Episode 197: The End of the ‘Online Expert’ Era?
In this episode of the Gloria Chou PR Podcast, I share the three massive shifts shaking up the online business world—especially in the age of AI, content saturation, and consumer fatigue. If you’re a coach, service provider, or expert selling digital products, this episode is your wake-up call.
Why the “Information Business” Is on Life Support
AI has made information ubiquitous. The era of selling access to templates, funnels, and plug-and-play “secret formulas” is over. People are tired of cookie-cutter advice. They want real results and real connection. In this episode, I break down why thought leaders clinging to old tactics are struggling—and what’s working instead.
Why Pain Point Marketing Is Dead—and What to Do Instead
The “I help” bio. The pain, agitate, solve framework. The fear-based FOMO countdowns. All of it? Losing its impact. I explain why today’s buyers are more discerning than ever—and how I’ve pivoted my messaging from fixing people to illuminating their power.
How Community Is Outperforming Celebrity in the New Digital Economy
Spoiler alert: solo “gurus” are out. Shared connection and community-driven growth is in. From handwritten notes in gift bags to DMs that turn into Forbes features, I share how building actual relationships—not just followers—has helped our small business community thrive.
This Episode Is For You If:
✅ You’re exhausted by outdated marketing tactics
✅ You’re wondering why your funnel isn't converting like it used to
✅ You want to market with integrity and actually enjoy your business again
✅ You believe in service over sleaze, and connection over clicks
Key Shifts We Cover:
Why consumers now spot inauthentic marketing in 5 seconds flat
How to personalize and humanize your offers—without scaling burnout
What happens when you follow up years later just to help (and how that builds brand trust)
Final Takeaway:
We’re in a new era of business. Fast, big, and automated isn’t better—it’s broken. If you want to stay relevant, profitable, and aligned, this episode is your must-listen roadmap.
Resources Mentioned:
Join the PR Secrets Masterclass
Join the Small Biz PR Pros Facebook Group
DM the word “PITCH” to us on Instagram to get a pitching freebie https://www.instagram.com/gloriachoupr
Connect with Gloria Chou on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaychou
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/428633254951941
Additional Resources:
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Join the PR Secret Masterclass
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TRANsCRIPT
00:00:00 Gloria: Today is going to be a little bit different. It's something that I have been wanting to express for a long time and being someone in this online world, having an online business that's based on expertise and information and being in masterminds with so many other online coaches and experts. I am seeing that this year with AI, with everything that's going on with our political, socioeconomic environment, after everything we've been through, we are in for one hell of a reality check.
00:00:25 Gloria: So this episode is all about the three biggest shifts I am seeing with what's happening in the online world, especially as it relates to the age of AI. It's something that I have been noticing and maybe subconsciously, inadvertently, but I'm so glad that I have been making a pivot to adapt to this. Because if you don't know already, and you probably have sensed this, is that what used to work is no longer working. Whether it's the fear-based scarcity, high pressure tactics, or the ways that the online gurus said, you need to build this funnel and do this, that, it's just no longer working. And I think as a shared human experience, we have really evolved.
00:01:04 Gloria: The first shift that I have seen is that because of AI, information is no longer scarce. And so the people who are gatekeeping access to information, who are selling courses and consulting just based on information alone, unless they have something super proprietary that you can't access with all of the amazing free tools that we can instantly get access to, the business model is just not going to be as viable. The heyday of the funnel bros or the online marketing gurus selling this template and that template as if it was the secret sauce. Right? People have grown so tired of it.
00:01:38 Gloria: One, because they know that access to those templates or strategies are now easily accessible. And number two is that all those templates and strategies have already been tried. And so what you're seeing now is so many people copying the same types of marketing message funnels and pathways that those four or five or six online marketing gurus who made it really big maybe five years ago are doing. And so all of the emails starts to sound the same. All of the ways that they are selling starts the same. The content, the calls to action. So raise your hand if you've also felt that.
00:02:11 Gloria: I think this is actually really good because what it's done, it's given us as consumers, me included, being on both sides is that we have so many reps to have such a discerning curation and filter of when we know someone is marketing from an authentic place and when someone is just using a tried and true, but oh, so boring template that no longer works. So we have developed these digital spidey senses is what my friend Sarah Ashman, who's a branding coach calls it. And I think it's just from years of being online and meeting with so many people and having Zoom fatigue and doom scrolling.
00:02:44 Gloria: We can see within five seconds just by looking at someone's eyes, just by feeling their tone, their body language, even if it's just a little square box that you see on your phone, if someone is marketing or selling from a really authentic place, if the work really lights them up or they're just doing it because this is something that they're known for and something that they can just rely on and they just keep feeding this same message over and over because they're afraid to try something new because they want to make money, right? So that's really what I mean is information is no longer scarce.
00:03:13 Gloria: And so there is a really quick death happening in the online world where people selling templates and tried and true strategies are no longer working. And I think that's a really good thing. The second thing I think is that for a long time, even before COVID, to sell something. It was like, I can fix you or let me help you. You see a lot of this on Instagram. You see people's Instagram bios, "I help X, Y, Z." And I just gave a workshop, my proprietary unapologetic messaging workshop in my first ever New York retreat.
00:03:43 Gloria: And I just said, I need to throw all those playbooks in the trash. All of the ideal customer avatars, all of the "I help" statements throw it in the trash. And this might be radical because a lot of people can say, well, the "I help" statements are working. And I think it works to a certain extent, but from all of the data and the research I've done with my community is that people are tired and they don't want to be helped. They don't want someone on the other side of the screen or call saying, I have your solution. If you just do this, it'll fix everything.
00:04:10 Gloria: And so it's this kind of assuming that the person is somehow incapable or broken and they're starting from a place of so much pain that we're still using the pain point marketing. And I really think that pain point marketing is having its reckoning where again, it's a reality check and pain point marketing is no longer working like it used to. I think before all of the marketing gurus marketing 101 textbook would say pain, poor marketing, make the pain so deep and they can viscerally feel it and then paint the solution.
00:04:38 Gloria: And I think that that is no longer working as the most linear path to sales. We know that people are more discerning than ever. There's a trust recession because people are overwhelmed, oversold to every person online seems to be an expert in X, Y, and Z. When you do have that, the pain point marketing no longer works because people know that, okay, well, maybe I do need help, but I have all these other resources and I have so much choice in getting a solution to my help. Whether it's from one-on-one stuff, whether it's me doing my own research, there's just a marketplace of ways that you can consult someone on a part-time, hourly, full-time, like that's not scarce anymore.
00:05:15 Gloria: And you can also hire people from overseas. If you have a limited budget and you want to be more discerning with your costs. There's just so much out there. Again, the expertise and the whole guru sitting on a throne and saying, I have the answers to your problems. Unless it's something really, really specific and niche that you maybe do have a problem for, I think that's changing. I think people just aren't able to sell and convert like they used to.
00:05:39 Gloria: And I also think that that is actually a good thing because what we want, and this is a shift that I've made as well after I realized I was also brainwashed from all the marketing and funnel tactics is that when you empower someone, and I don't even like the word empower, but when they make a decision from their own empowered place, they become such amazing, glowing member of your community. They give great customer testimonials. They're the people who actually do the work and they're the ones that who recommend you.
00:06:06 Gloria: Instead of driving home how much pain you're going to be in if you don't buy this product or service, I think with AI and the ubiquity of information, online business is changing and the businesses that are marketing from a place of, you're already powerful, you already have all the answers within you. Let me just help you open some doors. Let me show you the clearest path to how you can walk through that door. That's really the type of community program service that is going to be resonating with at least my audience and a lot of the people that I hear online.
00:06:37 Gloria: So that's really a shift that I've taken as well. I used to do all these scarcity timers, five spots left, and that was really a vestige of kind of what I learned from other people. Last year I did 160 calls with my previous customers. They all say the same thing, which is we are tired, we are confused, we are burnt out, we have bought from so many experts and courses. I don't want more information. I just want someone to tell me what to do. I want to be able to have direct access to the person selling it. Personalization is key. I don't want to wait on a Zoom call for my turn and I got three minutes to ask something. So I think that level of genuine support is back.
00:07:18 Gloria: This whole thing, this whole AI revolution, this whole over-saturation is reminding us that the people who really see the humanity of what we're doing and sell from that humanity, humane place, those other people are to come out on top. There are so many coaches out there who have these huge massive platforms and they're the ones that are doing the selling. But then when their students or customers get into the program to learn something, they are nowhere to be found. There is no access.
00:07:41 Gloria: I think that the people who can actually give personalized, direct support, rapport, and checking in like I do, like I am on DMs with so many of our students, past and present, and I've actually sent someone who joined my program, I think four years ago, and she has had so many life events happen. She graduated from her program, hasn't been in her program, and I saw an opportunity for her to get featured in Forbes. And I remembered exactly what was her industry and I sent it to her. She didn't actually respond, but then three weeks later, she told me that because of what I sent her, she got featured in Forbes. And I started crying. This is the level of humanity and personalization that if you can just do that, you are already beyond 99% of what's out there.
00:08:22 Gloria: So much of what AI and tools and software has trained us to do and also with Instagram is short span attention. How do we do things the quickest? And so what we've done, I think as a society is we've just pursued the quickness and the scaling. How can I scale? How can I automate? How can I replicate? And I think that sacrifices a lot of the emotional empathy and support and just love that people need before they trust and really feel like they can buy from you.
00:08:51 Gloria: I really think that no matter what industry you're in, just going that extra mile, whether it's taking 30 seconds to text or DM a customer saying, hey, your order is on your way or wow, you can still automate and send emails. Just that personal attention, even if it's a voice note, will go so, so far. I don't care if you make jewelry or fidget spinners or you do consulting, just that check-in. And then even after they have bought from you and gotten results, a lot of times we just kind of just leave them.
00:09:17 Gloria: It's like, okay, well, onto the next or so focus on the next, next, next. And me being in New York, I know what that's about. This is a city of what's next. But if we can just check in with the people who are in our community, even if they bought from us or didn't buy from us, whether it's six months or one year, that will make that person feel so seen. And they will be more likely to refer you and recommend you because they will know that you are really there for the long haul for their success. And you're not just trying to get them through the door like a McDonald's with a rotating door.
00:09:45 Gloria: And so that's also what we've done as well is that we really paid attention to the previous small businesses who have gone through our PR program. Now, obviously our PR community has exponentially been upgraded. We now have a PR syndicate of all of the PR opportunities every week that I find from the internet that gets people featured immediately. We have updated our media database on color coded Airtable, all the things.
00:10:05 Gloria: But I still want to check in with the people who had gained success because people evolve, businesses evolve and you never know what stage of business you're in. And actually a large part of why our business has been able to be so profitable is because so much of our revenue comes from previous customers who have bought from us, who continue to want to work with us. After I help them with PR, maybe it's something else in their business. It's helping them write their pitch. It's helping them with their media bio. It's helping them figure out an AI workflow and even doing some business auditing.
00:10:34 Gloria: So a lot of times we tend to just do one thing in our business, but as we gain the trust of our customers, see how else you can help if you are knowledgeable on that. So for me, I'm known as a PR coach, but I've also built on the funnels. I've written so many sales pages. I've done so many email automations. I've audited so many different pages.
00:10:53 Gloria: So for me, that's an area that I feel very comfortable speaking about because this has been my business. I've sent like 500,000 emails. And so those are things that I can definitely help people with. So think about that again, with all of these things, it creates opportunities and it creates maybe disadvantages from people who are not able to adapt. But more and more, I'm finding that this AI revolution is reminding us to go back to the basics. What is sales? What does it mean to actually connect with a leader, a customer?
00:11:21 Gloria: It means actually taking the time to listen to them, to find out how we can support them in the most personalized way, that they feel like they are truly heard and seen and not lumped in with a big category of other people, all size fits all, because that's really what they're looking for. I think the answer now is not, will this work for me? I think people know that all of these solutions work, but what the question they're asking before they buy is, I know this works, but will this works for me?
00:11:47 Gloria: And we can answer that with empathy, with more high touch involvement, with checking in with personalized messages and it doesn't take that long. I think a lot of times we think that we can't do that because we're so focused on scaling and getting more and more and more and just like numbers. I always tell people, we are not a McDonald's and at least for me, this is not a volume based business.
00:12:09 Gloria: And especially for online coaches, the reality check is that those who are just trying to get as many people through the door as possible, they are not having the creative spaciousness to ideate great content. They're overwhelmed and just strapped for time. And so they tend to just overlook their current customers who maybe had the potential to keep buying from them for five or six months or years, which is honestly more revenue than just getting those two or three new customers who maybe aren't so invested. So that is the second thing that I'm seeing is that this whole let me fix you, let me help you. And then pain point marketing. I don't think that's working anymore.
00:12:44 Gloria: I actually got three DMS from our PR members in the last week and one of them was like, "Hey, I got into my sixth gift guide. I'm so glad I found you." The other one was like, "I never thought this was possible, but you've shown me the impact that I'm making in the world." And the funny thing is that all of these DMs from our PR students, none of them said, thank you, Gloria, for helping me or you helped me. It was very much like you created access or you connected me or now I'm reminded of the impactful work that I set out to do.
00:13:14 Gloria: And so this is really what I think is the biggest transformation and something I'm so proud of in my business is that I'm no longer taking the perspective of someone's broken and I need to help them. It's more like you have everything within you. You're amazing. You're radiant. And we just need to like connect you with the right journalists and the right PR opportunities. You don't need to fix anything about you. And that's really the ethos and the energy that I take when I am helping people.
00:13:35 Gloria: And the third biggest shift that I'm seeing in the online business world that I think if you're not attuned to it, your business will suffer. And we've already seen this. The third one is the whole community over solo celebrities. So people who prioritize community, which is, let me introduce you to someone or let me create access for you, instead of I am the know-all sage on stage.
00:13:57 Gloria: Those people who prioritize community and engagement and cross-pollination of ideas and introducing members, those are the people who are getting the highest customer retention and raving reviews. And this is also a journey that I've been on. In the beginning, I, of course, I was looking for as many people to join as possible. But after you get to a point where you know your stuff works and you get repeated results, you think there's got to be more. There's got to be more than just this the generation.
00:14:22 Gloria: And I found so much richness in being able to connect our members to each other, who then can buy from each other, who then can refer each other. And in my New York event, I had the goodie bags and it was only from people in our community, no outside brands. And so with that, they each wrote a handwritten note that I wanted them to put into the gift basket to the founders who attended my New York retreat.
00:14:43 Gloria: And it was such a beautiful moment of seemingly strangers, but connecting to each other, reminding them handwritten notes like, may this remind you that you are on your way or may this be a reminder that you have people cheering you on. And that's really what is working now in online business is this notion of community. And I think a lot of people, when they think about community, it's like, oh, I need to get on this platform or it's Facebook or Circle or MightyNetwork. And it's not about the software. It's about you being able to go beyond what you're offering.
00:15:11 Gloria: So for me, it's PR and really curating connecting them to other opportunities. And so a lot of the people that I've worked with, if I see an opportunity that's like, if someone is selling something that is in the education space, if I know a teacher that has access to tons of students, I might connect them. If I know someone who is an expert in this field, and then I know someone who has a community of a lot of people who could benefit from her solution, I'm going to connect them. And so that's really what I mean by connection.
00:15:37 Gloria: It's not just a Facebook group and lumping people in there and introducing themselves, but here, let me show you all the other ways that you can benefit and create access and elevate and shine a light on each other. And it's this flow, not just me posting things all day, but there has to be this back and forth reciprocity of give and take. And that's really the most beautiful thing about community that, especially with AI and everything becoming so impersonal, people are craving it more than ever.
00:16:01 Gloria: And I think with everything, there are opportunities. And that's, I think probably the single biggest opportunity that this whole AI content saturation and short attention span has created is that we are desiring real connection more than ever. Whether it's in real life, whether it's being seen as a person and not just a customer or a number, how can we create from that and connect them to other opportunities? That will help anyone's business thrive.
00:16:29 Gloria: So this can be, again, I encourage you to think about how you can apply this concept, whether it's business or if you make services or products, the community element is so key. So I'll give you an example. We have Eve Carr, who is a founder of Kreyol Essence and she's Haitian and she has an incredible hair product line. And she was on Shark Tank. She's also a member of our community, one of our PR students. Her episode was actually on our podcast as well. She sold over $50 million in product. But she said that her Instagram page is so much more than just buy our products. Here's what's great about it. Here's the benefits.
00:17:04 Gloria: She actually has these Instagram lives where they talk about hot button and contentious issues about haircare, all of the emotional and things that come with hair. Hair can be a very sensitive and triggering topic culturally. So she goes there and she has these people on her Instagram lives just like going off about what they think. And sometimes it gets a little bit heated and contentious, but that's how she is building community is rallying people around values and creating a discussion. That's really what I think is the beauty of it. These are the three main things.
00:17:33 Gloria: As I reflect as an online business owner and having been in this kind of expert information economy for the last five years, this has been the single most biggest, radical and fastest shift that we're seeing. And AI, although it brings a lot of convenience and ease, it's also going to reward those people. We're actually taking the time to see their customers as individual people and give them individualized support instead of just trying to delegate, automate and farm everything out to their coaches.
00:18:01 Gloria: And so I really do believe that that is where we're at. And so there are ways to adapt with it. And that's something I'm doing as well. I am spending all of my time now in the DMS and actually communicating with our students directly. It's not my assistant that's doing it to me and has given me so much richness in supporting their journeys and making them feel seen and supported. And Karen, for example, who joined, she poured candles because it was her way of processing her mother's death. She started pouring candles in the depth of her grief.
00:18:28 Gloria: And she just got on a couple of PR opportunities from what I sent her. And she reposted it to her Instagram and her caption was, "I hope you are proud, mom." And this just brings tears to my eyes, to be able to support someone where they already had an amazing product. They already had the story. I just created that connection and access for them to be able to connect with the journalists and the right stories. She didn't have to change anything about her business at all.
00:18:55 Gloria: So thank you so much for listening. This is a short and sweet episode, but as I reflect on just how quickly everything's changing. And I wanted to kind of synthesize and put it into an organized way of here are kind of the three big things. And I'm sure so many more things will change. We live in an age where I was telling a friend that I think we experienced 10 years of change in one year now, and it's absolutely nuts.
00:19:16 Gloria: And so that's just your reminder and permission to go deep, to really bring out the humanist and who you are and reject this faster and bigger is always better model which is what we've been taught in business.
00:19:31 Gloria: Thank you so much for listening. And if you know anyone who would be a great fit for listening to this podcast, please send it to them, the Small Business PR. It's the only way that it'll get out to them. And hopefully this message will help shift some perspective or give some strategies or insight that can make you think differently. Thank you so much for listening. And I so appreciate you being here week after week. Feel free to connect with me on Instagram. I am an open book and I post a lot about my views, about the industry, about how things are changing with AI, and just with online business in general. You can find me at instagram.com/gloriachoupr or just DM me @gloriachoupr.
00:20:12 Gloria: Hey, small business hero, did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes, the New York Times, Marie Claire, PopSugar, and so many more, even if you're not yet launched or if you don't have any connections? That's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR secrets masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought after industry expert.
00:20:41 Gloria: Now, if you want to land your first press feature, get on a podcast, secure a VIP speaking gig, or just reach out to that very intimidating editor, this class will show you exactly how to do it. Register now at gloriachoupr.com/masterclass. That's gloriachou, C-H-O-U-P-R.com/masterclass. So you can get featured in 30 days without spending a penny on ads or agencies. Best of all, this is completely free. So get in there and let's get you featured.