StoryPlan
What’s Your StoryPlan?
Your StoryPlan is the blueprint for how your business goes to market and serves customers. It’s your company’s source of truth—the place where your brand messages, strategic plans, and operating systems come together to drive alignment, efficiency, and growth. It’s the AI-powered playbook that captures your Story (who you are, what you stand for, and how you create value) and your Plan (where you want to go, and how you will get there, how you operate, and how you measure success) – all in one organized hub.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell.”
Seth Godin
You Need a Great STORY
Your BRAND STORY is the critical narrative your business needs to attract, persuade, convert, and retain customers. It answers why you exist, what problems you solve, and what makes you different. This isn’t fluffy marketing speak; it’s the most important part of generating leads, closing sales, and increasing revenue.
Think you have a great story?
- Are you crystal clear on your mission, vision, values, and brand promise—and does your team live them every day?
- Do your customers and employees know exactly what you stand for and where your business is headed?
- Can every member of your team clearly and consistently explain who you serve, what you do, and why you’re different?
- Have you documented your brand story, positioning, and messaging architecture in one place your whole company can use?
- Do you have a unique sales offer and customer experience that sets you apart from the competition?
- Have you mapped your ideal customer’s journey, emotions, and pain points so your messaging truly resonates?
- Are your content themes and communication pillars consistent across every platform and campaign?
- Do you use AI to analyze competitor brand stories and customer reviews to sharpen your positioning and highlight your strengths?
If you answered “no” to any of these, your business story isn’t fully defined or aligned—and you’re leaving clarity, confidence, and conversion on the table.
Elements of Your Story
Brand Story
The narrative that explains why you exist, what makes you different, and what you promise customers, creating emotional connection and market differentiation.
Ideal Customer Profile
A detailed description of your perfect customer including demographics, psychographics, business characteristics, decision-making process, and buying behaviors so you can target marketing efforts effectively.
Brand Promise
The specific commitment you make to every customer that defines their expected experience and holds your team accountable to consistent delivery.
Customer Pain Points
A documented list of the specific problems, frustrations, and challenges your ideal customers face that your product or service solves, ensuring your messaging speaks directly to their needs.
Customer Empathy Map
A framework capturing what your ideal customer thinks, feels, sees, hears, says, and does, helping you understand their perspective and craft messaging that truly resonates.
Content Pillars
The 3-5 core themes or topics your brand consistently talks about that reinforce your expertise and positioning.
Company Culture Statement
A description of the environment, behaviors, and characteristics that define what it’s like to work at your company and who thrives there.
Competitive Differentiation Map
A clear breakdown of how you stack up against competitors across key factors, showing your unique strengths and where you intentionally choose to be different.
Customer Success Stories
Documented examples of real customer transformations that prove your value and provide social proof for prospects.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Compiled answers to common questions prospects and customers ask, ensuring consistent responses and reducing repetitive inquiries.
Elevator Pitch
A compelling 30-second explanation of what you do and for whom, enabling anyone on your team to clearly articulate your business.
Mission and Vision
Concise declarations of your purpose (mission) and aspirational future (vision) that guide decision-making and align your team.
Value Proposition
A clear statement of the unique value you deliver that competitors don’t, answering why customers should choose you.
Core Values
The 3-5 non-negotiable principles that define your culture and guide behavior, ensuring everyone makes decisions consistent with who you are as a company.
“Why We’re Different” Statement
A clear articulation of your unique approach, methodology, or philosophy that separates you from everyone else in your market.
Customer Transformation Story
The before-and-after narrative showing how customers’ lives or businesses improve through working with you, creating aspirational connection.
“Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one or a very few pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.”
Richard Rumelt
You Need a Smart PLAN
Your STRATEGIC PLAN is more than the playbook and operational blueprint that creates accountability and consistency for your business. It is the key to your longterm growth and success. It documents where you play and how you win. It defines your processes, standards, roles, rules, and metrics.
Without a documented plan, leadership is impossible and growth just creates more chaos. On the other hand, when your plan is simple, clear, and documented, anyone can step in and get the job done right.
- Do you have a clear, written vision of what success looks like for your business in 3–5 years?
- Are your annual goals, quarterly priorities, and KPIs documented and visible to everyone who needs to see them?
- Do you have a strategic roadmap that connects your vision to measurable action plans?
- Does every leader on your team know what the top priorities are right now—and what’s most important next?
- Are you regularly using AI to analyze data, uncover trends, and identify new growth opportunities or bottlenecks?
- Do you have scorecards and dashboards that track performance in real time?
- Are your team meetings and reviews focused on solving problems or just sharing updates?
- Do you update your plan quarterly based on data, lessons learned, and changing market conditions—or are you winging it?
If you don’t have a clear, living strategic plan that everyone can see, your business is operating on intuition instead of intention.
Elements of Your Plan
SWOT Analysis
An objective assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats guiding your decision-making.
Vision Statement
A clear roadmap defining your goals, priorities, and key initiatives for the next 1-3 years so everyone knows where the business is headed.
Go To Market Strategy
Your plan for attracting, converting, and retaining customers—including offers, channels, and messaging.
Strategic Objectives
High-level, long-term goals that align with your vision and define where you’re going as a company.
Key Initiatives
The handful of big, high-impact projects that will drive growth and transformation.
Growth Levers
The primary activities (marketing, sales, partnerships, product innovation, etc.) that will expand revenue and impact.
Business Model Canvas
A visual summary of how your company creates, delivers, and captures value.
Marketing Plan
Your plan for attracting, engaging, and converting customers through specific channels, campaigns, and content.
Job Descriptions
Clear definitions of roles, responsibilities, and success metrics for each position so employees know what’s expected.
Annual Goals & KPIs
Specific, measurable outcomes you commit to achieving this year, including the leading and lagging performance indicators for success.
Lead Magnets
Free, high-value resources (ebooks, templates, assessments, toolkits) that you offer in exchange for contact information, helping you build your email list while providing immediate value to prospects.
Cash Flow Forecast
A month-by-month projection of money coming in and going out of your business, ensuring you have adequate cash reserves and can anticipate potential shortfalls before they become crises.
Team Accountability Chart
Defines roles, responsibilities, and ownership for each function, ensuring clarity in execution.
“A strategic plan turns ambition into alignment and codifies how you win. Everything else requires leadership and execution.”
John Waddy
You Need a Good SYSTEM
Your STRATEGIC PLAN is more than the playbook and operational blueprint that creates accountability and consistency for your business. It is the key to your longterm growth and success. It documents where you play and how you win. It defines your processes, standards, roles, rules, and metrics.
Without a documented plan, leadership is impossible and growth just creates more chaos. On the other hand, when your plan is simple, clear, and documented, anyone can step in and get the job done right.
- Have you mapped and documented your core business processes from marketing to delivery?
- Does your team consistently follow standard operating procedures (SOPs)—or does everyone do things their own way?
- Could someone new join your team and quickly learn how your business runs without asking you for help?
- Are your roles and responsibilities clearly defined and linked to measurable outcomes?
- Do you have a central hub or intranet where employees can find every process, policy, and playbook?
- Have you identified which repetitive tasks could be automated or streamlined with AI to save time and reduce errors?
- Do you review your operational performance metrics regularly and make data-driven improvements?
- Is your business built on systems that can scale—or on people who are stretched to their limits?
If you rely on memory or heroics instead of systems, your business can’t scale and you’ll stay stuck in constant firefighting mode.
Elements of Your System
Core Process Map
A visual map of your company’s key processes—from marketing to customer service—defining how work gets done.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Documented processes for key business functions so work gets done consistently regardless of who’s doing it.
Quarterly Rocks (EOS)
The 3-7 most important priorities for the quarter that will move your business forward, clearly assigned with completion dates to ensure focused execution on what matters most.
Project Management System
A platform for working ON your business (creating or improving systems and processes) and working IN it (tracking work, deadlines, and assignments) – all aligned with your strategic priorities.
Employee Onboarding Playbooks
Training materials that orient new employees, ensuring consistent understanding of the company’s story, systems, and expectations.
Tech Stack Inventory
A catalog of all hardware, software tools, and platforms used—clarifying contracts, costs, purpose, integrations, and ownership.
Automation Library
A collection of automated workflows powered by AI or software that streamline repetitive processes.
KPI Dashboard
The key metrics that measure business health and progress, tracked regularly so you can make data-driven decisions.
Lead Gen System
A documented process for attracting and capturing qualified prospects through specific channels, offers, and follow-up sequences that consistently fills your pipeline with potential customers.
Lead Magnets
Free, high-value resources (ebooks, templates, assessments, toolkits) that you offer in exchange for contact information, helping you build your email list while providing immediate value to prospects.
Sales Process
Step-by-step guide for moving prospects from initial contact to closed deal, ensuring consistent approach and results.
Sales Forecast
A projected revenue plan by month, quarter, and year that estimates expected sales based on pipeline, conversion rates, and market conditions, helping you set realistic targets and allocate resources.
Cash Flow Forecast
A month-by-month projection of money coming in and going out of your business, ensuring you have adequate cash reserves and can anticipate potential shortfalls before they become crises.
Training Library
AI-assisted learning resources and videos that reinforce skill development and consistent execution.
Meeting Rhythms
A defined cadence (annual, quarterly, weekly) for reviewing strategy, measuring progress, and making adjustments.
Meeting Templates
AI-powered agendas, recaps, and accountability notes that maintain focus and alignment.
Crisis & Contingency Plans
Documented protocols for handling emergencies, system failures, or unexpected disruptions.
StoryPlan Intranet Hub
Your internal digital HQ that houses all StoryPlan materials—stories, plans, SOPs, and playbooks—accessible to your team.
Continuous Improvement System
A structured feedback loop for identifying inefficiencies, gathering ideas, and implementing operational upgrades.
“A strategic plan turns ambition into alignment and codifies how you win. Everything else requires leadership and execution.”
John Waddy
Why You Need a StoryPlan
When your people can see the bigger picture, understand their role in it, and access the playbooks and tools they need to succeed, your business runs smoother, scales faster, and delivers a more consistent customer experience. Building your StoryPlan will transform chaos into clarity and turn your business into a high-performance machine.
- COMMUNICATING WHAT MATTERS
Your employees want to follow a leader who provides clarity and direction. True leadership means codifying and communicating your vision, values, and expectations – which is why you need a StoryPlan. - PREPARING TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS
When it comes time to sell, a StoryPlan becomes one of your most valuable assets. It documents your business model, brand, systems, and culture—proving to buyers that the company can thrive without you, which leads to faster due diligence, higher valuations, and a smoother transition. - ONBOARDING NEW EMPLOYEES
A StoryPlan transforms onboarding from a chaotic process into a seamless experience. By housing your company vision, values, brand story, SOPs, and expectations in one accessible hub, new hires become productive and aligned faster, without constant handholding from managers. - SCALING OPERATIONS
Scaling a business requires clarity and repeatability—and that’s exactly what a StoryPlan delivers. It codifies your processes, assigns accountability, and removes bottlenecks so the business can grow without depending solely on the founder. - ALIGNING LEADERSHIP & TEAMS
When everyone understands where the company is going, execution becomes effortless. A StoryPlan visualizes your strategic plan, KPIs, and quarterly priorities, turning alignment and accountability into everyday habits across departments. - BUILDING A STRONGER BRAND (OR WEBSITE)
Great brands are built on consistency—and your StoryPlan makes that possible. It captures your positioning, messaging, and visual identity in one place, ensuring your marketing and communications speak with one clear, unified voice. - MARKETING & SALES ENABLEMENT
Your StoryPlan unites sales and marketing around a single, compelling story. By housing buyer personas, value propositions, lead magnets, and sales scripts in one hub, every team member communicates with clarity and confidence at every stage of the customer journey. - TRAINING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
A StoryPlan creates clarity around what great performance looks like. With job descriptions, success metrics, and training materials all in one hub, employees understand their roles and how to grow into excellence. - M&A & PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Whether you’re merging, acquiring, or forming partnerships, your StoryPlan helps make integration seamless. It showcases your brand assets, organizational structure, and cultural DNA, reducing confusion and accelerating collaboration between entities. - CONTINUITY & SUCCESSION PLANNING
A StoryPlan ensures your company keeps running smoothly no matter what happens. By codifying processes, relationships, and logins, you eliminate key-person risk and preserve institutional knowledge—protecting your business from disruption.
Clarify
Use AI to brainstorm with your team and think through every aspect of your business from sales and marketing to finance and operations.
Codify
Turn brainstorming insights into action by creating processes, checklists, job descriptions, and KPI reports so your team knows what to do.
Communicate
Centralize your most important goals, priorities, tools, and documents in an intranet so everyone follows the rules and improves the roadmap.
What is a StoryPlan?
To transform your business from good to great, you need to use AI tools like Claude to create your StoryPlan—the living blueprint, playbook, and roadmap for your business.
Artificial Intelligence
The challenge for most entrepreneurs BEFORE AI was they could not articulate and write up everything stuck in their head. At StoryPlan AI, we teach business owners how to use AI to turn scattered ideas, incomplete processes, and one-off ideas into a clear, actionable plans your entire team can rally around.
Clarify, Codify & Communicate
If you are ready to clarify and codify your brand story, business strategy, internal processes, and more, we can help. It’s time to go from a culture of “we’ll figure it out” to a system of simplicity, accountability, and execution.
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