SPARX: A Marketing Podcast by Intergetik https://sparxpod.podbean.com SPARX is a marketing podcast for small and mid-sized business owners who are tired of guessing. Host Rick Brewer, founder of Intergetik Marketing Solutions in St. Louis and Kansas City, sits down with operators, specialists, and business owners to dig into how buyers actually decide, and what that means for your website, your ads, and your message.

Some episodes get tactical: what belongs on your homepage, why your lead form placement is costing you jobs, how search has changed since AI answers took over the results page. Others get into the thinking behind it, like the psychology of an impulse buy versus a six-week research process. Either way you should leave with something you can change this week.

New episodes from the team at Intergetik Marketing Solutions. Hosted by Rick Brewer.

]]> Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:18:44 -0500 https://podbean.com/?v=5.5 en us Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. Business:Marketing 1440 episodic Why do some purchases feel effortless while others take weeks of research? On this episode of Sparx, Intergetik’s podcast, we dig into the psychology behind buying decisions, including how much of a purchase runs on mental autopilot, why the mix of rational and emotional appeal shifts depending on what you’re selling, and why the best marketing works like a bridge between what a business wants to say and what its customers actually care about. Joining the conversation is Brandon Towl, founder of Words Have Impact and Human-Driven Understanding. Intergetik Marketing Solutions Intergetik Marketing Solutions 361a02f0-a99d-11f1-8782-7ba295944faa No false https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/22417996/Sparx_podcastati6j.jpg SPARX: A Marketing Podcast by Intergetik https://sparxpod.podbean.com 144 144 Autopilot vs. Intention: How the Brain Actually Decides What to Buy Autopilot vs. Intention: How the Brain Actually Decides What to Buy https://sparxpod.podbean.com/e/autopilot-vs-intention-how-the-brain-actually-decides-what-to-buy/ https://sparxpod.podbean.com/e/autopilot-vs-intention-how-the-brain-actually-decides-what-to-buy/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:18:44 -0500 sparxpod.podbean.com/8da51999-bb5c-3d8a-8f24-007a81eab263 SPARX Podcast | Intergetik Marketing Solutions | Hosted by Rick Brewer Guest: Brandon Towl, founder of Words Have Impact and Human-Driven Understanding | Published September 2, 2026

Ready to stop guessing why people buy?

In this episode of SPARX, host Rick Brewer sits down with Brandon Towl, founder of Words Have Impact and Human-Driven Understanding. Brandon came out of a philosophy and neuroscience program at Washington University, defended his dissertation weeks before the 2008 financial collapse, and built a B2B content strategy company out of a business card he designed in Microsoft Word the night before a BNI lunch.

Twenty years later, he uses that same background to answer the question most marketers skip: what is actually happening in a buyer's head, and which parts of a purchase should be effortless versus deliberate?

We break down:
  • Why "plan it, then execute it" is the wrong model for marketing, and what to do instead
  • The autopilot principle: why Amazon removes every decision except the purchase decision
  • What should stay conscious in your marketing, and why the best ads provoke an emotion
  • Why there is no fixed rational-to-emotional ratio, and how to find yours (cars and custom pools versus Snickers bars and WordPress templates)
  • Why B2B versus B2C does not predict how rational a purchase is
  • The bridge metaphor: closing the gap between what a business wants to say and what customers actually care about
  • Why "doctor-led" is a selling point to the dentist and a shrug to the patient
  • Maslow in practice, and the mistake marketers make by staying in the basement of the hierarchy
  • Where written content still wins in a video-first, AI-generated world
  • "Throw the rope anyway," and how a stronger St. Louis marketing community lifts everyone in it
Practical takeaways for small business owners:
  • Your website has about 20 seconds to convince someone you are worth calling
  • Most service businesses need four pages, not forty
  • Put the phone number and the lead form at the top, big, on every page
  • Show proof from people who look like your buyer, because they need to feel like it is for them
Links

Subscribe for more practical marketing strategy for small and mid-sized businesses.

]]> SPARX Podcast | Intergetik Marketing Solutions | Hosted by Rick Brewer Guest: Brandon Towl, founder of Words Have Impact and Human-Driven Understanding | Published September 2, 2026

Ready to stop guessing why people buy?

In this episode of SPARX, host Rick Brewer sits down with Brandon Towl, founder of Words Have Impact and Human-Driven Understanding. Brandon came out of a philosophy and neuroscience program at Washington University, defended his dissertation weeks before the 2008 financial collapse, and built a B2B content strategy company out of a business card he designed in Microsoft Word the night before a BNI lunch.

Twenty years later, he uses that same background to answer the question most marketers skip: what is actually happening in a buyer's head, and which parts of a purchase should be effortless versus deliberate?

We break down:
  • Why "plan it, then execute it" is the wrong model for marketing, and what to do instead
  • The autopilot principle: why Amazon removes every decision except the purchase decision
  • What should stay conscious in your marketing, and why the best ads provoke an emotion
  • Why there is no fixed rational-to-emotional ratio, and how to find yours (cars and custom pools versus Snickers bars and WordPress templates)
  • Why B2B versus B2C does not predict how rational a purchase is
  • The bridge metaphor: closing the gap between what a business wants to say and what customers actually care about
  • Why "doctor-led" is a selling point to the dentist and a shrug to the patient
  • Maslow in practice, and the mistake marketers make by staying in the basement of the hierarchy
  • Where written content still wins in a video-first, AI-generated world
  • "Throw the rope anyway," and how a stronger St. Louis marketing community lifts everyone in it
Practical takeaways for small business owners:
  • Your website has about 20 seconds to convince someone you are worth calling
  • Most service businesses need four pages, not forty
  • Put the phone number and the lead form at the top, big, on every page
  • Show proof from people who look like your buyer, because they need to feel like it is for them
Links

Subscribe for more practical marketing strategy for small and mid-sized businesses.

]]> Intergetik Marketing Solutions false No 1909 1 full