About Anthony Butler & Can-Do Ideas
I Didn’t Set Out to Fix Hotel Marketing. But Somebody Had To.
I spent three and a half years in combat zones. When I came home, I knew two things: life is short, and most people spend it working inside systems designed to keep them dependent.
I spent the next 20+ years as an entrepreneur. I built an IT services company in New York City. I wrote a book for CFOs who didn’t understand how to manage their IT. I learned — the hard way — that the best product in the world doesn’t matter if nobody knows you exist.
Then, in 2017, I joined Vistage and met Judy Paul. She owned a family-run boutique hotel in Greenwich Village that was drowning in OTA fees and getting nothing from the agencies she’d hired. Generic content. Cookie-cutter campaigns. Her hotel had a story worth telling — but nobody was telling it.
We started experimenting. First with content — real, specific, useful content about the neighborhood, the culture, the hidden gems that made Greenwich Village special. Then we layered in storytelling, targeted micro-ads, email sequences, and automated follow-up. It worked. It kept working. Over time, the system we built generated 6,000+ direct bookings and became a genuine asset — one that helped the hotel sell for significantly more than it would have without it.
That experience became the foundation of everything Can-Do Ideas does today. I realized most hotel marketing is broken for the same reason: it talks about the hotel instead of talking to the guest. It chases everyone instead of defining a tribe. And it rents attention from OTAs instead of building assets the property actually owns.
Marketing Is an Asset.
Not an Expense.
A well-built travel guide delivers bookings for years. A micro-ad campaign running at $5/day can outperform what big chains spend in thousands. A follow-up email sent at the right time turns a one-time guest into a lifetime customer. This is not theory — we’ve proven it across properties from boutique inns to destination resorts.
The methodology behind it all is Primal Storytelling. It’s not a gimmick. It’s applied human psychology: define your tribe, understand the primal urges that drive their decisions, and tell stories that connect on a level that makes booking feel inevitable — not pressured.
I wrote the book on it — literally. Primal Storytelling: Marketing for Humans is the framework. The Sold-Out Slow-Season Playbook is the hotel-specific implementation guide. Both are built on the same principle: content should create value, not just noise.
The Team.
Can-Do Ideas is a two-person operation by design. Anthony handles strategy, sales, keynotes, and the creative vision. Daniel Butler handles the technical builds — automation engineering, website development, and the systems that make everything scale without adding headcount.
We keep the team small because it keeps the quality high and the overhead low. Every client works directly with Anthony. Every system is built with the same rigor. No account managers. No hand-offs. No agency bureaucracy.
Based in Helena, Montana. Serving clients nationwide.
Credentials & Trust.
✓SDVOSB Certified (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business)
✓U.S. Military Veteran — 3.5 years in combat zones
✓20+ years as an entrepreneur and marketing strategist
✓International Best Selling Author: Primal Storytelling - Marketing for Humans
✓Author: The Sold-Out Slow-Season Playbook
✓Keynote Speaker: Montana Tourism Association
✓Keynote Speaker: Montana Outfitters & Guides Association
✓Former Vistage Member
The Best Time to Build Your Marketing Machine Was 20 Years Ago. The Second Best Time Is Right Now.
