![[Fully Managed] Chris Fink from FANNIT Ep. 64](https://penji.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/BLOG-IMAGE-Chris-Fink.jpg)
INTRODUCTION
Shannon Donnelly (SD): Alrighty. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Fully Managed Podcast, the podcast where we discuss marketing and business tips to help assist you on your business journey. I’m your host, Shannon, Penji’s partnership coordinator, and I’m joined here today with a very special guest, Chris Fink from Fannit. Thank you so much for coming on with me today.
Chris Fink (CF): Thanks for having me.
SD: Of course. It’s not going to be Thanksgiving when this is posted, but it’s approaching, so it’s nice. Thank you for joining me during this very busy holiday season, especially before Black Friday. I know agencies are overloaded at this time.
CF: A little busy right about now. Yeah. But they’re all the right problems to have, it’s all great.
SD: Exactly. If you’re not busy, then you know, maybe you wouldn’t be as excited. So it’s a good season. I’m happy that you took some time to be able to do this with me.
CF: Yeah, it’s my pleasure.
CHRIS’S JOURNEY INTO MARKETING
SD: Thank you so much. Could you just start by telling us a little bit about yourself? An introduction to your work, your journey to this point in your career, and anything that you think is relevant?
CF: Yeah, sure. My journey into the marketing space, I don’t know how most people arrive in this—some people arrive very intentionally. I came here through a weird, haphazard set of circumstances. I had a career in the retail automotive business. I worked in dealerships in a lot of different positions for well over 20 years. Then I exited that. My partner and I—she wanted to open a med spa—she was medical, I had the business side, so we opened the spa.
We had a small site built, but it wasn’t really doing anything. I figured I’d learn how to build a website, then learned how to make it run well, then how to get it found—so I got into SEO. I really enjoyed SEO; it was probably my favorite part. Connecting the dots to social channels and other elements of marketing strategy just came naturally.
Eventually, I spent so much time on digital marketing that pharmaceutical companies and other organizations started asking how it was working out. I just kept trying things until they worked. That med spa relationship ended, but I had developed a passion for digital marketing.
As I was leaving, I got recruited by a digital marketing agency—Fannit. I talked to the CEO and founders, and their mission aligned with my values. We love being entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs. That’s what drew me to the agency and the space.
Since then, I’ve just been working through understanding the difference between being a generalist and a niche agency, upskilling in all areas. It’s been a fun process and I’m excited about where it took me.
THE NON-LINEAR PATH OF MARKETERS
SD: I really like to hear that. Surprisingly, more often than not, when I talk to marketers, they’ve had non-linear paths. Marketing is one of those fields where people almost get here by accident but end up enjoying it.
CF: Yeah, and it’s great meeting people in the industry and seeing the different tactics. There’s no one way to do it. If there was, we’d all be doing it. Meeting people who’ve run tests no one thought of, and seeing what worked, that’s exciting.
It’s like wandering into the wrong party but realizing you like the people and want to stay. That’s what happened to me.
THE VALUE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE
SD: That’s exactly what marketing feels like. I think your entrepreneurial experience helps you stay aligned with the mindset of your clients. A lot of people have marketing experience but not real-world entrepreneurial experience. And that’s the difference when giving advice—your feedback comes from actual trial and error, not just statistics.
CF: Yeah, we believe in math over mystery, or facts over feelings. But clients can get excited and hear a theory they want to try. Fortunately, our client retention is high. When we talk about strategies, they’re usually open to feedback.
That entrepreneurial mindset is something we look for now when hiring. If you can’t think like an owner, you can’t care like an owner. And we care like we’re invested—because practically, we are. If we don’t do a good job, we get fired.
That perspective shapes how we work with clients. We’re transparent, we show deliverables, timelines, accountability. But we tell them upfront: they have to approve content in a timely manner. If they delay, the whole team—including them—gets off track.
TRUST AND PARTNERSHIP IN CLIENT RELATIONS
SD: That kind of accountability is important. It comes down to respect. They’re asking you for a service and expecting results, so they need to collaborate. If they don’t respond for weeks, it’s going to impact the outcome. Honest communication is essential.
CF: It is. Different personalities yield different conversations, so learning how to navigate those is important. Some clients will bring up tactics they heard elsewhere or saw at a conference. And we’ll explain that we offered that idea, but the budget wasn’t approved.
At the end of the day, we’re the experts. I’ve read articles on heart surgery—it doesn’t mean I should perform one. Clients need to remember that too.
There’s been a lot of change recently—AI, platforms, tools. Some clients want to turn off content and let ChatGPT handle everything. But it’s not always accurate, and it doesn’t rank well.
AI IN MARKETING
SD: How do you feel about AI? Do you use it regularly?
CF: I like certain aspects of it. I don’t use it as much as others on the team, but I should. I have habits—if I know how to get an answer fast, I go with that instead of learning a new tool.
But I do use it for research, ideation, and content inspiration. Sometimes it puts words in my field of view that I hadn’t considered. I don’t rely on it for mass deployment though, like rewriting all meta tags.
SD: I understand that. I was hesitant for a long time, not because of fear of job loss, but fear of not using my brain enough. What if I become too reliant on it?
CF: Yeah, I remember phone numbers when I was younger. Now I can barely remember my own. It’s true that when you stop processing information a certain way, you lose that ability.
Same with spelling or math—if you always use a calculator, you lose the mental sharpness.
HUMAN CONNECTION VS. AUTOMATION
SD: I feel the same. Phones autocorrect everything, and sometimes I forget how to spell simple words. That’s what worried me about AI—I don’t want to stop thinking.
Also, I hate when I have to deal with AI chatbots. They can’t empathize. A person can understand you.
CF: Absolutely. I’ll pay more just to speak to a real person. A lot of people would rather use apps, but when it comes to problems, only a person can empathize and problem-solve with nuance.
SD: I think in the future, as AI gets more advanced, people might crave human connection even more.
CF: It’s a lofty idea, but a good one. After COVID, everyone wanted in-person connection. Maybe that’ll happen again with AI overuse.
MARKETING INSIGHTS FROM BEYOND MARKETING
SD: Changing gears—what do you believe outside of the marketing space has helped you most in your current role?
CF: At a conference, I heard something that stuck with me: sell the hole, not the drill. A customer doesn’t care about RPMs—they want to know if the drill makes a hole.
Sometimes marketers talk too much about how and not enough about why. All the acronyms, KPIs, and metrics—we know them, we need them. But clients want results. Did I make money? Did I get leads?
So I remind myself daily: think like a business owner. Simplify things, connect the dots, ask if they want more technical info, but don’t drown them in it. Just guide them and make it easier to process.
JARGON AND TRANSPARENCY IN CLIENT COMMUNICATION
SD: I 100% agree. A common problem is gatekeeping marketing terms. Everyone uses different words for the same thing. It’s confusing for clients and even for other marketers.
CF: Yeah, no one likes to feel like they’re the least knowledgeable in the room. I’m intentional about how I communicate—don’t overload them with acronyms on day one. Let them ask questions and learn over time.
CLEAR COMMUNICATION BUILDS TRUST
SD: I can understand that from the client side. I didn’t have a marketing background when I started this podcast, and I was afraid of not knowing terms. But now I know the importance of clear, simple communication.
CF: Right. Marketing is communication. If the message I send isn’t understood the way I intended, it’s not effective. If a client misinterprets metrics, that causes misalignment, and churn follows.
Client satisfaction ties directly to retention. If they feel we don’t care, they’ll leave. We track customer satisfaction for this reason. If an agency doesn’t track it, a hard morning is coming eventually.
PROTECTING YOUR TEAM FROM BAD CLIENTS
SD: And it also comes down to personality. People want to know you care—not just about numbers, but about their business. They need to trust that you’ll act if something’s not working.
CF: Exactly. And they need to know you’ll celebrate when things are going well. There’s always room for improvement, but clients appreciate transparency and action.
SD: Right. It’s never all good news, but if you’re honest and responsive, that’s what matters.
CF: Yes. If I say a campaign isn’t working, we need to pivot—and I trust that the client won’t fire us for that. If not, maybe it’s time for us to release that client.
THE 20/60/20 RULE FOR CLIENTS
SD: That makes sense. Sometimes, enough is enough.
CF: Exactly. The 20/60/20 rule applies. 20% of clients are ideal—great pay, low maintenance, great people. 60% are average. The last 20% are nightmares—scope creep, revisions, unhappy no matter what.
Those last 20% drain resources. It takes genuine introspection to let them go. But once you do, your team breathes a sigh of relief. Supporting your team that way makes all the difference.
ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE
SD: That’s a fantastic note to end on. More leaders should think like that—supporting the team, knowing when to draw the line.
CF: Yeah. No one should churn or be released without me being involved. And my CEO told me once: “I’m more concerned about you than this one client.” That mindset defines how I lead now.
SD: I hope people listening take that to heart and feel inspired to care for their teams in the same way. Thank you so much for joining me today. You were incredibly knowledgeable, and I really enjoyed this conversation.
CF: Oh, thank you so much for the invite. I really enjoyed it. I had a great time.
SD: Of course. And thank you to everyone watching and listening. Please don’t forget to like and subscribe to hear more stories like this and gain more marketing insights. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.
CF: Bye, y’all.
