More than a Few Words

When you were a kid, having an imaginary friend was harmless, maybe even healthy. But as a business owner? That imaginary friend can tank your marketing. Too many businesses build their strategy around an avatar that looks neat on paper but has nothing to do with the real people who buy from them. In this episode of *More Than a Few Words*, Rachel Allen and I dig into why client avatars often miss the mark and what you can do instead. **Key Insights**• Demographics alone are useless. Age, gender, and job title won’t tell you what keeps someone awake at 3 a.m. Worries and motivations matter more than surface stats.• Your best customers live at the intersection of three groups: the people you want to talk to, the ones you actually attract, and the ones willing to pay. That sweet spot is your marketing home base.• Data flattens people into averages. Great marketing leans into quirks, because quirks are what make your audience pay attention. **Actionable Takeaways**• Swap demographics for psychographics. Go deeper into what your audience values, fears, and hopes for.• Talk to 10 or 20 real people. Forget long surveys. Short, human conversations reveal more than a polished PDF ever will.• Audit your own copy. Ask yourself, “Would I say this sentence out loud to the last customer I spoke with?” If the answer is no, rewrite it.• Bring in an outside perspective. A trusted colleague, a coach, even a tool like ChatGPT can help you see blind spots you can’t catch alone.• Don’t shy away from edges. The quirky details that make your audience unique are the ones that make your marketing memorable. If you’re still writing for your imaginary friend, this conversation is your wake-up call. Stop talking to make-believe customers and start connecting with the real ones who are ready to listen.   About Rachel Allen  Rachel Allen is a fast-thinking, deeply nerdy marketer with broad-ranging experience in for-profit and non-profit sectors. She’s written for some of the biggest (and smallest) names in business, and excels at marketing that's equal parts data-driven and human-centered. Having run a marketing business for 17 years with clients in 21+ countries, Rachel’s written for some of the top names in entrepreneurship, as well as influencers, brick-and-mortar businesses, and non-profits around the world. Her work has contributed directly to high-ROI launches, leaps in audience engagement, industry awards, relationships with top venture capital firms, and national-level honors. Find out more at boltfromthebluecopywriting.com  

We all have closet bullies. Those are clothes that don’t fit, don’t flatter, or just don’t feel right anymore. But we hang on to them anyway, hoping someday they’ll magically work. Every time we open the closet, there they are, reminding us of money wasted or goals unmet. Turns out, my marketing to-do list had a few bullies of its own. Projects I meant to start. Brilliant ideas that just never made it off the page. Every time I saw them, I felt a little guilty. So I did what I did with my closet, I cleaned house. Some ideas were great… for someone else’s business. Off they went. Others? I pushed them a few months out, with a note to myself: if I’m still not ready then, it’s time to let them go for good. And you know what? The minute I cleared out those marketing bullies, I felt lighter. I could actually see the projects that mattered — the ones that fit my business right now. Here’s your takeaway: Clear the clutter. If an idea or project has been hanging around forever, either commit or cut it. Make room for what fits. When you drop the guilt and the “someday” tasks, you’ll have the space — and the energy — for marketing that actually works. So, what’s bullying your marketing list? Maybe it’s time to tell it to hit the road. If you've enjoyed this conversation, if it's prompted an idea or a question, I'd love to hear from you. Hop over to https://morethanafewwords.com/contact.  Drop me a note or better yet, record a quick message. Maybe I'll even include in an upcoming show.  

The conversation began, as many of mine do, with a topic I think we already understand.  This time it was influencer marketing. But before I could even roll my eyes at another mention of hashtags and brand deals, the discussion took a sharp turn toward something far more interesting: trust, storytelling, and what it really means to build relationships in a digital world that doesn’t trust much anymore. That shift came courtesy of Sarah Stahl, co-founder of Market Movers. She’s knee-deep in the world where AI, marketing, and hospitality overlap—a place where the glossy brand voice is fading fast, and authentic creators are taking the spotlight. Listening to her, I realized this isn’t just about influencers. It’s about how we all show up as marketers. What Makes a Good Creator Partnership Sarah’s approach to creators feels refreshingly human. She doesn’t chase follower counts; she looks for people who know how to build relationships. She compares choosing a creator to hiring an employee—sometimes you think you’ve found “the one,” and then day one tells a different story. That hit home for me. I’ve hired those “perfect” people before too, only to realize the chemistry wasn’t there. Her advice? Start small, watch how they work, and build from there. The Power of Storytelling We talked about how hard it is to sell something you can’t touch or taste online. Think about restaurants—how do you market flavor through a screen? The best creators don’t just post photos; they tell stories that make people feel the experience. Sarah shared a beautiful story about one of her creators who found healing while working on a campaign. That moment of real emotion became part of the brand story—and honestly, that’s the kind of marketing that stays with people. When Things Go Sideways At some point, every brand faces it: a creator says something that doesn’t quite fit. My instinct as a business owner is to cringe, but Sarah made me pause. “Perfection breeds mistrust,” she said. And she’s right. People don’t expect flawless; they expect real. When something uncomfortable happens, it’s an opportunity to step into the conversation—not hide from it. The New Rules of Visibility Sarah also made a point that stopped me in my tracks. AI tools like ChatGPT aren’t pulling most of their information from your shiny website—they’re pulling from stories. Creator content, real conversations, reviews. If your brand isn’t in that mix, you’re invisible. That’s a wake-up call for every business owner clinging to the “if we build it, they will come” mindset. Key Takeaways • Build trust first. Pick creators who care more about their audience than their follower count.• Find your storytellers. The ones who can make your product or service feel real.• Don’t panic over imperfection. Use it as a chance to connect, not retreat.• Invest in the relationship. The best results come from creators who grow with you.• Stay part of the conversation. The future of search and AI belongs to brands that keep showing up authentically. Influencer marketing isn’t about trends or chasing the next viral post. It’s about people—real voices telling real stories. And if you treat it that way, marketing starts to feel a whole lot less like work and a whole lot more like a conversation. And if that sounds a little too simple—good. Because simple usually works.   About Sarah Stahl Sarah Stahl, co-founder of Market Movers lives at the intersection of AI marketing and hospitality. If you’ve ever wondered how to turn “just another rental” into a brand guests remember (and actually book direct), that’s my sweet spot. I’m obsessed with helping property owners cut through the noise, escape OTA dependence, and build systems that truly sell themselves. These days, I’m 100% focused on agentic search and direct booking strategies because the future of hospitality marketing isn’t about chasing algorithms, it’s about building brands guests can’t forget. Always creative, always candid—that’s me.

Sometimes, early success can fool you into thinking you’ve built the perfect business. That’s what happened to Danny Kirk, who launched a software-as-a-service company right after finishing a music degree. He and his co-founder found a great niche, landed a $4,500 sale on a $300 MVP, and took off fast. The catch? Neither of them could actually build the product beyond that first version. They were great at selling and marketing but never filled their technical gap — and that’s what cost them. Five years later, they sold the business, while a competitor in the same space sold to Oracle for $200 million. Same idea, different outcome. Here’s what Danny learned: Find your missing piece early. Whether it’s a technical co-founder, a contractor, or even AI tools to bridge the gap, make sure every critical skill is covered before you scale. Build a team that makes you uncomfortable. The best collaborators are the ones who spot problems you don’t want to see and tell you the truth, even when it stings. Reward people who speak up. Create systems or incentives that encourage team members to flag issues — big or small — before they turn into disasters. As Danny put it, success isn’t about doing everything yourself. It’s about knowing what you can’t do,  and finding the right people (or tools) to fill that gap. About Danny Kirk Danny Kirk is a classically trained trumpet player, turned entrepreneur and small business owner. He’s started and grown multiple companies over the past decade, and now does growth marketing at ReddiReach for startups and SMBs, 500+ and counting.  Learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpkirk/  https://reddireach.com/   Let's make this a conversation.   Leave a comment or voice message with a question, marketing tip or idea for an upcoming show. 

Building custom GPTs for real work, not just party tricks is tricky. That's why I invited Len Ward to sit in my guest chair.  He's a former Wall Street pro turned agency builder, now leading Comexis, and he has the scars to prove what works and what does not. We covered where these tools shine, where they trip you up, and how to keep them sounding like you, not a committee of the internet. Key points The ideaBuild a focused GPT that acts like a virtual team member. Feed it your processes, products, locations, and goals so it can help with tasks like onboarding, strategy, and client communication. What can go wrongTrusting outputs without review, letting the model drift from your voice over time, and uploading sensitive info or leaving training on so your data fuels everyone else’s bot. What we would do differentlyLock down privacy settings, create prompt playbooks, retrain with fresh voice samples on a set schedule, and keep humans in the loop for approval. What went wrong I learned the hard way that voice drifts. I had the GPT read my work, it started strong, then wandered off into generic advice land. Len called out why. If we keep feeding broad material and never course correct, the model forgets our tone. Another stumble is data carelessness. Uploading client details or financials, even as examples, can create risk. One more trap is blind faith. These tools are fast, not flawless. They still need a final pass from human eyes. Actionable takeaways for women running the show Scope the jobName one clear role for each GPT, such as Onboarding Coordinator or Content Draft Assistant. Narrow focus leads to better answers. Set privacy controlsIn settings, turn off training on your data. Do not upload personal or financial info. If you must, scrub names and use your own codes. Build a prompt playbookAsk the GPT to write the top ten prompts it responds to best. Save them and start sessions with those prompts to keep work on track. Refresh the voiceEvery few weeks, feed three to five recent posts, emails, or show notes and say, learn this voice again. Then ask for a short style checklist it must follow. Require a human checkBefore anything goes public, the content owner signs off. Think of GPT as the fast assistant, you are the editor in chief. Collect and centralize contentKeep a clean library in Drive or Dropbox. Use clear folders for articles, FAQs, product sheets, and case studies. These become your training set. Answer real questionsWatch chatbot logs or support tickets. Turn every repeated question into a page, a post, or a short video. If your site does not solve a problem as fast as ChatGPT, visitors leave. Forget silver bulletsOld school SEO tricks are not the ticket. Strong brands with deep, helpful content win more often in AI answers. Keep writing, keep linking, keep it useful. Why this matters now We are shifting from search and retrieve to solve my problem. Custom GPTs, used wisely, can speed that shift inside your business, from onboarding to content to customer care. Used carelessly, they dilute your voice and increase risk. The good news is the fix is simple habits, not magic. About Len Ward Len Ward is a former Wall Street institutional equities professional, agency builder, and now Managing Partner of Commexis—an AI consulting firm helping businesses replace outdated marketing with intelligent systems that think. With over two decades of experience spanning finance, e-commerce, and digital marketing, Len brings a rare perspective on disruption cycles. He believes traditional agencies are finished and that AI is the operating system for the next decade of business. Known for his straight talk and contrarian edge, Len makes AI real, actionable, and impossible to ignore. Visit our website for a free consultation on AI.  https://www.Commexis.com