Rev & Reach by PopSpeed®

Your social followers aren’t yours. Your email list is. In this episode, Lori Jo Vest explains why email should never be deprioritized, how to choose a platform that keeps you out of
the spam folder, and how to balance newsletters with one-topic promos. She also shares the sending cadence PopSpeed  recommends for most small businesses.

Short and sweet: if you don’t have a list yet, start one today.

00:55 – Lori makes the case for email: you own your list, but you don’t own your social followers. Email is an asset you control, not one gated by an algorithm.

01:26 – Every campaign PopSpeed sends to a client list produces a measurable spike in clicks, replies, donations and bookings. PopSpeed’s own list started with 41 people.

02:00 – Why PopSpeed works in Constant Contact and Mailchimp, and how both platforms authenticate sender identity to cut down on emails landing in spam or getting flagged as phishing.

03:10 – A cautionary tale: a client’s list, moved from an internal email system, got marked as spam and Constant Contact shut down the send. The fix was a line at the top of the email explaining why recipients were getting it and how to unsubscribe.

04:45 – Why a spam flag is hard to shake, and why sending promotional email from your internal system is worth rethinking.

05:50 – Newsletters build relationship and trust over time. One-topic promos drive a specific action. The best practice is to mix them.

08:15 – Cadence: one email per week is the ceiling. One to two a month is more typical for
a small business. And always ask readers to share.

• “You own your list. You do not own your social followers.”
• “The list is a demand lever, not just a newsletter.”
• “An email list isn’t a broadcast tool; it’s a revenue tool.”
• “Good advice for free is what develops relationships that lead to business.”
• “Help as many people as you can.”

• Start your list today. Size doesn’t matter at the start. PopSpeed’s list began with 41 people, and every one was a meaningful, valuable contact.
• Use a dedicated email platform. Constant Contact and Mailchimp authenticate
  your sender identity, which helps keep your emails out of spam and makes you look
  more credible.
• Tell people why they’re hearing from you. When you move a list to a new platform, add a line at the top explaining why they’re receiving the email and how to
  unsubscribe.
• Don’t just promote. Fill your newsletter with helpful, useful content, and link to
  deeper resources like a podcast episode.
• Save one-topic promos for one action. Use them for a sale, a webinar sign-up or a
  limited offer.
• Keep your cadence in check. One email per week is the ceiling. One to two a month is more typical for a small business.
• This week’s challenge. Add a line to your next email asking readers to share it with
  anyone who could benefit.

Lori Jo Vest

[00:05] Hello! Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Rev and Reach, where
those of us at PopSpeed Digital share our secrets for success and the things that we do to
get results for our marketing clients. This episode is called “Build Your List, Save Your
Business,” and what we’re talking about is why your email list should never be deprioritized. Basically, you own your list. You do not own your social followers. You do not own a lot of the properties that we use for marketing. Your email, however, is yours. Unlike social platforms, your email is an asset that you control, not one that is gated by an algorithm. What we see with our clients — and we do a lot of emails. We do newsletters. We do promotion of events. We do fundraising through email. We do all kinds of things on mail, and there is a direct correlation every time between the sends and the action of our prospects and our current customers. Every single campaign that we send to a client list produces a measurable spike in clicks, replies, donations, bookings. The list is a demand lever, not just a newsletter. An email list isn’t a broadcast tool; it’s a revenue tool. And if you don’t have a list, start one today. When we started PopSpeed, I think we had 41 people on our list. That’s okay. Those 41 people were meaningful, valuable contacts for us. One of the things that you want to think about is what platform you would use for your email. We are big on Constant Contact because we are an agency partner with them, and we are also big on Mailchimp because we work in Mailchimp for some of our clients that had a pre-existing email setup that we kind of fell into and started managing for them. Both platforms are fantastic in that they authenticate the sender identity in ways that cut down on emails landing in spam or getting flagged as phishing, by verifying the authenticity of the user’s emails. You won’t get flagged if you use either of these two platforms, and I’ll tell you why.

They are so particular about the lists that they maintain for you. I’ll tell you a story. We were working for Brain Cancer Center for a while, and they decided to start doing email. They took the list off of their internal email system — they were part of a large healthcare system — and they gave it to me, and I put it on Constant Contact. They had permission to email that list. Unfortunately, because the email looked different to them, a lot of people saw it come through and weren’t real sure. They marked it as spam. Constant Contact shut down the send within maybe 1,000 people, and I had to call and beg them to allow us to continue. And the guy said, “Well, you know, this is normal. This happens when you move your email list from an internal email provider, something inside your company, to a platform like Constant Contact or Mailchimp.” He suggested that we add a little line to the top of all of our emails that says, “You are receiving this email as a member of our community. If you would like to unsubscribe, scroll to the bottom, and there’s a button that makes it really easy,” or something like that. We put that on the top of the email, we resent it, and it was fine. But they are picky, and honestly, they need to be picky, because as a company that does email, they need to make sure that their reputation is solid. One of the ways they do that — Mailchimp automatically scans campaigns to catch likely abuse before it even goes out, and Constant Contact runs permission-based mailing with great unsubscribe tools, domain authentication, which is huge, and two-factor authentication to protect contact data. Those kinds of things are really important, and security isn’t just IT hygiene.

[03:10] If you get flagged as a spam-sending email, it’s really hard to get that credibility
back in the email system, because you’ll get labeled in all kinds of internal systems because
you were flagged as spam by the larger ecosystem. So it’s something to think about. If
you’re using your current internal email to send promotional emails to your customer and
prospect base, rethink that and consider going with Mailchimp or Constant Contact for
sendability and for credibility. It makes you look more credible, and it actually is more
credible, because you’ve got systems in place at those two email platforms that make sure
the things that you’re doing are not going to get you tagged. So something to think about:
consider going with Constant Contact or Mailchimp. Now let’s talk about newsletters versus
one-topic promotions. What we say is they both work, but they do different jobs. For
example, a newsletter — we do a lot of those. One we do is for a grief support group that
we manage digital marketing for. We send an e-newsletter out every month. There’s an
address from the director of the group that kind of introduces it, and there’s her photo. So there’s a real personal touch to it, and it builds relationship and trust over time and keeps you top of mind in between customer and prospect contacts. It’s one of those things that we
really recommend, because it’s a way of keeping in touch and providing valuable content.
You don’t just want to promote, promote, promote in your newsletter. You want to make sure that you’re providing good content that helps them. For example, we will pull a valuable bit of information out of this podcast, drop that into a story in our monthly newsletter, and add a link that goes to the episode we’re pulling from. That allows people to read it and see great information, or read it, see great information and go deeper by clicking on the link and listening to the whole episode. Those are the kinds of things that you want to do with a newsletter. The other option is one-topic promos, and we do a lot of those as well. Those drive a specific action. It’s a sale. It’s a webinar sign-up. It’s a limited offer. It’s a particular one-topic thing. The best practice is to mix those up a little bit. Maybe you have a newsletter that comes out every month, and then when you have a special promotion or something really unusual, new or different to say, you send out a one-topic promotion. Those are the kinds of things that you can send to your clients. It’s not hard to figure out what to say, because every single day in your business, you are creating content.
The things that you do for your clients and the way that you do it can be used to create helpful, useful information, and that is what you want to send with your email, just like it’s what you want to use on social media. Helpful, useful information causes people to come to you, see you as credible, know they can trust you, and also follow your advice. And good advice for free is what develops relationships that lead to business. It’s just how it works.

The last thing I want to touch on here is cadence. One email per week is the ceiling we recommend for most small businesses. More than that, and you’re going to start getting unsubscribes. You’re going to start getting spam complaints, because we all get too many emails. Make sure yours is valuable, and make sure yours comes at a cadence that makes sense for your prospect or customer. The fix for cadence anxiety, if you think that you’re sending too many, isn’t to send less. It’s making sure that each send is funny, it’s useful, it’s valuable. That’s the kind of information that you want to send, and don’t send it every two or three days. Nobody wants that. One email per week is the top limit for what you want to
send.

[09:07] We send one email a month, but we also do a podcast. We’re also very heavy on social media. If we have something special to say, we’ll send an extra. But maybe two a month is what I would recommend for a small business. One a week is a high-end limit. That’s the top of what you want to do. One to two a month is really more typical, and that will get you the results. And I’m telling you, every time we send an email out on behalf of a client, we bring action. It causes clicks to their website, blogs to be read, downloads and downloads of materials that you’ve put up, lead magnets. And I always encourage people to
share the email. Put a little line in there that says, “If you know anyone that can benefit from what we’re sharing, please share this with them, because we want to help as many people as we can.” And that should be what you’re trying to do with your email: help as many people as you can. So that’s what I’ve got for you today. Short and sweet. Email is really important. If you’re not doing it yet, start doing it, even if your list is small. Again, I’m Lori Jo Vest with PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC. We’re located in Troy, Michigan, and we do this podcast to help you improve your digital marketing to get more ROI. Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you again in a few weeks.

All-digital-all-the-time isn’t always the best marketing move. In this episode, Lori talks with Nicole Lapointe of GatherPointe about why in-person events still deliver, how to figure out what your audience actually wants, why every event needs a mission statement, how to pick (or skip) speakers, free vs. ticketed events, and whether the gala is dead or just wearing capris now.

Host: Lori Jo Vest, PopSpeed Digital Marketing
Guest: Nicole Lapointe, Founder, GatherPointe (corporate event agency)
Runtime: ~32 minutes

Guest: Nicole Lapointe, GatherPointe | Host: Lori Jo Vest, PopSpeed Digital Marketing

Lori Jo Vest  (0:09)

Hello, everybody! Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Rev & Reach, where PopSpeed Digital Marketing pulls back the curtain and shares what we do to help our customers and clients get ROI from their digital marketing efforts. Today we’re going to dig into something that’s not digital, because all-digital-all-the-time might not be your best option. In-person events are still a really good thing, and I pulled some data before we started: 37% of in-person event marketers say in-person delivers the highest ROI of any marketing channel, and trade shows specifically deliver about $20.98 for every $1 spent. Crazy, right? And 80% of organizations say they see a lot of ROI from virtual events too — so ROI might be measured differently depending on what you’re doing, but events and in-person connection are still really important in marketing. Today my guest is Nicole Lapointe from GatherPointe, and we’re going to talk about the value of getting together in person instead of doing everything virtual. So, hi Nicole — tell everybody about yourself.

Nicole Lapointe  (1:39)

Hi, thanks for having me. My name is Nicole Lapointe and I own GatherPointe. We’re a corporate event agency, and we help clients plan in-person events — that’s what we do. We like to say we’re an extension of the team, so the client can work on high-level things while we do the dirty work: logistics, speaker relations, sponsor relations. And we do it all with a smile and a white-glove attitude.

Lori Jo Vest  (2:12)

Love that. So, Nicole, in a world of Zoom, livestreams, and DMs, why do people still show up for live events?

Nicole Lapointe  (2:22)

I think COVID really terrified people. Live events aren’t getting budget cuts — budgets might get a little smaller, but nobody has actually cut the budget for live events. There are still plenty of trade shows, conferences, book launches, and everyone still wants to be in person. I think it happened because everyone thought, “Never again am I going to be so isolated from the world, unable to network or do face-to-face business.”

Lori Jo Vest  (3:04)

Yep. I like to say we’re biological beings pretending to be intellectual beings. As biological beings, we’re drawn to connection, and seeing each other in person is such a stronger connection than seeing each other on a computer.

Nicole Lapointe  (3:26)

I agree.

Lori Jo Vest  (3:27)

Huge, absolutely. I was on a call maybe 20 years ago — I’ll never forget it. The guy said, “Think about five people you talked to yesterday. Give me a list.” I was like, sure, whatever. But he made us actually write it, gave us five minutes. His point was: your list would most likely be 100% people you knew *in person* — not people you’d only talked to on the phone, not a vendor who sent you a proposal but you never met, but the person at the front desk, the security guard who said good morning. You remember those people. His point: as a sales rep, you can call people all day, but if you never meet them in person, you don’t make the same depth of connection.

Nicole Lapointe  (4:42)

Yeah.

Lori Jo Vest  (4:43)

And you’ll be a lot easier to forget. So true. It’s crazy. So virtual fatigue has really changed what people expect. What have you experienced since about 2022 on, in events, and how does it differ from the past?

Nicole Lapointe  (5:06)

A lot of times people used to come just to get “educated” — listen to the speaker, hear the next big idea. Now it’s different. You still plan a speaker, some learning content, but you also have to plan the networking, the VIP dinner — the moments where people can connect face to face with nothing else going on, just one-on-one conversations.

Lori Jo Vest  (5:46)

That makes sense — you’re not just going to a conference to pick up trends, you’re going to meet people in your industry. That’s been reprioritized.

Nicole Lapointe  (6:02)

Yeah.

Lori Jo Vest  (6:03)

So if an organization wants to plan an event to make some money or connect more closely with their audience, how do you know what your audience wants? Where do you start?

Nicole Lapointe  (6:20)

You put out feelers — there are always feelers for everything. That’s where we use virtual the most: social posts, hyping things up, quizzes, bringing people together on virtual platforms so we can start to formulate what people really want.

Lori Jo Vest  (6:54)

I’m going to veer off-script here — you have an event coming up for your own business. Tell us about it, and how did you decide what to do?

Nicole Lapointe  (7:08)

It’s a funny story. We’re doing a book retreat for women — we found that women want to get together and do more than just drinks or happy hour, and reading is huge right now across all genres. We picked one book, *Funny Story* by Emily Henry, and we’re calling it Blush Gathering, partnering with Lush Book Bundle. The idea is: “After that last page, the story doesn’t have to end here.” You sign up for the retreat, get the book ahead of time, and we build quirky moments throughout the retreat tied to the book — a wine tasting, etc. There’s no conference, no big learning component — just connectivity around something people love. We’re all passionate readers on our team, so it’s been fun meeting other readers online who are already saying, “Tell us when it is, we’ll be there.” We’ve already grown a community around it.

Lori Jo Vest  (8:37)

I love it. Did you know the Atlantic’s latest cover says “reading is dead”?

Nicole Lapointe  (8:45)

What? No.

Lori Jo Vest  (8:46)

I don’t believe it — I can’t read enough. And I like that this event isn’t necessarily tied to what your business does — it’s more about throwing an event to make a profit and build community.

Nicole Lapointe  (9:09)

Yes, pretty much.

Lori Jo Vest  (9:11)

How did you know it would work?

Nicole Lapointe  (9:14)

Honestly, it was my staff’s idea. I didn’t see the path to making money from it, so I said, “You guys run with it, and we’ll see if it has legs.” I was wrong — happily. It has legs. People kept coming back to us, we grew a huge Instagram following, and I realized my team was right. The proof for me was once we dug in and found an audience that was genuinely interested.

Lori Jo Vest  (9:53)

What’s the biggest mistake planners make when they assume they know their audience?

Nicole Lapointe  (10:00)

Not doing the research. For the book retreat, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. As a planner you think you know, so instead of looking at what the audience has actually said they want, you do what you *think* is beneficial for the industry or audience — I do this too sometimes. I think our industry has shifted, and we need to look at the actual key takeaways audiences and guests want.

Lori Jo Vest  (11:00)

I went to another event last weekend — Saturday morning, which you wouldn’t expect people to want, since that’s errand/relaxation time. But it was a deep conversation everyone loved: “So You Want to Write a Book,” five authors on a panel, and each table had a discussion question like “What’s your story that needs to be told?” or “What’s keeping you from telling your story?” There’s room for that kind of depth in any industry — bringing people together to talk about where the industry, or they personally, are headed. It doesn’t have to be a trade show. Fifteen years ago in sales, client appreciation parties were a DJ, dancing, prizes — not much depth. Now audiences expect deeper conversations. So — if a company wants to plan an event that makes a difference in the community *and* brings in money, how do you balance mission-driven goals with the P&L reality?

Nicole Lapointe  (12:41)

I’m a strong believer that if everyone’s working toward one mission and one goal, the money will come. It’s easy to get bogged down in “what will sponsors buy,” “what will the audience come for,” all the what-ifs. Instead, get a committee together that agrees on the mission and the goal, then figures out who knows whom — who could sponsor this, what funding is out there. Bringing like-minded people together around a shared mission — nine times out of ten, the money comes. It sounds crazy, but when everyone’s passionate about the cause, things line up.

Lori Jo Vest  (14:07)

I agree, and I want to give an example and ask how we could’ve scaled it. One of our clients is a nonprofit that helps grieving children. We did an event at a brewery — the nonprofit runs a summer grief camp, and each kid gets a package of goodies. The event was rock painting: we provided rocks and paint markers, the brewery gave us outdoor picnic-table space, we charged a door price, and sold wooden tokens redeemable for two of their beers — the brewery donated the beer, we kept the token sales. Small ticket price plus the venue’s in-kind support. It only raised about $2,500, but that sends two kids to camp for free. How would you scale something like that?

Nicole Lapointe  (15:41)

There are a lot of ways. I sometimes see nonprofits settle for “let’s make $2,500” — which matters — but if you think bigger, bigger happens. As a nonprofit you have a board full of people with talents, gifts, or corporate connections. Take a board member and do a meet-and-greet — people don’t usually get access to them — and charge a bigger ticket. Find a dinner partner, similar to the brewery but bigger scale, who’ll donate or give an at-cost dinner, and charge more. It’s a mindset — there’s so much we don’t know, and if you think bigger, the sky’s the limit. We forget that and settle for what’s easily achievable.

Lori Jo Vest  (17:04)

I call that “bake sale fundraising” — never gets you the big numbers. On a similar note, I heard of an agency running monthly dinners for 12 people, digging into deep conversations about mortality — not “people die and we’re sad,” but real feelings about it. It had a waiting list, because the conversations were so deep and meaty. The invitees were people with real donation capacity. You mentioned on our prep call why an event should have a mission — sometimes a pie-in-the-sky mission is the way to go. How does a mission change how you market or staff an event, and how do you create one?

Nicole Lapointe  (18:16)

When you have a mission statement and everyone’s running toward the same goal, everything gets easier — easier to sell, easier for people to want to be on board as guests, easier for every moving part (staff, speakers, attendees) to move in the same direction instead of working in silos. The event becomes succinct and more successful because everyone’s speaking the same language. It’s not an easy feat to write a tight, two-sentence mission statement — you can run it through ChatGPT, but really it takes your board or committee working through it so it makes sense across every part of the organization.

Lori Jo Vest  (19:54)

Can you give an example of an event mission statement?

Nicole Lapointe  (19:56)

Something like: “Creating meaningful experiences that inspire connection, spark innovation, and deliver measurable value for every attendee, partner, and stakeholder” — then you fill in the specific content or experience. It shifts slightly by event type: a client appreciation event might be “celebrating our clients to create memorable experiences that show our gratitude.” First you answer: what are we trying to achieve — networking? leadership? client appreciation? Then you boil that down into your talking points.

Lori Jo Vest  (20:58)

So the mission drives things like speaker selection?

Nicole Lapointe  (21:07)

Yes.

Lori Jo Vest  (21:08)

Speaking of speakers — it’s hard to know who to invite. Sometimes local names, sometimes a big draw. You shared some speaker bureau links with us — all these celebrities are in those bureaus now. How do you decide who to invite, or whether to have speakers at all?

Nicole Lapointe  (21:35)

It goes back to the mission statement, and the kind of event you want. If you want a big conference of 300–500 people, a big name is what gets shared and reshared on social — that’s one mission. Sometimes you don’t want that; you want it intimate, capped at 100, focused on content or what’s happening in your industry or community. It really depends on whether the budget is worth the trade-off — sometimes it’s not, because people are saturated with ways to connect. Twenty years ago you could know somebody who knew somebody and get a big name for a donation to their nonprofit. Now it’s “here’s his speaker bureau” — you can’t get around it. You just Google them and go through the bureau.

Lori Jo Vest  (23:39)

I always find the subject matter is so important too — what are we talking about, what will I take away, who’s in the room, who’s the keynote, what are they speaking to relative to your attendees, and making sure people leave with a strong feeling about your organization. What are the benefits of a free event versus a ticketed one, for a small business?

Nicole Lapointe  (24:16)

I’m a strong believer you should always put a value on a ticket, even just $25. If it’s free, people sign up thinking “maybe I’ll go,” don’t show, and don’t cancel — which makes it hard to plan headcount and food. Someone who invests even a small amount will actually show up, and you know they’re committed. And if they still don’t show, at least you have that $25 to put toward the no-show. For a bigger ticketed event — a gala, say — you need to cover costs, so it might be a $300–$500 ticket to make sure the nonprofit profits or you hit ROI on a big conference. But if you were going to do it free, charge $20 instead — you’ll know exactly who’s in the room and who’s actually committed.

Lori Jo Vest  (26:08)

I like it. On galas — I’ve heard both “galas are done” and “galas are back.” Which is it? I was at a black-tie event on the water recently, all outdoor receptions, 90 degrees, plus the air quality from the Canadian wildfire smoke — I could not face putting on a fancy dress in that heat.

Nicole Lapointe  (26:44)

Your air quality number…

Lori Jo Vest  (26:46)

Are galas done, or are galas back?

Nicole Lapointe  (26:48)

Galas now come with a twist. People aren’t into the “dress up” scene anymore, so there are gala-esque events — big-ticket, DJ, experiential elements, maybe on the water — but the invite says “cocktail casual” or “shabby chic” instead of black tie. People aren’t sure what that means exactly (capris and a nice blouse, in practice), but the components of a gala — and the price — are all still there. It’s the $400 sparkly floor-length dress that’s gone.

Lori Jo Vest  (28:07)

One of my favorite events in the last year was a celebrity lip-sync battle — they recruit news anchors, local celebrities, business owners (including a car dealership CEO), football alumni, and it’s a contest, so everyone puts on the biggest show. There’s a silent auction beforehand and a live auction after. This event raised $750,000 — almost double the year before. It surprised me, because you’d think organizations lose touch with their audience when everything’s virtual, but this one is deeply connected, and when you’re connected, your audience shows up and supports you. That’s a lot of what we wanted to cover today — any event marketing moves people overlook that you’d want to mention?

Nicole Lapointe  (29:21)

People think they can just throw an event — buy some food, put together a room, and people will come. They won’t. Your event will be more successful if you align with a professional who knows the industry — doesn’t have to be me, just someone who understands what you’re doing.

Lori Jo Vest  (29:54)

That’s not how it works anymore.

Nicole Lapointe  (29:56)

Right. And people want to know what they’re walking away with — that the money they paid was worth the value.

Lori Jo Vest  (30:13)

Worth showing up for. I’d add that hiring a professional is how you find out what people respond to, the right angle, the right mission, the right creative ideas — the ideas a planner brings that a business owner or fundraiser may never have thought of, and executing them well instead of chasing your tail and never catching up. I think a lot of events fail because the right people weren’t in the room for the planning.

Nicole Lapointe  (31:07)

Yeah.

Lori Jo Vest  (31:07)

So, Nicole — how can people find you and book you?

Nicole Lapointe  (31:17)

I’m on LinkedIn, or you can go to www.gatherpointe.com.

Lori Jo Vest  (31:28)

GatherPointe with an E at the end?

Nicole Lapointe  (31:30)

With an E — a little play on my last name.

Lori Jo Vest  (31:34)

I love that. Thank you so much for being here, Nicole, I really appreciate it. And if you’re watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe — help us spread the word and get this useful marketing information out there. We’ll be back in a couple weeks with another episode. Thanks so much!

When was the last time you read a company’s About Us page before buying? Probably never. But when was the last time a 20-second video of someone using a product convinced you to buy? Probably recently.

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo Vest makes the case for short-form video as the single most powerful trust-builder in digital marketing today—and shares a practical, low-lift formula any small or service-based business can use starting this week.

0:00 – Lori opens with a challenge: no one reads About Us pages anymore, but a 20- second product video can convert instantly. Attention spans are shrinking and the content landscape has changed dramatically.

1:45 – Short-form video outperforms almost every other format for local and service- based businesses because trust is the biggest conversion barrier—and video closes that gap faster than any written copy.

3:00 – The formula revealed: show the work, show the person, show the result. Skip the logo animation, the intro music, and the fancy effects. A quick mid-job clip or a happy customer’s 15-second testimonial will outsell any about page.

5:10 – Content ideas beyond social proof: preemptive FAQ videos. Answer the questions customers ask before they even contact you—cost, timeline, what to expect. One clip can replace an entire page of copy.

7:00 – You don’t need a videographer. You need your phone, good natural light, and 20–30 seconds. Jump cuts are no longer taboo—authenticity is the standard now. Batch-record five clips in one afternoon.

9:34 – Lori’s challenge to listeners: film one 20-second proof clip this week. No script, no editing. Watch it back as if you’re a stranger and see what impression it leaves.

11:00 – Bonus tip: if you can’t be the face of your brand, use micro-influencers. Lori notes rates for micro-influencers can range from around $350–$750. They can review your product or service on video, giving you authentic faces and real social proof.

[0:00] Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Rev and Reach, where PopSpeed Digital Marketing shares our behind-the-scenes tactics and strategies that we use to get more ROI for our clients in the digital marketing space. When was the last time you read any company’s About Us page before buying? Nobody does that anymore. Meanwhile, when was the last time you watched a 20-second video of somebody using a product and it convinced you instantly to buy? It happens—a lot.

As the internet has grown and video has become so prevalent, customers don’t want to read five paragraphs about why they should trust you. I remember going to a marketing association workshop about 20 years ago where a futurist—I love futurists—talked about how headlines were getting shorter and shorter because  attention spans were getting shorter. Back then it wasn’t quite as extreme, because we didn’t have the incredible number of things coming at us like we do today. All your social media feeds, your television shows, your news, people calling, emailing, texting you all day long. It’s a whole different way of living than 30 years ago.

People don’t necessarily want to read anymore. They want to see real people, real results, fast. Short-form video outperforms almost every other format—especially for local and service-based businesses—because trust is the biggest conversion barrier.

Take an eyebrow aesthetician as an example. You can put a ton of great before-and- after photos on your social and website—but so can everyone else. How do you differentiate? You do videos that position you as competent, likable, maybe entertaining. You show the consumer that what happens when they get to your studio will be amazing. The gap we’re seeing with a lot of small businesses is that they’re still leading with words—websites and bios—while their audience is making decisions based on short-form video. Don’t lead with words.

And a polished commercial is not what we’re recommending. Proof looks like a quick clip mid-job, mid-consult, mid-transformation. A customer walking out of your shop thrilled with their new eyebrows. The plumbing customer so relieved the guy got there fast and solved the problem for $300. A quick 15-second clip of that customer saying, “Oh my god, John was here this morning, he’s amazing—I highly recommend Krieger Plumbing”—that enthusiasm will sell more plumbing jobs than any About page on a website.

[4:59] The formula is: show the work, show the person, show the result. Skip the logo animation, skip the intro music. Photos, a quick video clip, more photos—without a lot of fancy effects. It has to be less than perfect to be truly authentic.

There are easy tools for everyone. CapCut on your phone is a great option. If you are not doing video clips in your digital marketing right now, you are missing out on incredible opportunities.

Beyond social proof, what types of short-form video work? Preemptive FAQ content. How long does this take? What does it cost? Is it messy? Answer the questions people have before they even contact you. A customer can say it. One of your team members can say it—on the job, rolling paint on a wall: “We got here this morning, we’ve got two big rooms, we expect to be out by Thursday.” That clip tells the consumer your painters are efficient and personable. One clip can replace an entire About page of copy.

When you’re revamping or building a new website, think about how you can use video clips on it. A lot of people will go to your website, hit play, and watch before they ever read a word. Look at the three questions your customers ask most, turn each into a 15–30 second video, post it everywhere—social, website, YouTube—and see what happens.

We are biologically driven to connect with other human beings. We’re tribal. We are drawn to faces—and in marketing right now, faces sell better than anything. The production lift is really low. I come from a couple of decades in video production, and we used to nitpick over every detail. Jump cuts were the kiss of death—you would never do one. Not anymore. You don’t need a videographer. You need your phone, some good natural light, and 20–30 seconds.

If you want to be efficient, batch-record five proof clips in one afternoon—at your job site, in your office, at the salon, at the customer’s house (with their permission, of course). Pin those clips to the top of your social profiles so when people visit, they’re getting information that helps them decide to work with you.

[9:34] On your About page, instead of a wall of copy, push visitors to watch a video. It’s more engaging and creates a much stronger connection than written words on a page. Use it for ad creative too. Here’s my challenge for you this week: film one 20-second proof clip of your actual work. No script, no editing. Take it all the way through, then watch it back as if you were someone who didn’t know your company or product. What impression would you be left with? Nine times out of 10, you’re going to want to use it. Perfect video is not good.

Authentic video is what people are drawn to right now—and that makes it so much easier for you if you’re not a video professional.

Nobody wants your About page. They want to watch you do your thing. They want to know what it looks like behind the scenes. They want answers to their questions. They will not read 10 paragraphs. So if you’re not doing video because you’re afraid, push through that discomfort and make it happen.

Bonus tip to close out: I have a client right now who is launching a new online service— you fill out information, and it generates a document that would normally cost a couple thousand dollars to have someone create. The challenge is he can’t legally be the face of the product, and there’s no person naturally represented in the service.

What we’re doing is finding micro-influencers in his space, offering them the service, paying them an influencer rate—a micro-influencer rate could be around $350 to $750—and having them create content. Have them review the product, record their own videos about what they loved, and use that content to sell the service. You get faces (which we’re biologically drawn to), proof reviews of your product, and video content. Micro- influencers are very easy to work with. If you find one who’s too challenging, pick the next one—there are plenty who fit your demographic.

If you’re watching on YouTube, please give us a like, share, and subscribe. We share what actually works for us and our clients. Thank you for being here—I’ll see you again in a few weeks.

A tight budget doesn’t mean a quiet brand — it means you have to be smarter than your competitors who are outspending you. In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo Vest breaks down five practical ways to stretch your content, maximize every platform, and get loud results when the money is tight.

Budgets are getting cut. Resources are shrinking. More of us are being asked to do more with less. But the good news? Some of the most creative, effective marketing Lori has ever seen has come from low- and no-budget projects.

This episode is your playbook.

0:01 Lori sets the stage — 70% of marketers face pressure for immediate results, 97% have tighter budgets, and 92% have to do more with fewer resources. Sound familiar?

1:25 Tip #1: Repurpose Like a Pro. One podcast episode should become a blog post,
five social captions, and an email — and the same audience isn’t following you
everywhere.

2:20 Tip #2: Optimize What You Already Have. Audit your content in Google Analytics. Lori shares how a nonprofit client discovered 15,000 annual visits from a single grief journaling query — unlocking a whole new content strategy.

4:41 Tip #3: Let AI Do the Heavy Lifting. Use it for drafting and deep research — but always rewrite in your own voice. Lori explains E-E-A-T compliance and why 100% AI copy is obvious to both search engines and your audience.

9:20 Tip #5: Make Social Your Search Engine. Organic social is free — but only works if you treat captions, hooks, and visuals like searchable content, not announcements.

11:01 The Wrap-Up — You don’t need more money. You need more intention, more
creativity, and more innovation — and you’ve already got all three

1:25 — “The most common mistake in budget content marketing is underestimating the
power of strategic planning. Without it, you’re going to waste time and waste resources on content that doesn’t yield results.”

5:24 — “Anybody who is putting forth 100% AI content on social media is fake. People are really tuned into authenticity right now, and authenticity is where your ROI lies.”

8:37 — “A phone video with solid insights — something you just held up and talked
about — will beat a slick production every single time.”

11:19 — “Treat every caption, every post, every hook like it’s a search engine result that someone has been searching for, because in 2026 it is.”

11:47 — “You don’t need more money. You need more intention.”

00:01

Lori: Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Rev and Reach, where we share the behind-the-scenes things that we do to get results for our clients in the digital marketing space. So today, we’re going to talk about what to do when you have a squeaky budget, but your boss or your clients are expecting loud results. We know how that is. Budgets are getting cut, or they’re not getting increased for the new year coming around. Things change all the time, so you never know when you’re going to have less to work with, and a lot of us are currently in that situation. So we’re going to talk about five ways that you can stretch your content and make sure that you’re really getting the most from the social media efforts that you’re putting forth.

Lori: Right now, did you know that 70% of marketers are being pushed toward
immediate goals, 97% face tighter budgets, and 92% have to do more with fewer
resources? That could mean your coworker that used to do a big chunk of what you’re now expected to do is gone, so now you have to do more with less.

1:25
Lori: Number one: repurpose like a pro. One piece of content should work in at least
three places. A podcast episode can quickly become a blog post with a transcript. There
are so many tools these days to take a podcast recording or a video and grab the transcript, rewrite it, optimize it for SEO and AI search, and create a blog post that will draw people to your website. You could also write five social posts from that one podcast episode. It can become an email. The most common mistake in budget content marketing is underestimating the power of strategic planning. Without it, you’re going to waste time and resources on content that doesn’t really yield a lot of results. The same people that follow you on Facebook are probably not following you on LinkedIn. The people following you on YouTube may not be listening to your podcast. Deploy that same messaging everywhere.

2:20
Lori: Tip number two: optimize what you already have. Audit your existing content. Go to Google Analytics and see what really draws people to your site. We have a grief support nonprofit that we work with, and we discovered that of all the traffic to their website — tens of thousands of hits every year — 15,000 of those came from a query related to journaling prompts for grief healing. That meant it was a topic of deep interest to their audience, and we could deploy it across all platforms. Are you also posting your social
content to your Google Business Profile? A lot of people don’t know they can do that. Look at what you’re already doing and make yourself more searchable for people
looking for local resources.

4:41
Lori: Number three: let AI do the heavy lifting — but it’s not going to replace what you do. Please don’t ever have an AI agent write a social post and just post it. I see people all the time that put content up on LinkedIn that I know they don’t speak the way those posts are written. Because they didn’t read it to put it in their own words, they look fake. Anybody putting forth 100% AI content on social media is fake. People are really tuned into authenticity right now, and authenticity is where your ROI lies. Use AI for drafting copy, for deep research. I have a client who needs to promote a product used in cars, and my AI agent finds things in other countries that I wouldn’t be able to find in a straight Google search. But always edit for authenticity, your brand voice, and E-E-A-T  compliance — experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. AI copy is obvious to search engines. Write like you talk.

7:40
Lori: Tip number four: go unpolished on purpose. A lot of marketers are leaning into less polished content to form a more human connection, and it works. A phone video with solid insights will beat a slick production every single time. People are not on social to look at commercials. Don’t be a commercial on social media.

9:20
Lori: Tip number five: make social your search engine. The three most used marketing channels for small businesses right now are unpaid social media at 66%, social media ads at 56%, and email marketing at 53%. Organic social is free. If you are treating your captions, copy, visuals, and hooks like searchable content — not just announcements,
but helpful information with keywords people actually search for — you will start showing up in search. A huge percentage of younger audiences actually uses social media as a search engine. They never even make it to Google.

11:01
Lori: To wrap it up: a tight budget doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice online. It means you have to be smarter than your competitors who may be outspending you. Repurpose what you’ve got. Refresh what’s already working. Let AI help you move faster, but keep your voice in everything. Show up raw and real. Treat every caption, every post, every hook like it’s a search result someone has been searching for — because in 2026, it is. You don’t need more money. You need more intention, more creativity, more innovation, and you’ve got that. We all do better when we’re stretched, and I have seen some of the most creative marketing ever come from low- and no-budget projects.
Lori: If you are watching on YouTube, please give us a subscribe, hit that like button, maybe even a share. We are here about every two weeks to share the things we do that help us get ROI for our clients from their digital marketing efforts. We’re not working with gigantic corporations — we’re working with small and mid-sized businesses, helping them get results from social media. We can do that for you too if you don’t want to do it yourself. Take care. Bye-bye

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo breaks down the rapid rise of social commerce and why brands can no longer rely on websites alone to drive sales. She explains how platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are evolving into full storefronts, where customers can discover and purchase products without ever leaving the app.

Lori shares why creator-led selling is outperforming traditional ads, how short-form video fuels impulse buying, and what businesses need to do to stay competitive. From building community to tracking real conversions, this episode offers a practical roadmap for turning social content into revenue.

00:41 — Lori introduces the concept of social commerce and explains how platforms are evolving into full storefronts where customers can purchase without leaving the app.

02:44 — A breakdown of key platforms like TikTok Shop, Instagram Checkout, and YouTube Shopping, and how short-form video is driving impulse purchases.

03:36 — Why creator-led selling outperforms traditional ads, and how authentic voices convert better than polished brand messaging.

06:18 — Why relying on the algorithm is no longer enough, and how building a strong, engaged community is critical for driving sales.

08:22 — The biggest pitfalls of social commerce, including inconsistent content, poor tracking, and failing to analyze what actually drives purchases.

00:41 — “What if your Instagram scroll was also your checkout lane?”

04:15 — “A spokesperson that you hire that’s really polished is not going to be seen as credible compared to the grandma using your skin cream that’s really excited about it.”

06:29 — “You cannot rely on algorithm reach to drive commerce. You can’t do it. You need to build community.”

08:27 — “So social commerce is not a set it and forget it. It is going to require active, ongoing content production.”

00:00

Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest, thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Rev & Reach where PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC, the agency I run, we pull the curtain back and tell you how we’re doing what we do, give you great advice on digital marketing and help you keep abreast of trends and what’s happening in the world of digital marketing, to help you get more ROI from your digital marketing efforts. So today we are going to talk about Add to Cart. No website required, the social commerce revolution.

00:41

What if your Instagram scroll was also your checkout lane? This is just so cool. Social media driven sales in the US are projected to surpass $100 billion in 2026 and globally, social commerce revenues should surpass $1 trillion by 2028. That’s crazy. So here’s what we’re going to cover today, and here’s why, if you have a product and you are not selling on social media, you’re missing out. There are so many opportunities out there right now. So what is social commerce, and why is it having a moment? Just like everything else, social platforms are evolving, and they’re evolving into full storefronts, not just discovery tools. And that’s really cool, because what shoppable media does is turn online content, social posts, videos, digital display messages into interactive points of purchase, so the customer can buy products directly from inside the channel. Hit that buy button and keep scrolling.

01:48

And I remember hearing back decades ago that someday we’d be able to stop our television commercial that was playing and hit a shop button and buy the shirt that the woman in the car was wearing. We are not far from that. We are really not far from that. Actually, I saw an interview on television the other day, and this woman had on the most beautiful patterned silk blouse. It was gorgeous. And my husband said, why don’t you see where you can get it, you know, see if you can identify it. Pulled it up, put it in one of my tools, and it pulled up the exact blouse at Nordstrom for $325. That’s beyond my budget, but it was beautiful. Now I know why it was so beautiful. And I mean, it was just so easy, and I could have just bought it right then. So we’re not far from that on our real TVs with smart TVs, but social commerce gives you so many opportunities.

02:44

So the key platforms that you want to watch are TikTok Shop, Instagram Checkout, Pinterest Shopping and YouTube Shopping. And what’s happening is the convergence — they’re calling it convergence — of short form video and impulse buyer behavior. If you sell a product that’s got a low, maybe under $100 price point, think about how often you’ve been scrolling and saw some really cute earrings that were $40 and you wish you could have bought them. Now you can, right? So shoppable video is what’s leading this charge. That means the products are featured with embedded links so they can click right then, learn more and purchase all without leaving the video, which really makes it so much easier to do those impulse buys.

03:36

Creator-led selling is another thing that’s really cool. Instead of brand-led selling, you’ve got creators that are putting together storefronts that when they do a video, you can immediately go buy those items, and then they get the credit. If you are a brand selling products, creators and your everyday social media content creator is a much better, more authentic and more credible salesperson than your ads. It’s just the way things are right now — they convert better. A spokesperson that you hire that’s really polished is not going to be seen as credible compared to the grandma using your skin cream that’s really excited about it and uses her own language and reaches a very specific audience. So think about it in terms of that. With AI-generated media just taking over, brands are focusing heavily on using creators because the AI stuff is just not cutting it. Consumers know it’s AI. They don’t believe it. And if you are selling a product, you don’t want your audience disbelieving the claims you’re making simply because of your images and the tools you’re using to create your content.

04:53

So there’s a lot of things that are happening out there. Live shopping is getting really interesting. It’s still very niche here. We don’t see it quite as often. It’s very big in Asian countries, but right now in the US, what we’re seeing is here and there. You’ll see social media — I’ve seen a lot of Facebook Live events where people are selling things. And there are things like that that happen, but it’s going to get bigger. So if you have the ability to create a live feed that allows your customers to shop, consider that. Give it a try. It might work. And think about this — have you ever bought something directly from a social post? What made you do it? I buy skincare stuff. I have bought clothing. Sometimes it’s disappointing. I have purchased supplements, hair care products, hair dyes, things like that. It is something that people are looking to do. It’s one of those things that helps the consumer see what your product is like when it’s in use, how other people feel about it. It’s a stellar pathway. If you’re selling a product under $100. The one thing you do have to consider with social commerce is that in 2026 users can actually customize their feeds to hide entire categories of content that they don’t want to see.

06:18

Instagram has this thing called Tune Your Algorithm, which allows people to suppress entire industries, topics, types of creators, all kinds of things. What that means is you cannot rely on algorithm reach to drive commerce. You can’t do it. You need to build community. You need to create content that really resonates with your people so that they want to follow you, that they engage with you. Community is so much bigger than just reaching a huge number of people. It’s so much more important. The more competitive the digital space gets, the more important it is that you are actually reaching out to your consumers with things that they want to see and experience.

07:00

The other thing that’s happening, which is kind of cool, is that Threads is emerging as a commerce platform. We had not spent a lot of time on Threads, but it’s actually now a viable platform, cementing its role as a real-time information hub. More people are going there, and the NBA is one of the major brands playing there. So that’s kind of interesting to see who the audience is for the NBA. It’s very wide, very broad. They also have a lot of money. So if they’re posting on Threads and doing some sponsorship on Threads, you can pretty much assume that they have done the research to show that it’s a viable channel. So I would recommend you get more into Threads at least. Add that to your mix of social channels that you play in so that you can see if it’s viable for you and your audience.

08:22

So here are the pitfalls. There’s always going to be the things that don’t work. So social commerce is not a set it and forget it. It is going to require active, ongoing content production. So you can’t do one post a week. You can’t just put something up when, oh, we have a new product, let’s put it up. You’ve got to be creating the community, and you do that by regularly producing content that your audience loves. It takes time, and it takes work. Attribution headaches — you have to be really careful in setting everything up to make sure that you’re actually measuring what drove the purchase, what post or what live led people to go and buy. If you had 16 posts that were selling social commerce posts last month, at the end of the month, you should be looking at that content and analyzing what performed, and then do more of that and less of the things that don’t perform. You’d be surprised how many people keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. It’s not how it works.

09:26

So the other thing is authenticity versus advertorial. If it feels like an ad, it will fail. And you may have heard me say this before if you’ve listened to this podcast, but I would advise you to go look at Scrub Daddy on TikTok if you’re wondering, oh my God, how can I do something authentic, entertaining with something that’s just like a little sponge or whatever your product is. Go to TikTok. Look at what the brands are doing. That’s where you’re going to see the best of the best when it comes to social commerce. I hear it everywhere with a lot of influencers. Oh, I bought this because I saw it on TikTok Shop. It’s where I think it started, and it’s a really great place to go and look and consider what you should be doing to get into social commerce if you’re not there already.

10:15

So the other thing that’s coming up, which is really interesting, is that vague, sweeping corporate sustainability pledges are no longer considered worth the paper they’re printed on. Consumers are actually looking for measurable product benefits that make them feel better about sustainable products that they’re purchasing. So you’ll want to look at that. You’ll want to be specific. If your product is made with all natural ingredients, include that. If your product does not test on animals, include that. If it’s vegetarian or vegan, if it’s a food product, if there’s anything you can say — made in the USA or made in your state — things like that that make not just a broad, sweeping “we believe in sustainability,” but put it into your product information so that people can feel that halo effect. If I buy this product, I’m contributing to a better world. So that’s just a little thing to drop in at the end of this one, because I think you may want to consider that if you’re selling a product that has some kind of a sustainability benefit.

11:21

So last but not least, here’s what I’d like you to do. If you have a product that might be a good possibility for social commerce, audit your current social presence first. Go through all the channels and go, hmm, is there one that I might have made, you know, put a link in and made it shoppable? Is there one post that might have worked? Go back and repost that with the shopping feature in it and see what happens.

11:49

Next thing you can do, another action item, identify a few creators in your niche for a potential collaboration and consider micro influencers. I talked about micro influencers in the last episode and how valuable they are for creating UGC and great content and also spreading the word about your organization. Some of the micro influencers, you get five or six of those in a community and you can get some real traction. So identify two or three of those that you could do a social shopping collaboration with and consider doing that, and then make sure that you’re tracking click to purchase, not just engagement. So make sure that whatever you’re setting up, you’re tracking click to purchase, and you’ve done it in a way that includes the right kinds of links and everything that allows you to do that.

12:37

So I hope this has been helpful. It’s one of those topics that’s just so hot right now that social commerce is taking over, and we all want to buy when we get that urge. And if you’re a seller, you want to be on the other side of that happy, engaged buyer. So that’s all I’ve got for you. I hope you have enjoyed listening to this episode, and we will be back in just a few weeks with another episode to help you get more ROI from your digital marketing efforts.

If you are watching this on YouTube, please do me a favor and subscribe to the channel and maybe share the content or give us a comment. We would love to hear from you. We have a website, revandreach.popspeeddigital.com. We would love to hear from you there. You can also reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’m an open networker. Just let me know that you were listening to Rev & Reach. Please give me topics you’d like me to talk about. It’s hard for me from this side to know what questions you might have, so I’d love to hear from you. And with that, I will sign off and we’ll see you again in a few weeks.

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo Vest breaks down how AI is fundamentally changing the way people search — and why traditional SEO alone is no longer enough.

She explains the rise of generative engine optimization (GEO), how AI-powered search results are reshaping visibility and website traffic, and what small and mid-sized businesses need to do right now to stay competitive.

From creating “top 10” style content to showing up across multiple platforms, Lori shares practical, actionable strategies to help businesses get found, build credibility, and drive ROI in this new AI-driven search landscape.

00:15 — Lori explains how users can now Google a question and walk into a sales conversation fully informed — without ever visiting a website.

01:48 — A real example of businesses appearing in AI results by creating “top 10” lists that include competitors to build credibility.

03:00 — Lori breaks down the shift from SEO to GEO and why being quoted by AI matters more than being clicked.

07:11 — A practical walkthrough of how to audit your AI presence and understand what content is driving visibility.

12:29 — Why small businesses that adapt quickly to AI search can gain a major advantage over larger, slower-moving brands.

00:41 — “Let’s say one of your potential customers Googles a question. They may never click on a single website, but they could still walk into a sales meeting knowing exactly who you are, what you do and what you charge.”

03:10 — “So what they say is SEO gets you clicked, GEO gets you quoted.”

04:24 — “Your website is no longer the first stop, and in many cases, it might not even be a stop at all.”

11:02 — “If your brand shows up in multiple places, the AI tool sees you as being more valuable.”

00:11

Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest and welcome to this episode of Rev & Reach where PopSpeed Digital Marketing opens up the doors and shows you what we do behind the scenes, what’s important to us right now, what we’re sharing with our clients, how we’re working in the digital marketing space so that you can use what we’ve learned to grow your social media and digital marketing ROI.

So today’s subject is Google is dead, long live Google. And it’s an interesting topic because basically, let’s say one of your potential customers Googles a question. They may never click on a single website, but they could still walk into a sales meeting knowing exactly who you are, what you do and what you charge. That’s not the future. That’s what’s happening right now.

01:00

Welcome to the new reality for search. It’s very different than it used to be. And I’ll give you an example. I just did a quick search for a particular type of business in my own community. And I looked for this type of category of businesses and watched what came up. And I looked at the businesses that were shown under the AI tool were not necessarily the same businesses that were shown under a basic search.

So Google AI is really impacting Google SEO. So what I noticed was three of those agencies that had been quoted in the AI response to the question that I asked had actually created lists on their own websites of the top 10 businesses in their industry and of course put themselves at the top.

01:48

And so when I opened up the AI tool, there was the response. Here’s these different types of companies that do what you’re asking about. And over here on the side were three articles from three of those businesses that said the top 10 types of companies that do this. And three of them were in that.

So I’m like, okay, that’s a learning. Obviously, Google search, when you ask for the best type of business in this area, is looking for those articles, top 10 types of business in this area. So right away, we all need to run out and do a quick article that says that.

And if it mentions your competitors, no problem. AI doesn’t care. AI sees you as a good source for information because you listed those other organizations. Now, you don’t have any links on any of their information. The only links are in your listing in that article. But you mention everybody and talk about them, and that gives the AI tool something to look at.

03:00

So I was really surprised by that because while I know how it’s changing, it’s changing faster than I’d anticipated. So what they say is SEO gets you clicked, GEO gets you quoted. And what GEO is generative engine optimization, and that means when the Google AI overview shows up in those searches, you want to be in there, you want to be included in that listing that the AI tool is giving.

So looking at some statistics here, Google AI overviews now appear in roughly 25% of all Google searches, which is double the rate from just a few months ago. So if you’re a house painter, you want to have a website that has an article that says the 10 best house painters in southeast Michigan, or in rural Virginia, or whatever it is, so that you show up in those Google searches that are AI driven.

So 80% of search users now rely on AI generated summaries for at least 40% of their searches, which is contributing to a 15% drop in traditional SEO website traffic. So think about that. Your website traffic from Google is going down. So all the things that we knew about SEO — it’s all changed.

04:24

Your website is no longer the first stop. And in many cases, it might not even be a stop at all. AI assistance may move your consumer from the question to the comparison to the recommendation without them ever opening another tab. So think about that. It’s really going to be important that we ensure that we show up in AI searches.

So what is actually being referenced in a GEO search, which again is generative engine optimization? So it’s basically AI optimization. It’s just a fun, jargony way to say it. So if traditional SEO is about earning a top spot among the top links, GEO is about earning a place among the top two to seven sources that AI platforms cite in a response.

When an AI engine names your brand in its answer, it’s actually delivering an implicit endorsement that a simple search engine listing could not do. The AI tool is given more credibility than a search that’s just based on keywords. So I find that really interesting.

05:37

So for example, if you were to search ‘best art studio in Troy, Michigan’, and you’re an art studio, how does that referencing actually happen? Well, it happens across AI assistants, social feeds, marketplaces, podcasts, because most podcasts have transcripts. So AI tools can pick those up, and video, not just Google.

So it’s a wider net that they’re throwing out there. And AI engines actually love Reddit. So if you’re not on Reddit, join. Participate in the forums and the discussions that are related to your brand, because your brand’s presence in those Reddit conversations will contribute to you being found in AI search.

So something to think about that we’re all going to have to spend a little bit more time out there in those types of platforms to help the AI tool find us. Right?

07:11

So as a small business or midsize business marketing person, what can you do to get yourself in those AI searches? First things first, audit your current AI presence right now. I need to go on there and say, okay, what questions do my clients have?

So, for example, I could say, how could you solve not getting ROI from social media? How can you get more clicks on your social links? How can you get more email signups? I could ask those questions in two or three of the AI tools.

See what comes back. And again, look at those companies that are referenced. Click through to that content and see what is it. Audit it so that I can understand what is actually gaining the attention in my business category.

Doesn’t cost anything. Takes you about 20 minutes. Well worth the effort to do that. I would also encourage people to go to your AI tool and say, tell me about — and put your business name in there. Tell me about PopSpeed Digital Marketing.

And then see what it says and how it answers that question and work backwards. So if it’s not answering the question in the way you want it to, click that link and find out where it’s getting that information so that you can learn from that audit. Right?

08:55

So the other thing you can do to help AI see your information is keep your content fresh. We hear from people that don’t understand exactly how SEO and GEO work. And they say, well, we have a blog. We don’t really need to put much content up on it. Right? Because it covers the basic topics maybe once a month. Once a month is okay. Once a month is not great. An article that was published in, say, second quarter of 2025 is not going to be seen by the AI tool as having as much value as a newer article with similar information that was published in Q1 of 2026.

So keeping fresh content on your site is going to be really, really important. Make sure your cornerstone content is regularly updated. Your basic information about your organization, how can you amp it up? How can you rewrite it? Maybe quarterly so that what’s there is continually being refreshed, so it’s updated and new, because AI tools love that.

10:00

Create content that answers questions directly. Actually create articles that answer the question. For example, we could do this for PopSpeed: how do you get more ROI out of social media? And that would be the title of the article, would be referred to throughout the article, and really give great information for people who are asking that question.

Structured pages and blog posts around the actual questions that your customers ask, not just keywords. The AI tools actually pull from content that gives clean, direct answers. Make sure your content does that.

So the next piece of advice: show up in more places than just your website. Your website is great, and you need to be on LinkedIn. You need to be in industry directories. You need to have articles that you’ve written or contributed to. You need to be involved in forum discussions.

If your brand shows up in multiple places, the AI tool sees you as being more valuable. If you’re just on your website, meh. But if you’re all over the place, you’re given more credibility by the tool. So make sure that you appear in more places than just your website.

10:41

Next piece of advice is don’t abandon SEO. Layer GEO on top of it. Traditional search rankings still matter. Maybe not as much, but a lot of times the AI tool will pull from the top ranking Google results for the responses.

So you’re not starting over. You’ve done a lot of work on SEO already. Maybe you’ve paid attention and made sure that everything is optimized. Don’t stop doing that. Keep doing that. But now add to it this other layer of the generative AI search results that you want to be in.

So closing this up, the counterintuitive truth about this is big brands are slower to adapt. Visibility no longer depends on posting several times a day. It depends on being credible, useful, understandable, clear. And small businesses that adapt to this reality will gain a serious advantage that you might not even get from advertising.

12:29

It is really important that you look at the progress of AI, even if it’s something that you are not interested in. Get interested in it if you are doing marketing. Because it’s become a really important part of consumer behavior when it comes to search, finding new vendors, finding new products and new services.

So basically, Google isn’t gone. Google has evolved. And we have a lot more Googles out there now. Sure, people use the Google AI tool, but they also use Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT.

So you can’t just focus on Google for search anymore. You’ve got to spread that out. Follow the advice that I’ve given in this podcast and make sure that you are evolving your strategy for the new reality of AI. It’s really, really important.

13:18

So that’s what I’ve got for you today. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Rev & Reach. I’m Lori Jo Vest, the founder and partner of PopSpeed Digital Marketing, LLC in Birmingham, Michigan.

And we would love to hear from you. If you have a subject you’d like us to discuss or a guest you’d like us to have on, please let us know. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’m an open networker there at Lori Jo Vest. I would love to hear from you.

If you’re watching this on YouTube, do me a favor. Please subscribe and hit that like button. We’re hoping to reach more people with this helpful, useful information about how to get more ROI from your digital marketing efforts. Signing off, we’ll see you again soon.

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo Vest explains why micro influencers are becoming one of the most effective marketing tools for small businesses in 2026.

Instead of focusing on celebrity influencers with massive followings, Lori breaks down why smaller creators with highly engaged audiences can deliver stronger results, more authentic promotion, and better ROI.

She walks through common mistakes businesses make with influencer partnerships, explains how to test campaigns strategically, and shares practical ways to start working with local creators, even with a very small budget.

00:07 — Lori introduces the concept that your best salespeople may actually be your customers or local influencers, not employees on your payroll.

02:16 — Explanation of what micro influencers are and why their engagement rates often outperform larger creators.

03:05 — Why businesses should focus on audience fit and engagement rather than follower count when choosing influencers.

04:05 — Lori explains why a single influencer post rarely produces results and why consistent exposure matters.

09:03 — A real-world example from Olipop shows how a creator program generated a 982% ROI using small incentives and performance-based commissions.

01:13 — “What if your best marketing asset is one of your customers that has 4,000 Instagram followers and she just loves you to pieces? She could be your best sales rep.”

03:51 — “I would take someone who had 4,000 really engaged followers over someone who had 25,000 that were not so engaged.”

04:55 — “So when you say ‘I did one post and it didn’t work,’ you’re right. If you do one post, it won’t work.”

12:26 — “Trust sells better than reach ever will.”

00:07
Hello. I’m Lori Jo Vest, and thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Rev & Reach from PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC. We create this podcast to share behind the curtain what we do as a digital marketing agency to help our clients get ROI out of their social media, websites, emails and social advertising.

So today what I want to talk about is your best sales people aren’t on your payroll: The Small Business Guide to Micro Influencers. If you are a small business, you need to know about micro influencers, and that’s where serious marketing dollars are moving in 2026, and here’s why. Because micro influencers are in your community. They’re in your neighborhood. Everybody knows them. They are affordable as far as influencers go, and they can really make a difference in your bottom line and bring you new customers.

01:10
So I would ask you, what if your best marketing asset is one of your customers that has 4,000 Instagram followers and she just loves you to pieces? She could be your best sales rep. And I tell you, I don’t know about you, but I buy things online all the time. I cook from things that I see on reels. I’ll see something on reels and go that looks really good, and I’ll start writing down what they’re doing so I can make it for dinner that night.

A lot of us are influenced by the things we see online. In particular, our local influencers often tell us about our local businesses. They’ll go to a restaurant and eat everything there, or they’ll go to a really small antique store, or they’ll go to the pet store. So they’re out in your community engaging with your customers, and they have an audience that you can buy access to. That’s basically what you’re doing. You’re buying access to that influencer’s audience. So forget what you think influencer marketing is. It’s not the Kardashians. It doesn’t have to cost $50,000.

02:16
But micro influencers — and they define a micro influencer as someone who has a following of between 1,000 and 100,000 people — they often have super engaged communities, and their recommendations feel like they’re coming from a trusted friend, so people believe them.

So the engagement math on that is micro influencers see engagement rates of five to ten percent. Creators, larger creators, their engagement may only be one to two percent, like the Kardashian people, the people that are really expensive. So if you’re paying, you’re paying for attention. You want to pay the micro influencers in your community to deliver that high engagement and that really nice authentic connection.

03:05
So here’s what small businesses sometimes get wrong in working with influencers. A lot of times a small business coming into a relationship will have their own preconceived ideas about what that means, and they will look at the big follower counts. “Well, you only have 4,000 followers. You only have 5,000 followers.”

Instead of looking at the fact that that young woman that runs all over town and you know her people, her tribe, follows her as she lives her life and goes to restaurants and goes shopping and dances with her grandmother, is a perfect fit for your audience. It’s really more important that that influencer fits your audience than it is that they have huge follower counts. Because I got to tell you, the follower counts are great, but I would take someone who had 4,000 really engaged followers over someone who had 25,000 that were not so engaged. So the micro influencers are really something to consider.

04:05
A lot of times small businesses will use an influencer and then say, “Well, that didn’t work.” The influencer’s audience may need to see you more than one time to actually create results. They used to say in television advertising that your audience would need to see your commercial five times before they would even remember it.

Now social media is different. It’s a lot more personal, and we don’t get up and go get our drinks and go to the bathroom when the commercials are being shown. We’re usually scrolling by. But if you don’t do more than one post, then you don’t know if it’s going to work. You have to do something strategic. You have to do something that is an investment that is going to be more than just a one hit wonder, because it won’t work. I mean, I can just tell you that right now. So when you say “I did one post and it didn’t work,” you’re right. If you do one post, it won’t work.

05:00
So the other thing is, a lot of businesses think that the influencer is working for them, and that they can tell the influencer what to say and how to say it. Well, they can’t. If you truly want to get the best results from an influencer, you’ll pick somebody who is in your community, your company will do its best providing the service, and then you’ll let them tell the truth.

If you don’t let them tell the truth, it won’t be authentic, it won’t be effective, and most influencers won’t bother because they don’t want to be told by everybody that they work with exactly how to do what they do, because that really degrades their credibility. They should tell you the good, the good, the bad and the ugly. Make sure your business is able to handle business from influencers before you hire one. If you’ve got weak points with your staff, you’ve got people that aren’t going to be able to perform at a level that the influencer will be able to talk positively about, don’t get the influencer on payroll until you have all those bugs worked out.

07:00
Your employees and loyal customers bring an unmatched level of authenticity. They know your company, their experiences are firsthand, and they are genuinely advocating for your organization. So it looks a lot less like a sponsored promotion, and it’s a lot more like something that’s authentically true from a neighbor you know, somebody in your community.

So how do you actually start that engagement? First things first, find creators who are already talking about your niche or your neighborhood. Look for the quality of their comments. Look for a local audience. Watch 10 or 15 of their reels. See what happens. Does the audience engage with them? Do they have a lot of comments? Do they speak in a way that you would be happy to have your product in their feed?

If so, great. And what I would do is when you do a pilot with three different creators, you’re going to see three different results. I would highly recommend it. Again, it’s an investment — three creators, 30 days.

08:17
You tell them what to deliver, whether it’s a post, two videos, three stories, and then you have to track it. You have to track what the influencer does. That could mean they get their own link for placing orders so that they can share that with their audience, and all the sales from that link you know came from them. It could be that it’s a coupon, and there’s three different coupons and each one gets their own coupon.

And it’s not a big budget experience. It really doesn’t have to be a huge budget to make this happen. But watch what happens in those three creators, 30 days of posting, and you will learn so much.

09:03
And I’ll give you an example. There’s an organization called Olipop and they have a huge creator program. They started it with $36 product samples and a 10% performance commission for the influencers, and now that drives 12% of their total sales on an ongoing basis, and the campaign actually brought a 982% ROI. That is crazy.

You can do it with a product sample that you send to that person, a free coupon, an offer to come in and have dinner, those kinds of things so that you get to know the influencers.

09:42
Invite them in for a free dinner. Just say, “I’d like to sit down with you, kind of learn what you do, take a look at your work, hear from you what you think you could do for us.” Do that with three different creators and then see what happens. Do a pilot and measure that ROI. You have to measure the ROI because you have to know if influencer campaigns are going to work for you. If you don’t measure it, you won’t know if it did or didn’t.

But the upside of that too is you can actually negotiate part of the agreement that you get to take the creator content and share it on your social media and in your ads. So it gives you more of what we call UGC, user generated content, which looks like it’s created by a consumer, not the brand. And people love UGC. They love to see what other people are doing and think, “Oh look, she’s making her own bracelet at this really cool store downtown. Let’s go.”

10:54
So make sure this is something that’s on your marketing radar. I’ve got a challenge for you as we wrap up this episode. Identify one happy customer or one local creator influencer this week and send them a direct message or a free product and see what happens. Make it a cool coupon, put it in a fancy envelope, mail it off to your customer or that creator, or DM them a graphic that has that on there. That’s your pilot.

Have them in. Just say you’d like to give them a free dinner and spend some time talking with them. Then watch what shows up on that influencer’s social feed related to your business. That will help you understand if they’re going to be a good fit. Some of them won’t be. I’m going to tell you right now some of them will not be good fits.

11:50
There are a lot of influencers out there right now that think you should pay them thousands and thousands of dollars, and a lot of them aren’t proven. So as you’re looking at who you’re going to hire, even a micro influencer, look for them to be paying attention to the data. Make sure what they give you isn’t just “look at my pretty content,” but “I did this for this restaurant and they got a 20% bump in sales.” So remember, trust sells better than reach ever will, and micro influencers are a really great way to build trust.

So that’s what I’ve got for you today. Again I’m Lori Jo Vest with PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC and you are listening to Rev & Reach. You can find us on all of your favorite podcast channels as well as YouTube. If you are watching on YouTube please subscribe, give us a like, and help us spread the word about how to get marketing ROI from your digital initiatives. Thanks so much, I’ll see you again soon.

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo Vest discusses the hidden risks behind the speed and convenience of AI, focusing on the growing problem of AI hallucinations — when AI confidently generates false or fabricated information.

While AI can be a powerful tool for marketers, Lori explains why relying on it without verification can lead to costly mistakes, poor decision-making, and reputational harm. Through real-world examples and practical guidance, she shares how marketers can use AI strategically while protecting their business by verifying sources, reviewing outputs carefully, and treating AI as a support tool rather than a final authority.

00:00 — Introduction to AI hallucinations and why confidence in AI is rising

01:47 — A real-world example of executives making decisions based on hallucinated AI analysis

04:15 — Why hallucinations are systemic and why verification is no longer optional

05:10 — A firsthand example of AI overstating audience data by 100x

06:45 — The risks of relying on AI-generated copy and why human editing is essential

07:33 — How marketers should use AI safely as a support tool, not a decision-maker

01:14 — “And when it doesn’t know, it guesses plausibly.”

03:19 — “It’s just that when it can’t generate a concise, fluent answer over admitting uncertainty, it will choose guessing every time. So think about that. AI guesses.”

05:03 — “Verification is no longer optional.”

05:26 — “It actually overstated the specifics of an audience that were really interested by 100%. It said there were 4000 of these people in our list, when, in reality, there were only 40 confirmed.”

08:03 — “But when it comes to hard data and hard advice that you feel you should follow to be successful, always double-check it.”

00:00

Hello and thank you for joining me for this episode of Rev & Reach, where PopSpeed Digital Marketing shares our secrets for getting ROI from digital marketing initiatives. I’m Lori Jo Vest, the co-founder of PopSpeed Digital, and I want to talk to you today about AI. There is so much conversation about AI going on right now. It’s February of 2026 when I’m recording this, and a lot of people are using AI with way too much confidence.

00:36

So what I want to talk about is AI and hallucinations. It’s really common, and it’s probably a lot more common than you think. So here’s what it is: a hallucination is when AI hallucinates and puts out confidently false and fabricated information, not because it’s doing it purposefully or there’s anyone out there trying to mess with your work, but because of how it’s built. They predict what comes next based on patterns. They use patterns in the training data, and so it’s not really using verified knowledge in a lot of cases. And when it doesn’t know, it guesses plausibly. That’s from an article from OpenAI — they literally will have the AI guess instead of saying, “I don’t know.” So I wanted to get into it a little bit, because I’ve seen so many people that are super excited about AI and marketing and how wonderful it is. Yeah, it is really, really wonderful. However, there are a lot of cases where people are overly confident in what it tells them, and when that’s the case, you could get yourself in some hot water.

01:47

My husband was reading something on Reddit this weekend about how a marketing team had been uploading their analytics into AI and asking it to summarize those analytics without going back and checking the AI’s findings against their original document. Well, guess what happened? For 90 days, the C-level executives at this company were making business decisions based on AI hallucinations, and this person had just discovered that it happened, and they were in the middle of this huge upset. It happens. And so what we tell people all the time is, when you do research using an AI tool, ask it to provide the source. And don’t just ask it to provide the source — go to the source and look at the source and make sure that the information that it’s pulled is accurate, because it won’t always be. It’s one of those cases where it’ll see some information in an article, assume it makes that conclusion that it’s telling you in the tool, and give you that link. So you’ve got to be really careful.

02:52

And the other thing that they found is that over long conversations, it tends to hallucinate more. So if you’re using your tool and you’ve got one long chat going on and you really think you’re doing great, you may be getting more and more bad data, bad  information, bad recommendations, so be careful about that. And the reason, again, it’s not malicious — it’s not anybody trying to do something negative to the world with AI tools. It’s just that when it can’t generate a concise, fluent answer, over admitting uncertainty, it will choose guessing every time. So think about that. AI guesses. And if you think that in your head when you’re using the tool, you’re much less likely to get caught in a bad situation from using it and having it give you bad data.

04:15

Here’s why this matters for marketers: because when you fabricate data and put it into a proposal or a document or research, or use it to inform your marketing decisions, you could not only lose money, but you could be subject to liability or reputational harm. Things can happen like that. It’s not wrong at random. It is consistently wrong. So it’s not wrong at random. They’re not anomalies. These hallucinations are not anomalies. They’re systemic outcomes of training incentives and the way that AI works with prediction mechanics. So it’s not wrong at random. It’s wrong a lot. Verification is no longer optional. You need to always go back and check what it’s telling you against your original data.

05:10

I was on a call with one of our clients a couple weeks ago, and I got — oh man — I could have gotten my butt handed to me. I had a database that I had downloaded, uploaded into my chat tool, and thought that it would give me accurate information on who was on that list. It actually overstated the specifics of an audience that were really interested by 100%. It said there were 4,000 of these people in our list, when in reality there were only 40 confirmed. And when I went back and asked it why, it said, “Oh well, the patterns — the emails. A lot of people use Gmail for mailing lists, so we assume that some of those are based on patterns.” And it didn’t make any sense. So I asked it to analyze it again, only with the exact data that was in the document, and what came back was completely different. So use the tool if you want to, but be really careful of double-checking your data.

06:09

So a couple things that have happened. Research shows that AI responses degrade, that they give bad, dangerous medical guidance. I would assume, based on that, that they probably give bad guidance on digital marketing as well. So if you’re using ChatGPT as your tool to tell you about Meta and their ad policies and how they’re impacting health-related organizations or something like that, double-check that, because it could give you completely wrong advice. So that’s one of those things that I really want people to understand.

06:45

The other thing people use it a lot for is copy. And what’s happening out there in the ether is people are starting to get really sick of AI copy. It’s very predictable. You can look at it and see the lists of three. It has a tendency to make these long social posts with just way too much information and flowery language. If you’re using AI for your copy, Google actually delists AI-generated copy. They have tools that can tell when it’s AI. Maybe that’ll change eventually, but for right now, if you use AI as a basis for an article, go back in and rewrite it as a human being, because that is what will get you web traffic. That is what will get you good, solid, relatable, authentic content.

07:33

So I guess what this episode is, is more of a warning that, you know, we love AI. We use it a lot for all kinds of things. It’s a great tool for outlining things like articles, podcasts, books. It’s really good for that — for titles, for social content ideas and concepts, for a different way of saying the same thing. One of the things in digital marketing that we all know is we have to learn how to say the exact same thing 27 different ways. AI is a great tool for that. But when it comes to hard data and hard advice that you feel you should follow to be successful, always double-check it.

08:09

So that’s my advice for you today. We’ll be back soon with another episode of Rev & Reach, where we pull back the curtain and show you how we get ROI for our digital marketing clients. Take care. Again, I’m Lori Jo Vest. If you are watching this on YouTube, please subscribe and give us a like. We’re really trying to share this great information about marketing with a much larger audience. We are free with the information. We’d love to hear from you, too. If you have a comment or a suggestion and you’d like to have us answer your question on this podcast, we’d love to hear from you. So take care. We’ll be back again soon.

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori Jo Vest breaks down why focus is one of the most important — and most misunderstood — elements of successful digital marketing.

Drawing from real client examples, Lori explains why trying to be everywhere at once dilutes your efforts, wastes budget, and hurts ROI, and how choosing the right channels, message, and success metric helps businesses get better results with less effort.

0:00 — Why focus matters more than being on every platform

2:24 — The danger of listening to too many voices in marketing

4:07 — A real-world example of channel focus driving better leads

7:20 — Why audience research and strategy must come before execution

04:11 — “The focus channel became Facebook, with Meta ads generating leads, because that’s what worked.”

05:45 — “So if you think that you need to be everywhere all at once, you just don’t, it’s just not something that that you need to do.”

06:49 — “Remember, attention is finite, execution energy is finite and budgets are finite.”

07:17 — “Focus doesn’t limit your growth. It accelerates it.”

00:00
Hello everybody. I’m Lori Jo Vest, here with another episode of Rev & Reach, where those of us here at PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC give you a look behind the curtain at how we do digital marketing so that you can experience more success with your digital marketing efforts and get more ROI.

So today I want to talk about focus. One of the things that we run into frequently is clients who think they have to be everywhere, all at once, all the time. Not true. We have had situations where a client is on one social channel and gets an incredible amount of leads in one month. We also have situations where clients are on all the channels and they just don’t get much. It’s a really interesting balance.

But if you think you should be everywhere, you’re not right on that one. That is one of those things that people believe — that there may be an opportunity there, so they should make sure they’re there. And if you spread yourself too thin, you risk a couple of different things. You risk spending energy trying to reach your audience on a platform where they don’t play. Or maybe you’re on a channel where a certain type of content really performs well, but you don’t have the budget to create that kind of content, so that’s not what you’re sharing — and then you don’t get any results. And, you know, there are a lot of different people saying a lot of different things.

01:38
I always like to remind people that marketing is really subjective. A lot of times you’ve got somebody in the client seat who has some marketing experience, maybe they have no marketing experience, and you hire the experts so they can come in and do the job.

Some things are subjective. If you have a request for your marketing team and they push back, give it some thought. Maybe they’re right, because subjectivity means you could be wrong. I’ve had clients come in — when I worked in video production — and say, “My wife doesn’t like the look of that graphic.” Really? Okay, so should we change it? And they will spend money making changes to things that their wife looked at.

02:24
So it takes all kinds. From the “we’re in the trenches every day” perspective, I will tell you that you can’t listen to everybody. You have to focus in on who you’re going to listen to, follow their advice, and get to the point where you’re succeeding with that advice and that formula — and then maybe add things onto it.

But if you try to do everything all at once, you’re going to dilute your efforts, and it’s also going to make things much more difficult for you and a lot harder to get ROI. And I’ll give you an example.

03:01
We talk a lot about our dental practices because it’s one of the places where we’ve really had great success. And we have a practice that is really good at what they do. They’re not inexpensive. They are probably one of the higher-end practices, and they’re very open about that, because the way they do things is different.

So we put them on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and we really didn’t know where the magic was going to happen. Some of their patients are younger — in their 30s — maybe they had some kind of dental disease, or maybe they were in a car accident and need full dental replacements. Or, more likely, they’re in their 60s, 70s, maybe even 80s, and have lost their teeth and dentures are making them crazy.

So you’ve got a really wide range of audiences. We thought maybe we’d pick some people up on Instagram, and we also prioritized Meta and Facebook because Facebook is a great place to reach an older audience.

04:07
Well, let me tell you — we got a lot of younger people there. It was really surprising. But the focus channel became Facebook, with Meta ads generating leads, because that’s what worked. And that was really pretty easy.

We did a little on Instagram. Never really got us much by way of leads. The client was really excited and told us they wanted to try TikTok. They didn’t have a bigger budget, so they weren’t able to create custom content for TikTok, but we put them there. And basically, we got zero followers, zero views, zero likes. Nothing happened.

And it was because their content wasn’t the right content for TikTok. TikTok likes educational, inspirational, hilarious, fun, entertaining content. Entertaining is the name of the game there if you really want to succeed.

So what I really want to say is: pick three or four things and start with those three or four things and do them really well.

05:53
Maybe you’ve got a great website. You’ve got a great LinkedIn page. You’ve got your executives using LinkedIn. You’re doing some Instagram to reach younger business people who might not be on LinkedIn. And you’ve got some things going on YouTube. That’s a full plate.

If you add three or four more channels, you’re going to dilute the effort. And if you even just do what I described — those particular channels — and focus on doing them really well, you would most likely see results.

So if you think you need to be everywhere all at once, you just don’t. It’s not something you need to do.

07:20
Another piece of advice that fits in here is to figure out where your audience is before you do anything. Strategy is so important, and a lot of people don’t spend enough time researching the audience on these channels before they advertise.

Maybe you’re really comfortable on Instagram, so that’s where you go. Well, if your product isn’t really reaching an audience on Instagram, just because you’re comfortable there doesn’t mean that’s where you should be.

AI is your friend. ChatGPT is your friend. Google is your friend. Do the research. Where does your audience play?

When I talked about dental practices earlier, we had an older audience — retired people, playing digital games, playing cards, happily retired. Those categories are so easy to reach on Meta and Facebook.

Remember: attention is finite. Execution energy is finite. Budgets are finite. So where can you focus that attention to get the best ROI?

The algorithms on all these social channels reward consistency, repeatability, and engagement — not just throwing things up once in a while, but being there consistently, three days a week, engaging with people, sharing other people’s things.

Focus doesn’t limit your growth. It accelerates it.

08:50
If you focus and get really good at one channel, then move on to the next. Do your homework. You cannot be everywhere all at once. Your audience is not everywhere all at once.

They are not on TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook — all at the same time. And if they are, they’re not spending much time on some of those.

So pick one primary channel where you know your audience is already playing. Pick one core message. What problem do you solve best? And pick one success metric. Is it leads? Is it booked calls? Is it sales? Not likes. Not shares. Not followers.

Focus, adjust, optimize. That’s how digital marketing works.

09:25
You do not have to do everything all at once. If you try to, you’ll fail. Start with one channel, one message, one metric. Be strategic. Pay attention. Check in every day. Engage. Measure what happens. Then move on.

I’m an open networker on LinkedIn at Lori Jo Vest — I’d love to hear from you. Let me know that you listen to the podcast when you connect with me.

We also have a website where we keep past episodes, transcripts, and show notes, and there’s a contact form there where you can let me know what topics you’d like us to cover on Rev & Reach. We’re here to help you get more ROI from your digital marketing.

If you’re watching this on YouTube, please hit subscribe, give me a like, maybe even a share, and we’ll see you back in a few weeks with more information to help you get better results from your marketing. Take care.

In this episode of Rev & Reach, Lori and Kiley break down why video remains the most powerful form of digital content in 2026—especially in a crowded, AI-heavy marketing landscape. Together, they unpack why audiences are tuning out overly polished, AI-generated content and gravitating toward real people, real stories, and authentic conversations.

01:31 – Why video still wins in 2026 and how it cuts through AI-generated content fatigue.

03:09 – How the rise of TikTok and AI visuals has made real, human video more valuable than ever.

04:56 – Why you don’t need a studio, perfect lighting, or polished delivery to succeed on video.

07:05 – How to uncover endless video topics by answering real customer questions and sharing expertise.

11:13 – How one video can be repurposed into blogs, Shorts, Reels, and content across platforms.

02:32 – “Video is what you could call a trust shortcut in a crowded, AI-heavy social media ecosystem right now.”

05:21 – “You don’t have to be polished. You just have to be clear about what it is you’re going to express and what you’re talking about.”

13:03 – “Authentic beats polished, consistently.”

15:06 – “If you’re good in conversation, you can be good on camera.”

00:08

LORI: Hello everybody. I’m Lori Jo Vest, and we are here with another episode of Rev & Reach, the podcast from Pop Speed Digital Marketing, LLC, where we pull back the curtain and talk about what we do for our clients that gets results. With me is Kiley Metcalfe. Kiley is our social media lead. Say hi, Kiley.

KILEY: Hey everybody.

LORI: And I think this is the first episode we’ve actually recorded—and are actually going to run—since Kiley got back from maternity leave.

KILEY: It is. We’ve tried to record before, and it didn’t go so well. So now we’re officially back.

LORI: It is hilarious, having had my son—oh God—27 years ago, to watch Kiley, whose baby was born at the end of August, be the mom that we all knew she would be and also work at the same time while she figures it out. Because baby’s home, Kiley’s home, Kiley’s remote—and it is not easy, right?

KILEY: No, yeah, definitely not easy. I definitely talked a big game about it, like, “Oh, I work from home and my job is super flexible. I’ll be fine.” We’re fine—but fine is about what it is, right? So we’re getting through, slowly figuring it out, but we’ll get there. We’ll definitely get there.

01:31
LORI: Yeah, she’s back part-time for now. And I told her I actually worked part-time until my son was in kindergarten, because you don’t want to miss that extra day if you can get away with it. So we’ll see what happens with childcare and how that all comes together.

Today, we are going to talk about video. I think we’ve talked about it before, but not in the same context that we’re going to cover today. People are really, really tired of AI slop. They are overwhelmed with promotional stuff that comes through their feeds, and there is a reason that video is so popular right now.

What we hope to do with this episode is save you from wasted time, awkward content, and that spin of trying to figure out what you’re going to post. Video still wins in 2026. Platforms still prioritize it. Video is what you could call a trust shortcut in a crowded, AI-heavy social media ecosystem right now.

A lot of brands are using AI. A lot of individuals are using AI. A lot of us think we can still tell when people are using it for visuals—but it’s getting to the point where pretty soon we won’t be able to tell. That’s why video is going to be so important. More than anything else, it’s going to involve real people talking to the camera, sharing their stories—and the more authentic, the better.

03:09
KILEY: Yeah, absolutely. I think AI is a really key example of why video is going to stay as relevant as it has been. I think, Lori, you’d agree that video really took social media marketing by storm with the launch of TikTok. It was good before to be mixed in there, and now it’s everything. If you’re not incorporating video, you’re so behind the curve.

AI, in the last year or so, has become as prevalent in our industry as it has, and exactly what Lori said—there are AI-generated photos now, even some videos, where you really have to have a good eye to tell the difference. You can look in the comment section on something that, to us, is very obviously AI and see a bunch of people treating it like fact. And that’s scary. It’s definitely scary.

We’ve always been of the mindset that real people get results, and people trust people more than promotions—or now AI. Video is going to continue to set itself apart as the most trusted form of content simply because it’s much harder to AI-generate a truly solid, authentic video. Something like this—where Lori and I are just sitting here having a conversation—is significantly more authentic than creating something through AI and expecting your audience to trust it.

04:56
LORI: Yeah, and I think at this point, people have somewhat of an aversion to the amount of slop that’s out there. What makes me laugh is that people think, “I can’t do a video because I don’t have all the lighting, I don’t have the right microphone, I don’t have a studio, I don’t know what to say.”

The reality is, you don’t have to be polished. You just have to be clear about what it is you’re going to express and what you’re talking about. You don’t need a studio—you need some good lighting and a really strong point, and you already know what to say.

How many times, Kiley, do we sit in meetings with clients and they tell us on a Zoom call things about what they do, their product, or their brand, and I’m like, “Oh, that could have been a video for social”?

05:48
KILEY: Exactly. There are so many times—especially in our nonprofit sector or with clients who are launching a business—where the way they speak about what they’re doing is filled with passion, expertise, credibility, and authority. We’ll sit there thinking, “That should be on social.”

With a lot of our clients, we can get them to sit down in a forum like this and repeat themselves in a way that translates into really solid video content. But some people are scared to be in front of the camera. They think, “Is this really going to work? Should we hire a video team?”

But polished isn’t better. Commercialized is not better for social. We’ve heard founders, CEOs, program directors, and marketing team members say things about their organization that absolutely should be on social—and they need to be the one to say it.

07:05
LORI: Another thing I find is that people think they don’t have anything to say, which I think is hilarious. As social media people, we’re used to coming at the same information in several different ways.

If you think you don’t have anything to say, consider this: what questions do your customers ask you? Answer them on video. When you’re in a staff meeting and an interesting topic comes up—especially something that differentiates your brand—get on video and talk about it.

If you have ideas about what a particular industry could do better, or five things people could do right now, those make amazing videos because everyone is looking for solutions. If you show up as the authority with video content, a podcast, or a YouTube channel, you will stand out. You do have things to say.

Honestly, I think you could spend ten minutes on a call with me and Kiley, and we could get you topics for ten videos instantly. That’s just how we think.

So let’s talk about how to make video sustainable, because it can be exhausting—shooting, editing, posting. There’s a lot that goes into it. Kiley, what do you think is the most efficient way to use video?

09:00
KILEY: First, just because video is queen doesn’t mean all of your content has to be video. Carousels still work. Strong imagery still works. Smiling faces still outperform graphic-only content.

Video doesn’t need to be overwhelming. You don’t need to post seven videos a week for it to work. It needs to fit into a system that works for your organization.

One of the biggest benefits of video is repurposing. It’s much easier to customize a video across platforms—LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok—than it is with other types of content. Whether you hire an agency or handle it internally, video is worth the investment because it supports everything else you’re already doing.

11:13
LORI: I love what you said about one video becoming several pieces of content. You record a video, turn the transcript into a blog, post the full video on YouTube, then cut it into clips for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Short clips often outperform long-form videos by a mile. What we’re seeing work right now are short, confident videos with a strong point of view—an opinion or perspective that’s meaningful to the audience. Caption them, watch for typos, make eye contact with the camera, and remember that imperfect, human delivery beats overproduced every single time.

13:00
KILEY: Authentic beats polished, consistently. You don’t need to constantly record long videos. Do it periodically, then chop them into short-form content.

Our sweet spot is 30 to 90 seconds. Do that once or twice a week, and it’s not nearly as overwhelming as people think.

14:38
LORI: There are tools we use to make this easier, but that’s not the point of today’s episode. What I want to leave you with is this: it’s not about being good on camera. If you’re good in conversation, you can be good on camera. If you’re passionate about what you do, you can be good on camera.

I once watched a very introverted guy do a LinkedIn Live. His graphics weren’t great, he wasn’t polished—but he had about 150 people watching because what he shared was valuable. He was helpful. He was real. That’s what matters.

If people see you as a human, they trust you more than a logo or a still image.

So that’s what we’ve got for you today. Thank you so much for joining us. We’ll be back soon with more helpful information about digital marketing and how you can get more ROI from your digital marketing spend.

If you’re watching or listening on any platform, do us a favor and hit that like and subscribe button so we can get this kind of information out to more people. We appreciate you, and we’ll see you again soon.

KILEY: Bye, everybody.