Done-With-You White Glove Offers with Custom GPTs with Mariana Henninger
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What I decided to do instead of just giving them these bots, I've decided to just approach my program completely differently. And instead of having it be a traditional done with you group cohort, it's now become a hybrid done for you, done with you. Because I realized that, yes, I could just give them the bots and they could use it themselves. But

To me, the best way to serve them is just to do it for them, right? The heavy lift of the work that these bots are replacing is gone. And I feel like I can easily have my assistant-

run these inputs through the bots and deliver the students on basically day one of the program with a starting point, right? Here's the first draft of your script. Here's the first draft of your emotional visuals. Is this a good starting point? Yes, it's so much better than zero, right? Essentially, the students are now starting the program

with something that's done for them and hitting the ground running. So what we're doing is just fine tuning these outputs. Welcome to Authentic AI for Entrepreneurs, the podcast that shows you how to leverage the power of AI technology without wasting your time or selling your soul. Let's embrace making AI work for you.

Hey, hey, my human friend, and welcome to the Authentic AI Podcast. I'm your host, Kinsey, and today's episode is such a good one. I'm chatting with Mariana Henninger of Brand Magnetic about how she's blending storytelling, video, and custom GPTs to create a white glove experience inside her group program.

I am nerding out so much about this idea and literally she has me thinking about all the different ways we could all kind of use a similar process in our own businesses. You do not want to miss this. We talk about why brand videos can be game changers for trust, how she's using AI in a really human first way, and what it actually looks like to deliver a done with you offer at scale without

burning out or making things feel robotic. If you're curious about custom GPTs or just want to serve your people better with less friction, you are going to love this one. So let's go ahead and get into it. Hi, Mariana. Thank you so much for coming on the Authentic AI podcast. I'm so excited to have you on the show, lady. I love it. If you're not watching the show on YouTube right now, you should know that Kinsey just did like a rapper move when she said Authentic AI was really cute.

I know, guys, before we record, I was just telling Mariana that the coffee is hitting me and so the energy is going to be there. So look out. I love it. Yeah, buckle up, guys. I can't wait to nerd out about how you are using ChatGPT in your business today. We're especially going to be talking about using custom GPTs in a course, which I'm

I can't wait to hear your process because I've been hearing about it behind the scenes and it sounds so awesome. But before we dive into all the nerdy details, I'd love to have you introduce yourself a little bit to us. Who are you? Tell us a little bit about what you do. Yeah, for sure. So I'm Mariana Henninger. I'm founder of BrandMagnetic.com. My background is in documentary filmmaking. I'm an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker. I really love

stories that are personal, beautiful, intimate, and that really captivate them to feel something, feel empathy, feel connected. That's what a good documentary means to me. And after traveling the globe, I used to work at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Peacock, NBC, kind of worked for a lot of the big news organizations and a big streamer.

really responded to my calling to be an entrepreneur. I felt like I had been a closeted entrepreneur my whole life. I really wanted to not have to ever ask for a raise again. I wanted to make my own rules and I was kind of a rebel and it was just about time I had my own business. When I stumbled upon the online space, I was immediately in love with how bootstrapped it was, how people were showing up however they could and just making it happen and not having to rely on like fundraising and

VC capital, none of that stuff that a lot of startups go through. And I'm like, I really identify with these folks. And they get the power of a good story and how important it is to use story to connect with people, to make your message stick. And as I started downloading lead magnets, I realized that my inbox was full of strangers. I'm like,

How did you get in here? Like, who are you? I don't remember. I'm sure I get permission at some point to be in my inbox. And it really got me thinking about how we're doing digital marketing. And fast forward to what my business does is it solves that problem where you are spending all of this effort showing up online online.

Trying to get people onto your email list and hoping that over six to 12 months you can nurture them to be ready to buy from you when, in fact, you can accelerate that process by creating a really instant response.

memorable, undeniable connection with them as soon as they meet you. Because as soon as we meet somebody, we see their, you know, we come across their lead magnet or we're intrigued by a comment. We actually spend a bit of time checking out who they are. And it's that precious moment that you can capitalize with a two to three minute brand video, which is what I teach and what I do to really tell the story of who you are and accelerate trust.

and become unforgettable. So when you end up in their inbox, they're not thinking, wait, who's Kinsey? Like, what did I do here?

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. And I'm laughing because that's so true, especially, you know, there's so many businesses out there, business owners, entrepreneurs and and lead magnets. And and you're signing up for a lot of different things. And then you're like, wait, who is this person? Right. I love that. Let's talk a little bit. And you might not know this about me, but I'm a total nerd.

storytelling nerd too when it comes to like branding and stuff. But yeah, I created a brand storytelling GPT. It makes me so happy because that is something that a lot of people don't feel like writers. And then there's a way to tell a story that will attract your right people that will capture their attention that will lead them through a transformation that feels like...

oh, I read that for a reason or I got something out of that versus what's the point of this, right? And so, man, storytelling itself is so difficult for a lot of people, which is totally understandable. But then also showing up on video is so scary for people, which I feel too. It's taken me a long time to get over my camera shyness and whatnot. But yeah,

You cross both of those things together and help business owners overcome both of those things. So tell us a little bit about that process and what your brand videos look like and what goes into them. For sure. I think the best way to even get a sense of what they are is to actually watch one. So I...

I encourage folks to take a tiny break from this episode. Come right back to it. But go to brandmagnetic.com slash brand videos. And there's a bunch of them on there. You can watch one of them and really get a sense of how it works. It's a two to three minute video. Now, I don't use what people call B-roll. We use emotional visuals. It really is...

Understanding how to take people on the journey of who you are in a way that makes them feel trust. You talked about how storytelling is art and science. It's not a given to be able to do it right or effectively. I focus on a single story, the one story that you tell, which shouldn't be just your origin story. Your origin story is about you. Your brand story is about how you're doing it.

how you want them to feel. It really is understanding which story to tell, how to tell it so that you create that instant connection with folks. Wait, there was something else to what you asked. I'm trying to remember now.

Oh, yeah. Camera confidence and things like that. Yeah, I think it's, you know, I speak to folks who aren't like total newbies. And the reason is that when you're just starting your business out, there's a lot that you need to learn about who you are, your offer, and most importantly, your audience. And

The best time to create a brand video is when you have a deeper understanding of your audience. When you know things about them because you've had conversations with them, because you've been around the block at least once, you've sold your offer or you've been deeply ingrained in serving them in some other way. You might be pivoting to a new way to serve them, but you're still serving the same folks. That's a good moment to connect.

consider a brand video because that's the starting point of the brand. It's a starting point of any good marketing really is to know your audience deeply. And typically by that point, folks have gotten over their camera shyness. Here's the thing. You might not be super comfortable on camera. The nice thing about the brand video is that it's one and done. Once you do this one video, it's going to be a forever asset for you. It's going to work for years, 24 seven in your business, building trust on autopilot.

And so I really encourage there are folks that come to me. They're like, oh, I really hate myself on video. But when they see the power of the brand video, when they see that it's increased, you know, launch revenue by 600 percent, you know, there are folks that are writing you from your welcome sequence. Like these are cold audience people responding to a welcome sequence email now when you used to get crickets.

Right. Because they watched a video that helped them feel like they really knew you. They helped them feel seen and heard. And there was a connection there that we can't just replicate with an origin story in words. I'm sorry. You can't like it's incomparable.

When you believe in the power of it and as a business owner, you just do uncomfortable things anyway. Right. Sometimes we have to just power through and do them. One thing that I do tell folks, I'll just leave you a little nugget. And this is actually from a friend of mine, Kim Rittberg. She helps people with camera confidence. So she might be somebody to check out, too.

she talks a lot about like don't see yourself as a model you're a teacher right it's not about how you look and how people are going to judge you it's really about how you're helping them and if you keep your focus on that there's less focus on knowing once you know that you can help people that kind of goes away pretty quickly actually

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Yeah, I love that. I have felt that, but I don't think I've articulated that in my mind yet. You know how it's like once I have felt that like where everything clicks and then and it's not about me. And so then it takes the pressure off me to be perfect or look good. And I'm more like, no, guys, listen up. That's why I love talking to my audience as if they're like my BFFs, because that's how it feels to me. But it makes it way easier. But.

But I love this idea of being able to create a brand video that is a powerful story, but then also you're incorporating the super powerful visuals into it. The reason you guys need to show up on camera is so that people can really feel that connection with you face to face. That is so, so important. But also, I love what you said about kind of using emotional video over a top

of it, like emotional B-roll or something like that. Can you tell us what that looks like a little bit? For sure. So I think we look at B-roll, especially the way that it's tossed around for Instagram and for reels and things like that. It's just like, it's just a video. Like it's just something that's happening, right? You could literally be typing at your, you know, there's not that much thought to it. It just needs to be a video. So you can post a reel instead of a carousel or something like that. I look at...

the visuals in a brand video as characters in the story, they are meant to cause certain feelings. And so it's a lot about understanding, okay, what feeling do we want to convey in this part of the story? And what are some non-literal, indirect ways of conveying that feeling, right? It might be the wind blowing through a tree. It might be

You know, I have a story of a one of my students, Julia, the podcast teacher who takes things that are complicated and overwhelming for their students, you know, the ones that are wanting to start a podcast. And she makes them very simple. One of the emotional visuals that we used was a jigsaw puzzle that happens to be a big hobby of hers. Right. It's you hear like all the pieces being thrown on the on the table. And then what is a jigsaw puzzle aside from a bunch of.

things, a mess, right? It's chaos that you beautifully organize into something amazing, right? And something complete and that feels great and that actually works and does what it's supposed to do. Thinking of visuals, not only as like things that keep you like compelling from like a watch and screen perspective, but that make you

realize that there's a message there that you actually might not even realize it's kind of subconscious, that there's a message that's being conveyed through those visuals that support the story, support the feelings of the story. Yes. Okay, guys, I'm nerding out. The branding part of me is nerding out. But I think that this kind of fits into it. I've been doing a lot of presentations for Authentic AI. So I have my storytelling slides, my journey with AI slides, you know, that I start out with. Okay.

And part of my origin story is that I like to say I was a total curmudgeon about AI when I first heard about it. And so I include a gif of Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace because I feel like that grumpy neighbor, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like that kind of plays into it. How can we reinforce the ideas we're trying to get across, right? Yeah, and you know, you're evoking that feeling, right? And I love that you use a little bit of comedy, a little bit of surprise. Yeah.

Jeff Walker talks about this in his book, The Launch. I was just reading it the other day or rereading it probably for the third time that you're always on a ticking time bomb with people, right? In the sense that you don't know how much longer you have with them. You don't know if they're going to read the next word, if they're going to stick around for the next slide. And so when you introduce an element of surprise or comedy, you kind of reset that clock. And I thought that was so interesting because

Not everyone's story can have that. But for example, if you watch my brand video, the way that I introduced that is that very quickly I'll tell a little nugget of the story, which is when I was a little girl, I...

started this little kindergarten right in my neighbor's shed. I was charging 25 cents per kid to teach them how to read. I was in first grade and I was teaching kindergartners. So I called it the ultimate low ticket course. Right. And then I used phrases that I knew my audience would kind of chuckle at or laugh at. Right. Because my audience typically coaches course graders, folks online. And

And so anyway, so the idea that in the 90s, a little girl would call her thing a low ticket membership, I guess would have been a better way to say it. But anyway, to just like find ways not just to connect with the audience. You know, I use a lot of like I love Lucy gifts and I like things that my generation will like.

I speak to sort of the 40 year olds, but obviously I have like a 70 year old student that graduated from my program. I have younger folks, too. But I love like just kind of hinting at things that are sort of insider info for us, like geriatric millennials or kind of in that age range, you know, things like that, where you like your audience. You know, I think what you just said is also just a little nugget.

that is so special. I really feel like in the age of AI, if we can use that phrase, it's so awesome to find these kind of little human things that we should highlight even more. Yeah, I love that you said that because...

For sure. I just included the Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace meme because that's such a little thing from my childhood that when I think of grumpy old man, I think of that. And I was like, I hope people get this. But everyone has laughed that I've shared it with so far. Love it. Love it. But OK, let's geek out about AI because I think it's so cool how now that we know about kind of like what you'd

do and then what you help your students do and stuff. So you have integrated now custom GPTs into your course that you help people do this with. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Totally. So I think you've probably chatted with folks that have released custom GPTs into their program like, hey, you need to do this little exercise. Here's a custom GPT that can help you do it. Right. And I've seen that kind of

starting to get more popular. What I wanted to do was just to take it a step further. And I don't want to like over glorify what I did. It's not like revolutionary or completely different from doing that. But

But I was asking myself, how can I make this easier for my students? Right. I have a done for you service. Folks who are like, I love a brand video. I want it, but I just want you to do it all for me. I got you. A lot of folks fall into wanting to do the accelerator program. So it's a 12 week program and we walk through all the steps and just a quickly in the most summarized version, those steps are.

We write your script for your brand video. We figure out what those emotional visuals are going to be. You learn how to film on your phone and you learn how to edit on your phone. And so those are the steps that I basically do both or I help my students with in the accelerator and that I do in the done for you service. But obviously we do all the stuff at that point. And so the folks in the accelerator, I found were spending more time than necessary getting to their script.

And so that was a pain point that I had. I was like, it's taking folks so long to nail down their script. And we kind of need our script to be either like in done shape or nearly there in order to start filming. And so I was just like desperate for ways to accelerate this process. And thank God it's 2025. And here we are. We have so many tools that weren't here two years ago. When I started my business, there was no Chad GBT even, you know, two and a half years ago. Okay.

And so what happened was very organically, I learned how to create custom GPTs and I started finding different roles to them for when I was working with my signature clients. I was like, oh, I need to plan their shoot day. Why don't I just see if ChatGPT can help me? And so like this is an example of a shoot day. And what we do is like we minute by minute plan the day. It's very, very detailed. It's very organized because we fit a lot into that one shoot day.

Lo and behold, I was like, wow, OK, this is really helping me organize this day and I can tweak it or I can kind of give it like we need a slightly longer lunch break or these two locations are close together. So let's film them one after the other or the light is going to hit different, you know, all of these considerations. And.

Then I was like, I think that can help me script this. You know, here's the story. Here are some voice of customer things that we have gathered. We want to use that in the script. And sure enough, I obviously gave it examples of good scripts. Long story short, I just started creating my dream team with these bots, right? Each one had a different function that I was using to completely accelerate the process for my signature clients.

Shortly thereafter, it didn't take too long for me to realize like, wow, my students could benefit from this for sure. Right. They could use these bots that are helping me write these scripts that are helping me plan the shoot date, help me think of emotional visuals. I love it when the bot, you know, soothes my ego when the ideas are the ideas that I had. However, there's always like one or two. But then, you know, I'm a filmmaker. My students are not. And I want to I teach them how to think about visuals creatively.

I give them examples of visuals. I give them a whole list. I think that like a hundred different emotional visuals, but I want, you know, how can I help them adapt that to their own story? And yeah,

What I decided to do instead of just giving them these bots and being like, you can use this bot for this, blah, blah, blah. I decided at least right now. So at the time of this recording and things might change in the accelerator program, I've decided to just approach my program completely differently. And instead of having it be a traditional done with you group cohort, it's now become a hybrid done for you, done with you. Because I realized that

Yes, I could just give them the bots and they could use it themselves. But to me, the best way to serve them is just to do it for them. Right. The heavy lift of the work that these bots are replacing is gone. And I feel like I can easily have my assistant run these inputs through the bots and deliver the students on basically day one of the program.

with a starting point, right? Here's the first draft of your script. Here's the first draft of your emotional visuals. Is this a good starting point? Yes, it's so much better than zero, right? Essentially, the students are now starting the program with something that's done for them and hitting the ground running. So what we're doing is just fine tuning these outputs so that they can start filming so much faster.

Oh, I do love this because, yeah, exactly. Like you hear about a lot of people creating bots for their students to use and they can be so great and it can be a little overwhelming and not everyone knows how to use the bots. And then that's something that I've always run into, too. You are the

person who fully understands this. This is your zone of genius and it's not theirs. And so you're really the best person to get your eyes on and analyze the input or the output from chat GPT and stuff. So I haven't heard of anyone. Yeah. Using custom GPTs in a kind of done for you, done with you hybrid. That's so smart. I love it.

Yeah. And I think, you know, there's a limited number of students that get the done for you because just for capacity and because I'm also fine tuning the bots with every cohort. There might be a world in the future if the cohorts get bigger and bigger that I'll just hire coaches that can analyze that output for them. But I think to your point, you know, I have been in programs where the cuts and GPTs have been added without.

a starting point. And I find that so frustrating. Not that we need to talk about it too much, but I feel like some folks are programming their bots where you need to have like a Google Doc next to you to know how to use it. And I just find that cumbersome. Sometimes I just want it done. And now I have to like look for where the instructions are and or log back into the portal when I have the inputs somewhere else. You know what I mean? I just there's something to be said about

including some sort of white glove component to a group program that I find really sexy and really appealing, like, you know, being a student of other programs. And I think that as the online world evolves, as more and more people come in, we have to find ways to differentiate. We have to find ways to make things easier and faster. And I really don't sell the brand video as a fast food marketing solution. In fact, I talk

about it this week in my newsletters and lots of folks responded saying like, wow, I get it. Like I get how some things it's important to go deeper and do really well, especially in this case of a forever asset. So, you know, folks that are like,

I just want something done quickly. Like, how fast can we do this? I'm like, it's not that fast. We really if we want it to be effective. If how do you think Hollywood movies are made? Massive budgets, lots of talented people, lots of hard work. And you get something amazing. Right. A blockbuster is not made overnight. So really, the brand video process is a more robust process.

process, being able to eliminate a good chunk of that work by having it done for you, I think is just like, I'm so excited about it. Yeah. Yes. And how have like students been responding to it or like how has it been working for you pretty well? Any hiccups? Yeah.

So really, I introduced it in the end of the last cohort. It was kind of the students who were behind kind of got the great treatment. We're really going to go full in. And this is why it's not available to all the students. It's available kind of as an early bird bonus for the next cohort. And so I'll have to do a follow up with you once it's actually like fully installed into the program. So that's the answer to that question. But I'll also add that I've been meeting with some folks who have integrated programs

custom GPTs or bots into their program in a really interesting way where they have a form that's embedded in the portal and that's the form that takes the input from the students. So the student never sees, well, in my case, they never see the bot either, but they've been able to automate taking in those inputs and creating a sequence of events in make.com, I think is what they use, whereby each input gets automated

thrown into a bot where the output gets thrown into the next bot and yada yada. And then it spits out the answers in a Google Doc that gets emailed to their students. So I'm like, that's the end goal where a lot of this is not even manual anymore. Once my bots are really primed for that.

So essentially, I have like much bigger plans. It's kind of the infancy of this new way of delivering my program. But I'm so excited about how, you know, I'm excited about even...

generative AI with what it's doing with photos is obviously amazing or with imagery. I think video is still quite far behind. I'm going to be super excited, Kinsey. Once we have tools that can analyze video. Oh my goodness. I'll be so thrilled if I can teach a bot to analyze images

the shots that a student is filming on their phone and give it the feedback that I would give it, we're next level there for sure. Oh, we're so close to that too, lady. I know, it'll be like next month. I mean, seriously, it's so awesome. Oh my gosh. What?

Well, I could talk to you for so long, but I always have to cut it off at the 30 minute mark. Thank you so much for this conversation. Can you please share with everyone again how they can connect with you, where they can find you, all that stuff? Yeah, absolutely. I'm most active on Instagram. I'm at brandmagnetic.

I think Kinsey is going to share a photo of us soon tagging me. So maybe you'll see that before the episode comes out. And yes, hit me up. Say hello there. I also have a resource if you are intrigued by how to tell your story in a way that really creates that emotional connection instantly that accelerates trust and ultimately accelerates sales. As a result, I have the ultimate cheat sheet for a brand story that converts. You can grab that at brandmagnetic.com slash cheat sheet.

And if you do that, you'll see in the welcome sequence, it's a very tiny welcome sequence that I have set up, but you'll see how I use my brand video for us to get to know each other very quickly. And this is the email that gets so many responses, so many really awesome heartfelt responses from folks. And it might inspire you to do something similar. I love that. Well, thank you so much for sharing with us. This was so fun. Yeah, thank you, Kinsey. Bye.

How awesome was Mariana, you guys? I geek out about storytelling in general, if you couldn't tell. I was being a total nerd. But also just how she is using AI to scale her one-to-one high-touch or group program. Like, man...

the personalization high touch options that you can now somewhat automate or work with an AI assistant to at least be able to scale is so freaking awesome. So if you guys had as many ideas popping off as I did during this episode while you were listening, please reach out to me on Instagram. Tell me how much you love the episode. Tell me what you're thinking as far as like

creating a somewhat done with you white glove experience for your own business. Because man, the possibilities really are endless. And this is going to be so freaking awesome for taking our offers to the next level with AI tools. So definitely reach out to me on Instagram. I am at AI Kinsey or at Authentic AI for Entrepreneurs. Let me know what's up and I will catch you next time I catch you.

Thank you so much for tuning in to Authentic AI for Entrepreneurs, my friend. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your shows.