Every business needs a Wilderness Concierge.

Why? Because growing a business can feel a bit like walking through the woods in the dark. Even when you’re amazing at what you do, there’s a chance you could poke your eye out.

This is a metaphor. But it could still happen.

Common sharp branches for businesses include:

• Trying to sell the wrong stuff. Business model isn’t profitable, offerings match those of competitors, or people just don’t want.
• Writing about the wrong stuff. Saying things everyone else is saying. Or, what’s said isn’t what people want to hear. Attracting price-shoppers looking for interchangeable commodities.
• Spending 10 months revamping the website because of unfocused strategy. Missing the first opportunity to make more profits with less effort. Then wondering why competitors get to have all the fun.

Whether you’re a consultant, a professional services firm, a startup, or an entrepreneur, questions tend to come up. Like these:

• How do I know what to change when my website is lovely, but isn’t converting?
• Is there a better way to package my services so my favorite clients get more value—without me spending more time?
• How do I communicate what makes me special—without sounding like everyone else?
• Which tactics are right for my business, right now? And how often? And in what order?

You don’t have to set off into the marketing wilderness with that eerie feeling of uncertainty.

Instead, you can consult with your very own Wilderness Concierge. The Wilderness Concierge session is a 2-hour idea-generating, message-honing phone call with me, Kelly Parkinson.

As a collaborative marketing guide, my goal is to help you increase leads and sales with the least investment at a time possible, and to recommend the options I think would best support that goal. During your session, I’ll use my trailblazing skills to intuit where you need to focus next. And then we’ll brainstorm some messaging, positioning, and even some copy so you can get there.

A few provisions for your hike:

• Copious Field Notes–from marketing and business ideas, to messaging, to strategies, to copy. These are the best notes you have ever seen. Organized based on the nine elements of persuasion, these raw notes can be used to write just about anything. If you do nothing else with me ever again, feed off these notes for a while.
• An MP3 recording of our call. So you can experience epiphanies for the first time all over again.
• Up to 10 high-value recommended next steps you can take right away and over the next few months to grow your business. If you’d like some help implementing these recommendations with a website, sales page, and other materials, the next step is to work together at Adventure Camp.

“Just want copy?”

Growing a business isn’t just about having the right copy. (Although–like apples–fresh, crisp copy is always nice to have.) It’s not even about your design, your proposals, your emails, or your conversations. It’s about the ecology of that system. The experience you and your clients have when you work together.

Sustainable growth is about knowing you’re moving in the right direction because your strategy is sound. You’re promoting high-value programs and packages—not isolated services. And you’re using the right messages that persuade the people you’ll love working with most.

I am available to write copy with my clients on a collaborative, long-term basis. I’ve found this gets the best results. And the best results are the only kinds of results my clients are looking for. Before we both decide whether we’re ready to work together for six months in Adventure Camp, the Wilderness Concierge is the first step.

Here’s how it works:

• You fill out my discovery questionnaire. (I’ll email it to you when you sign up.)
• We schedule a 2-hour working session. Every session is customized and personal. I’ll have a better idea of what your session will include after I receive your application and your questionnaire. But here are some things my clients and I might do in a typical session:
  • Brainstorm high-value offers, programs, and service packages that reflect the qualities you want your business to have–so you can attract more business—with less effort.
  • Determine the highest-priority marketing projects or strategies—like speaking, web marketing, direct outreach, and social media and create a sequence of projects and prioritized steps.
  • Position yourself as “the only one” by brainstorming messaging according to the nine elements of persuasion. These elements are essential to every marketing project—including them will dramatically increase your response rate.
  • Give your existing website or sales page a makeover so it generates more leads.
  • Identify the missing links in your in your lead-generation efforts, and put together the kind of strategy that doesn’t zip you into a marketing straitjacket.
• About 2 days after our call, I send you the goods. Copious Field Notes, recommendations, and a recording of the call.
• You can take the notes and run. Or, you can apply for Adventure Camp. Either way, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

My fee for a Wilderness Concierge session is $450.

If you think this might be for you (or if you have a few burning questions before you say “YES!”), here’s what to do:

The first step is to apply by filling out the form below. I’ll review your information, and if I have questions, I may even reach out to schedule a free, 15-minute conversation. (You can request a 15-minute conversation as well.) Once we agree we’d both like to do this, I’ll email you payment information, my discovery questionnaire, and a link you can use to automatically schedule our session.

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A word about confidentiality: This is super-important. I will never share your information with anyone without your permission. Your email will not be added to any lists—including my own—without your permission. I will never reveal anything you’ve told me unless you’ve already spoken about it publicly, even if I consider it a minor detail, like that you eat oatmeal for breakfast. I will not tweet about our sessions. I may tweet about you. But not within the context of us working together. And never with any expectation of reciprocation. Whether or not you want to talk about me is up to you. As for me, I keep my mouth zipped. Zip! Unless you tell me otherwise.

Testimonials

“Kelly Parkinson is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever worked with.

“People call her because the quality of the writing on her website really compels them to go, ‘I want something like that.’ She’s always coming up with new ideas and marketing tactics for tweaking and improving high-end, outcome-based programs. I expect even more amazing things from her in the future.”
Robert Middleton, Action Plan Marketing

“Before I met Kelly I thought copywriting was all loud-mouthed hype and manipulation. It’s not.

“With the right person it’s a way to help your right clients say “oh, that’s me!” and flock to you. Kelly really knows marketing, she knows copy, she knows branding and can infuse all that stuff with complete integrity. I turn to Kelly for advice and input whenever I have to promote a product or program. Plus she’s helped me formulate all sorts of smart, enthusiastic, believable things to say when people want to know what the heck I do. Collaborating with her is always a terrific experience.”
Havi Brooks, The Fluent Self

“I hired Kelly because although people were entertained by the copy I was writing, they weren’t buying what I was selling.

“I wanted copy that sounded like me. I also knew I didn’t want to work with someone stuffy and overly corporate. Kelly made the process fun. She was professional without being stuffy or textbook. She showed me all the things I wasn’t saying about my products that I really needed to be saying so my copy would convert. Kelly’s copy changed the way people interact with my site, and my site copy is converting better than it has in the last two years! Hire Kelly if you really want it done right.”
David Billings, Sparky Firepants

“I was starting a new division of my business, and it seemed hard to explain what I was trying to do.

“I’ve had web copy in the past that was dry, boring, business-y. Kelly’s isn’t like that. She writes copy that is clever and casual and that grabs you in a non-slimy way. There’s something sort of magical about the way Kelly listened, took all of the pieces I gave her, and synthesized them into something that seems casual, easy, and conversational. Working with Kelly, I got really well-written copy, but it was so much more than that. She had an entire marketing plan for me, and she helped me create the framework for the launch of my business.”
Eileen Corrigan

“You out-did my expectations. It’s amazing.

“You seem to have some magical way of pulling out the gems in the rough. I love the way you are keeping it un-wordy and impactful. I am so happy.”
Lauren Oktay, Basic Goodness

“My challenge was figuring out how to approach people who don’t necessarily have a positive relationship with computers.

“I needed to do it in a way that didn’t scare them off. Kelly seemed like she had a really good attitude and I just had a good feeling about her. My clients are more concerned with results than with the method. Kelly helped me come up with something that speaks to what they want, regardless of how it happens and without getting into computer details. I expected more of an exchange where I said, “OK, here’s what I do,” and then I would get copy back. Instead, Kelly helped me understand more about the work that I do, and in the process I also became a better editor and copywriter. I was surprised that it was such an engaging process. I went from being unsure of how to present myself to feeling much more confident about what I’m doing and how I’m talking to people.”
Ezra Brooks, Ezra Helps

“Kelly is one of the most talented writers I’ve ever worked with. She’s phenomenal.

“She offers a perspective that’s more than words on a page–she thinks about the big picture. She’s also very easy to work with, always meets her commitments, and brings new and challenging ideas to every project.

“Recently, I asked Kelly to help articulate my firm’s brand and everything we offer in a way that was authentic, that sounded like me. Kelly wrote the whole site as well as much of the positioning content for it.

“She nailed it. It’s exactly what we need to say and how we need to say it. I don’t think anyone could have done a better job. The feedback we’ve gotten from customers and clients has been clear: Her writing really hit the mark and captured our brand.”
Jennifer Benz, Chief Strategist and Founder, Benz Communications

“The solar industry has a hard time communicating benefits.

“We can talk about features and technical data like the manufacturing process and the glass. But we’re so busy talking techno-jargon that the average person doesn’t see the benefits. What people really care about is how much money they’ll save and how it works. We need good people to help us communicate.

“My company had a pool of copywriters at our disposal, but a co-worker told me Kelly was the best. Not only does Kelly really understand the technical aspects of solar, translating them into terms the average person can understand, but she’s also much more than a copywriter. She’s a marketing person who just happens to be a copywriter. She sees the whole picture.

“Kelly’s method was to immerse herself in our industry and in the marketing materials. She came up with some ideas for new marketing programs for our company. And she became a true partner in developing the marketing materials themselves—rather than just doing her one part of it. Her ideas were genuinely helpful, and she was easy to work with.”
Marketing Manager, Solar Industry