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Hosted by Steve Phipps of Wayfind Marketing, The Growth-Minded Marketing Podcast simplifies marketing for B2B CEOs ready to grow with confidence. Each episode offers real-world strategies, step-by-step coaching, and inspiring CEO interviews—all designed to help you align your marketing with your business goals, stop wasting time and money, and scale without the stress. If you’re a growth-minded leader tired of vague advice and underperforming tactics, this is your next step.
Steve: Let me ask you this.
When was the last time you
looked at your marketing and
asked, is this actually working?
AnnieLaurie: Not just how it looks,
not just how much activity is
happening, but whether it's bringing
in the right leads, creating real
opportunities, and helping you grow.
Steve: Because here's the truth, a lot of
businesses have marketing in motion, but.
No way of knowing what's
working and what's not.
There's no feedback loop.
It's just activity without clarity.
AnnieLaurie: So in this final episode
of the Guide Marketing Framework, we
are showing you how to evaluate your
marketing like a CEO and make confident
decisions based on data, not guesswork.
Steve: Hey there.
I'm Steve Phipps.
AnnieLaurie: And I'm Annie Laurie Walters.
You are listening to the Growth-Minded
Marketing podcast, where we give
practical guidance to help you lead
your marketing, grow your team, and
scale your company with confidence.
Steve: This is the final episode in
our Guide Marketing framework series.
Today we're digging into the letter
E, which is evaluate and adjust.
This is the step that turns your
strategy into an ongoing system, one
that grows and scales with your company.
AnnieLaurie: And if you're just joining
us and you're wondering what is the
guide marketing framework you speak of?
Well, it's our five part
system for building a marketing
strategy that actually works.
And it covers everything from.
Generating your strategy and story,
upgrading your online presence, informing
your buyers with content, developing
and executing a sales plan, and
evaluating all the things that you're
doing to make sure that it's actually
working and moving people to an action.
Steve: If you've missed any of the
earlier episodes, I would encourage
you go back and check those out.
Each one walks through a critical
step with practical takeaways
that you can use immediately.
AnnieLaurie: Yes, we'll drop links
straight to those podcasts in the
show notes, but for today's episode.
It's the one that's gonna
hold it all together.
This is the glue episode.
Evaluate and adjust is what
keeps your strategy relevant,
responsive, and results driven.
But before we get into the details,
let's be honest, most teams
don't evaluate their marketing.
They execute, they move on.
They hope for the best.
But hope is not a strategy.
Steve: No, it isn't.
And the problem is that often when
CEO or leadership is checking in
on marketing, it's surface level.
Maybe there are a few graphs,
uh, a few, numbers about how
many likes were generated.
Maybe there was a spike in your website
traffic, but there's nothing there that's
actually telling you what's driving growth
AnnieLaurie: and.
If that's where you're putting your hope,
it's a false hope because those numbers
aren't always telling you the full story.
And the result is you keep spending,
you keep guessing, and you keep
wondering why marketing feels so
unpredictable, but it's not a mystery.
It's a missing feedback loop.
Steve: Exactly.
You can't improve what you're not
measuring, and you can't measure what
you're not tracking intentionally.
AnnieLaurie: So let's dig in.
What should you track?
How do you make sense of it?
and most importantly, how do
you turn data into action?
Steve: All right, so step number
one, tracking what matters.
Let's start with something foundational.
If you want your marketing to work, you
have to track what actually matters.
Now, a lot of businesses, a
lot of marketers, they're.
Tracking something but not
necessarily the right things.
it could be vanity metrics like
social media likes or impressions
that feel good and they might look
great on a presentation, but it's not
helping you make strategic decisions.
AnnieLaurie: We're talking about metrics
that tie directly to business outcomes.
Traffic by source, conversion
rates, lead quality sales,
qualified leads, close rates.
That's where you get
insight, not just information.
So here's a question, Steve, for
the CEO who feels overwhelmed by
data, what's the simplest way to get
started with tracking meaningful KPIs?
Steve: Start small.
Instead of trying to build out 20
different dashboards, focus on a handful
of metrics that actually move the needle.
And lemme also say that this is where
it's important to have the tools
that capture the data that you need.
So mention this in a previous episode.
Uh, in fact, the last episode,
a tool like HubSpot is a good
tool that can give you data.
For the entire buyer's journey.
And so if you pair that with something
like Google Analytics, then you start
getting a lot of really robust information
so that way you can start looking at
things like website traffic and the
the channels where they're coming from.
So organic, paid social media.
And then, and again, if you think
about this in terms of the funnel.
Your sales funnel, top of
the funnel, middle of the
funnel, bottom of the funnel.
You're just following through
the sales process, and so how
are people getting to you?
What are the sources?
Then from those sources, how
many leads were generated?
However, you're defining a lead.
You could also consider how many
appointments were scheduled, from there.
How many of those leads
ultimately become customers?
Again, this goes back to the previous
episode, but this is why it's important
to have a sales process defined, because
then you can look at the metrics at
each stage by source, and then it's
also looking at what are your conversion
rates, what percentage of people move from
being a website visitor to being a lead.
To being a sales qualified
lead to becoming a customer.
Again, your terms, your labels certainly
may vary, but you get the idea and then
it's looking at each of those from the
standpoint of what was the customer
acquisition cost or what's the ROI?
And let me also preface, depending on
what tools you have capturing this data,
it's going to take time to build this out.
A recent coaching client.
Part of the conversation with the CEO was
how to build out a reporting dashboard
that he could look at that had these
types of metrics so that he could make
informed decisions about where to invest
in marketing, what not to invest in.
And as he was digging in and as we
were walking through this, what came
to the surface was before he could get.
Meaningful metrics.
He had to work with his sales team
to make sure that they were inputting
their information and updating
what was happening in the sales
process so that the metrics he was
receiving were accurate and timely.
So again, it's one of those things, this
is, this could be a long term type of
process to get the data that you need
if the inputs aren't already there.
But pick three to five KPIs,
key performance indicators.
Look at them monthly.
as you start to get this data over
the course of time, that's where
you can start digging in what's
improving, what's lagging, what
does this tell us about our efforts?
Are we seeing some things
working and not others?
It's using the numbers
to inform decisions.
It's not numbers for the sake of numbers.
But it's so that you have
increased visibility into
what's working and what's not.
AnnieLaurie: Let's stay on this idea
of what we are tracking, because one of
the most common traps we see is this.
We need more traffic and sure,
that's part of the equation, but
more traffic doesn't automatically
mean more leads or more sales.
What you need is better
traffic, qualified traffic.
Steve: Exactly.
I mean, you could double your traffic
overnight and still not get any new
business if it's the wrong people.
I'm thinking about some past, companies
that have encountered, where when, when we
started working with them, they, they had
a ton of traffic, but it was never traffic
that was going to convert into buyers.
They had created articles that
people were interested in.
But it was, it wasn't constant that
their buyers were searching for.
It was somebody further in a different
capacity within those companies
searching for a different problem.
So, as you said, having
traffic for the sake of traffic
doesn't necessarily matter.
It's, getting the right visitors
who are decision makers and who
align with your target audience.
AnnieLaurie: Yeah, and just as an aside,
if you're getting traffic just for
traffic's sake, maybe you're writing
articles about local things, just as a
local SEO play, you can actually do harm
to your SEO because if you're just getting
a ton of traffic from random sources.
It's gonna confuse the algorithms
about what your site's really
about, and then it's gonna start
to penalize you for the things that
you actually wanna be ranking for.
So some people, I, we've seen some,
some people take that approach of
just let's write whatever we can
to get traffic to the website.
But those numbers are truly empty numbers
and it can hurt you in the long run.
It's really not a great idea.
Steve: Well, and and to your
point, Annie, Laurie, I.
This is where I would encourage you if, if
you haven't listened to two episodes ago
where we talk about inform with content,
go back to that episode because the goal
is create content that builds trust with
your buyers by answering their questions.
if you're creating content that maybe is
driving in traffic to any Laurie's point,
but it doesn't align with what your buyers
are actually looking for, if it doesn't
align with your expertise, then yes, you
could see an increase in website traffic.
However, you're not
bringing in more buyers.
You're just bringing in people that
are gonna read an article and leave.
And they're never gonna buy from you.
So it's that idea of a vanity metric.
It looks good, but it's not
going to improve your ROI.
AnnieLaurie: Exactly, and this may or
may not be the best time to make this
point, but we had a client once who
had written a blog post and made a
joke about Santa Claus and the amount
of search traffic that that website
was getting about Santa Claus was.
Off the charts, but none of
that traffic was converting
business for them, you know?
And especially this was like a, a
client that provided local services
and people were landing on their
website because of the Santa thing.
And I think about how, like when you
go to your metrics and you see what are
the keywords this slide is ranking for,
and it's something random like that,
like that's not helping you, that's
not increasing your opportunity to
get qualified leads and close deals.
Steve: So even here an article
that I wrote on our blog years
ago, we, we've removed it
AnnieLaurie: years ago.
Yes, this is
Steve: probably six or seven years ago.
But the, the article was to the
effect of, um, why your marketing
sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher.
And I remember looking
back at the analytics.
And seeing, we were ranking for things
related to Charlie Brown's teacher.
Well, that has nothing to do.
And so initially when I did that however
many years ago when our team was a
lot smaller, uh, and Annie, Laurie
was, uh, not here to help me with
our content strategy as she is today.
Um, it sounded like a, a clever idea and,
and I thought it was a good article, but.
Here again, it was ranking for
things that we weren't intending.
So it's not that that's not gonna
happen, but the idea here, you get
great content that's targeted in on
your audience, and then the, the numbers
become more meaningful when you consider
the context and the quality of who
is actually coming to your website.
AnnieLaurie: Yes, but it's also
very relevant to what we're
talking about, about, you know,
tracking the right things.
And so if, you know, if you're CEO and
your marketing person comes to you and
says, look, we're getting this much
traffic to the website, if you're not
tracking the right things, then you
might not realize that a quarter of
that traffic is about Santa Claus.
Steve: Well, you know what I'm saying?
Exactly.
And that's, that's where
having other metrics.
So it's, it's looking at one
metric in relationship to another.
So.
The follow up then is great.
How many of those visitors
are converting into leads?
Yes.
AnnieLaurie: Yes.
Steve: And then if you see that
that number is minuscule and
it's not increasing, then that's
a good indicator that maybe you
have content driving traffic, but
it may not be the right content.
AnnieLaurie: That's what,
you know, sometimes people,
they, you fall into the trap.
It's unintentional, but it's, it's
not hard to fall into this vanity
metric mentality where you're
chasing page views and likes and
impressions, things like that.
And.
It looks good.
That's why they call it vanity metrics.
Like it, it gives you the dopamine hit.
You think, okay, we're getting traffic.
Something must be getting some traction.
But it doesn't always mean
that you're getting traction.
It doesn't mean anything if,
if it's not tied to action.
So if the real question isn't
just, are we getting visits?
Are we getting traffic, it's, are
we attracting people who actually
fit our ideal client profile?
Are they engaging with our content?
Are they sticking around to read
a second article, a third article?
Do we even know how to track that?
Are they taking any action
when they land on our website?
These are the things that that we
really need to know to be effective.
So Steve, for a CEO, who's used to
watching website traffic but hasn't really
thought much about the quality or anything
beyond that, where should they start?
Steve: Well, the, the first place may
be to go back to our last episode and
listen to where we talk about a sales
process, because the answer is you wanna
measure the next step that you want
people to take in the sales process,
in the buyer's journey website visitor,
what do you want them to do next?
Do you want them to schedule a
call or book a demo, download a
resource, fill out an assessment?
That's the next step.
Capture that initial metric, let's say
website visitors, number of visitors.
Then you wanna look at how many of
those actually converted into leads.
So we're actually looking at three
metrics here, but you gotta have
two up to get the third, and that's
number of website visitors, number of
leads, and then your conversion rate.
So the percentage of leads that
were generated by that traffic.
And start there.
Start benchmarking that,
start looking at that.
What's your trend?
, Looking at that data immediately may or
may not tell you something, but when you
start looking at it over the course of
time and you can start to see some trends,
then you can start to establish some
benchmarks and get a sense of direction.
So that's, that's where
I would say starts.
Again, it's all about moving people
through the sales process ultimately
so that they become customers.
So let's measure the steps in
that process, and if you haven't
defined that sales process even
at a high level, then you don't
know what to measure until you do.
AnnieLaurie: Steve, tell us about the
difference between a marketing qualified
lead and a sales qualified lead.
Steve: I'm gonna keep
this high level because.
These are terms, again, if
you're using a CRM, like HubSpot,
these terms float around.
So if you're a smaller company, you
have a couple of salespeople, this
is really not going to be something
that you need to spend a lot of time
trying to figure out and define.
This really becomes applicable.
Bigger companies, enterprise level
companies, where you're doing lead
scoring That makes sense because of the
work that goes into that high level.
Just so you have
familiarity with the terms.
Effectively, a marketing qualified
lead is someone who, they filled out
a form, they downloaded a guide, and
from a marketing perspective, based
on their activity, based on what you
may know about them, about information
that's available to you, about who
they are or the company they work for.
You could look at them and say, yes,
we think they're qualified because of
what they've done and what we know about
them doesn't mean they're ready to buy.
A sales qualified lead tends to be
that, that MQL who has moved along,
maybe they've scheduled an appointment,
they've booked a demo, they've taken
a step that is expressing intent to
buy, or at least an interest in buying.
And so that's where, if you are
looking at it in that detail, when
you have your sales process, you have
your metrics, you can look and see
what those conversion points are, and
that can help give you more insight
as to where your best SQLs are coming
from, who's converting, et cetera.
But again, for a lot of companies.
Yes, know the terms, but I wouldn't spend
a lot of time trying to define that.
Have a basic sales process
that you can track in your CRM.
Know what those basic conversion
rates are from one step to the next.
AnnieLaurie: Well, that's a
great transition into our next
step in this process, and that's
using A CRM and using it well.
So let's dive into tools, specifically
your CRM, because if you don't have one
or you're not actually using it well,
or you don't know how to use it, or
you've paid for it and it's sitting there
and you're not taking advantage of all
the features, your data is fragmented,
your follow up is inconsistent, and
your marketing insights are just
gonna be guesswork all over the place.
That's not helping anybody
Steve: Exactly.
And it's interesting because I've.
I had conversations with two
different clients this week, fairly
new clients about their CRMs, and,
and one is transitioning from what
they've been using to HubSpot.
The other, they don't have a
CRM, it's been more just internal
management spreadsheets and
keeping up with things in outlook.
And so if you don't have
familiarity with A CRM, it's
customer relationship management.
And it's not just a
glorified digital Rolodex.
CRMs, and again, I'm gonna reference
HubSpot that is my favorite CRM.
I know that there are a
gazillion different options.
but HubSpot is the one that we prefer.
What it does, or at least again
from the perspective of HubSpot,
is it gives you visibility
across the entire buyer journey.
It tracks what's
happening on your website.
It then, as long as it's being
updated, helps you see where
people are in your sales pipeline.
So again, there's various stages that are
mapped out and it gives you reporting so
you can see where your leads are coming
from, how long they're in each stage.
You can look and see what content they're
engaging with, how much time have
they spent on your website, and you can
see where your deals are getting stuck.
AnnieLaurie: This is great, and if
you're already using a CRM, but you're
just logging activity and you're
not really leveraging it to review
the data, pull out insights to shape
your next decisions, your next moves.
You're definitely leaving a
lot of value on the table.
And recently, Steve, you walked me
through how you're using HubSpot and
our business, and that was really
eyeopening and helpful for me.
So if we have somebody listening
who's kind of feeling like.
They don't really know if they're
using it well, they're not sure.
Um, maybe just paint a picture for
how you use it or, or give some
tips on, on how to start using it.
Well, what are some baseline things
that, , people should be doing with their
CRM to make sure that they're getting
the most value out of it and that it's
actually helping them, , move the needle.
Steve: So a couple, of thoughts here.
Number one is get something set up.
Now.
Now again, there's context here because
the adoption and the use of A CRM,
how quickly that gets up and running,
how easily or willingly people are
to use it, especially salespeople,
affects how long it's going to
take to get this up and running.
To be that record of truth, that single
record of truth that you're looking
for, so that you get insight into
what's happening through the entire
process, the entire buyer's journey.
So for the folks that are maybe a one
person shop or maybe your smaller team get
started with HubSpot Starter, they have an
option that is 15 bucks a month per user.
If you do a year long contract,
it's 20 bucks a month.
If you go month, a month, but it gives
you their sales module, it gives you their
marketing module, gives you other things.
It's a full suite of tools.
Get it set up.
Put the tracking code on your website
so you can start collecting data.
Start there.
Number two, get your sales pipeline
set up and start entering your.
Prospects, your sales , your
leads into the pipeline.
Now you can set up forms and use
the forms from HubSpot on your
website so that somebody completes
a form, they request an appointment.
You are using like Calendly, you can
sync it to where it's putting those
leads into HubSpot, create deals.
There's automation that can be done.
Again, it gets a little bit
into the weeds, but start
capturing your information there.
So again, if you're a small team,
this is gonna be easier for you.
If you have a bigger team, then
it's, there's a process of training.
There's gonna be the process.
If they're not using any kind of a
CRM right now, there's going to be
conversation around why it's important.
And again, it's more than we have
time for in this conversation,
but , it's getting it there.
And again, bare minimum, start
getting your website information
collected so that you can start at
leasing your website activity and then.
As you start adding in your
pipeline, your deals, you're gonna
start getting more information.
And now I would say from there, set up a
basic marketing dashboard so that you can
see what some of these metrics look like.
Again, guys, this is
not an overnight thing.
depending on where you are, could be
some cultural shifts here to get people
on board, but sign up for an account.
There's a free version.
If you just wanna get in, kick the
tires, it can feel overwhelming.
It's one of the conversations I've
mentioned, two people that I'm having
conversations with this week, and one
of those is working with them, with
the CEO to get this set up so that
they can start tracking their leads.
AnnieLaurie: Right.
And.
You have a CRM and you're not using
it to, to get these kinds of answers,
or you don't have a process in place
for reviewing that information.
It's not really helping you lead.
You don't need to use every feature,
obviously, but it would be super helpful
for you to have it as a decision making
tool and not just a tracking tool.
Steve: And, and Angela, I just, something
that you just mentioned that keeps
CEOs, marketing team, sales teams.
From implementing A CRM, one of
the things is the complexity or the
perceived complexity, so that's where
it can make sense to hire somebody who
can help you onboard or can coach you
through it, so that way it's taking
some of the intimidation away because
you've got somebody that can help you.
Get that set up.
AnnieLaurie: Absolutely.
That's really helpful.
So let's talk about
testing and optimizing.
It's all about experimenting and
seeing what's actually working, because
evaluated and just isn't just about
reviewing what's already happened.
It's also about being proactive,
learning how to improve what happens
next is very important as well.
Steve: Right.
You know, I, I.
I'm not the first person to say this,
but marketing is part art and it's part
science, so that's where testing comes in.
And so if you're not familiar with
the terminology and we talk about
an a b test, you create version A of
something like a, an email subject line.
And you create version B, or you could
create three versions of that and
then using some of the different tools
that have that capability included.
You send out an email with three
different subject lines and they
would send it out to 20% of your list.
So if you had, say, a
list of a thousand people.
It would divide up those three subject
lines to 20% of the list, so between
200 people, and then whichever one of
those subject lines gets the most opens,
that's the version that would go to
the remaining 800 people of the list.
That type of testing can be done
with different calls to act, to
calls to action on a website.
Testing the colors, , the
language around it.
A a landing page headline.
Some of these small changes
and especially in combination,
can lead to bigger insight.
And there are some tools that will let
you do what's called multivariate testing
or multiple vari multi-variable testing.
And that's where it's not just
testing one thing, but it's testing
a couple of things in combination and
some different variations of that.
Again, this doesn't have to
be complicated or technical.
You can just test two different subject
lines and see which gets the best result.
AnnieLaurie: Yeah, and this is a warning
to anyone out there who's like me
and tends to hyper-focus on a thing.
Don't test it to death.
You know, stay curious, try options and
see where it resonates, but don't get so
fixated on testing that it keeps you from.
Moving forward on the
other aspects of your plan?
Right.
I'll share something.
I, I did a bit of unintentional testing.
Uh, we recently wrote a blog
post, well, let's say recently,
it was almost a year ago.
We wrote a blog post and it was
one of those blog posts where I.
The content was really great,
but there wasn't a real obvious
keyword to optimize the content for.
And as a, uh, keyword research person, as
a SEO strategist, I'm always looking to
make sure that we have, um, great content,
but also that it's optimized for the
right keywords that people are searching.
So I, I just made a choice and I
went with it and I wasn't super
sure if it was gonna be a good one.
And I've been watching that blog
post for about a year and I noticed
that it's just not getting traction
and the type of traffic it's
getting is not the kind I want.
And so I just revisited
it yesterday and I.
Actually use chat, GPT and I gave chat
GPT, the content, and I said, just
evaluate this post and tell me what you
think it's about and tell me if it makes
sense to optimize it for this keyword.
Is there a better keyword to recommend?
And just using chat GPT to
help me evaluate that one.
Piece of content and the keyword
that it had been optimized for.
Uh, I got great insight and
I just recently published.
I pushed those changes live last night.
So while this was not maybe an intentional
example of AV testing, it's still paying
attention and going back and checking
on the things that you've watched.
Like I said, that's a post I put out
there a year ago when I put it out there.
I wasn't sure it was the right
one, but I have been watching
it carefully and um, used.
Chat, GPT to help me make adjustments.
So stay tuned.
I'll have to report back and let you
know if we start getting better traffic.
Steve: Well, and I, I mean, so that's,
that's a really good example, and I think
it's worth noting here, when we think
about expectations of marketing, whether
it's the sales team's expectation, the
marketing managers or the CEOs, there's a
big part of marketing that's just squishy.
Because we don't always
know what's going to work.
We can run the, the analysis, we can run
the game scenarios and, and all those
things, but at the end of the day, we're
trying to anticipate human behavior.
And so sometimes the things that we
think are gonna just crush it suck.
And don't do anything.
And sometimes the, the, the idea
that was the last minute idea that
just sort of gets tossed in there
and we think, well, it's just worth
a shot that ends up taking off.
So if you're the marketing manager,
you know, you already know this
because you're in the trenches.
There's some things that work really
well and there's some things that don't.
If you're the CEO, give grace now.
You wanna see upward movement up into the
right over the course of time, obviously
with the results that you're getting.
So you're getting a positive
ROI, but also recognize not every
campaign's gonna be a home run.
Now I have to remind myself of this
because I'm a, I'm a CEO of my company.
I.
I can get impatient with things.
I forget sometimes that it takes time.
It's, there's some things that I think,
man, this is gonna be really great,
and I put it out there, or my team
puts it out there and it's crickets,
and other times it just takes off.
So again, this is where this idea of
testing can help us get clarity and
get feedback so that we can figure
out what is working, what's not.
We're not just relying on our gut feel,
but we get metrics that we can use.
To guide those decisions, both
at a macro and a micro level.
AnnieLaurie: Thanks, Steve.
That's so great.
And thinking of those listening
who aren't testing at all, what's a
simple place for them to get started?
Steve: You know, I'm, I'm
gonna go back to the email.
AnnieLaurie: Yeah.
Steve: And tools like HubSpot, MailChimp,
uh, again, they're, they're are hundreds
of email marketing tools that are out
there that have AB testing built in.
And so if you're doing any level of
email marketing, test the subject line
if, if you're sending out a monthly
newsletter, a weekly newsletter, I
would encourage you pick something other
than newsletter as the subject line.
That's boring.
Pick something that gives
somebody a reason to open it.
Use
AnnieLaurie: Ask G.
Ask chat, g.
Pt, help install chat.
G, pt.
Yeah, ask, sorry, chat.
GPT.
Easy for me to say.
But yeah, that's a great time to
ask Chat, GPT to give you an idea on
how to avoid boring subject lines.
E.
Steve: Exactly.
Think about, put yourself in
the perspective of your buyer.
What would be interesting in
the context of what you do.
Not just some random stuff, but, but
something that they would actually
be interested in, something that'd
be helpful to them in, in the context
of the problems that you solve.
And so start there and go from there.
AnnieLaurie: And the key isn't
just running the test once.
It's capturing the insight, what worked,
what didn't, and then doing something.
Make decisions based on this data
that you're collecting, and that's
gonna be the goal that helps you make
smarter decisions as you continue
to move forward with your marketing.
Steve: 100%.
Because those insights don't just
improve one email or landing page.
If you're listening, if you're learning,
if you're paying attention, then
that can help shape your messaging,
your offers, future campaigns.
It can even help inform
your sales conversations.
And so.
Again, this is where testing
becomes a part of the strategy.
AnnieLaurie: Let's zoom out for a second.
We've been kind of down in the details.
Zooming out, evaluation isn't
just about numbers, it's about
building a rhythm of reflection
and refinement into your strategy.
Steve, talk to us about that rhythm.
What do high performing
teams do consistently?
Steve: Yeah, so this, this fifth
step, , is quarterly review rhythms and.
It's building in time.
90 days is a really great timeframe
to not just look at metrics, but
to ask what's working, what's not?
What do we need to stop?
What do we need to start,
what do we need to adjust?
Now, this whole idea of the 90 day rhythm,
this is not unique to us by any means.
Uh, if you're familiar with EOS,
which is the entrepreneurial operating
system, which is based on the book.
Attraction by Gina Wickman.
Then this is where we're
gonna be looking at rocks.
So your rocks are the
quarterly priorities.
These tend, these tend to be the bigger
initiatives that help move you forward
more than just the day-to-day activities.
And so it's in this quarterly meeting
and this rhythm, that gives you a chance
to step back, see what's happening.
What do you need to prioritize
now for the next 90 days?
And then make sure that you're
realigning based on what the market
and what the metrics are telling you.
And this is more important now than
maybe it's ever been because of the
rapid pace of change that we're seeing
in buyer behavior driven significantly
by AI because it's changing how
people are getting information.
Where they're getting information
from and it's having a lot of
effects on website traffic.
And so again, that's where having this
rhythm becomes really important because
it gives you the flexibility to adjust
your activities without waiting 12 months
until you get your end of year results.
AnnieLaurie: Yes.
And that rhythm is not only keeping
your strategy alive, it's also keeping
your team on the same page and making
sure that you're all moving forward
little by little towards the same
target, and it ensures that things
don't get shoved to the back burner.
That's one thing that I love about the
The Rocks and EOS, is that it helps you to
keep those big picture goals and focus and
prioritize them because when all of the.
Operational day-to-day details
start to get in the way.
It's easy to, to push those big picture
goals backwards, but you're not gonna
move forward on 'em if you don't set
aside this time and this rhythm, this
90 day process, it really is helpful it
helps you to make smarter, intentional
adjustments to keep you moving forward.
And,
Steve: and I wanna put this into context.
The, the assumption here.
And the whole reason that we're
going through this guide marketing
framework is that these 90 day planning
sessions are in the context of having
a bigger marketing plan, a strategy,
or a framework that helps inform what
your priorities, what your rocks are.
So when I'm coaching a client.
We start out with a scorecard.
It's a 10 part scorecard based on this
framework, and we use that to identify
what are the critical areas that need
to be addressed in the next 90 days,
because this can be overwhelming if you
don't have some sort of a framework.
That you can use to guide your activities.
As we've talked about in this episode,
in previous episode, there are multiple
pieces to building a comprehensive,
holistic marketing strategy that is
going to support companies that want
to grow and scale for the long term.
And so it's when you have clarity
of a framework that you can use
to identify where to get started.
When to get started and using
these 90 day, this 90 day rhythm
to identify a handful of meaningful
shifts or rocks for each quarter.
When you do that in sequence
over the course of time, again,
this is not an overnight thing.
We're not talking about a one-off campaign
that's just gonna drive more traffic.
That's what you're looking for.
Fantastic.
You can run a Google Ads
campaign with an ad agency, uh,
with, with a Google Ads agency.
You could get some traffic.
What we're talking about is building
a system, a marketing system for your
business, whether you're implementing
it or somebody else is helping you.
That's going to give you the tools
and the framework so that you can
grow and scale for the long term.
And these 90 day planning sessions
are a critical piece of that because
that's where you're, as you've already
said, Larry, you're coming back.
It's, it's not about reinventing,
but it's, it's about making these
adjustments and these implementations
that are going to move you forward.
So if you're not taking the time to
do this, if you're not adjusting, if
you're not looking at your metrics,
then you're operating on yesterday's
assumptions, which, and today's AI
paced world, it might be, , last
hour's assumption and just that's
not a risk that you can afford.
AnnieLaurie: Building systems takes time.
Why should we make the time to build them?
Steve: I'm gonna go back to something
you said a little while ago.
Um, and this, this is a, a Vince
Lombardi quote, and that is hope is
not a strategy for companies that
are looking to grow and scale for the
long term, not just the quick win.
Yes, quick wins matter, but for
companies that are looking to
grow and scale for the long term.
Can you do that efficiently and
effectively if you don't have
some sort of a plan, if you don't
have some sort of a framework?
That's why one of the rea, I love
working with companies that are using
EOS to run their companies, because
in that scenario, the CEO, the owner
understands the value of a framework.
They understand the value of
systems, the value of clarity.
And those that are working with some
sort of an implementer, understand
the value of having someone help
them implement it rather than
just trying to rely on themselves.
Now, there's some companies that can
do that, fantastic, but oftentimes
it's much more efficient when they're
working with an EEO s implementer.
So to that person, they might like,
well, do we really wanna invest
the time and resources into that?
Maybe you don't.
If you just need a quick win, great.
Work with somebody that
set up an ad campaign.
But if you're looking for something
that's going to be a scalable system
and framework that's adjustable, even
as things in the marketplace change , as
AI and technologies change, it's about
building a system, especially 'cause you
go back to our last episode, this becomes
an alignment of sales and marketing.
This is building a revenue team, and this
is making sure that you have everything
that you need in place to build trust
with your buyers for the long run.
So that you're the go-to,
you're the thought leader.
You're the expert in your field.
AnnieLaurie: What I love about this is
that it's sustainable long-term results.
This is evergreen will stand the test
of time and won't blow with whatever.
Economic changes are battering down
the house because over the past five
years we've seen a lot of change, right?
These systems and these processes are
like building on a strong foundation.
Wouldn't you agree
Steve: a hundred percent?
Because tools are gonna change.
Technology is gonna change.
What doesn't change is needing
a clear plan, understanding your
buyers, communicating clearly in
a way that's gonna build trust.
Helping them, your buyers move
forward in the process and then
tracking and evaluating the whole
process and those are fundamental.
That doesn't change whatever AI is
or isn't going to do in the future.
We still have to do those things.
It may be that the, the media
changes, again, the platforms
change, but the principles remain.
AnnieLaurie: Okay, Steve,
let's talk to the CEO.
Who's over here Googling?
What is EOS, like, maybe some of this
is brand new to one of our listeners.
Uh, where do they start?
Steve: So, with, with EOS get a copy
of the book Traction by Gino Wickman.
Um, it's a really.
Practical book.
so if you're interested in
something like that for your company
that's looking at every part of
your business, fantastic tool.
We've had companies that they
needed to get that stuff in order
before we started working with them.
'cause there was just too much confusion.
They weren't at a place where they could
start growing and scaling their marketing
to try to grow the business 'cause they
had too much other chaos in the business.
Maybe, your Company is operating
well, even if you haven't
used a platform like EOS.
That's great.
If you're interested in getting more
information about our marketing framework,
you can go to way find marketing.com
and there's an assessment, which
I think we're gonna talk about in a
minute, so there's resources there.
If you are interested in talking to
an EOS implementer or integrator,
I forget the exact terminology.
Um, I mean, they can always reach
out to us through the website and
I can always make those connections
with somebody to somebody that
implements and integrates EOS.
AnnieLaurie: So this episode has
been all about evaluate and adjust.
See how do we make that a consistent
habit and not just something that's like
a one item on the to-do list to check off.
Steve: Annie, Laurie, what
I would say is, again, start
simple, but be intentional.
Uh, so if it's just you and one other
person, schedule a 90 day review.
Look at whatever KPIs you have.
, Have you tested some things?
And, and it may be that the first step
is you may not have metrics to look at.
So again, the starting point here may
be sitting down and identifying what
are our priorities for the next 90 days.
And then decide from there, what
is it that we're gonna focus on?
What do we have the, the energy, the
resources, what aligns with our overall.
Business goals.
I mean, this is fundamental for
what high performing companies do.
They're intentional, not waiting for
perfection, and it's getting these rhythms
into place and, and I would say if you've
not listened to each episode for this
guide framework, go back to the beginning.
Every one of these episodes is filled
with a lot of different ideas and.
Go to our website and take our
guide marketing assessment and get
access to our playbook because it
goes through and gives practical,
tactical things that you can do.
And it all aligns with what we've been
talking about on the podcast, And so
there's a lot of practical things that
you can do to help you identify what
is it that you need to get focused on.
AnnieLaurie: Here's what we
want you to do this week.
Schedule a marketing review, even
if it's just you in a notebook.
Block the time.
Sit down and ask what are we tracking?
What's actually working?
Where are we wasting our efforts?
Look at your KPIs, look at your
traffic sources and anything
that you've tested recently.
This isn't just a task, it's a discipline.
Steve: And if you don't know
where to start, you're not alone.
This is where a lot of
growth-minded CEOs get stuck.
So couple things here.
One.
Reach out.
We can help you figure out what to
measure, how to read the data and to
help you decide what your next move is.
Uh, and this is, are you lead
marketing like a CEO, not a guesser.
And the other, the second thing that I
would suggest is if you have some of this
data, but again, you're not sure what to
do with it, put it into cha GPT, you put
it into copilot, whatever AI you're using,
and ask it to help you make sense of it.
So, again, there's a couple of different
ways that you can go with this, but
you, you just gotta get started.
AnnieLaurie: That wraps up our walkthrough
of the Guide Marketing Framework.
We hope it's helped you see that marketing
doesn't have to be a guessing game.
It can be a clear strategic
system that can help you lead,
stop guessing and start growing.
Steve: And as you've seen, each step of
this framework is designed to give you
structure and direction so that you can
grow and scale your company with purpose.
Without spinning your wheels.
AnnieLaurie: If you missed any of
the earlier episodes, check the show
notes or just go back and find them
in your podcast listening platform.
Each one is packed with practical insight
to help you take your next step forward.
Steve: In our next episode,
we're gonna switch things up.
We're gonna answer your questions.
We're pulling together the
most common questions around
the guide marketing framework.
So everything that we've been talking
about through these last few episodes,
and we're gonna dive in rapid fire style.
AnnieLaurie: So if you have any questions
at all or if you've been wondering how
to apply this to your business, this is
gonna be the episode you don't wanna miss.
Steve: So don't sit on it.
Go do something with it and we
will see you in the next episode.