How to Write an Article Honoring Someone

Dennis Yuby /

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The best way to build relationships is by publicly recognizing the people who’ve helped you. Write a detailed, honest article about them—not about yourself.

At BlitzMetrics, honoring other people isn’t a marketing tactic we try once in a while — it’s the core of everything we do. We’ve written well over 50 articles honoring specific people. We interview people on podcasts and turn those into articles. We make one-minute videos spotlighting their expertise. We send custom socks through our Thank You Machine. We boost posts where other people say good things about us, instead of talking about ourselves.

This article is the pillar that ties all of it together — the philosophy, the process, and the dozens of real examples showing how we practice what we preach.

Why Honoring Others Works Better Than Talking About Yourself

When someone else says you’re great, it carries 10x the weight of you saying it yourself. That’s the foundation of everything we do. Instead of testimonials, we tell stories. Instead of promoting ourselves, we promote others — and that generosity comes back around.

This philosophy is something we’ve written about directly:

Honoring Someone Starts with Understanding — Not Tools

Before you open ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, or any AI tool, you need to understand the person. Their goals. What they stand for. The kind of work they do. How your experience with them reflects their character.

AI can help you organize details, gather links, or polish the structure later — but it can’t replace the real understanding that gives your article meaning. Start with the person, not the tools.

Do Your Homework Before You Write

When I wrote about Colby Davis — a painting contractor quietly building one of the largest painting companies in the country — I didn’t just Google him. I used ChatGPT (custom-trained), Grok (Twitter/X-based), Gemini (Google’s deep search), and Ethan, our AI agent that finds positive mentions automatically.

This let me gather real experience, quotes, citations, and artifacts that made the story credible. The better your research, the more meaningful — and visible — your honoring article becomes.

The Thank You Machine: Making Gratitude Tangible

The “Thank You Machine” is our system for building relationships through real content and visible proof. Instead of a throwaway thank-you, we write detailed articles, share stories on social media with photos and links, mail personalized gifts (like socks with inside jokes or their face on them), and show video clips or screenshots that prove the story is real.

We did this for one of our clients, Jim Olson — we gave him custom socks with our faces on them. It wasn’t about the socks. The shared memory is what made it matter.

This is the same relationship-first framework we teach inside High-Rise Influence — how to turn genuine gratitude, documented proof, and visibility into long-term trust and authority. Want to see how this works across articles, social posts, and even physical gifts? We break it down step-by-step in our Thank You Machine course.

The Process: Step by Step

Step 1: Start With a Specific Story

Avoid clichés like “This person is amazing.” That’s filler. Instead, begin with a moment. For example: “Jack stayed up with me until 3 AM troubleshooting Facebook ads when no one else would. That’s loyalty.” Include the name, the time, the place, and the action. This brings the person to life.

Step 2: Show the Impact

How did they change your trajectory? I wrote about Damon Burton because he flew out to Vegas just to say thank you in person. That single act helped build long-term trust, and now we share clients regularly. We highlighted Igor Ivitskiy as a “Google Ads Scientist” — and that article gave him more visibility with performance marketers than any paid ad ever could.

Don’t just quote praise or repeat what they did. Instead, elevate their story by showing the ripple effect of their actions.

Step 3: Embed Proof

Gratitude without evidence feels hollow. Include screenshots of thank-you posts, clips of them giving advice, links to their blog or podcast, and images of the gesture. In SEO, it’s guilty until proven innocent — people assume your article is made up unless you back it with evidence.

Step 4: Link to Their Assets

Boost their visibility by adding links to their company website, LinkedIn profile, articles they’ve written, and podcasts they’ve appeared on. When done right, these articles can help them earn a Google Knowledge Panel. Creating a Grokipedia page for someone is another way to honor them more deeply.

Step 5: Honor Them Directly or Indirectly

You can honor someone indirectly, by highlighting their values, work, or impact. Or directly, by closing your article with a message aimed right at them. Both approaches work. What matters is that it’s specific, documented, and genuine.

Step 6: Add the Human Touch

Everything up to this point you could do with AI. But the part that makes honoring articles powerful is the human touch — showing proof you were actually with the person. A photo together at an event. A quick video clip. A screenshot of a DM exchange. Without the human touch, you don’t have honoring — you just have words.

Step 7: Publish and Share

Post it on your blog and tag the person on Facebook, LinkedIn, or wherever they’re active. Follow our Article Submission Guidelines to make sure it’s clean, SEO-friendly, and properly formatted.

50+ Real Examples of Honoring Articles We’ve Written

Below are the actual articles we’ve published honoring specific people — organized by category. Each one follows the process described above.

Honoring Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

Colby Davis — Davis Painting
We wrote an entire content library for Colby after visiting him on-site. His story shows what happens when you combine honoring with the Content Factory:

More Entrepreneurs We’ve Honored:

Honoring Industry Experts and Thought Leaders

These are people whose expertise we’ve spotlighted — podcast guests, conference connections, and mentors:

Honoring Young Adults and Rising Stars

We believe in elevating people who are just getting started — not just the ones who are already famous:

Honoring People Who Help People

Doctors, lawyers, coaches, mentors — people whose life’s work is making others’ lives better:

Honoring People Through Digital Marketing Partnerships

The Five Ways We Honor People

1. Podcast Interviews Turned Into Articles

We interview people on podcasts, then turn those conversations into full articles that live forever on the site. The podcast is the raw material; the article is the permanent honor.

2. One-Minute Videos

We film short, authentic videos of people sharing their expertise on-site. These aren’t polished TV productions — they’re real moments, often shot on an iPhone, that capture someone’s genuine insight in 60 seconds or less. Every one-minute video is an act of honoring — because you’re saying “what you know matters, and I want the world to hear it.”

3. The Thank You Machine (Socks, Gifts, and Gratitude at Scale)

We mail personalized gifts — most famously, custom socks — as part of our systematic approach to gratitude.

  • Generate Influence Using the Thank You Machine
  • Trust Over Gifts: Why Our Apprentices Receive Company Gear

4. Boosting Posts Where Others Say Good Things About Us

Instead of running ads that say how great we are, we boost the posts where other people say good things about us. Social proof with a megaphone.

5. Building Knowledge Panels and Grokipedia Pages

The ultimate honor in the digital world: making someone Googleable.

The Content Factory: How We Produce Honoring Content at Scale

Honoring people isn’t something we do once in a while — it’s baked into our daily content production. The Content Factory is our system for turning real-world interactions into articles, videos, and social posts.

Related Frameworks and Strategies

Recap: How to Honor Someone in an Article

Research the person thoroughly — Use tools like ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, or Ethan to gather stories, quotes, links, and positive mentions.

Pick a moment that represents their impact — Choose one specific story with the name, what happened, when, and where.

Explain what changed because of them — Show how their actions opened a door, made an introduction, changed your mindset, or got you a win.

Add proof — Include screenshots, videos, blog links, and any real artifacts that validate the story.

Honor them directly or indirectly — Highlight their values (indirect) or close with a personal message (direct). Both work — just make sure it’s authentic and backed by proof.

Add the human touch — Show you were actually there. In this business, it’s guilty until proven innocent.

Publish and share it — Post it and tag the person. Follow our Article Submission Guidelines.

Remember: honoring is not about testimonials. It’s about spotlighting real stories, with proof, so others can see and be inspired.

Want to See More Examples?

  • Western Trading Post
  • Colby Davis
  • Anthony Hilb

Ready to write your first honoring article?
Tag the person. Share your post. Make it count.

Want to see how we document the process behind every article we publish? Read our meta-article prompt template to understand how AI agents and humans collaborate in the Content Factory workflow.

Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is the CEO of Local Service Spotlight, a platform that amplifies the reputations of contractors and local service businesses using the Content Factory process. He is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other brands. Dennis has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs by partnering with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Through Local Service Spotlight, he teaches the Dollar a Day strategy and Content Factory training to help local service businesses enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring. Dennis coaches young adult agency owners serving plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians, and believes there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers must be certified.
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