service with me as pre-work so we’re that much further ahead in the process once we’re face-to-face. I’ve created everything from a Consistency Checklist to an Audience Persona template to a full values workbook to establish, define, and apply your values across your business. Obviously digital products is a volume game, so it’s more of a tangential almost completely passive part of my business, rather than a core focus. I don’t run ads to them and I often use them as a back-pocket element to bring for various workshops or summits I’ve been part of. And as I said, subscribers to Conscious Marketing, Curated get access to all these templates and workbooks for free.

Besides 1:1 offerings, I’ve also hosted a few groups over the years, which I’ve LOVED every single time. Because they’ve still be super intimate and personal, but just a better leverage of time and outside perspective since it’s NOT just me and the client.

I hosted Momentum Meet-Ups a few years back, essentially working groups around specific brand messaging elements. We used by guided templates as the base and then co-created in real time. I also created Peer Pods, which I talked about the origin and vision of in episode 72, linked below. I had a failed 2nd launch of this, then renamed them as Conscious Marketing Circles and just hosted a group this fall. I loved every minute of that too.

And then I also speak, facilitate workshops, and lead values-related conversations with teams and leaders. I love these mediums, but they’re not currently core revenue streams. I want to do more of these in the coming years though.

So, anyway, that’s the here and now.

And then I mentioned that my offers have evolved over time. I freelanced on the side before jumping into my business full-time at the beginning of 2019.

I started doing all this content and copy, plus filling any sort of admin or events or comms or marketing gaps my clients had. I was working with lots of nonprofits and social impact startups, which I loved from a mission point of view, but became overwhelming from a resource standpoint. I was a one-woman solution for way too much and was getting stuck in the weeds of day-to-day meetings and high pressure emails that I’d respond to urgently but would then sit in my clients’ inboxes for weeks or never be addressed again. I was basically working as an employee without the benefits a W2 team member would get. Or I was working with what were basically content mills, churning out content without a ton of strategy behind it, and therefore not much impact because of it.

And as I got more exposed to strategy projects, almost by happenstance or luck or fate or however you want to view it, I realized that my brain works really well in the strategy realm. I was connecting dots between visionaries’ big-picture ideas and the tiny details of implementation. I realized that not everyone knows how to do that or does it as easily as I do. And because I had experience with almost every medium and industry, I could think outside of traditional silos. And because of my background in anthropology and very human-first organizations, I could bring a lot of empathy to client journeys, brand voice, etc.

So once I discovered brand messaging strategy and realized how essential brand values are to how I view business and impact, I doubled down on this. I liked that I was solving problems and connecting people and ideas way upstream. Because previously, people were throwing money at a problem and paying me to write blog posts or redo their website with zero strategy or intention behind it. That means almost no impact, which is always my goal. So that’s when the Messages That Matter intensive became my focus and I officially considered myself a brand messaging strategist.

This coincided with becoming a mom, so I decided to lean into ONLY intensives for quite a while—either 1 day or 1 hour and that was that. That was the only bandwidth I had. Like I mentioned, I originally called my intensive a VIP Day because that was the common language for online businesses at the time, in large part because of Jordan’s thought leadership. But I eventually stepped away from the VIP vibe because I’m just not a luxe person, as VIP would suggest. I don’t seek out luxury in most cases and I don’t provide VIP treatment with fancy bells and whistles. Always deep care and intention and attention, but as a baseline and universal state of being, not because someone or some container is VIP.

As time went on, I found that the excitement and tears-of-joy burst that came with a strategy intensive or consulting call quickly lost steam or died in the depths of their Google Drive. My clients were really struggling with the implementation and the application of these ideas we captured into their everyday copy, content, and conversations. Which is where all the impact is to be had because these are the interactions with real people. So I slowly integrated other ways to work with clients without leaving them high and dry. This is the Messaging Momentum on a month-by-month basis, the calls as needed, even the content subscription for musings from my own lessons learned and prompts to get them thinking, then acting.

I’m still working on closing this gap though. Ideally by equipping people and teams to act on their strategy without me needing to put the words on the page from blank cursor to public post. I’m working on some strategic advising containers to address this exact issue.

And then all my work operates at the intersection of values and audience. So, who is this ecosystem I just described even for? Who are my perfect-fit people? I’ve done a couple empathy maps with Lexi of Pretty Decent. I’ll link an empathy map and my interview with Lexi in the shownotes. I’ve done essentially a focus group with my favorite past clients. (But I made it way more fun and collaborative and reciprocal and called it a Survey Social because of course I did.) And I’m even in the process of doing these 15/15 Advise & Ask sessions where I’m offering 15 minutes of free consulting FOR you, followed by asking you 15 minutes of questions ABOUT you. I’ll link this session in the show notes in case you want to offer your 2 cents and receive mine.

So thus far, I’ve worked with lots of solopreneurs and fellow online service providers. I’ve worked with lots of multi-passionates, deep-thinkers, OVERthinkers. And what’s really funny about these terms is people either super identify with this, or they’re completely confused. Which I’d argue is a sign of good positioning, but if I’m wanting to be a bit more universally understood, this can be a problem.

It’s often people who feel all over the place. Who have a big idea (or 40) and don’t know where to start. It’s people who want to spread the word but don’t necessarily want to put themselves out there. Maybe they’re in a phase of transition, like shifting from a business brand to a personal brand, redoing their website or going through a visual rebrand. Maybe they feel like all the elements are there, but the dots aren’t connected, the threads aren’t tied together—either for themselves or for their perfect-fit people. They’re often made investments in coaches, courses, social media managers, the works, but something is still missing and they’re hoping brand messaging strategy will fill that gap and capture the missing pieces. They’re often writing a lot of words without saying much of anything, often without even realizing it. And nearly all my clients say “I never thought about it that way before”. I have a knack for seeing things other people don’t, or that they aren’t able to articulate. The magic and mystery of my brain.

I’ve made all sorts of things for verbal processors, because that’s often at the heart of all my offers. My Quick Win Consulting Calls, my Brand Messaging Intensives, my peer mentorship groups. It’s all about space-holding. Because you have the ideas. But you don’t always have the perspective to see what’s right in front of you. Either the things that are working really well, the magic you can lean into. Or the things that are broken or tired or just not aligned with the current or future version of you and your brand.

And I will say, my audience might be a bit in flux. I’ve really struggled lately with that lack of impact because I’ve been working with so many small businesses and solopreneurs. While I love how deeply personal our collaboration is, so many of my past clients have since moved on from their businesses, so that lasting impact and legacy and ongoing sense of contribution is lacking for me. I’m wanting to work with more teams, facilitate more group conversations. I’m wanting to work with team leaders who then have the implementation power to actually apply all our great ideas and actually share these messages that matter so much. So I’m working through how much of my content and copy and positioning and pricing and offer suite need to change to meet these larger businesses and self-proclaimed leaders where they are.

I’m also thinking through how niche I want to be in terms of offering or audience. I’m called to moms and ADHDers, but I also know those 2 groups can struggle with action-taking and investing in growth. I’m called to larger orgs, but nothing too too large because I’m allergic to red-tape and protocols for the sake of it. I’m wanting to work with fellow marketers who get it, without making them or their leadership teams feel like I’m trying to take their place in any way. And I’m wanting to get back to the explicitly social impact sector, but feel my client roster has been out of touch from this domain for a while now.

But as you think about your offer suite, I encourage you to focus first and foremost on what you love to do and feel good at and excited about. It’s really really hard to sell and deliver on an offer if you don’t have that inherent enthusiasm. Especially if you’re a fellow ADHDer.

Then, almost equally as important, or at least part of the venn diagram, also factor in that audience. That perfect-fit person, organization, mindset, context, whatever. The fit that will work best with your strengths AND leverage your intervention in the most effective way possible.

I wish there was an easy fix. I’ve been talking to tons of peers to find my perfect mix. And I’m happy to hold space for you via whatever container works well for your brain and budget and bandwidth as you figure out yours.

If you loved this episode, please do leave a glowing review, subscribe, and share a screenshot on social so that more multi-passionate deep thinkers like you know about the podcast!

Be sure to check out all the resources I mentioned in the show notes below or at ashleesang.com/episode104.

And like I said, this will be the last episode for some indeterminate amount of time. Huge thank you to The Eco Helper for producing this podcast with me behind the scenes for all these years. I have my interview with them linked in the shownotes.

And I’d love to have you stay in my online orbit and be in actual conversation, so go ahead and sign up for the Toward Purpose & Progress Newsletter at ashleesang.com/orbit. I send it every Tuesday and it’s full of business building tips, good news, shoutouts to Founder Friends, and other juicy snippets. Plus podcast episodes, of course. It’s always valuable and values-driven.

Wishing you all the best of luck and tons of confident, meaningful action, now and in the months and years to come.