"We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us." –Marshall McLuhan
Most people think their marketing is the problem. Not being able to articulate the problem is the problem.
I recently attended conference in New Orleans, one of the biggest gatherings of professional speakers in the country. And the most useful thing I brought home had nothing to do with stages or spotlights.
It had to do with clarity.
Rory Vaden said something at the event that stopped me cold: if your message is diluted, your results will be diluted.
Simple. Brutal. True.
Here's what I see all the time, with speakers, with entrepreneurs, with companies of every size: You offer a lot. You do a lot. You're good at a lot. So you try to say all of it. And when you say everything, people remember nothing.
Your website covers five things. Your bio spans three industries. Your social posts feel like a different person wrote each one. When someone asks what you do, you give a slightly different answer every time.
That's not a marketing problem. That's a clarity problem.
One of the exercises from the event: compress everything your brand does down to a single word. The problem your entire company, every offer you have, every piece of content you put out, is ultimately solving.
Not your method. The problem.
That word becomes a filter. Does this talk solve it? Does this product solve it? Does this service solve it? If not, why are you offering it?
I wrestled with mine on the flight home. The word I landed on: stagnation.
Everything I do, whether it's AI keynotes, workshops, consulting, or this newsletter, is about helping ambitious leaders and companies break through stagnation. The kind caused by overcomplication. Too many tools. Too much noise. Too much friction between where they are and where they want to go.
One word. One filter. Everything else gets easier.
This works whether you're a speaker, a service business, or a company with 50 employees. Find your word. Then build your message around it.
Here's your next move: If you are a speaker, or next time you need to give a presentation, try this 4-step framework for a more effective speech.
Problem: Your brand message sounds scattered because you're describing everything you do instead of the core problem you solve.
System: Use AI to compress your message until the one problem at the center becomes impossible to miss.
Try this in 10 minutes:
Open ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whichever AI you use most.
Paste in your bio, your offer description, your website copy, and one paragraph about who you help.
Prompt it with: "What is the one core problem all of this is trying to solve? Give me 20 one-word options, then rank the top 3 and explain why."
Follow up with: "What causes this problem? What is my unique way of solving it? Write me one clean brand statement."
Sit with what comes back. Refine it until it sounds like you. Then use it everywhere.
This isn't just a speaker exercise. I've watched business owners use this same process to rebuild their sales pitch, revamp their homepage, and suddenly start closing deals they had been stuck on for months. When your message clicks, everything downstream gets easier.
Note: This works for teams and whole companies too. Use it to align your organization around one core problem and watch your internal communication sharpen alongside your external messaging.
I brought something back from NSA Thrive that I almost glossed over. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized it might be the most practical brand-building tool I've ever heard.
This week on King Moves, Justin and I break it down. And I promise it will change how you name your next book, title your next talk, or position your next offer. There's one fill-in-the-blank framework that makes your message land instantly. It sounds almost too simple. That's exactly why it works.
You're going to want to hear this one.
Stop playing life on hard mode. Automate your success.
Until next time,
Ethan King
A.I. Automation for Business Growth
Keynote Speaker | Author | CEO | Strategist
ethan@ethanking.com
P.S. Our first OpenClaw installation and strategy bootcamp just wrapped and it went even better than expected. By the end, people had multiple AI executive assistants running on their phones, connected to real parts of their lives and businesses. Not chatbots. Actual agents like my Henley that handle email, calendar, follow-up, and do real tasks.
These students weren't developers. These weren't tech-savvy operators. Some of them run daycare centers.
OpenClaw is a system that lets you build AI assistants that actually do work for you, not just answer questions. Think less "I typed a prompt and got a response" and more "my AI assistant drafted and sent that email while I was at lunch." That's where this is all going.
The next class is April 9-10. Spots are limited and the last one filled fast. Register here: youropenclawstrategy.com
P.P.S. The first run of my new book–AI Beyond Chat: Deploy Digital Employees to Run Your Business 24/7–just finished up at the press! If you want to be on an early reviewer, reply with "BOOK" and you'll be first to know when it drops.
Upcoming speaking engagements:
• EO Minnesota, AI Beyond The Hype Part II: Build Your Digital Dream Team That Works While You Sleep, Minneapolis
• OpenClaw Bootcamp, Zoom (limited seats left)
• EO Charleston, AI Beyond the Hype Part 1, Charleston
• XPX Triangle, AI In Action: Turn AI Into ROI In Real-Time, Raleigh
• World Ticket Conference, AI Automation in Action: Your Ticket to an Unfair Advantage, New Orleans
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