Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Business Growth & Entrepreneur Stories

A technically successful AEC project can still turn into a financial disappointment when profits quietly fade and cash flow stalls. Today’s guest, Marine veteran and senior project controls leader Percy M. Williams has spent over 20 years on the financial front lines of architecture, engineering, and construction projects from sub-$10,000 jobs to $100+ million programs. […]

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Pain, loss, and unanswered questions about God can leave people feeling stuck, bitter, and far from hope. Guest author Kari Dumouchel-Parker has walked through decades of both mountaintop beauty and real-life trauma, and she’s turned those experiences into powerful stories designed to help readers heal. Drawing from over 30 years of backpacking in the Smoky […]

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Business owners don’t struggle because of a lack of online opportunities; they struggle because they’re overwhelmed by options, stuck in “learning mode,” and unsure which path will actually produce a reliable income stream. Today’s guest, Stephen Somers, co-founder of Marketplace Superheroes, has helped over 10,000 students build real e-commerce income using Amazon and now the […]

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Amy Hawk explains how a story written for her niece became a children's fantasy about courage, independence, friendship, and believing in yourself. She began writing The Tales of Rumpus in 1998 because she wanted her niece to have a strong female hero who did not wait to be rescued. Rather than outlining everything, Amy developed her characters, let their personalities guide the story, and even changed the ending as the adventure evolved. She revisited the manuscript roughly every decade and found that its themes continued to feel relevant. Publishing required collaboration with illustrators, compromises on some visual details, and persistence with the elements she considered essential. She also discovered that self-publishing shifts much of the difficult promotional work onto the author, including interviews, signings, and finding trustworthy marketing support. Her most useful takeaway is that meaningful creative work may not be easy, but staying true to the story and continuing forward can make the effort worthwhile.

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Lara McKeithan explains how seed-stage B2B founders can build a focused marketing engine that produces traction before they reach Series A. She typically works with startups that have launched a product, gained initial customers, and now need to scale beyond founder-led sales and marketing. Rather than trying every channel, she recommends selecting a few opportunities with the strongest potential ROI, especially when runway may be only six to twelve months. Her process considers the product, ideal customer profile, competitors, online landscape, crowded channels, and areas where customers can be reached efficiently. She emphasizes close founder collaboration while also encouraging founders to delegate instead of micromanaging every marketing detail. AI is shifting marketing toward strategy, direction, and project management as more execution becomes automated. The key takeaway is to start testing quickly, focus limited resources, and learn from real market response instead of waiting for a perfect plan.

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Callum Kennard explains how businesses can use generative engine optimization to become the brands AI systems cite, recommend, and surface in search results. He describes SEO as the training wheels for GEO, recommending roughly three to four months of SEO traction before pursuing a dedicated AI visibility strategy. Instead of traditional keyword research, GEO focuses on longer prompts, topics, citations, and the sources large language models rely on for answers. Callum recommends starting with a GEO audit to identify target prompts, competitors, citation sources, and industry-specific opportunities. Key measurements include visibility score, average position, sentiment, and citation share across AI-generated answers. He also emphasizes information gain, meaning content should provide authoritative, relevant, and original information competitors cannot easily replicate. The most useful takeaway is to build strong SEO foundations first, then use data-driven GEO tactics to become a preferred source for AI answers.

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Josh Evarts explains how authentic relationships can become a business's strongest competitive advantage in an increasingly technology-driven world. Drawing on 30 years across technology, real estate development, and hospitality, he argues that healthy culture attracts better employees, customers, vendors, and opportunities. His relational leadership approach emphasizes interpersonal connection, curiosity, listening, authenticity, and intentional conversations. Josh warns that social media followers and digital influence can easily be confused with genuine relationships, especially after the disruptions of COVID and AI. At The Vault Cigar Lounge, he built a community where the primary currency was relationship rather than competing with cheaper online cigar prices. He also points to John Wooden's 11 UCLA championships as evidence that sustained results can emerge from deliberately building culture first. The most useful takeaway is to create margin for meaningful conversations because being present, curious, and relational often opens opportunities that strategy alone cannot predict.

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Margaret Mearns-Bass shares how forgiveness and reconciliation can help survivors of abuse and betrayal move from hidden pain toward healing and freedom. Drawing on her own childhood abuse and marital betrayal, she distinguishes forgiveness from reconciliation: one person can forgive, but two people are required to reconcile. She argues that genuine reconciliation also requires the person who caused harm to seek forgiveness with specificity, accountability, and brokenness. Her relationship with her father remained shallow because that repentance never came, while her marriage was restored through her husband's sincere acknowledgment and change. She also describes emotional wounds as capable of affecting physical health and urges people not to dismiss deep pain as mere anger. Writing a letter to her late father helped her confront the past, express forgiveness, and release shame through truth. Her central takeaway is that forgiveness can free one person, but reconciliation requires honest repentance, accountability, and mutual participation.

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Christine Blosdale explains how experts can turn authenticity, clarity, and visibility into greater trust and revenue. She recommends using AI as an assistant that learns your communication style while enhancing rather than replacing your personality. A strong authority foundation starts with a clear website that immediately explains who you are, whom you serve, and how you help. Christine recommends an above-the-fold welcome video, a visible call to action, concise copy, and a simplified set of offers. Testimonials and video reviews provide social proof that strengthens the trustability prospects need before spending money. She also emphasizes answer engine optimization, including FAQ pages that help platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity understand and surface your expertise. The most useful takeaway is to build trust first, make your value obvious, and let every marketing tool reinforce the authentic expert you already are.

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Lisa Apolinski explains how professionals can make their expertise visible to AI while becoming the clear authority clients choose. Her first step is asking an AI what you are known for, then comparing that answer with the reputation you actually want. She recommends making your language clear, consistent, and congruent across LinkedIn, websites, YouTube, and other digital channels. Authority power comes from defining the specific three a.m. problem you solve and expressing what makes your approach uniquely valuable. Lisa also favors soft CTAs that respect the buyer's journey instead of pushing aggressive sales language. In digital marketing, she recommends fast fails, changing one variable at a time, and measuring outcomes such as her own 70 to 80% conversion rate. The most useful takeaway is to intentionally publish the language you want humans and AI to associate with your expertise.

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