Spotify, Gemini and SEO: Haley Hoover’s slow-marketing formula
Haley Hoover runs The Sparkling Hippie, a coaching business that helps women build online businesses while keeping an intentional, offline-minded lifestyle. She pairs long, slow content and SEO with AI tools – a personalized Spotify daily podcast and a custom Gem inside Gemini – to attract clients without relying on social media.
Focus on SEO, AEO and GEO and produce long, slow content that AI recommendation systems can surface; stop chasing short social-media tactics. There is a real opportunity to build AI systems optimized for solopreneurs under $100k, because most current AI tools target larger businesses.
What’s the quick origin story of your business, and what makes what you do genuinely different from the other options your customers are looking at?
I started my business 11 years ago because I wanted to help women connect to their purpose and authenticity. It’s been a winding road but I’m now niched down into this nice vibe of holding space for women who embrace slow, intentional, offline living and yet are also building an online business! There are more of us out there than you think, and our biggest hurdle at present, is figuring out how to grow and attract clients WITHOUT the annoying ever-changing algorithm of social media. My clients are drained by social media and so I’ve designed a system for marketing in a way that feels soulful, slow and intentional, just like the lives they lead.
Where does most of your new business come from today, and where do you wish it came from?
Right now most of my clients find me from Google search and AI recommendations, which is what I want! I’m also actively growing on Substack, so I hope to have even more new clients find me there in the near future.
What’s one thing you’ve actually handed over to AI in the last year, and one thing you tried it on and went back to doing the human way?
Oooh good question. I’ve got to say, I’m really loving my daily personalized podcast from Spotify. It reads me my calendar agenda for the day and gives me hyper-personalized news for my industry. AI does a great job with that. I also heavily depend on a very personalized custom Gem inside of Gemini to coach me in my business, bounce ideas off of and help me optimize my work flow for my human design type. As for something I tried and then went back to human-ing, well, most things! I love AI and think it has tremendous value for solopreneurs like myself, however, most of what I’ve tried and seen is more effective for larger businesses. I’m on a mission to create AI systems that optimize for solopreneurs who are making under $100k/year in their business. It’s a missing niche for sure.
Have you noticed a change in how customers find you or what they already know before they reach out? Is anyone arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT yet?
I have had new email leads come through AI recommendation, which is fabulous. I am now optimizing my marketing to create more of that and teaching my clients how to do the same! Slow Marketing is king (or queen) in this new era of AI, IMO.
If you were advising someone in your industry on all of this for the next 12 months, what would you tell them to actually do, and what would you tell them to ignore?
Ignore social media completely. It’s dead for online service providers and coaches. Our buyers are wiser now. Our buyers are also tired of fake, quick-hitting content. They want LSD (long, slow and deep) content that resonates to their core. Optimize for SEO, AEO and GEO and you’ll be riding the gravy train into the new era of AI recommended clients delivered directly to your sales page.
Thank you to Haley Hoover and the team at The Sparkling Hippie for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
Want to share your playbook?
Leaders Perception publishes founder and operator interviews every week. A few questions, about five minutes, no calls. It is free and everyone we accept gets published.