For a lot of faith-driven founders, the marketing chapter of the business plan is the one that feels least like themselves. Kate Hendrickson of The Strategy Lane has built a practice that skips it entirely.
AI Cannot Replace That People Connection
“think AI can’t replace that people connection.”
— Kate Hendrickson, The Strategy Lane
She grounds it in how she actually works — “this is how I connect and market and work with people because I love the people aspect” — and in the risk she sees: “we can’t let AI replace that and making people feel important.”
Her application is internal as much as external. She is “a huge proponent” of “one-on-one conversations, that consistent monthly conversation” with a team, covering “what’s working well to what barriers are you facing to what our goals look like.”
Why Conversation Marketing Fits A Christian Business
Our framing rather than hers. The discomfort many faith-driven owners feel about marketing is usually a discomfort about overclaiming — saying something about yourself that you would not say to someone’s face.
A conversation removes the possibility. You cannot exaggerate to a person who will be sitting across from you again next quarter. That is not a marketing constraint; it is the reason the channel converts.
The Partnership Lunch That Replaces An Ad Budget
“I’d rather sit down and have a conversation with you. Let’s go have some lunch and let’s talk about how we could potentially partner together and how I can really help accelerate some of the work that you’re doing.”
— Kate Hendrickson
The rest of her mix is the same instinct at different scales: “hopping on a podcast,” “conferences and doing speaking events locally in my own community,” and workshops, which she likes “because they’re interactive and I get to work with people.”
She is also honest about what she is not good at: “Social media is not my strength.” Naming that is what let her build the strategy around the thing she is good at instead.
Following Up Without Becoming A Salesperson
Ours. The follow-up that works after a conversation is the one that continues it: send the thing you said you would send, introduce the person you said you would introduce, and then leave it alone.
Hendrickson’s own client work is built on recurring honest conversation rather than pitching — she describes finding “what’s working well and what’s not and where there’s some gaps,” celebrating the first and “really honing in” on the second. A follow-up that behaves like that is welcome. A follow-up that behaves like a sequence is not.
More on this in podcast marketing for faith-driven business.
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