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A clean, modern horizontal infographic showing five connected circles with arrows between them, labeled “Problem Unaware,” “Problem Aware,” “Solution Aware,” “Product Aware,” and “Most Aware.”

5 Stages Of The Modern Customer Journey (Are You Forgetting These 2 Stages?)

Words I like: People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies. Future customers don’t buy when they understand you. Future customers buy when they feel understood. You write SEO, or now Generative Engine Optimized (GEO), blog posts for people who are searching for solutions. You run retargeting ads for people who have already visited your website. You build offers for people who are this close to buying. These 3 approaches only target Stages 3-5 of the Modern Customer Journey… But the

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Collage of Pixar film characters: Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Miguel from Coco

The Pixar Storytelling Structure

Every Pixar film (Toy Story, Up, Coco) follows the same seven-beat spine, and you can use it to tell your company's story. The structure (popularized by former Pixar story artist Emma Coats) gives you the skeleton; your specifics give it life. Here are the seven beats, with how to use each for your pitch. The Seven Beats Once upon a time… Set the scene: the world as it is, and who the hero is. In a pitch, the hero is your customer, not you. Establish their normal. And every day… The status quo, and the quiet pain in it. This

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How to Define Your Ideal Client Profile (Free Worksheet)

Your ideal client profile is the short, honest answer to: who do you serve best, and who should you stop trying to serve? The clearer that answer, the easier everything downstream gets: your messaging, your sales, your referrals. The free fill-in-the-blank worksheet below walks you through it in about twenty minutes, and this guide explains how to use it. Want to sharpen who you serve and why they choose you? Pair this exercise with the Value Proposition Canvas Worksheet. Why a Sharp Icp Changes Your Sales Most companies define their market too broadly because narrowing feels like leaving money on

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How to Audit Your Brand Messaging (Free Brain Audit + StoryBrand Templates)

Auditing your brand means reading everything customer-facing you've published (website, emails, one-pagers, ads) and checking it against two questions: are you naming the customer's real problem before your solution, and are you telling a story where the customer is the hero? The two free templates below walk you through both, and this guide explains how to use them. Start here: run your messaging through the Marketing Audit and CMO Readiness Checklist. Why Audit Your Brand Messaging? When was the last time you read all your marketing in one sitting? For most companies, it's been a while. Messaging drifts as a

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Customer Discovery: How to Validate an Idea Before You Build It

Customer discovery is the research you do before building: talking to real potential customers to learn whether the problem is painful enough, and your solution wanted enough, that they'd actually pay. The two free templates below, a customer-discovery interview script and a business model canvas, give you the structure. Here's how to use them. To turn what you hear into a sharper offer, our Value Proposition Canvas Worksheet maps customer pains to what you build. Why Discovery Comes First It is far cheaper to learn you're wrong in a conversation than after you've built the product. The goal of discovery

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