The Unlock Your Message Virtual Retreat
A coaching intensive to co-create new messaging, positioning, signature stories & thought leadership for the next evolution of your business
Your vision for your business is shifting. Maybe you’re pivoting, maybe you’re niching down, maybe you’re about to publish a book. The messaging and marketing strategy that got you here, won’t get you there.
Here’s how you’d like to feel when you’re describing the work you do:
Aligned | Authentic | Anchored
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But here’s how you currently feel that your message is coming over:
Maybe it’s muddled and over-complicated - it seems impossible to boil it down to its essence.
Or it’s bland, generic and doesn’t sound like you.
Or you’ve just outgrown your old messaging and you’re SO ready for the next evolution.
Let’s work together to create the messaging that makes you fall back in love with your business again.
The work you do with your clients is deeply personal and it’s built on emotional connection. And the way you start building trust with potential clients is via your words - the words on your website, the words you use in social media posts or podcast interviews.
Online business allows you to reach out to strangers all round the world - the exact people your work is most able to help - and reach them with your message. Your words need to resonate, to touch your potential clients’ hearts directly, so that they can really feel the transformation you can create for them.
Unlock Your Message is an intimate, gentle and powerful 1:1 mini coaching programme for coaches, creatives and course-creators who are ready to hone their message. Clients often describe it as magical or transformative and, full disclosure, the resulting epiphanies often bring people to tears.
This isn’t your first rodeo. You don’t need another marketing course or Ideal Client Avatar. Instead, you and I will work closely together, to find the stories at the heart of your business, uncover what makes you awesome, & distill it into words…
Kerstin Martin | Calm Business Educator
“Doing messaging work with Sophy was one of the best investments I ever made into my business. Sophy is not just an outstanding expert at messaging, she is also a highly skilled business coach, which is a powerful combination that allows her to help people at any stage in their business.”
Your stories hold your power
Hey there, I’m Sophy. I’m an editor turned messaging coach.
These days I work with coaches, consultants and creatives - but in my former working life I spent twenty years working as a writer and publisher. I know how stories work from the inside out.
I’m here to help you get clarity on your messaging, marketing and direction in a way that acknowledges all of you and brings your diverse talents together.
In Unlock Your Message, I’ll help you get really clear on the next level for your business. I’ll put your secret sauce into words so that people immediately ‘get’ what you do, and understand the real value of your work.
What kinds of results have my clients seen from working with me?
This is an extract from an email my client Gretchen sent me, a couple of months after we finished working together to unlock her message. Gretchen was an extremely experienced consultant who was pivoting to work as a coach:
“Today I celebrate. I am almost a fully booked 1:1 coach. I only have 1 spot left, which looks like it will be snatched up next week. All of this happened within 2 months of working with you.
You were a huge part in my success. The work we did together to narrow my niche was instrumental.
It also helped me "get my head on straight" so I was clear about exactly how I help my clients. It empowered me to pass on opportunities that didn't align, instead of going down every rabbit hole. It also helped me verbally express my services and deliverables.
My confidence in my ability to have a sustainable business is solid now.”
Gretchen Hernandez | Business Coach & Mental Health Advocate
Here’s how Unlock Your Message works:
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Reflection Questions
After you’ve booked your week, I'll send you a document with lots of writing prompts, to make sure I have the context and detail I need to help uncover your messaging and stories. This is a big piece of work - but it's crucial for us to have the foundation of your messaging, brand storytelling, thought leadership and marketing strategy.
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Our Virtual Retreat Week
In a Zoom call (on the Monday of our intensive) I’ll draw out more details and nuances from your stories - so that I can use my editorial skills to join the dots to find your core message. Our main focus is on honing your message, so that you can express what you do powerfully and succinctly. Then we’ll spend the rest of the week compiling your Brand Messaging Playbook.
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The Follow-up
By the end of the retreat week, I’ll make sure you can fully stand behind your new messaging - and that you understand where to use it to best effect. I’ll give you templates to help you turn the Messaging Playbook into web copy. Then 2-4 weeks later I’ll review your web copy, giving you detailed editorial feedback. Finally we’ll have a marketing strategy call, to make sure you’re ready to make the most of your new clarity.
Sara Duigou | Somatic coach
“I feel like I actually have a reason for my message now, instead of just picking pretty words or things I thought sounded good.
The process has helped me clarify WHY I'm speaking about my work in a particular way and what promises I can uphold. It feels completely different.
It's confidence giving and for the first time I don't feel like I'm fumbling around using all the words to explain what I do. I also feel like this messaging and copy is going to last for the long term, so I’m not having to reinvent the wheel all the time.
It’s grounded in who I really am and what my values are, so it feels really aligned and authentic.
In the few weeks since I worked with Sophy, several brand new clients have signed up to work with me, and they’ve often commented on elements of my messaging - and it’s been really helpful when I’ve been on podcasts too.”
Here’s exactly what you come away with after our time together:
Your ‘why buy’ or ‘brand promise’ - this is your pithy and powerful answer to the dreaded ‘what do you do?’ question
Your unique tone of voice - are you quirky, grounded, inspiring, funny, eloquent, direct or approachable? Nailing this makes sure your writing sounds like YOU
Your origin story and a bank of up to 3 further stories, to use in your web copy, social media content, podcast interviews, etc
Your differentiators - 3-5 ways in which you’re different from other people in your niche, plus your personal hidden marketing advantage - this is something you’re likely to dismiss, ignore, or even try to cover up, but which when leveraged the right way gives you the edge with your ideal clients
This adds up to the nuts and bolts of what you need to create stand-out web copy (or other content) that feels natural and authentic - your brand messaging playbook is annotated so you know exactly what to use where.
I’ll give you web copy templates to use if you’d find them helpful and then 2-4 weeks after our intensive, I’ll review the new web copy you’ve created and give you my detailed copyediting suggestions.
We’ll also have a consult call to discuss your marketing strategy for this new messaging.
“Sophy has a wonderfully supportive way of working. She encouraged me to hone in on what I wanted to create, shape how best to share it, and frame what I wanted to say with the people I want to work with in mind. It was a pleasure to work with her. She does this so well and so much more besides.”
- Katherine Wall | attheroot.org
How does it feel to Unlock Your Message? Hear from a client:
“Before working with Sophy I had tried so many times to capture the essence and impact of my work into a sentence or two (the dreaded elevator pitch!) and just found myself exhausted from writing, re-writing, and all the doubt.
So many things shifted as a result of our work together! I realized that while my business is for my clients, it is important for me to share parts of my story so they can begin to know me and why I care so much about this work.
My relationship to the "brand promise" also shifted, as I embraced it as a deeply true statement but one that opens the conversation -- it can't possibly encapsulate everything! This took some of the pressure off and allowed me to craft something simple and clear without it being reductive. I now feel like I have a message I can confidently share and will speak to the people who desire the kind of support I offer.
The entire experience was deeply supportive.”
Lindsay Voorhees | Wellness Coach
Frequently Asked Questions
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Experienced, service-based business owners, such as coaches, with high-touch, 1:1 or small group programmes.
I’ve worked on messaging with leadership coaches, nutritionists, massage therapists, public speaking coaches, content writers, web designers, business coaches, systems consultants, artists, meditation teachers, PR consultants, educators, health coaches and money coaches.
If you have a business which requires people to open their hearts to you in some way, then my approach should be a good fit for you. If, on the other hand, you manufacture widgets, or you’re a consultant who is tendering for big government projects, this won’t be the right fit.
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Not as part of this programme, no. If that's what you're looking for, Unforgettable would be a better fit. However, in this programme you get all the building blocks to write your web copy, plus my copyediting skills once you’ve written it.
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If you think Unlock Your Message is just what you’ve been looking for, the first step is to book a consult call with me to check that we’re a good fit. If we decide to go ahead, I’m usually able to book new clients in for the following month or so.
“It’s been such a gift to work with Sophy. I feel so much more prepared to put myself out there in a new way and attract the right people. The whole thing was a wonderful experience, in which I felt very supported.”
Camille Barton
“I feel that I've gained so much clarity on how I want my business to evolve, who I want to serve and the 'why' behind it all. I believe that getting to the heart of the 'story' behind the business has been transformational as I now have a much clearer sense of how I want to move forward.”
Jane Hinchliffe
The next step is simple - just book a no pressure discovery call with me to be sure we're a good fit and that Unlock Your Message is the right move for you at the moment.
If you decide to work with me, I’ll tell you the exact steps for getting started. If you decide not to work with me or if we’re not a perfect fit, I’m happy to share other resources to help you get what you need.
And if you have any questions you’d like me to answer in the meantime, I’m very happy to answer them - just drop me a line at sophy@sophydale.com.