Welcome to Issue 53 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.)

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Hello Reader,

Stories are all I have left of my dad.

He passed away when I was six, too young to really know him as a whole human. So my understanding of the person he was (and, in many ways, the person I’ve become) comes from all the stories I’ve been told by all the people who knew and loved him.

Luis was many things to many people, but the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that he was an excellent salesman. Like, one of those people who could sell ice to an Eskimo and then become their best friend.

People often tell me I’m a good salesperson, so I guess I come by it honestly.

One of my favorite Luis stories is about his first entrepreneurial venture as a kid in Catholic school.

My dad was five when his parents moved the family from the Netherlands to Mexico City, a place where Catholicism still shapes so much of the culture. I don't believe my dad ever fully bought into the religion, but he knew how to play along.

One day, while in middle school, he asked his parents for a bag of plastic rosaries. He told them he wanted to give the rosaries to school friends to show he was fitting in, learning the faith, and being a good little Catholic boy.

But when he got to school, he set up shop.

He sold each rosary for a peso, reminding his classmates that Mother’s Day was coming up and convincing them that nothing would make their mamas happier than a blessed rosary.

He sold out before lunch.

By knowing exactly what to say to my grandparents, he got buy-in for the supplies he needed. And with a slightly different message—but same premise—he resonated with his target customers at school.

Two different audiences, two versions of the message, and one singular goal for my dad.

Luis, bless his soul, knew his audience.

A Good Reframe

“Know thy audience” is the most basic marketing and communications advice we've all heard. We get why it's important.

But when it comes to building influence online, I'm amazed to find it’s still the most misunderstood.

Most people interpret it as “know your ideal customer,” which means creating for the people who might pay you.

And while creating for the people who might pay you is absolutely something you should do, it’s extremely limiting for using the internet to grow your business.

If your goal is to create inbound opportunities and not get stuck in the soul-sucking loop of self-promotion, focusing on your ideal customer profile will only make your marketing very boring, very repetitive, and a little too niche—especially if your ideal client isn’t all that active online to begin with.

Consider an executive coach who specializes in supporting neurodivergent leaders, for instance.

If she only talks about the problems her ideal customers face—say, navigating their ADHD at work—she’s going to have a pretty quiet comment section. Not only is there still stigma around the topic, but few leaders are jumping at the opportunity to publicly acknowledge they’re actively struggling.

That doesn’t mean they’re not reading—it just means they’re not engaging. And that stunts her reach.

Now, if this coach also shares stories about what it’s like to be an executive coach, her broader perspective on leadership and workplace culture, or her own experiences with other forms of stigma and what she’s learned, well...now she’s giving us something to work with.

She’s welcoming engagement and opportunities to connect with:

• Peers who could refer her,
• Members of the media working on related stories,
• Podcasters looking for experts,
• Community leaders searching for speakers, and
• Anyone who's ever struggled with stigma of any kind...

The list could go on.

When you define your audience too narrowly, you miss out on this entire segment of collaborators and allies who could become the reason your work spreads.

Adam Witty, author of Authority Marketing, uses a great metaphor to think about it:

If your public platform were a coliseum, the inner ring is your customer audience. The outer ring is your attention audience. And the people milling around outside are your target audience.

Most people obsess over the inner ring, which is about immediate transactions. But audience growth and authority building come from nurturing the outer ring. Usually, this is where your ideal customers find and trust you faster.

Because when other people endorse your work or thinking, your customer is more willing to listen.

One more thing happens when you expand your focus beyond just buyers:

Your platform shifts from a sales funnel into an actual community of people who believe in similar ideas, can relate to your experiences, and see a version of themselves in your stories.

Doesn't that sound so much more enjoyable?

A Good System

For me, it helps to think of "audience" as an ecosystem.

My ecosystem includes freelancers, fractionals, and consultants who do visual design for brands, for instance, and need a partner for the words. Or VCs who share resources with founders. Or heads of HR who book workshops for their teams.

Again, the list goes on.

Sometimes these people become my clients. But most of the time, they help me get in front of the right people.

The way to identify who’s in your outer ring starts with asking yourself:

• Who else influences my ideal customer’s decisions?
• Who else creates content they already enjoy?
• Who else shares my worldview or mission?

If you’re a business coach, it could be other consultants, podcasters, or HR leaders. If you’re a startup founder, it could be investors, journalists, or complementary product builders. And if you’re a cereal brand, it could be nutritionists, parenting bloggers, or coffee companies that share your shelf.

Here's another thing: When you widen your audience, you widen your perspective. You start telling stories that build relationships. And those relationships are what build your reputation.

You’ll know it’s working when your content sparks conversation, people reply to your newsletter, DM you on social, tag you in posts, or talk about you when you’re not in the room.

It’s slower to grow, but infinitely more powerful and sustainable.

A Good Takeaway

We can’t forget for a second that we’re building brands in a time when there’s more noise, more competition, and much more skepticism than ever before.

Most of us have hired a service provider, bought a course, attended a webinar, splurged on a product, or joined a community that didn’t deliver.

I, personally, have spent thousands on programs and people who’ve taught me lessons I could’ve learned myself from a $15 audiobook.

And that kind of burnout changes how people make decisions.

Few of us are rarely focused only on solutions anymore. No, no, we want signals of integrity. We need to know: “Can I trust this person?”

And trust comes from showing your full humanity—not shoving people into a marketing funnel.

When you stop creating content only for customers and start creating for all the other beautiful humans who could support you and your work, you invite more connection, more conversation, and build actual credibility.

Even as a kid, my dad had a better grasp on audience strategy than most grown-ups with marketing budgets.

He understood that “knowing your audience” is simply understanding what people care about and meeting them there.

A Few Good Resources

1. I encouraged Lauren, a member of my storytelling cohort, to post this embarrassing story on LinkedIn. It quickly became one of her most engaged pieces of content. The beauty of it (in addition to showing her humanity) is that it speaks to multiple audiences—her ideal customers, peers who can relate, and really anyone who’s ever made a mistake.
2. Amanda Natividad gives an excellent breakdown of audience personas vs buyer personas in this video.
3. This is so random, but did you realize that all AI logos look like buttholes? Things to think about.

Hope you have a good one,
Renee