This week thousands of podcasters around the world take part in Podcastathon, a global effort that shines a spotlight on nonprofit organizations doing meaningful work in their communities. For one week, hosts swap their usual topics for stories about causes they care about and invite their listeners to learn more, get involved, or lend support.

This episode is my contribution to that global event, and it gave me the perfect excuse to talk about one of my favorite nonprofits.

Sometimes the hardest part of marketing isn’t getting attention. It’s helping people feel comfortable enough to try something new. That is exactly the challenge when you run a Fringe theater festival.

In this episode, I chatted with Paul Daly, Executive Director of the IF Theatre in Indianapolis. IF Theatre is the home of the Indy Fringe Festival, one of the largest fringe festivals in the world, bringing dozens of performers and hundreds of shows to Mass Ave every summer.

The festival celebrates creativity, experimentation, and the kind of performances you will not see anywhere else. But that same freedom can make newcomers hesitate. When audiences are not quite sure what they are getting into, they may stay home.

Paul shared a simple marketing approach designed to make the experience easier to say yes to.

Takeaways

Give people a path into the experience

• Help people understand what to expect

• Tell the bigger story behind the brand

The lesson here is straightforward. When people feel unsure, they hesitate. When you guide them, they step forward.

And sometimes all it takes is showing them where to start.

We all love a good story. But here is the twist. If you are the hero, you are doing it wrong.

In this conversation, I chatted with John Elbing, creator of the Story Building Method and author of a new book on the topic. We dug into the difference between storytelling and story building. It is not a play on words. It is a shift in perspective that can change how your marketing connects.

John believes storytelling has turned into a coat of paint. Hooks. Tricks. Presentation tips. All fine. But before you polish the story, you need to decide which story you are telling.

And here is the big idea. It is not your story. It is your customer’s.

A few takeaways you can use right away:

• Recognition comes first

• Perception shapes your value

• Projection closes the gap

One of my favorite examples John shared was about lawn care. You can say, “I mow lawns.” Or you can talk about the exhausted homeowner who wants to feel proud of her yard again. Same service. Completely different story.

That is the shift.

When you build your story around your customer’s aspirations, struggles, and trigger moments, your marketing feels less like a pitch and more like a conversation.

And that is when people lean in.

If your message is not landing, maybe it is time to stop being the hero and start being the guide.

I am going to be honest right from the start. This is a rant. A friendly one. But still a rant.

I’m a geek at heart. I love shiny tools, clever plugins, little bits of tech that make my marketing life easier. But lately it feels like some of my favorites have decided to test me. Really test me.

It started with my email marketing platform quietly turning off a third-party API I relied on. Their decision, fine. But maybe a heads up would have been nice. Instead, I spent four months wondering why new subscribers were suspiciously quiet. Turns out, the connection was dead. And I only discovered it while building a completely unrelated page on my website. When I reached out to support, they casually mentioned they don’t use that interface anymore. Terrific.

Then my chatbot decided to hallucinate. I asked it to summarize an interview and create a teaser. Simple request. Except it thanked a guest who wasn’t even in the conversation. Not even close. I have no idea where it found that name. Apparently, creativity is a little too free these days.

And just when I thought I had hit my quota for weird tech behavior, the tool I use to make reels took a detour. This is the tool I trust to pull clean little snippets and generate accurate captions. Instead, it rewrote my perfectly articulate guest into something that sounded like bro speak. She deserved better. I deserved better. The whole episode deserved better.

So yes, this is a rant. But it is also a reminder. No matter how good a tool is, no matter how long you have trusted it, you still need to double check. Tools change without warning. Interfaces break. Technology goes off the rails. And if you are not paying attention, your marketing can end up in a ditch you did not see coming.

Takeaways

Because in marketing, the only thing worse than tech that fails is not noticing it failed.

More than a Few Words - Marketing Conversation 

A bite-sized marketing podcast that cuts through the noise and delivers actionable ideas, with no fluff and no jargon.

If smarter marketing really worked the way the tools promise, we would all be done by lunch. Instead, most days feel like standing in the cereal aisle staring at fifty boxes that all swear they are the healthiest choice.

That is why I sat down with Lisa Raehsler to talk about what to skip when everyone is promising smarter marketing. Lisa is a PPC strategist with more than twenty years in the trenches and the founder of Big Click Co. She spends her days helping businesses sort out what actually works from what just looks shiny.

Paid ads are not plug and play. Between Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and the parade of AI tools promising instant results, it is easy to feel behind before you even start. Lisa reminded me that the problem is not a lack of tools. It is too many tools pretending they know your business better than you do.

Skip the “easy button” marketing.

Start with your basics, not the platform.

Real beats perfect every time.

Most business owners think success means being everywhere. Every platform. Every city. Every zip code.

ABOUT KYLE 

Kyle Bailey has been helping Home Service Businesses increase sales through SEO, Local SEO, Social Media Marketing and Website Conversion for over 15 years. He founded Frontburner Marketing in 2010 to help Home Service business owners tell their story more clearly and help their ideal customers find them and buy from them faster and more often. With more than 30 years of sales experience, he brings deep passion and knowledge of the sales process to each engagement, and knows that every business owner wants one thing from every marketing engagement: more sales! 

Ever notice how being underestimated can light a fire under you? Too young. Too old. Not the right look. The wrong box. It’s frustrating. And it’s also fuel, if you know how to use it.

In this episode, I sat down with Trevor Storm, a student entrepreneur running Media Wolf Marketing while earning his finance degree at Butler University. Yes, you read that right. And no, he’s not waiting for permission.

We talked about what happens when clients look at you sideways and wonder if you can really do the job. Spoiler alert. That doubt can work in your favor.

Here are a few moments that stuck with me.

Say yes, then earn it.

Use what they doubt as your advantage.

The magic lives in the final 5 percent.

If you’ve ever worried that you don’t look experienced enough or polished enough, this conversation is a reminder that credibility isn’t about age or titles. It’s about showing up, doing the work, and finishing strong.

Sometimes the best way to prove them wrong is to simply do the job better than anyone expects.

There was a time when conferences felt a little bit magical. You’d show up, coffee in hand, and before the first session even started, you’d be deep in a hallway conversation that changed how you thought about your work. Those little moments, sitting on the floor near an outlet, laughing over lunch, that’s where the real magic happened.

But somewhere along the way, that magic started to fade. Big events got flashier. More sponsors, more VIP packages, and a lot more “networking opportunities” that felt like thinly disguised sales pitches. It stopped being about connection and started being about clout.

I found myself missing the kind of conversations that left me inspired instead of exhausted. So, with a few fellow podcasters, Lisa Mitchel and Jenn Edds, we started dreaming about something smaller, more human. A gathering for women behind the mic who aren’t chasing followers but chasing meaning.

That’s how Beyond the Mic was born. Not a conference, but a conversation. A cozy afternoon in Indianapolis this March, no panels, no presentations, just 10 or 15 women sharing stories, scars, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

We’ll talk about the messy parts of podcasting, burnout, creativity, community, and how we can keep making something meaningful, one episode at a time.

So if that sounds like your kind of magic, come join the conversation at talkbeyondthemike.com.

Because maybe the best conference isn’t in the ballroom, it’s in the hallway, over coffee, between two people who get it.

Join me for Beyond The Mic in Indianapolis on March 26  - https://talkbeyondthemic.com

You know that feeling when you spend half your day chasing trends, tweaking hashtags, and wondering why your brilliant post is showing up three days late in someone’s feed? Yeah, me too.

That’s why I sat down with Alice Seba, a content marketing pro who’s been helping online publishers turn persuasive content into real revenue for more than twenty years. She’s sold millions of dollars’ worth of content — and she swears the secret isn’t outsmarting the algorithm. It’s out-connecting it.

As Alice put it, “You don’t need the algorithm to notice you if your community does. When you connect, collaborate, and share stories, you build something the algorithm can’t touch — real relationships.”

And that’s the magic. When you stop trying to please the algorithm gods and start showing up for actual humans, you get noticed by the people who really matter — even when the social media winds shift.

Here are a few big takeaways from our chat:

Stop chasing the algorithm. Your business isn’t with code; it’s with people. Spend your energy on conversations — comments, DMs, collaborations — the kind that build real community and loyalty.

Build your own audience. Social platforms change faster than fashion trends, but your email list is forever. Offer something useful, keep it conversational, and land in their inbox where you actually belong.

Make your offers sound human. Ditch the sales pitch. Mention your freebie or toolkit the same way you’d share a good book recommendation with a friend. Helpful, not pushy.

Use social time wisely. Ten intentional minutes beats an hour of doom-scrolling. Pop in, connect, and get out before you start comparing your breakfast to someone else’s curated lifestyle.

When you strip away all the noise, the algorithm might be unpredictable, people aren’t. They remember who shows up, who listens, and who actually cares.

Because no algorithm can replace a genuine connection — and honestly, that’s the best kind of marketing there is.

How do you establish meaningful milestones in your business? For years I treated my business plan like a glorified spreadsheet, a place to park projections and hope the numbers magically pointed me in the right direction. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize a plan without milestones is a lot like taking a road trip without those familiar green highway signs. You may get somewhere eventually, but you will spend a lot of time wondering if you missed your exit three miles back.

The trick is to start with honest, challenging and absolutely measurable goals. I learned this the hard way. In one of my earliest ventures, I confidently announced we were going to grow. That was it. Just grow. Predictably, no one knew what that meant, least of all me. Was I talking about five new clients or fifty? Without specifics, we drifted instead of charging ahead.

Once I began treating my goals like real mile markers, things changed. I set targets I could count, track, and celebrate. I tied them to timelines that forced me to make decisions instead of waiting for the perfect moment. Suddenly the business plan felt less like homework and more like a map with clear directions and a few helpful rest stops along the way.

Those measurable markers shape your timelines, clarify who is responsible for what, and give your budget a backbone. They turn vague intentions into a plan you can follow.

So here is my question for you. How do you set milestones that keep your business moving in the right direction?

When was the last time you were pitch slapped? You know what I mean — you comment on someone’s post, and suddenly your inbox is full of “personalized” pitches that feel anything but personal. In this episode, I chatted with Billy Sammons of Live Local Marketing, who believes it’s time to push back against the noise and get back to what actually works: real, human connections.

Billy’s been building local marketing communities for 15 years, and his message is refreshingly simple — relationships still matter.

Here’s what stood out from our conversation:

Billy’s reminder is a good one: You don’t have to go viral to be valuable. Sometimes the best marketing starts with a handshake and a conversation.

About Billy Sammons

With 15 years of experience, Billy teaches proven strategies—like filming video commercials with local business owners—that put you in front of the right people, build stronger relationships, and generate long-term clients. His goal is to help others replicate what works, saving time and replacing cold leads with warm growth.”

LEARN MORE

 https://www.livelocalwarmmarketing.com

Try the 5 day Challenge and see for yourself if warm marketing is the right way to grow your business. I want to give something for free, a trial run, which is a quick and easy way to try Warm Marketing for themselves.