Everyone's chasing a million followers. But if 99% of them will never walk through your door, what did that number actually buy you? Chip Colandreo has spent 23 years proving the opposite bet: a small, passionate local audience beats a viral one every time. He joins Craig and Caitlin to talk about why local storytelling is harder than going global, and why it's worth it.
What We Cover:
- Why the only metric that matters is whether the cash register is ringing, not your follower count
- How Chip's team builds a genuinely local audience of 30,000 and why "local is hard" in the age of viral everything
- Going in cold: why Chip has writers interview subjects with almost no background, and how that mirrors Caitlin's brand discovery process
- Generative vs. assistive AI, and Lake Mary Life's commitment to zero generative AI in their published content
- The Ice Capades realtor and the carpet installer who escaped Cuba: how the best business story is usually the one that has nothing to do with the business
The One Thing: Don't just promote your business, promote you. The stuff people remember is personal, the hobby, the family history, the wild detail that came out in passing. That's what turns "some guy who sells widgets" into the person they drive across town to buy from. Be your authentic self, and don't be afraid to make it a little personal.
Craig Brooks is CEO of Clarity Creative Group. Caitlin Smith is a brand designer and strategist. New episodes dropping soon. Follow Vibe Marketing wherever you listen to podcasts.