The Human Side of Marketing: How Being Real Builds the Strongest Brands

When I first started showing up online, I remember how uncomfortable it felt to hit “go live.” My heart would race, my palms would sweat, and I’d wonder if I sounded awkward or looked unpolished. But over time, I learned something powerful. The more real I allowed myself to be, the more my audience leaned in. They didn’t want perfect. They wanted human.

In my latest conversation with marketing strategist Ginna Tassanelli, we explored exactly why that happens. After 24 years in marketing and a decade leading campaigns at iHeartRadio, Ginna has seen every version of “strategy” there is. Yet her most powerful insight is simple: people connect with people, not polish.

Marketing Has Lost Its Human Touch

Somewhere along the way, marketing became mechanical. Algorithms, automation, and endless trends made it easy to forget that behind every click, every view, and every like is a human being who wants to feel something. Ginna believes that the strongest brands are built when we stop trying to impress and start trying to connect.

She shared how so many entrepreneurs, especially those transitioning from corporate life, tend to hide behind their logos, their brand colors, and perfectly curated posts. They assume professionalism means polish, but that actually creates distance. The moment you drop the facade and show up as yourself is the moment your marketing starts to breathe.

The Courage to Be Seen

Both Ginna and I know how scary that can feel. When I left corporate, I was terrified to show up as myself. I worried about what my peers would think. I second-guessed my appearance, my tone, even my words. Ginna shared a similar story. She left a corporate career at iHeartRadio thinking she needed a flawless brand before she could be taken seriously. She launched her business with a clean logo and professional website, but no one really knew who she was.

Everything changed when she stopped hiding behind “Hype Media” and started showing up as Ginna. That shift was the turning point. She realized that what people wanted most wasn’t her marketing agency. It was her voice, her personality, her story. That’s when connection began to happen and results started to multiply.

Your Personal Brand Is Not a Logo

A strong brand is not about how many fonts you use or what colors are on your website. Your brand begins and ends with you. From the moment you enter a room, write a post, or press record, you are representing what you stand for.

That realization is liberating. You do not need to build a persona. You already are one. As Ginna said in our conversation, “We are all personal brands from the day we are born. We just don’t always see ourselves that way.”

When you understand that truth, marketing stops being performance and starts being presence. The audience you are trying to reach wants to know your story, your values, and your energy. That is what builds trust.

Confidence Comes Through Connection

One of my favorite parts of our conversation was when Ginna talked about her early experiences with video. She used to finish live streams drenched in nervous sweat. She would second-guess every word she said. But she kept showing up. And that consistency built both confidence and credibility.

She explained that the reason video and visibility matter so much is because they show your audience that you are a real person. When people can see your eyes and hear your voice, they feel your energy. That is what makes connection possible. It is not about perfection. It is about presence.

If you have ever hesitated to go live or post a video because you were worried about how you look or sound, remember this: people are not connecting with your lighting or your background. They are connecting with your heart.

AI and the Future of Being Real

We also talked about the growing role of AI in marketing. Ginna has seen brands create AI-generated avatars that look and sound like them, and even AI podcasts that mimic their voices. While she acknowledges that the technology is fascinating, she also believes it risks erasing the very thing that makes marketing meaningful: the human element.

I agree. Technology can enhance creativity, but it should never replace it. You can use AI to streamline your process, but it can never replicate your energy or your story. Your imperfections, your quirks, and your personality are what make you unforgettable.

The real question is not how perfect your content can look. It is whether your audience feels seen when they see you.

Connection Is the New Conversion

At its core, this conversation reminded me why I started The Amanda Kaufman Show in the first place. It was never about algorithms or trends. It was about connection. Ginna and I both believe that real connection converts better than any sales tactic ever could. When people feel that you care, when they sense your authenticity, they do not just follow you. They trust you.

So whether you are building your brand, scaling your business, or finding your confidence to show up, remember this: your humanity is your strategy. Your voice, your story, and your willingness to be seen are the most valuable marketing assets you have.

Final Thoughts

The strongest brands are not built on perfection. They are built on people who choose to show up anyway. They are built by entrepreneurs who lead with heart, serve with honesty, and have the courage to be real.

You do not need to be flawless to make an impact. You just need to be human.

So turn on the camera. Share your story. Start the conversation.
The right people will always respond to the real you.

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Gina Tassanelli

02:50 The Philosophy of Human-Centric Marketing

05:49 Overcoming Marketing Fears and Building Confidence

08:25 The Importance of Personal Branding

11:11 Navigating AI in Personal Branding

14:23 Embracing Authenticity in Marketing

Full Transcript

Ginna Tassanelli (00:00)

I wish that they knew that they need to stop following what everyone else is doing because that doesn't mean that it's going to work for them. And they just need to be themselves,

Amanda Kaufman (00:29)

Well, hey, hey, welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And this week I'm joined by Gina Tassanelli, and she is a marketing strategist, a speaker, CEO of Hype Media, where she helps established experts and brands turn their offline credibility into profitable online visibility. And when I say I wish that I met Gina the day I decided to step out of corporate, I really, really mean it, you guys. She is a

very accomplished in marketing. has over 24 years of experience in marketing and sales, including a decade leading campaigns at iHeartRadio. And Gina knows what it takes to cut through the noise and create real connection that converts. She is bold. She does not do fluff. And she has her signature visibility to profit system, which helps clients attract premium buyers, simplify their marketing and scale without burnout.

Ginna Tassanelli (01:06)

Thank

Amanda Kaufman (01:25)

She's also a mom and an entrepreneur and lifelong storyteller. And she's also one of my friends that I met on Facebook because we use media to be social. Gina, welcome to the show.

Ginna Tassanelli (01:32)

Yeah.

Yep.

Exactly. Thank

you so much. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for the opportunity.

Amanda Kaufman (01:44)

my gosh, my absolute pleasure. So we were connecting, dear listener, before Gina and I went live with the recording. And to be honest, as entrepreneurs, as busy people, we kind of had a minute where we were like, why do we know each other? You know, we knew that this was coming and everything. And then I'm like pulling up her file, I'm like, you're Gina. And that was like a literal moment. And it was crazy. And I just have to tell you all this because I want to set the scene for our whole conversation.

Ginna Tassanelli (01:57)

Right.

Amanda Kaufman (02:12)

It flooded in my brain. my gosh. I know Gina. I like Gina. I trust what Gina has to say because guess what? I've seen her on my Facebook. We connected organically through Facebook connections. We sparked a conversation there. And the reason why I was having a hard time placing her is because this is our actual first live, you know, face to face conversation. But I really want you to hear this asynchronously.

We've been friends for a while and this is happening real time. So Gina, thank you again for being here. You have a whole philosophy about marketing and I feel like this example that I just shared of like, Gina, I know you, I like you, I trust you. We're already friends. That's kind of it, isn't it?

Ginna Tassanelli (02:42)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it is. And you know what? We've been friends through voice notes too. So yeah. Yes, exactly. Yeah, we've been human on social media. Imagine that's how it works.

Amanda Kaufman (03:01)

Yeah.

I know. I know, we've exchanged voices. What I needed to do was close my eyes, right? Because you're in 3D right now.

I'm gonna do that.

I love it. So you have a whole philosophy around this, right? Around what marketing can be. And you have, I would say, maybe both sides to a coin around perspective on marketing. You you've got that corporate style experience, but you also have the boots on the ground, more solopreneur level experience with it. So like, what do you wish people knew about marketing that they maybe don't know?

Ginna Tassanelli (03:39)

Yeah.

I wish that they knew that they need to stop following what everyone else is doing because that doesn't mean that it's going to work for them. And they just need to be themselves,

especially when we're talking to other experts, coaches, consultants, right? And people like myself that developed our career offline, right? Like I, I really

hype media didn't start until 2009. Facebook was like a baby. I still had a MySpace account, right? So we didn't really use social media for business yet. And I know it's challenging to leave corporate or to come from the offline space and then try to expand or evolve that same success online. And we tend to like get super robotic because of the technology.

But I want people to know that if you are yourself and you actually show up, there is, number one, no competition because, well, I used to say because no one can clone you, but that's starting to change a little bit with AI. But, you know, the point is, is that, is that there's so much opportunity online when you are taking

Amanda Kaufman (04:52)

So much for that.

Ginna Tassanelli (05:04)

a marketing approach that's more human centric and not worried about trends, not worried about virality and just really making connections. It's really about deeper connections and that's how you're going to cut through all the noise and really do what a CEO needs to do, which is market yourself, generate leads and make sales to make a bigger impact and other people's lives, but also in yours. yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (05:23)

I that.

I'm always

teaching and preaching. I've had the Coach's Plaza for a few years now. Not as long as you. That's impressive. 2009. And the thing that I always found when I was working with somebody is they always really overcomplicate it. And I think the reason why is we're voyeurs, we're watchers, we're daydreamers before we finally make the leap. And listener, if this is our first time meeting, I also made the leap from corporate. And I sincerely meant it. I wish I met someone like Gina.

back when I was making that transition because I remember I was so scared of what my current network was going to think of me. I was scared that it wasn't going to work and I'd have to retreat back to corporate. was dealing with a lot of more personal growth type things like my own body self image and my self talk and all of that kind of thing.

So I'm curious, Gina, when you're working with somebody and you're helping them access the more human side of their marketing that it's more connection-based, what do you find yourself telling people, you know, over and over again to help them to get past those heebie-jeebies and maybe the confidence gap that they may be experiencing?

Ginna Tassanelli (06:25)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so I really have them think about where did they start, right? You know, where have they come from? The years of experience that they have that stumps like everything else. And so I think what happens is we tend to compare ourselves with a lot of what we see out there, like you said. And, you know, some of not some there's it's it's such a wide range of what seems to be successful online.

especially when we're talking about, I don't know how old you are, Amanda, but I'm like, I'm almost 50. So I'm talking about, you know, I work with a lot of women, especially that are in their 40s, 50s and 60s, and they feel so unmotivated because they're seeing these young people that are so, well, they seem so successful, right, with what they're doing online. And what I explained to them is,

The difference between them and you, number one is your expertise, huge difference. But number two, what's working for them is that they are just doing it, right? They don't know any better and they're just doing it without, I mean, they may have some fear, but they are just like bold and blunt and they're going for it. you know, I do a lot of, I help them a lot.

Amanda Kaufman (07:43)

Yes.

Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli (08:00)

through that personal development. And this is just me walking my own journey with them, my own experience. I also, coming from corporate America with iHeartRadio, I was working with regional and national brands. So I thought when I left corporate, okay, I need to have my fonts, my logo ready, my website. Like I was ready to market myself like this huge corporate agency, like everyone was supposed to know me. And...

You know, everything was very private. I didn't even have an Instagram when I finally got Instagram. It was private. My business Facebook page was my logo, height media, like nobody knew who height media was. And so I quickly started to figure out that the missing piece and why I wasn't growing and scaling as fast as I thought that I should with all the experience I had is because I wasn't showing up as a personal brand as myself.

So I help them through that development of, you know, how to really package themselves as a personal brand, because we are all personal brands. Like since the day we were born, we are a personal brand. It's just, we don't see ourselves that way. So it's, you know, it's a little bit of a process. And then conversations, like, you know, it's practice, having more conversations with people online, networking, partnerships, collaborations.

And all of that really helps us to build that confidence because once we start having these conversations, it's like we're back feeling like we're in our shoes again, right? So even though we're doing these things online now most of the time. So that's really the process that we work through.

Amanda Kaufman (09:33)

Okay.

The word that's

downloading right now is audacity. When I started my journey, I was very anti-branding and I didn't understand branding enough to know that that was actually part of the brand. But I tapped into some audacity to be like,

Ginna Tassanelli (09:43)

Mm-hmm. yeah.

Right.

Amanda Kaufman (10:00)

I'm gonna, I was two and a half years in in my business too, before I decided to do Instagram. So I'm loving that you're saying that because I wish it would be more normalized, but it's like, it's scary to get up in front of everybody, right? But if you have enough audacity, you'll do it. And I remember like one of the big things that I was super conscious about is I didn't want, I didn't identify with, you know, kind of the Barbie branding. P.S. I love Barbie.

Ginna Tassanelli (10:06)

Yeah.

Right?

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Amanda Kaufman (10:28)

But I didn't personally see myself as a Barbie, you know, and I knew that there was a different I had a different vibe a very different I was a different sort of doll and so I also felt like I Had given a lot to corporate in terms of how I showed up and presented myself. So, you know the the the For the first few years of my business, you never saw me without sparkles on my nails because I would not

Ginna Tassanelli (10:28)

you

Amanda Kaufman (10:51)

dare in a corporate context to walk in with sparkles on my nails. And you know, there were things like that and also not wearing makeup all the time and things like that. And I know I'm all made up today, but the audacity to turn the damn camera on even without makeup was, that was absolutely unlocking for me because I realized how it felt so scary. But the reality was I got to connect with people like you.

Ginna Tassanelli (10:53)

Thanks.

Yeah, yeah. That's beauty of it, honestly. I love it. And I love that you're talking about showing up on camera because that is one of the things outside of, you know, really honing in that, yes, I am a personal brand. Outside of that, was, I would say that the real start to what allowed my business to really start to multiply and scale and grow.

Amanda Kaufman (11:15)

You know, that's so cool.

Ginna Tassanelli (11:40)

with visibility and then with attracting collaborative partners and referral partners was when I started showing up on video. And it's one of the things that as an agency, we get hired to do for other personal brands and experts and corporate brands is to create their live stream shows because I'm so passionate about teaching, showing up on video and having the confidence to do so because of

you my own experience through that. mean, I used to have like, and I say this, I'll say it here. I used to literally get off of a live video, which maybe lasted like 10 minutes and have like this huge armpit sweats underneath my armpit. So nervous. Yes, I was terrified. But now it is so much fun. Like I love showing up on camera because you really get to connect with the audience and they get to hear your voice and see your

Amanda Kaufman (12:21)

Same! Yes, I was terrified.

Ginna Tassanelli (12:35)

personality and I speak a lot with my hands and you know all that fun stuff. But it's so important. So that's another thing that I love to share with my clients is and to and to really practice and help them through and coach them through is showing up on video. It makes such a huge difference, especially on social media. So I love that you mentioned.

Amanda Kaufman (12:55)

I love this

and you know, I really want to get your opinion on this. You know, the world's changing so fast. You know, there's tools now that people can create like their AI twin and they can create all this content that is, you know, it looks like, it moves like, it sounds sort of like. What role do you see AI playing for people in, you know,

Ginna Tassanelli (13:02)

Yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (13:20)

Where are we headed with all of that when it comes to a personal brand, you think? I know this may be a big question. We can have a whole other episode maybe about it, but just some initial thoughts.

Ginna Tassanelli (13:25)

Yeah.

No,

I love it. So, you know, it's interesting. I'm in a lot of communities, a lot of containers with people that are really like just diving full in with AI, with AI twins, or I call it my AI cousin. And some are using those for their brand shoots. I'm like, I don't, don't personally, I'm not.

for that, that's not my thing. Especially for me, I have a 19 year old daughter and I'm like, why do I want to, you know, put myself out there as something that sort of looks like me, maybe a lot better when I embrace myself, my body, the way that it is. So that's kind of the perspective that I take with like the AI photos, the brand photos. Now the videos, I will say last week at the time that we're recording this.

Last week, I did do a video through Sora 2 to test that out. It was super fun. I'm cracking up at myself. My kids and my husband are like, that is so cringy. Do not post it. But I did. So if you follow me, it's it's out there. But it's definitely not me. And I made it super funny. So it doesn't look like me. So it's like, you know, I think it's it's fun in a sense, but for entertainment. But when people are using it to literally

clone themselves. You I've even seen podcasts clones, right? Where it's, it's not you, but it's a it's a clone of you on video doing a podcast and having a whole podcast show like an entire series. For me, that's, it's just not my cup of tea.

Amanda Kaufman (15:08)

Yeah, I hear that.

I think a lot about the economy that we're in and how all this stuff is changing. And I think of it like you're an artist, you're a creator. And the thing that I had to learn in terms of monetizing is like, look, there's consumers and there's creators. And as a creator, just like any other artist, you have so many choices when it comes to the medium. But when it comes to like, well, what are you trying to say?

Ginna Tassanelli (15:16)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (15:37)

And are you seeing something that people can follow along with and want to be a part of? Perhaps there's a world where the AI is so good and so strong, is really supportive of your message. And maybe that's not as far away as we think, but I love your perspective of like the humanity and like flaws in all, you know? I find myself when I use AI tools even just for editing.

Ginna Tassanelli (15:37)

Right.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (16:04)

pictures, like, I can have like a little, little contour, right? Like I can, you know, you asked me earlier, dear listener, I'm And, know, just like any other person, I have my flaws. And something I really want to just sort of add to that, yes, and I feel that people make relationships not, not primarily over the imperfections, but rather around like, what are we building towards? What are we

Ginna Tassanelli (16:04)

Yeah.

You

Amanda Kaufman (16:28)

growing towards, which also means embracing like the flaws that you have. Do I find them cute? Do I find it endearing that you're working on these things? Do I find relation with you that we're working on these things together? And if so, then that's actually been the foundation of a lot of friendship is the flaws and the darkness and the shadows. And the thing about AI is that it's so tempting to just erase all of

Ginna Tassanelli (16:47)

rate.

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (16:52)

And when

you erase all of it, then there's less for us to connect over. So I tend to be in your camp. I do think that the AI can be a really interesting medium, but we can't lose the artist. Yeah, love it. Gina, if people wanted to follow you and keep up with your genius, what's the best way to do that?

Ginna Tassanelli (17:03)

Right. Yeah, absolutely.

Facebook. Facebook is the best way for sure. I'm all over the place, but I'm always there. Yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (17:20)

I love it.

So good. So, uh, listener, give Gina a follow. We'll make sure that her link is in the show notes along with all of her other resources. Gina, thank you so much for being here.

Ginna Tassanelli (17:32)

Thank you, this was super fun, I loved it.

Amanda Kaufman (17:35)

Yes, me too. And listener, don't forget, if you love this whole authentic conversation around real human marketing, make sure you grab the link and share it with three of your dear friends who need to hear that they need to be themselves, that they need to show up with authentic connection. Just share it with three people who would definitely benefit from that message. And by the way, if you want to continue to support the show, there's two things you can do. Number one, hit the subscribe button so then you never miss another episode.

And number two, if you're loving what we're doing around here, we love you too. And a quick honest review goes a super long way. You know, when people are trying to decide what to listen to or whether to spend time with something, those reviews help a lot and we always really appreciate it. Until our next show, we will see you and do what matters until then. All right, my friends, goodbye.

Ginna Tassanelli (18:21)

Thanks.