Humans of Growth: Stories & Strategies Behind Business Growth & Business Development

Most founders are wrong about personal branding.They think it’s about ego, selfies, and posting your life story online. But according to Rachel Gogos, CEO of The Brand ID, your personal brand is not about being louder. It’s about making your business feel more human, more trustworthy, and more real.In this episode of Humans of Growth, Aly Hathcock sits down with Rachel Gogos to talk about the role of personal branding in modern business growth, why every company brand starts with the founder, and how leaders can build trust without turning themselves into full-time influencers.Rachel breaks down why founder branding matters even when the founder is not the public face of the company, how AI marketing is making authenticity more valuable, and why businesses need to move away from faceless, generic content. They also discuss the difference between being personal and being too personal, how to make your ideal customer feel seen, and why your website should feel less like a brochure and more like a real-life experience with your business.This conversation also digs into brand strategy, content marketing, website copy, customer pain points, and the importance of creating a consistent customer experience across every touchpoint — from your social media content to your sales calls to your website.If you’re a founder, CEO, marketer, or business owner who wants people to trust your company before they ever get on a call, this episode is for you.In this episode, we cover:✔ Why personal branding is not about ego✔ How founder values shape company branding✔ Why faceless marketing is losing power✔ How AI is changing authenticity in marketing✔ What CEOs misunderstand about branding✔ How to balance professionalism with personality✔ Why your website should focus on the customer, not just the company✔ How to make your ideal audience feel seen✔ Why branding is more than fonts, colors, and logos✔ The underrated power of in-person connectionIf you've been thinking about building a personal brand and not just a company, this episode is for you.______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about The Brand ID here.

Your best-looking marketing campaign might be the one quietly killing your growth.Most businesses look at ROAS, cost per lead, and in-platform ad reports and assume they know what’s working. But those dashboards are often rewarding the easiest conversions, repeat buyers, retargeting, brand search, while the campaigns actually creating new demand get ignored or killed too soon.And that’s how companies end up recycling the same customers instead of growing.In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Scott Desgrosseilliers, founder of WickedReports.com, to break down why most businesses are using the wrong scoreboard for marketing attribution, and how to figure out which campaigns are actually driving revenue growth, new customer acquisition, and long-term customer lifetime value.Scott walks through part of his Five Forces Framework for measuring marketing performance, why in-platform ROAS can mislead business owners and agencies, how to think about top-of-funnel marketing, and why the cheapest customer is not always the most profitable customer.In this episode, we cover:✔ Why most businesses are measuring marketing attribution with the wrong scoreboard✔ The problem with in-platform ROAS, and why Meta, Google, and Amazon often take too much credit✔ Why new customer acquisition needs to be measured differently than repeat purchases or retargeting✔ How cheap customers can quietly hurt customer lifetime value and long-term profit✔ Why the first product someone buys can determine whether they become a high-value customer✔ The difference between first-click attribution, last-click attribution, and multi-channel attribution✔ Why top-of-funnel marketing gets under-credited, and why killing it too early can stall growth✔ The “scale, chill, kill” framework for deciding when to increase, maintain, or cut ad spend✔ How AI can help analyze marketing data, and where it still needs human guardrails✔ Why brand search may be one of the most overrated marketing channels right nowIf you’re a founder, CEO, CMO, agency owner, or marketing leader trying to figure out why your ads look good on paper but revenue still feels stuck, this conversation will reset how you think about marketing measurement.
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about WickedReports here.

Most business owners think they have a lead problem.They don’t.They have a follow-up problem.Because you can spend thousands on ads, SEO, website traffic, Google Business Profile optimization, and lead generation, but if no one responds quickly, if the sales process is messy, or if leads disappear into a broken CRM, that marketing spend is wasted.In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with James LaJoie, co-founder of PSP Compass, to break down why “more leads” is not always the answer, and why the businesses that grow fastest are often the ones with the best systems, not the biggest marketing budgets.We get into speed-to-lead, customer lifetime value, local business marketing, AI automation, CRM follow-up systems, and why consistency is one of the biggest differences between companies that scale and companies that stall.In this episode, we cover:✔ Why most businesses don’t actually need more leads, they need a better follow-up process✔ How speed-to-lead can make or break growth, especially in home services and local businesses✔ Why your sales pipeline may be the real reason your marketing “isn’t working”✔ The customer lifetime value numbers every business owner should know✔ Why calls, form fills, and response times matter more than traffic alone✔ How a slow follow-up process can waste your entire ad spend✔ What a strong lead follow-up system should look like after someone submits a form or calls✔ How AI automation can improve customer relationships without replacing human connection✔ The CRM automations every small business should consider building first✔ Why consistency is one of the biggest growth advantages a business can have✔ The underrated power of Google Business Profile for local business marketingIf you’re a business owner, home service company, or local business marketer who keeps asking for more leads but still feels like revenue is stuck, this conversation will help you find the real leak in your growth engine.______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about PSP Compass here.

Most companies confuse visibility with credibility. Getting featured feels like the win — but the headline is just the start.
Real PR is what happens after the article runs. The investor who finally takes the call. The $30K speaking spot that costs nothing to earn. The partnership that lands because you've been showing up in the right rooms for years.
In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Rachel Ford-Hutman, CEO of Ford-Hutman Media, a PR agency helping life science companies get media coverage, tell their stories, and build credibility with investors and audiences. We get into what PR actually does behind the scenes, why earned media still matters as newsrooms shrink, and the real ROI behind a single press feature.
In this episode, we cover:✔ Why visibility doesn't equal credibility — and what a PR strategy is actually building✔ PR vs marketing: the real difference and why most founders confuse them✔ How earned media is shifting as newsrooms shrink and AI reshapes journalism✔ Realistic PR timelines and the real ROI of public relations✔ Why "no response is the no" — and how that changes the way you pitch journalists✔ How small media wins feed bigger ones (the path from local outlet to Forbes)✔ Where thought leadership, op-eds, and conferences fit into a strong PR strategyIf you're a founder or marketing leader trying to figure out how PR fits into your growth strategy, this episode has your name written all over it.
 
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about Ford-Hutman Media here.

Your expertise is killing your messaging.
The more you know about your product, the harder it gets to explain it in a way customers actually understand. And this is why most companies lose buyers in the first five seconds someone lands on their website.
In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Roy Abdo, CEO of Digital Revamp, to break down how to fix your brand messaging, why your CEO needs to be the top of your marketing funnel in 2026, and how the executives growing fastest right now are using LinkedIn thought leadership and executive personal branding to drive trust, attention, and inbound demand — with as little as one piece of content a week.
In this episode, we cover:✔ The "curse of knowledge" and why your B2B brand messaging is too clever for your buyers✔ The 5-second coffee shop test for brand clarity and website messaging✔ How to focus your value proposition on the problem instead of the tactic or feature✔ Why brand positioning starts to fail when companies try to be known for 17 things✔ The Nike rule: when you've earned the right to expand your brand and product line✔ Why executive personal branding is the new top of the marketing funnel✔ How to build an executive thought leadership strategy on one piece of LinkedIn content a week✔ The "common enemy" framework: why every B2B brand needs a clear villain in its messaging✔ How to find your CEO's point of view on the future of your industry✔ Why internal employees see executive content first — and why that matters for culture and retentionIf you're a founder, CEO, or marketing leader who knows your brand messaging could be sharper — or you've been told to "build your personal brand" without anyone explaining what to actually post on LinkedIn — this conversation is the playbook.
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about Digital Revamp here.

During COVID, a lot of home service businesses got fat and happy. The phones were ringing, the leads were rolling in, and marketing budgets quietly disappeared into other line items.
Now those same companies are watching their leads dry up and wondering what changed.
Their competitors didn't get lazy.
In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Megan Bedford, co-founder of Home Services Marketing Hub, to break down what actually works for home service marketing in 2026 — Google Business Profile, Local Services Ads, the review strategy most contractors are botching, the comeback of direct mail, and how AI search is changing the way customers find local plumbers, HVAC techs, and contractors.In this episode, we cover:✔ Why home service businesses that "got fat and happy" during COVID are struggling now✔ Google Business Profile optimization: categories, descriptions, posts, and the "treat Google like a kindergartner" rule✔ Local Services Ads strategy: budgets, cost per lead, and why LSAs outperform paid search✔ "LSA purgatory" — the mistake that gets your Google ads silently throttled✔ Why direct mail is returning 15–30X for home service companies right now✔ Review strategy: why job type and location matter more than star count alone✔ How AI search is changing local SEO for plumbers, HVAC companies, and contractors✔ Why your website needs to mention the towns you actually serve (and why most don't)✔ Price transparency, "good, better, best" quoting, and what belongs on your website✔ How to start marketing a home service business from scratch in 90 daysIf you're a home service owner, contractor, or local business marketer trying to figure out why your phone isn't ringing the way it used to — or you're starting from scratch and need a real playbook — this conversation is the reset you've been looking for.
 
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about Home Services Marketing Hub here.

Scott Armstrong lost a major AT&T deal by selling the big idea while his client was trying to ask about the budget. Her CEO had cut her budget 30 minutes earlier. She asked three times to see the numbers. Scott kept pitching — and walked out down 60% of his agency fees.
That meeting reshaped how he runs an agency 30 years later.
In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Scott Armstrong, CEO of BrainRider, to unpack his "win the question, not the answer" philosophy, why being an ally beats being a vendor, and how some of BrainRider's biggest wins came from pitches they lost.
In this episode, we cover:
✔ Why most agency-client relationships go transactional (and how to reset them) ✔ The "win the question, not the answer" framework for client conversations ✔ Charles Duhigg's three types of business conversations and how to spot which one you're in ✔ How losing a major RFP can grow your business if you stay an ally through the transition ✔ The hard-conversation playbook: how to handle "moment of truth" client meetings ✔ Why most agency pitches are 90% about the agency (and what the best ones do instead) ✔ Trust as a growth engine: how to build it before, during, and after the close ✔ Why fewer, better pitches outperform a packed pitch calendar ✔ How to read what your client isn't saying — and why it matters more than what they are
If you're an agency leader, business development pro, or marketing lead whose client relationships keep drifting transactional — or you've just lost a deal you thought was yours — this conversation will reset how you think about trust, listening, and what it actually means to be an ally.
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about BrainRider here.

Paid ads are renting. SEO is buying.
Most business owners pour their marketing budget into Google Ads and Meta because the math feels obvious — drop in a dollar, pull out five. But the channel that actually compounds, the one that builds lead generation you don't have to keep paying for, usually gets pushed to the back of the budget.
And that's how most businesses end up funding Mark Zuckerberg's next yacht instead of building real long-term traffic.
In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Sophie Brannon, CEO of StudioHawk US, a global SEO agency that's been ranking businesses on Google for over a decade. We get into the SEO strategy that actually works in 2026 — what early traction really looks like, why paid CPCs are about to skyrocket, and how to think about SEO when AI search is rewriting the rules of discovery.
Sophie breaks down the three core pillars of SEO (technical, content, and authority), why "chunkable" content is the new ranking advantage in ChatGPT and AI Overviews, and the outdated black hat tactics making a quiet comeback — and getting penalized hard.
In this episode, we cover:Why SEO is the most underrated lead generation channel for small businesses, and what it actually costs you to ignore it
✔ The renting vs buying analogy: paid ads vs SEO and how to think about real marketing ROI✔ Realistic SEO timelines: what to expect in your first 90 days vs the full 6–12 month curve✔ The three pillars of SEO strategy: technical foundation, content, and authority✔ How to know if your website is technically set up to rank (and the free tools that flag issues)✔ Keyword intent vs search volume: why high-intent, low-volume keywords often beat the obvious targets✔ What actually makes a blog post rank on Google in 2026✔ How AI search is changing SEO — and why "chunkable" content is now a ranking factor✔ Why Google is now penalizing AI-generated content under its latest quality guidelines✔ The black hat SEO tactics making a comeback — and the December update that's killing them✔ Link building and digital PR: where to start when agency minimums are $5–10K a monthIf you're a founder, marketing director, or small business owner trying to figure out where SEO fits into your growth strategy — or you've been told SEO is dead and aren't sure what to believe anymore — this conversation will reset how you think about long-term, compounding traffic.Because the brands that build real search visibility eventually stop renting their leads from anyone.
______________________RESOURCES:
Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about StudioHawk US here.

Most brands start scrappy, hungry, and a little bit weird. Then they grow up — and somewhere on the way to becoming a "real" company, they lose the thing that made anyone care in the first place.
Campaigns get safer. Tone gets stiffer. The marketing starts to sound like every other brand in the category. And customers quietly stop showing up.
In this episode of Humans of Growth, I sit down with Brad Casper, CEO of Heart & Soul Marketing and a P&G veteran who's spent his career building real, wallet-opening brand love at companies of every size. We dig into why so many businesses lose their spark as they scale, what it actually takes to keep emotional connection at the center of your marketing, and why a challenger brand mindset matters even when you're the market leader.
Brad also shares the disruptive Japan campaign that took a brand-new dish soap from 0 to 25% market share in six weeks, what "courageous creativity" looks like when most CMOs are too scared of losing their job to greenlight it, and how the Reasons to Believe framework helps brands stand out without trashing the competition.
In this episode, we cover:✔ Why legacy brands fall into safe, stale marketing — and what that complacency actually costs them✔ How to keep heart, humor, and humanity in your brand culture as you scale a team✔ What "courageous creativity" looks like in practice, with real campaign examples✔ The Reasons to Believe framework: turning product features into emotional benefits that convert✔ How challenger brand strategy can beat market leaders 15x your size✔ Why putting competitors down is a weaker play than lifting your own customers up✔ The rise of the "kindness economy" and what it means for modern brand strategy✔ How to shift brand perception by listening to insiders before outsiders✔ Why your weekly team meetings should feel like the best part of your people's day✔ The future of emotional connection in branding — and what's not going anywhereIf you're a founder, marketer, or CMO trying to scale without losing the soul of your brand — or you're working with a legacy brand that's gone a little quiet — this conversation is the reset you've been looking for.
Because the brands worth scaling are the ones whose heart only gets louder along the way.
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about Heart & Soul Marketing here.

Most CEOs and CMOs are staring at dashboards that make them feel productive while the business quietly pays the price.Because clicks, impressions, and pretty reports can make it look like the marketing is working……even when growth is flatlined and your audience does not actually feel connected to your brand.In this episode of Humans of Growth, Aly Hathcock sits down with Tiffany Wade, Media Director at Hunter BluMedia, to unpack the uncomfortable truth: a lot of brands are measuring what is easy instead of what actually drives results.In this episode, we cover:✔ Why vanity metrics can create a false sense of marketing success✔ How marketing measurement has shifted from mass reach to real connection✔ Why audience research matters more than assumptions✔ The difference between short-term KPIs and long-term brand growth✔ How customer connection and community shape modern marketing performance✔ Why brands need to stop treating themselves as the target audience✔ How siloed teams distort marketing attribution and business decisions✔ What it looks like to pursue growth beyond the dashboard✔ Why stale, “safe” campaigns often underperform✔ How ad fatigue, frequency, and overexposure can actively hurt your brandIf you care about marketing measurement, vanity metrics, customer connection, brand growth, and building campaigns that actually resonate, this episode will challenge the way you think about success.
______________________RESOURCES:Get help finding the right marketing partner. Learn more about Hunter BluMedia here.