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Own Your Impact equips experts and leaders to transform their expertise into meaningful influence. Host Macy Robison reveals how successful thought leaders use deliberate systems—not luck or volume—to amplify their authentic voice and create lasting impact. Through practical frameworks and strategic guidance, you'll discover how to build a self-reinforcing ecosystem of Core Resonance, structured Content, a Central Platform, strategic Connections, and intentional Commercialization. Whether you're just starting to share your expertise or scaling an existing platform, this podcast delivers the roadmap to turn your ideas into purpose-driven influence that resonates far beyond what you might imagine possible.
Platform to Connect: Move Beyond Dazzle
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to Own Your Impact. So excited to have you here for another week. Now, over the past few weeks, we've been talking about embodiment as part of the catalyst that gets you unstuck. We've talked about strategic decision making as the thing you need, the skill you need to navigate entrepreneurship.
[00:00:18] Well, today I wanna explore something that every thought leader wrestles with. Their central platform, their website, most people approach platform building backwards. I've found they start with features, aesthetics, or what they think looks professional. But I believe the most successful platforms aren't built on what looks impressive.
[00:00:40] They're built on a single powerful question that cuts through the noise. And here's the question. Am I building this to connect with people? To hide from them or to dazzle them. This might sound simple, but this one question transforms every platform decision, from guesswork [00:01:00] to strategic clarity, and more importantly, it ensures your platform becomes an extension of your core resonance rather than a barrier to it.
[00:01:08] Now, let's go back to that pattern that I see so often someone decides they need a more professional website, so they research the latest design trends, study successful thought leader platforms, maybe even hire a designer. They create something that looks polished and sophisticated. Then nothing happens.
[00:01:24] The traffic doesn't convert, people don't engage. The platform feels disconnected from their actual work. And what's missing is this. They built their platform based on what they thought they should do, not what would actually serve the people. They're trying to help a lot of advice, a lot of tactics, really focus on the wrong things.
[00:01:44] Should I use this color or that one? Should my hero section have video or static images? Where should I include testimonials? There are so many little decisions to make, but they miss the fundamental issue. What is the underlying motivation for building this platform in the first place? And it [00:02:00] should all be about connection.
[00:02:02] You are walking people through the process of learning how to know, like, and trust you, and to connect with you further so they can decide if they wanna learn from you, if they wanna work with you. And your platform needs to reflect that job to be done of connection. So when you're trying to make decisions, especially about what to say on your website, what words to use to facilitate that connection.
[00:02:27] How should you structure things so that you have the pages on your site, have the platforms connected to , your website that can make a difference in terms of,
[00:02:37] People buying courses from you and things like that. It's really thinking about what's the underlying motivation for having this online home to welcome people into. Most platform choices come down to one of three categories.
[00:02:49] We're either building to connect, we're building to hide, and. And make ourselves small. I'll say more about that in a second. Or we're building to razzle dazzle them, like the song from Chicago. So here's [00:03:00] what each of these three things looks like, because I think understanding the difference will transform how you approach not only how to build your platform, but even how you communicate in other spaces online when you're building to connect Every platform choice serves one purpose, making it easier for the right people to understand how you can help them and how they can take the next step toward transformation. I've been certified as a StoryBrand guide since 2017. I've worked for the company for three years as the director of that certification. I've done a lot of training, both of practitioners of StoryBrand, I've done training for the company , and helped our customers understand how to create a clear message.
[00:03:39] And I feel the biggest value that that framework offers is it gives you a chance to figure out how to strategically connect and clearly connect with the customers you're trying to serve. When you are building to connect, you are positioning yourself as the guide. Who helps the hero win the day? [00:04:00] Your client, your potential client is the hero.
[00:04:03] They're at the beginning of their journey. They're ill-equipped. They don't know what's happening. You are the guide. You know what they need. You have faced the challenges that they're going to face. You have had the transformation that they're seeking, and you create a platform that makes it clear that you understand their journey, you understand what they're going through, and you have the wisdom to guide them toward transformation and success.
[00:04:26] Platform choices that connect lead with the problem and the transformation you provide, not with your credentials. They share truth that helps people access whether working together even makes sense. They make the next step obvious and appropriately challenging. They demonstrate your competency in service of their decision making, not to impress them.
[00:04:44] Here's what that decision to connect looks like in practice. Your homepage above the fold immediately addresses the challenges your audience members face positioning them as the hero. Your page tells a story in a way that builds trust and credibility while staying focused [00:05:00] on them as the hero of their journey.
[00:05:02] Your service descriptions clearly explain not just what you do, but why it matters for their specific situation and how it helps them succeed. When someone visits a platform built to connect, they feel understood. They can quickly assess whether you are the right guide for their hero's journey. And they know because of what's on the site, what they need to do next.
[00:05:24] So that's building to connect. A lot of people inadvertently do the next thing, which is building to hide using their platform to avoid vulnerability or real engagement. They're worried about using the wrong words. This often happens unconsciously when we're afraid of being judged or when we're not clear on the value we provide.
[00:05:44] When you're hiding, you're really avoiding your role as the guide. Instead of stepping forward with a plan to win the day, you're staying in the background, you're using vague language, you're making it difficult for people to understand how you actually serve. Those [00:06:00] platform choices that hide bury your actual offers under generic marketing speak or there aren't any offers at all because you don't want to seem salesy.
[00:06:09] You might use sanitized copy that says nothing authentic about who you really are or what you do. You make people hunt for what you do instead of making it clear and accessible. That creates a barrier right from the start and it filters out people who really wanna connect with you. Your homepage might use a lot of buzzwords like Synergy and Breakthrough Guru, without explaining what you actually do. Your page is either so completely generic or so completely polished. It reveals nothing real about who you are and what your journey has been.
[00:06:41] When someone visits a platform where the thought leader is hiding, it feels confusing. They can't figure out what you actually offer or if it's actually relevant to their situation because you've hidden the opportunity to connect with them.
[00:06:54] Now, the third thing, building to dazzle, that means creating platform elements designed to [00:07:00] impress rather than to serve. We've all seen websites like this. , This idea comes from the song Razzle Dazzle from the Musical Chicago, where this idea is, if you look fancy and impressive, people won't notice what's actually missing.
[00:07:11] Underneath, we're gonna tap dance and impress them. You're making yourself the hero instead of positioning your client as the hero when you're building to dazzle. Your platform is all about showcasing how impressive you are, how many awards you've won, how many things you've done, rather than demonstrate how you can guide their transformation.
[00:07:27] Now, you do need to anchor your platform in some authority. You do need to have credentials there. You do need to show that you know what you're talking about, but a platform that's built to dazzle. Overwhelmingly uses those kinds of authority markers without any opportunity to display that you have empathy for the situation that your potential customer is in.
[00:07:50] You're more focused on being impressive instead of being helpful. You might have the shiniest, fanciest website with really cool transitions and, you scroll and things magically appear, that's [00:08:00] great, but if there's not the ability to connect and understand behind all of those features, that extra credibility you think you're adding with the dazzling features, doesn't convert when you're more focused on how impressive you are instead of how you can help someone.
[00:08:15] When you're about page reads, like a resume designed to intimidate instead of connect when your service descriptions, use industry jargon that make you sound like an expert, but leave people completely unclear about actual outcomes. That is a platform that is a website that is designed to dazzle and people might feel impressed when they look at a website like that.
[00:08:35] But they also feel distant and they don't know why you're showing up as the hero on your website for your business, and that person that's visiting your website is looking for a guide. They're the hero of their own story. And if you show up as the hero too, we're in competition with one another, and I'm just gonna go look for a guide somewhere else.
[00:08:54] They sense that you're performing instead of being ready to serve. Here's the thing that's tricky. All of these approaches [00:09:00] can look remarkably similar on the surface. A testimonials page, a credential section, even an about page, can serve any of these three purposes, depending on your underlying motivation.
[00:09:10] But I'm telling you, I've been doing this for a long time, and people can feel the difference even when they can't articulate it. When your platform is optimized for connection, visitors immediately sense that you understand them and you can help them. When it's optimized for hiding, they feel uncertain or confused.
[00:09:26] And when it's optimized for dazzling, they feel impressed but distant and maybe wondering if something is being obscured on purpose. This really matters because this website, this online space, is an extension of your core resonance. If your essence, your experience, your expression, your embodiment are aligned toward genuine service, but your platform is designed to hide or dazzle, it creates what I call digital dissonance.
[00:09:50] People sense the disconnect even if they can't name it. So how do you know which category your current platform might fall into? Here are some diagnostic questions to test. [00:10:00] First for every page on your website, on your platform, this can extend to LinkedIn. This can extend to other borrowed pieces of your platform as well as the owned property of your website.
[00:10:12] You can ask yourself this question regardless. Would someone visiting this page for the first time understand what problem I solve and whether I'm the right guide to help them solve it? And I think it's important to ask that question regardless of whether it's a platform you own or a platform you're borrowing to build reach.
[00:10:29] , If I come to someone's website, I should be able to understand what problem they solve and whether they are the right guide to help me solve it, that I can utilize the things that are built into a LinkedIn page to make that happen in the same way that I can design my own website and make that happen.
[00:10:46] For your copy and your messaging, a great thing to ask, am I sharing this information to help people make a good decision about their journey, or am I sharing it to make myself look impress? The overall user experience, especially for a platform you've built like a website, does [00:11:00] someone leave my platform feeling more clear about their next step toward transformation or more confused about what I actually offer?
[00:11:06] Now, in some cases, people might need to hop on a phone call with you to really be clear about whether the product service you're offering is the right fit for them. That's not what I mean. They should be clear. There should be a clear next step to engage, to move forward this is a spectrum.
[00:11:21] No website is perfect. So if you're looking at this and you're asking these questions of your self as you're examining your different pages on your platform and you're thinking, Ooh, I don't know, there's a lot of work to be done here. A website that is a b plus that is live and can be improved is way more effective to connect with people than a perfect website that you haven't launched.
[00:11:42] So. Just ask these questions, make little tweaks where you can and test some of these things out. Finally, the last question you wanna ask for your platform is this. Does this platform sound like me having a conversation with someone I want to guide towards success, or does it sound like I'm trying to be someone else or [00:12:00] impress them?
[00:12:01] That I think is the most important thing you can ask yourself when you're looking at the copy you're writing. Does it sound like me? Does it sound like a conversation? Does it feel like me? If it does, when you have a chance to talk to them in person, it will be a seamless transfer to them actually continuing to connect with you.
[00:12:20] So here's your invitation this week. Audit your current platform, whether again, it's when you've built as a website or when you're borrowing, and look at it through this Connect hide Dazzle filter. Visit your own website, your own pages, as if you've never heard of yourself before. What's your honest assessment?
[00:12:36] Do you leave feeling clear about , what is offered and , how you could help with the story? Or do you leave feeling confused or impressed, but distant? Pick one page that feels like it might be hiding or dazzling. Instead of connecting and try to rewrite just the headline or just the first paragraph with the sole intention of how your ideal client understand how you can guide them through transformation.
[00:12:57] What they will get on the other side, what [00:13:00] they will be like on the other side. What do they need to believe in order to buy from you To to re-quote Billy Bro as and simple marketing for smart people. The next thing to do, ask someone who doesn't know your business well, to visit your platform and tell you in their own words what they think you do and who you help.
[00:13:17] Listen for clarity or confusion when they respond. And then finally, make one small change based on what you discover. You don't need to change everything all at once. Choose one element that you can shift from hiding or dazzling toward connecting. Remember this central platform is a big component of the resonant thought leadership system.
[00:13:37] It works in harmony with your core resonance, with your content, with your connection strategies, with your commercialization approach. When your platform is built to connect, it becomes such a powerful foundation that houses your intellectual property. It serves as the destination for all of your connection activities so you can get them on your email list.
[00:13:56] It provides infrastructure for your business model. Everything works [00:14:00] together to amplify your authentic voice instead of competing with it. Here's probably the most important thing to remember. Your platform isn't about you. It's about the people you serve and the transformation you help walk them through.
[00:14:14] When you can consistently apply this, connect, hide, or dazzle, filter to all the decisions you're making, you create a digital presence that feels like an extension of your very best conversations instead of a barrier to them. The most powerful platforms don't impress people into working with you. They help the right people recognize that you understand where they're coming from.
[00:14:34] You get their challenges, you get their problems, and you are the one with the exact right kind of wisdom to guide their transformation.
[00:14:41] So this week, your invitation audit, a page of your platform, use that lens of connect, hide or dazzle, and make one change that might help the right people connect with you more easily. If this resonated with you, I would love to have you share this episode with someone who might be struggling to create a platform that actually [00:15:00] serves their audience.
[00:15:01] See if these questions help them connect better with the right people that they can serve. Thank you so much for joining me this week. I'll see you next time.