Unlock Your Marketing Potential: An Introduction to the GUIDE™ Marketing Framework

Episode Transcript

AnnieLaurie:  How much money have you wasted on marketing? That didn’t work? 

Steve: If you’re like most CEOs that we talk to, it’s probably more than you would want to admit. Maybe you’ve tried hiring a marketing agency, maybe you’ve hired a marketing person on your team. Maybe you’ve even rolled up your own sleeves and you’re still not getting the results you expected. 

AnnieLaurie: That’s exactly why we created this podcast, and we are so excited to introduce the Guide Marketing framework to you, which will help address all of these issues and more. Welcome to the Growth Mind and Marketing podcast. I’m Annie Laurie Walters. 

Steve: I’m Steve Phipps, and we are so glad that you were tuning in. Whether you’re a business owner, a marketing manager, or even a solopreneur, this podcast is for you. 

AnnieLaurie: Yes, that’s right. We know that for a lot of leaders, marketing just feels overwhelming. Maybe you’ve hired an agency, [00:01:00] maybe you try to do it yourself, but at the end of the day, it still feels scattered and you’re not seeing the return that you expected.

Steve: Exactly, and that is what we hope to help fix by launching this podcast. We want to simplify marketing and help you create a strategy with tactics that actually work. 

AnnieLaurie: So I mentioned it before, but today we are going to introduce to you the Guide Marketing Framework. This is a five part model that we use at wafi Marketing to help CEOs bring clarity to their marketing. So Steve, before we get into the framework, let’s set the stage. You’ve had the opportunity to work and interact with thousands of business owners across various different industries.

AnnieLaurie: Why does marketing so often fail, especially in the B2B space? 

Steve: A lot of different reasons, but the core reason that I see more times than not is that most [00:02:00] businesses are starting their marketing with tactics. But there’s no strategy. They launch a website, they run some ads, maybe they post on LinkedIn send out some emails, but there’s no core strategy.

Steve: There’s no framework that’s giving it cohesive direction. It’s like trying to build a house without a blueprint. Stuff gets built, but it’s not working together, and there’s definitely not a foundation. 

AnnieLaurie: I love that metaphor, and I know that we’ve seen this same thing time and time again with people that we’ve worked with over the years.

AnnieLaurie: CEOs who’ve invested their time, their money, and their effort, and they’re simply frustrated because it’s not working, and even worse, they can’t figure out why it’s not working. That is what the guide framework is meant to address and relieve is that frustration. 

AnnieLaurie: This is a framework that is a formula that you can follow that will help you to address these things. So let’s talk solutions, Steve. [00:03:00] Let’s talk about the guide framework. Tell us why you built it, how it came to be, and what does this acronym stand for? 

Steve: So I’ve been in business. 20 plus years.

Steve: and so really this framework is a culmination of that experience. Things that I’ve seen, that work, that don’t, it’s been informed by frameworks like StoryBrand and they ask you answer and what guide stands for G is generate your story and your strategy. You is upgrade your online presence.

Steve: I is in form with content DI. Develop and execute a sales plan. And e is evaluate and adjust. Now, each of these is what we would call a path, and inside each path there are specific guideposts, practical checkpoints that tell you if your marketing is on track. And there’s one thing I just wanna make, a clarification about this particular framework.

Steve: [00:04:00] We built this specifically with B2B. Service-based companies, based on the structure of how those companies operate, how they’re selling, how they’re marketing. It’s also applicable to B2C companies that have a similar type of process. So, companies that are providing home services, painting companies, or, other companies like that that have a similar type of, process.

AnnieLaurie: I love that. what I think is really cool is that this is not just a theory either. These are the same steps we’ve been using. with clients that you’ve coached, that, we’ve worked for providing agency services. We’ve seen it work. We know that it works, and we’re really excited to bring this to a wider audience today.

AnnieLaurie: So, all right, let’s take a quick tour through each of the five paths of the guide framework. Okay? So that our listeners can get the big picture. And in future episodes, we’re gonna take a deep dive into each one of these letters in the guide framework acronym, and [00:05:00] unpack that in a more intentional level.

AnnieLaurie: But for today, let’s do the flyover. Let’s start with G. Generate your strategy and generate your story. what’s the point of this being first? Why is this the foundation? 

Steve: Good question, and, several reasons for that. Number one is if you don’t know who your target audience is, the best marketing in the world’s not gonna help you grow your company.

Steve: So the first thing we want to do is get our arms around who is the target audience, what are the challenges that they face that you solve? That then feeds into messaging. What is it that you’re saying? Are you communicating to them clearly so that they understand the value that you bring to them and how you are different from your competitors?

Steve: And of course along with that, working with folks to set goals. What does success look like? And then you’ve gotta have a way to get them. To reach them, to build trust, to build [00:06:00] credibility so that ultimately they become customers. So in this particular stage, we’re laying the foundation for all of that.

Steve: as I tell people, it’s where we focus on, what to do and what to say to grow your business. 

AnnieLaurie: You know, a lot of times. In this industry, you work in a, any kind of marketing agency, you get someone, they come and they say, I need a new website, or I’m not getting any leads from our website, or my social media is not working.

AnnieLaurie: And you know, as we know, those are all tactical issues that need to be addressed. But we as Wayfind have always said, we are strategy first. And how does that strategy first mindset create the foundation for which all this other stuff is built? 

Steve: It’s really the old adage.

Steve: Hope is not a strategy. And a lot of times marketing tends to happen by accident. We should do these particular tactics, or this is what this agency said we should do, but it doesn’t always correlate to that strategic plan that’s aligned with business goals. So by pausing and taking the time to [00:07:00] figure out where you’re trying to go, and the best way to get there.

Steve: It generates a much better ROI. And I mean, honestly, how frustrating is it to have things happening, money being spent, but it’s not working. And so that’s why now I’ll tell folks we’re not always the right fit, because sometimes people wanna jump straight into tactics, but we’re gonna take the time, build a strategy, and then move into tactics informed by the strategy.

AnnieLaurie: Yes. Tactics informed by the strategy that is a much better approach for so many measurable reasons, and I can’t wait to dive into that more. 

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Steve: That’s why a framework is really helpful because a lot of the CEOs that. We work with, and I talk to they don’t know where to get started with marketing. So they reach out to an expert or somebody that says they’re an expert or they hire somebody. But here again, there’s no framework, there’s no plan.

Steve: And so we’ve got some guidance for you, so hang around. We’re gonna keep talking about the framework, but we’ve got a free resource gonna be incredibly helpful to give [00:08:00] you your bearings, help you figure out what’s working and what’s not. So just wanted to go ahead and plug that. 

AnnieLaurie: Oh, yeah.

AnnieLaurie: Absolutely. And I think framework is,, you know, that’s language that we can identify with. you might have a framework for other areas of your business that you follow. So to have a framework for your marketing just really makes sense so, okay, let’s move on to letter you.

AnnieLaurie: Once you’ve got your story and your strategy in place, you need a platform to tell it. That brings us to upgrade your online presence. Unpack what that means. 

Steve: Yeah, so this became upgrade your online presence, because the assumption is you have some sort of an online presence, right? And oftentimes your website is going to be the core of whatever your online activity is.

Steve: The problem in many cases is the website ends up being a static brochure. That gives basic information, but it doesn’t really answer your buyer’s questions. So your website should be your best [00:09:00] salesperson. your buyer should be able to get the answers to their questions there. We know that, in general, 80% of the buying process happens before someone reaches out to you.

Steve: And so if they can’t find the answers on your website, they’re gonna try to find it somewhere else. If your website’s outdated, if it’s confusing, if it’s hard to navigate, it’s working against you, it’s not helping you. And so in this particular path of the framework, we’re looking at things like the website design.

Steve: It doesn’t need to just be pretty for the sake of being pretty. It needs to be functional. It needs to tell, a clear story. It needs to be, easy to use, easy to navigate. 

AnnieLaurie: It’s like our friend Donald Miller always says, if you confuse, you lose, and it is so shocking to me how many times I go on a website and it is beautiful and it has bells and whistles that are impressive, yet I have no clue what they’re trying to communicate.

Steve: Absolutely. Error on the side of clarity. [00:10:00] Yes. Be clear, not clever. Yes. these are all things that I’ll tell people in workshops because at the end of the day, people just wanna know, what do you do? Why does it matter to me, and what do I need to do next? and that translates over into other channels as well.

Steve: LinkedIn, Facebook. So wherever you are online, it’s communicating clearly and making sure that your online presence is. Building business for you. It’s building trust. It’s building credibility as opposed to tearing it down. 

AnnieLaurie: Yes. And it’s not. Only these things, which are all very urgently important. It’s also the technical side that gets overlooked often when you put a lot of effort into creating this website, you’re very happy with it, and then you just sort of forget it, like it’s out there.

AnnieLaurie: Your services haven’t changed. What you do hasn’t changed. But if you’re not constantly. Monitoring the technical health of your website, then you can incur technical debt and things start to break or get outdated, or a [00:11:00] plugin’s not updated in time, and then that causes your website to run slowly. And all of those things have significant impact on whether or not people find you when they search for information.

AnnieLaurie: I think that’s something that often gets missed too in this conversation about our online presence is that there’s a functional technical element going on underneath the surface that can be working against you without you even knowing it. if you’re not just, experienced and gifted in the technical side of running a website, you can be great at the content and making sure that the words are updated, but is the technical side of it updated as well?

Steve: absolutely. Well, and back to your question earlier about the importance of strategy first. because oftentimes when somebody comes to us and says, I need a new website, we start asking questions, and oftentimes something’s not working. and the assumption is, I just need a new website.

Steve: And sometimes that’s the case. But again, we want to take it back to who’s your audience? What do you want them to do when they get to your website? What does success look like? How does this fit [00:12:00] into the buyer’s journey? So that it’s not just a pretty website that’s disconnected from everything else.

AnnieLaurie: Yes. Well. we’ve kind of danced around the topic of content, but now it’s time to dive in. I, in the guide framework stands for Inform with Content and content is my baby. That’s what I do. I’m a content strategist. Words are life. I love the content. I love creating the different kinds of content that we can use in various ways on various platforms, and I love that it’s the center.

AnnieLaurie: I have to say, Steve, I love that content is in the center of the guide framework. It just really makes me happy. 

Steve: Well, it really is. You’re right about that. 

AnnieLaurie: it is. So with that, what’s our goal with content? What is the goal? 

Steve: the first thing I’ll point out about this step is we’re informing with content.

Steve: We’re not just trying to sell. This a lot of times can raise, objections and concerns. Yes, we want to sell, but we want to do it by educating the buyer [00:13:00] so they can make the best decision for them. it’s informing with content, it’s content that builds trust. So, think about it for a second.

Steve: for everybody who’s listening to this, think about, do you like to feel sold, like somebody’s trying to sell you on something? no. Nobody wants to be sold. People like to buy when they’re the ones in control, but if you feel like you’re being sold, you know that person’s not telling you everything.

Steve: You know, they’re trying to spin everything, so it makes them look like the best option, even if they’re not, and even if they are, it’s still all of a sudden is creating this gap of distrust. So. What we want to do is answer the hard questions, make it easy for people to find the information they need on the website.

Steve: Again, we know 80% of the buying process is often happening before they reach out. People want, to be able to go through the buyer’s journey by themselves as much as they can, [00:14:00] so It’s talking about some of the topics that people don’t want to talk about on their website, like pricing or their competitors, comparisons.

Steve: There’s a list of different topics that we encourage our clients to write about or that we write about for them that are focused on the questions that people are asking when they are buying, and when you answer these questions clearly with expertise. And without bias or trying to make it all about sales, then you’re building trust and credibility.

AnnieLaurie: Okay. Steve, what about the listener who’s like, oh, I know they’re getting me on the content like that, that’s not their natural bent or giftedness because the listener might think, oh, I’m not good with words, or I’m not a writer, or whatever the case may be. What would you say to that person? 

Steve: I would say if this day in time that’s not an obstacle.

Steve: And so again, we work with folks in a couple of different ways. So for some of our clients [00:15:00] that outsource their marketing to us as their agency, that just is a non-issue for them. They still review it, edit it, give input, et cetera. But for those that we coach who have somebody in-house using tools like Chad, GPT, and Claude, it really, lowers the threshold for creating good content.

Steve: Now, there’s still. As you know Annie Laurie, there is an effective way to use the AI tools so that the content is trustworthy so that Google isn’t going to penalize you for generic sounding content, but it does help remove that onus of I have to be a really good writer in order to create good content, whether it’s written or otherwise.

AnnieLaurie: Yes. And just before we move on to the next letter and the framework, just to clarify, content isn’t just words. It can be other things too, right? 

Steve: Absolutely. I mean, so much of it is visual. It’s the images, it’s the videos, it’s audio there’s just, so many different tools available that really isn’t the barrier that it used to be.

AnnieLaurie: and I think of [00:16:00] content as it’s making a connection, the content needs to make a connection. And that is, where it starts with the whole, like, no trust, you know, this is the beginning of that process. 

Steve: and let me just say one more thing because I don’t want anybody who’s listening to hear.

Steve: This and think all they have to do is go out and ask Chad GPT to write a blog post about this particular topic, right? Yes, you can do that, but chances are that content is going to suck. 

Steve: From your buyer’s perspective, from Google’s perspective. You want content that sounds like you, that is authoritative.

Steve: Yes. And we’re not gonna be getting into Google’s framework, their EAT framework in terms of how they evaluate content. But you don’t just go create a blog post generically, there’s a process for training it, getting it rifled in so that it sounds like you, it’s authoritative, it’s credible, it’s, it’s more original than just something just generically cranked out.

Steve: So. Yeah, that’s a, that’s a free aside. Yeah. Yes, it’s effective, but you [00:17:00] still have to use it strategically. 

AnnieLaurie: Yes. That is great advice. And something you said earlier in the podcast. Your website should be your best salesperson. it’s, you’re always on 24 7, 365 salesperson. And that’s partly because you create great sales content, not to sell them and it to sound salesy, but to answer the questions they would be asking if they were talking to any of your salespeople.

AnnieLaurie: Yes. And so that transitions us into D. To develop and execute a sales plan. Sometimes marketing and sales don’t always play nicely together. We know this, right? But if you can find a way to support one another, sales and marketing can just be like the wind and the sail. 

Steve: Absolutely. And the first step here is documenting your buyer’s journey and what does the sales process look like related to that?

Steve: Uh, a lot of companies, I. have a sales process in practice, but it’s [00:18:00] not something they’ve intentionally designed out and thought about. They haven’t looked at the different touch points and how they’re communicating, and that’s an important thing for both sales and marketing to know and understand because really marketing our job, if you think about it, is generate the initial interest.

Steve: Their sales teams have a role in going out and prospecting and doing that. Absolutely. And marketing is a partner in helping drive that initial interest. And so if we don’t have a clearly defined sales process, then we’re just, we’re not gonna be aligned. Marketing and sales a lot of times, have this just internal conflict because marketing creates content.

Steve: Sales doesn’t like it, it’s not working, or marketing’s generated a bunch of leads that might be considered, marketing qualified leads, but sales gets ’em and they think they suck, and so they’re not working together. What we. Love to help people do is get sales and marketing at the same table [00:19:00] where they’re talking about the buyer’s journey, talking about what content is needed that the sales team can use in their process.

Steve: I mean, here’s the truth. The sales team are, they’re hearing from the buyers more than just about anybody. Mm-hmm. So when marketing can listen to what sales. Hearing the questions that they’re getting. Then marketing goes and creates content that answers those questions. Well, one, it can help drive search traffic, and two sales can then take that content and start using it in the selling process and educate the buyers.

Steve: But that doesn’t happen if sales and marketing are. Just at, at each other’s throats. And so that’s where we encourage people, get your sales and marketing teams together, meet regularly. Have conversations align to goals, align to content. Is it always easy? No. But if you don’t get that taken care of, um, man, it’s just that conflict is gonna hinder the results that they could be achieving if they were [00:20:00] on the same page.

AnnieLaurie: This may be a little nuanced for an overview podcast, but I’ll ask the question anyway. So some of our listeners may be in a situation where they have a. one person marketing team, and maybe the CEO is the salesman how, what would you say to somebody that’s in a situation like that where they might not have a dedicated marketing and sales team or person, it’s just a little, you know, it’s orchestrated a little differently on their team.

AnnieLaurie: will this still apply to them? 

Steve: A hundred percent. The principles are the same, whoever it is. and I get it, a lot of times, until the company reaches a certain size, the owner or the CEO is the primary salesperson they know the business better than anybody. They’re hearing the questions from the customers and the prospects.

Steve: if there is a marketing person who’s creating the marketing content, make sure you’re getting together, talk about what those questions are that you’re hearing. So that then your marketing person can start creating the content. If you’re the marketing person working with the CEO, go and ask them what questions are you getting?

Steve: what [00:21:00] is it that you would like a buyer to know before you sat down and had a conversation with them? That can start generating different questions, different thoughts. And I’ll even mention, on our website, we can post this in the show notes. we have an article, it’s called the Big Five, and these are the five topics to write about, that correlate to what people are searching for.

Steve: The questions that they are asking when they are in buying mode. Doesn’t matter the industry. B2B, B2C. These are the questions that we’re asking when we buy. Those are, great. Guides for creating content, and a lot of times it’s going to align with what questions you’re getting asked in the sales process.

AnnieLaurie: Yes, thank you. That’s, that’s a good word. And just to, have a little commercial for our website real quick. marketing.com, go to the learning center. We have a wealth of articles on all the things we’re talking about today, and you can sort by topic if you’re interested in website development. If you’re interested in SEO and AI marketing tools, you can [00:22:00] easily sort and find a lot more content on our website.

AnnieLaurie: If you’re into that and you’re looking for more of that highly encourage you to go over to wafi marketing.com. Check that out. Okay. Commercial aside. Let’s move on to the last letter E, evaluate and adjust. We have come to the end of our guide acronym and now it’s time to evaluate. Why is this the final step?

Steve: Okay. I’m gonna try to be concise here. all of the different marketing and sales activities need to have a KPI associated with them. All these activities need to push towards some sort of goal that we’re trying to achieve. You have revenue goal that correlates to a certain number of customers.

Steve: In order to get those customers, you have to have out so many proposals, which means you have to have so many leads, which means you have to have so many website visitors or prospects, and we wanna make sure that we’re looking at what those metrics are. This is not just looking at how many Facebook fans you have or how many people liked the last LinkedIn [00:23:00] post.

Steve: Yes, those have their place, but what we’re talking about here are. Things that, how many meetings were set? Where did those meetings come from? Which channels drove that activity? Looking at those types of metrics that you can use to make decisions about what’s working and what’s not. 

AnnieLaurie: Yes, We’ve talked several times about AI in this episode, but I think how AI is impacting marketing at breakneck speed.

AnnieLaurie: if you’re not keeping up with that, you could be walking down one marketing path that AI has already changed and your customers are all walking in a different direction. And if you’re not evaluating, you wouldn’t know that and you might continue to walk the wrong way while everyone else is taking a left turn into a new direction.

Steve: And that’s where the numbers, it’s important not only to be looking at lag indicators like revenue growth, but looking at the activities, those lead indicators that, let you know if those numbers start to decrease or go in the wrong direction, [00:24:00] that lets, you know something needs to be adjusted, sooner rather than later.

Steve: And that way you’re not just waiting until you missed your revenue mark to make adjustments. 

AnnieLaurie: Yes. Great. Okay. So. If someone’s listening and thinking, I have no idea where I’m strong, I have no idea what I’m missing, I don’t even know what’s happening with my marketing. What’s your advice for that person?

Steve: So what I would suggest is that you head over to our website way, find marketing.com, and take our free marketing assessment. This is a 25 yes no question assessment that is based on this five part framework that we just unpacked. And once you take it, it gives you an overall score for each of these five paths.

Steve: Then from there you can download our free marketing playbook. That’s almost 40 pages of tactical information. It is based on the assessment, and that’s where I would suggest you start . It gives you a point of reference. Oftentimes folks don’t have a strategy. They [00:25:00] don’t necessarily have a reference point in terms of where to get started.

Steve: This can at least give you some bearings to where you can begin to understand what’s needed and some guidance on those next steps so that you’re not just floundering. 

AnnieLaurie: So go to Wi-Fi marketing.com and take the free assessment. Work through the questions. They are designed to be easy to answer. You will know right off the top of your head, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no.

AnnieLaurie: And when you’re finished you get our playbook. That unpacks everything here. ’cause as we mentioned before, guide is our acronym, but even within the guide we have specific. Guideposts within each letter that inform different aspects, different parts of the marketing framework that we’re talking about here.

AnnieLaurie: So when you take the free assessment, you get your score, but it’s not just a score. You can then take action by looking at the playbook and comparing it with your score and get ideas for some things you can do right away. Today you can make changes. Right [00:26:00] now 

Steve: the assessment will take less than five minutes for most folks.

AnnieLaurie: Yes, . So go to the website, take the assessment, and if you need help processing some of the things that you’ve learned or discovered about your marketing, or if you’re looking at the playbook and there are some things in it that you haven’t tried before and you need some help, or you wanna ask questions, what should they do?

Steve: Well at that point, once you’ve downloaded that we do offer a free one-to-one conversation. To go through it. We’ll review your assessment score and we can talk through where you are and what’s needed to help you move forward.

Steve: All right. Friends, this episode is brought to you by US way, find marketing. We simplify marketing for growth-minded CEOs, and we do that by helping you build a plan, sharpen your messaging, and grow with clarity. As Andy Laurie just mentioned, head to the website way find marketing.com, and click the link at the top to take the free guide marketing assessment today and grab your copy [00:27:00] of the playbook.

AnnieLaurie: Okay, so that’s it. That’s our first episode of the Growth Minded Marketing Podcast, and we can’t wait to introduce the next episode . We are going to do a deep dive into generate your story and your strategy. And I’ve gotta say I’ve known Steve Phipps for a very long time and he has always been all about strategy.

AnnieLaurie: So I can’t wait till we get to the next podcast. Can’t wait to hear all the great wisdom you’re gonna be able to share with us about generating story and strategy. 

Steve: Well, I, I’m gonna have to try to live up to that, but I will do my best. 

AnnieLaurie: I have no question you’ll, and, 

Steve: uh, but yeah, looking forward to that next episode.

AnnieLaurie: So that’s it for this episode. If you’re ready to get clarity around your marketing, start with the free guide assessment@wayfindmarketing.com. 

Steve: And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss the rest of this series when we’re gonna be walking through each part of the guide framework. And if you found this helpful, tell a friend.

Steve: We’ll see you next time. 

Steve: See ya.