How a Book Marketing Expert Stopped Chasing the Wrong Fix
A case study on building a message your business actually runs
on — and why the fix you think you need is almost never the fix
that moves the needle.
Meet Susan Friedmann
As the Founder of Aviva Book Marketing and Publishing… Susan brought enormous expertise and knowledge to her business.
But, as creator of the Authors Influencer Circle (AIC) — a mastermind for non-fiction authors who want to turn their book into authority, audience, and revenue - Susan faced a dillema that she was having a hard time overcoming.
Susan had lots of clients, that she won "one conversation at a time". When people meet her, they love her and want to get her help. But, she just didn't have a consistent way to attract, nurture, and grow at scale.
Her Dillema . . .
Susan had a real business. A real audience. A real signature program. She wasn't starting from scratch but she really needed to know why the pieces (and her efforts) weren't compounding.
Real Business
Established brand with 25 years of credibility in the marketing and publishing space and over 500,000 books sold.
Real Audience
The Book Marketing Mentors Podcast with over 400 episodes that lead non-fiction authors who were seeking help to market their books straight to her website.
Real Program
A signature mastermind — AIC — already built and running with clients who loved it and got results.
Real Problem
The business wasn't scaling. Something upstream was broken.
The Problem She Brought to Me
The Surface-Level Diagnosis
When Susan first joined the Strategic Accelerator, we sat down together and she had a clear theory about what was wrong — and a clear plan she wanted me to help her execute.
I don't have enough AIC members joining regularly
I believe it's because I don't have a dedicated sales page
Help me build the sales page → problem solved
Logical, right? No sales page, not enough sales. That's the obvious math. She was ready to get help building one.
What I Actually Found
Here's the thing. When you are running your business and focusing on delivering results for your clients, it's easy to jump to the first thing you think needs attention to solve your problem and go after it with gusto. But more often than not, that's a recipe for failure (if not slow progress).
What Susan needed was to take a step back and look at the words she chose to use to talk about her business. Were they consistent? Did they resonate with her ideal client? Did they differentiate her and make people want to know more about her work?
Strategic Growth Accelerator
https://uwibusiness.co/sga
Before I let her build anything, I went and looked at how she was already talking about her work — the website, the podcast, the way she introduced AIC, the way she described who it was for.
She wasn't describing her work the same way twice.
The Pattern
The website said one thing. The podcast positioned her differently. AIC was described differently again depending on which resource you landed on.
Three doors that looked like they led to three different businesses.
She didn't need a sales page. She needed a brand message.
Why More Tactics Don't Fix This
More copy doesn't fix it - which version of the message would you use?
More traffic doesn't fix it - they would land on the page and be confused.
A better funnel doesn't fix it - would anyone opt in if they didn't know it was for them?
Important Concept:
You cannot bolt a strong sales page onto a foundation that's saying three different things. The only fix is going back upstream.
Strategic Growth Accelerator
https://uwibusiness.co/sga
What We Actually Built
When Susan joined the Strategic Growth Cafe, the very first thing we built together — before the sales page, before any new content, before anything else — was her Message Formula Blueprint.
The Blueprint is the foundational document her entire business voice now runs on.
Brand Story
Who she serves, the real problem she solves, and the transformation she delivers
One Big Idea
The single sentence that explains her work in a way her audience can repeat back to her
Message Framework
The themes, language, and proof points she returns to in every channel
Voice Inventory
How she sounds, the words she uses, the words she doesn't
Market Reframes
The conventional thinking she challenges and what she replaces it with
Strategic Growth Accelerator
https://uwibusiness.co/sga
What Ultimately Changed
Once the Blueprint was locked in, the rest of the work got dramatically easier. Same business. Completely different clarity.
Website Rewritten
Same business, completely different clarity. Every page now pulling in the same direction. When someone lands on Avivapubs.com -they know within seconds who Susan helps and how she is uniquely qualified.
AIC Sales Page and
Funnel Built
Built on top of a message that was already saying the same thing everywhere else. It could finally do its job attracting, nurturing and converting new members.
Podcast Promotion Sharpened
Same show, same host — but now every episode reinforced the same throughline instead of pulling in different directions.
Substack Channel - Launched
From day one, no identity drift. No "wait, what does she actually do?" moments. Subscribers who became customers from day one.
Where Susan's Business Is Now
The Transformation
Susan's become known for something — instead of being a great practitioner who couldn't quite explain what she did.
And the sales page she originally thought was the answer? It's now doing exactly the job it was built to do.
Susan is no longer guessing where her next AIC member is coming from.
Because the message underneath it is doing its job first.
Growing Her Audience
Consistent, on-message presence across every channel she's in
Masterclasses That Fill
Running masterclasses that sell AIC instead of just teaching
Selling AIC With Confidence
Using the same powerful message across every channel — no more fragmentation
Strategic Growth Accelerator
https://uwibusiness.co/sga