I’ve worked with hundreds of small and mid‑sized businesses, and most of them make the same mistake in their sales and marketing: They talk too much about what they do.
- “We sell insurance.”
- “We provide IT services.”
- “We make the best BBQ in town.”
That might be true, but it’s also exactly what your competitors say. And now, thanks to AI, anyone can create a nice‑looking brochure or a clever social post about it.
What you do is easier than ever to produce with AI, robots, and a global remote workforce. With all do respect to Simon Sinek, I believe your “how” is where the magic is.
“What” Isn’t Good Enough
We’re in a new era where AI can churn out decent marketing in minutes. It can make a pretty flyer. It can write a social media post. It can even suggest a marketing plan. And all of a sudden a new competitor pops up in your market promising what you do.
But here’s what they can’t replicate:
- Capture the story of how you solve problems differently.
- Show the passion, values, and decisions that drive your work.
- Explain the trust you’ve built with your customers.
And if you don’t tell that story, the real human part, you’ll start to sound like every other option in the market.
Your “How” Is Your Competitive Advantage
Simon Sinek famously said, Start With Why. I agree; your “why” is important. But marketing that wins customers also needs to tell the story about “how.” It is the bridge between your why and your what.
Your “how” is:
- The way you deliver your services.
- The principles that guide your decisions.
- The culture you create for your customers and employees.
- The little things you do that competitors overlook.
When you get this right, your marketing changes from “we sell X” to “here’s the experience you’ll have when you work with us.”
We need to create more scalable stories
Most small businesses don’t struggle because they lack a great story. They struggle because they haven’t packaged and shared their story in a consistent, clear, and credible.
At Avenue9, we help small and mid‑sized businesses:
- Capture your “how” – through interviews, case studies, and conversations with your team and customers.
- Turn it into powerful content – videos, blogs, podcasts, and social posts that sound like you, not generic AI filler.
- Share it in the right places – so the people who matter most actually see it and feel it.
- Amplify it with smart AI – using automation to scale your reach without losing the human touch.
The result? Your customers and prospects actually get how you are different and why you’re worth choosing. When you can tell your customers’ story better than they can tell it themselves, you will build credibility and trust in a way that no pop-up competitor can.
Why This Matters in the AI Era
Right now, AI is flooding the world with marketing slop. Most of it looks okay. Some of it sounds clever. Very little of it is memorable because it’s missing the human fingerprint. It is missing the contextual understanding of how emotions and experiences come into play.
When your marketing shows how you deliver results, you become:
- Memorable – because your story sticks.
- Trustworthy – because your values come through.
- Preferable – because you’re not just another option; you’re the option that understands them.
That’s the power of Human-First AI Marketing®.
If you’ve been struggling to stand out and keep up in the fast-moving AI era, here’s my challenge:
Stop leading with your what.
Start telling the story of your how.
If you need help pulling it out of your head, putting it into words, and sharing it in a way that actually moves people, that’s exactly what we do at Avenue9.
Let’s make sure your best customers, and now AI recommendation engines, know what you do and how you do it better than anyone else.
