Month: November 2025

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Are you ready to review your marketing?

Image shows a woman with dark hair. She's thinking about ways to help you get ready to review your marketing.

We’re heading towards the end of the year, when lots of us reflect on the things that made us happy, what we’d like to change and how we want the year ahead to feel. If you’re thinking about your business and getting ready to review your marketing, here are a few questions to ponder to help you plan for next year.

Where are people getting to know you?

When I talk about marketing, I mean anything that helps people get to know you and learn more about what your business does. That includes anywhere people might read your words, watch your videos or talk to you face-to-face.

Think about:

  • The website pages people spend the most time on
  • The videos they watch all the way through
  • The posts that get likes, comments or shares
  • The chats you have at networking events

The downside is that people might read your social media posts without interacting, but this process should give you a rough idea of where they’re finding you and what’s attracting their attention.

Where do your enquiries come from?

The next stage is to see who’s getting in touch and how. Most of my enquiries arrive by email, often from people I’ve talked to online or in person. When someone contacts you, they might have looked at several platforms, but the method they use will tell you a lot about the content that nudged them into action.

If you use a website contact form and have Google Analytics set up, you can see the path visitors take to your contact page. It helps you understand the customer journey and focus your marketing on the things that get results.

What do your favourite clients have in common?

This might seem a bit off piste, but understanding what your favourite clients have in common helps you attract more of them, which will make your business life a lot more fun. Working out where those clients have come from also helps you focus on doing more of that. If they engage with you on social media or mention blog posts they’ve read and enjoyed, you can review those in more detail to replicate the effect in the future.

Are you being consistent?

Good marketing is about building relationships, so consistency is essential. When people see you popping up regularly, they remember you, learn about what you do and know you’re still around when they need you.

Consistency doesn’t have to mean posting every day, but it does involve having a routine you can stick to. It creates predictability for your audience and helps you plan, which is much less stressful than winging it.

Where is the money coming from?

We’re in business to make money, and your finances can tell you what’s working in your marketing.

If your enquiries lead to interesting chats but not many bookings, the solution often starts with your marketing. If you’re attracting tyre kickers or people who say “I didn’t think it would cost that much”, there might be a disconnect between how you present your work and the quality you actually deliver.

I’ve had a tendency to apologise for my own existence and downplay my services in the past. If your marketing attracts people who don’t see the value in what you offer, it’s time to change how you talk about your work.

How are you?

Most of us started our businesses to enjoy our work, set our own goals, and have more control over how our lives look. Marketing takes time, and if it’s the thing you always leave until last, you might find yourself working late, getting stressed and feeling guilty because you’re missing out on time with your family.

If the life you imagined isn’t the one you currently have, look at the marketing you currently do and how long it takes. Simplifying and streamlining your marketing or getting the right support can ease the burden.

Ready for a chat?

Reviewing what is (and isn’t) working in your marketing helps you plan for the year ahead. If you want to get more consistent with your marketing or write content that feels more like you, let’s have a chat.

When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business and write content that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. That could be monthly blog posts or articles, social media posts, emails or pretty much anything else you can think of!

Please email me to arrange a chat or book a Zoom call to find out more.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook with fifty (yes, 50) topic ideas for your marketing as a thank you. It also includes hints and tips to help you structure your posts if you’re currently writing your content yourself.

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The Power of Storytelling in Business: Connecting Through Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Image reads: Guest blog Wendy Garcarz - Refirement. This guest post talks about the power of storytelling in business

In a world flooded with data, pitches, and product claims, it’s not the facts that people remember, it’s the stories. Storytelling is no longer a nice-to-have in business communication; it’s essential. Whether you’re pitching a product, building a brand, or leading a team, storytelling bridges the gap between information and emotion.  This helps people not just understand what you do, but believe in why it matters.


At the heart of compelling storytelling lies a powerful model know as the Rhetorical Triangle: ethos is the credibility of the story, pathos is the emotion of the story and logos is the logic of the story. These three elements work together to create stories that resonate, influence, are memorable and inspire action.


Ethos: Establishing Trust Through Authenticity


Ethos is about who’s telling the story. In business, it’s not enough to have a great idea; people want to know who you are and why they should trust you. Are you credible? Do you walk the talk? This is critical in the world of social media where so much is hype over honesty.


When businesses tell stories that are honest and personal, maybe about their beginnings, their failures, their mission, they establish ethos. Think of Ben and Jerrys ice cream.  Their story around sustainability and activism make their environmental ethos clear. Their voice is rooted in transparency, which builds a sense of trust. Authenticity is key here. People can smell insincerity a mile away. The more genuine and human your narrative, the more powerful your ethos becomes.


Pathos: Tapping into Emotion

While facts tell, feelings sell and Pathos is the emotional heart of a story. It’s what moves people. It’s what makes your message stick.


In business storytelling, pathos shows up when you talk about your customers’ struggles, your team’s triumphs, or the social impact of your work. Emotionally charged language using words like hope, fear, joy, or resilience, helps your audience feel the stakes, not just hear about them.


Consider the countless small businesses that thrived during the pandemic by telling raw, emotional stories on social media.  They offer a window into their products, but also about the people behind them. Those stories created emotional connection, and that connection drives loyalty.


Logos: Backing It Up with Logic

Of course, even the most heartfelt story needs substance. That’s where logos comes in, it appeals to the logical, critical thinker. Data, metrics, processes, case studies: these elements provide the why it works behind the why it matters.
In a business setting, logos reinforces your emotional story with facts. For example, a social enterprise might share a story about a woman empowered by their training program (pathos), talk about their founders’ vision (ethos), and then show statistics about how their work has helped over 10,000 people globally (logos). Each element strengthens the other.


A story built on all three pillars is not only convincing, it’s unforgettable!

Why It Works: Human Brains Are Wired for Stories

Research shows us that stories activate more parts of our brain than data alone. When we hear a story, we don’t just process language, we simulate experience. We live the story. That’s why storytelling fosters empathy, trust, and action. In business, this means better engagement, stronger relationships, and more meaningful impact.

Bringing It All Together


To craft compelling business stories, begin with your values. Who are you? Why do you care? That’s ethos. Then ask: what do you want your audience to feel? That’s pathos. And finally, what facts, outcomes, or logic support your message? That’s logos.


A well-told story isn’t about selling, it’s about connecting. When your story reflects real emotion, grounded in credibility and backed by truth, people listen. More importantly, they remember. Because in business, just like in life, it’s not just what you do that matters. It’s the story you tell about why you do it.

About Wendy

Wendy Garcarz is a leading voice in entrepreneurial leadership and strategic business growth. She specialises in helping women-led businesses step into their thought leadership potential and drive meaningful impact across sectors. Through coaching, consulting, and cutting-edge frameworks, Wendy helps small business owners unlock their influence and the economy’s future. She is the founder and CEO of Refirement CIC, the global movement for redefining retirement for women in the 21st century.  We are creating a supportive community for women who want to rock but not in a chair!

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Why you need a human copywriter as well as AI

Image shows a woman walking in the woods thinking about why you need a human copywriter as well as AI

Yes, you read that right. I did say you need a human copywriter as well as AI, and not instead of it. You might think I’m opposed to AI, but I’m not. If you use it well, it’s a very useful tool, but it’s not a substitute for a real person. Here’s my guide to the pros and cons.

Great ways to use AI

You can use AI for free or at a relatively low cost, which is great news if you want to keep your overheads low. I’ve used it for things like brainstorming, or filling in the blanks when I’m writing an article and want to check I haven’t missed anything important. I tend to start by coming up with my own ideas, then take them to ChatGPT to see if it can suggest more. (In fact, an MIT study suggests using your own brain is the best way to make sure you remember the information later.)

If you give your favourite AI factual information, it can help you organise your thoughts and plan tasks based on your priorities. In other words, great stuff if you want to use your time effectively and plan coherent content.

Disadvantages of using AI

Of course, AI has its downsides. It doesn’t have the same social awareness or nuance as a real person, so it can come off as tone deaf if you use it to write your content. It also doesn’t understand legal compliance or ethics, which could get you into hot water

AI works by collating and recycling content that already exists. It doesn’t have a fact checker or a filter, so it often gets its facts wrong. It doesn’t have original ideas and can’t tell the difference between great writing and something utterly predictable and generic. There’s a lot more of the latter out there, which means you get the written version of pig swill. A mix of everything with no clear flavour.

A human writer can match your tone

I’m told you can train an AI if you give it time, which is fine if you have the time and need a low-cost option. But we’re in business. We wear all the hats, make all the decisions and have lives outside our businesses that we’d like to get back to. When you work with the right human writer, they can get to know you and match your tone quickly so that you can get on with other things. We can also tailor it to the subject by listening to the way you talk about different things and understanding your tone of voice.

Relationship building

I spoke to someone recently who had named their AI and said it made them feel good about themselves. I get it, especially as I smile when ChatGPT tells me it likes my approach to a topic or that I have great ideas. The thing is, that’s part of the problem. When you have a good relationship with a real person, they’ll push back when they’re unsure whether an idea will work, rather than flattering your ego. I was chatting to someone from a charity that works to support teenage girls’ mental health, and she described a rise in toxic relationships and abuse due to AI telling teenagers what they want to hear when it comes to relationships. They expect the same, often unrealistic behaviours from real people, and it doesn’t end well.

An AI won’t buy from you, but a person will, so having a human who’ll give you feedback based on their understanding of your business and customers will help you build relationships with the right people.

Ready for a chat?

If you want to work with a human writer (who’s also open to using AI well), let’s have a chat. When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business, and write content that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. That could be monthly blog posts or articles, social media posts, emails or pretty much anything else you can think of!

Please email me to arrange a chat or book a Zoom call to find out more.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook with fifty (yes, 50) topic ideas for your marketing as a thank you. It also includes hints and tips to help you structure your posts if you’re currently writing your content yourself.