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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: Is your marketing based on
a strategy or is it based on hope?
AnnieLaurie: Hey everyone.
Welcome back to the Growth
Minded Marketing podcast.
I'm Annie Laurie Walters.
Steve: And I am Steve Phipps,
and we are incredibly glad that
you are here to join us again.
AnnieLaurie: If you caught episode
one, we introduced the guide Marketing
framework Way finds system for helping
B2B CEOs stop spinning their wheels and
actually grow with clarity and confidence.
Steve: today we are diving into the
first letter of the framework of the
guide framework, and that's the letter G.
Feel like Sesame Street there for
a minute, but it's generate your
story and your strategy and yeah,
of course this is near and dear to
me, but this is where it all starts.
AnnieLaurie: It is because
wishing and hoping and thinking
and praying is not a strategy.
It's helpful, but it's
not a strategy, is it?
Okay, so let's dive in.
This is the first letter
in the guide framework.
We start here.
Why do we start here?
Why do we start with generating
your strategy and your story?
Steve: and Lemme say this to you, if
you're just tuning in and this is the
first episode you're catching, go back
to the first episode because that's
where we go over the entirety of the
framework and provide an overview.
Yes.
But the reason that we start here is
because that intro question is based
on the quote by Vince Lombardi the
famous football coach, who is quoted
as saying hope is not a strategy.
And yet a lot of times
what ends up happening is.
Companies are doing their
marketing reactively.
They read a book, they heard someone,
they hired a consultant or an agency,
and they're doing tactics, but there's
nothing in that guiding the tactics.
It's like trying to run a marathon,
but there's no there's no mapped out
route and there's no finish line.
Uh, It's like the Barkley Marathon, if
you've ever heard of that over in East
Tennessee, you're, you're expending
energy, but you're not getting anywhere.
And so, yeah.
What, what pains me a lot of times
is seeing and talking to the CEOs
who have spent tens of thousands of
dollars on tactics, their websites
and ads and emails, but they've never
stopped to define who they're actually
targeting or put together a messaging
plan to guide what they're saying.
And ultimately why it all
matters to their buyers.
And so in this particular stage the
two big things I say that we're gonna
do is we're gonna figure out what to
say and what to do in order to grow.
The story part of this is about
connecting to your ideal customer.
What is the problem that
they have that you solve?
And being able to communicate to
and with them, with words that
resonate that matter, that help
build trust and ultimately help them
move forward in the buying process.
And then.
We connect that to the tactics that get
you in front of your target audience with
clear messaging that moves them through
the process ultimately to help grow the
business by building trust, generating
leads, and ultimately creating customers.
AnnieLaurie: Right?
So as you said in our
last episode, we gave a.
Very high level overview of
the Guide Marketing framework.
G is the first lettering guide,
and that is what the details of
this podcast are about today.
So as we go deeper into this, what
you will find in our framework is that
we have points underneath each of the
main letters that we call guideposts.
So within the letter G of our
framework, we have six guideposts.
They're mile markers in a way to let
you know that, that you're on the right.
You are, you're heading
in the right direction.
So this is, this is based off our way
found marketing assessment that we have
on our website that is a free assessment
that anyone can go to the website
and take right now if you wanted to.
And, each one of these guideposts
answers the question that is posed
to you when you take the assessment.
So the first one within G is, do
you have clear marketing and sales
goals for the next 12 months?
So unpack this for us.
This seems really basic, but obviously
people must skip the step or it wouldn't
be the first thing you're asking, so, so
give us, give us the dates on this one.
Steve: A lot of times what happens
here is there might be a specific
revenue goal, but then it's not
broken down into something that's more
meaningful for, for marketing and sales.
So I.
Great.
You have a revenue goal.
You're trying to increase
your revenue by 500,000 or a
million, whatever it might be.
How many new customers
does that represent?
How many new buyers do you
need over the next 12 months
in order to achieve your goal?
And then it's drilling down from
there into how many leads do you need,
how many proposals need to be given.
And there are other metrics that.
We look at it in particular, we
get to the e part of the framework,
evaluate and adjust, but you've
gotta have some goals and they've
gotta be defined in a way that it's
meaningful to both marketing and sales.
Otherwise, nobody knows
what successful looks like.
And you know, if it's not
written down, it's it's not real.
AnnieLaurie: How often do you talk
with a business owner, CEO, or even a
marketing manager and they say, oh, I
have all that, but it's just in my head
Steve: a lot.
I.
A lot and, and I get it.
I get it.
You're busy running a business.
And that's why in particular, you
know, frameworks, I, I love when
we get to work with companies that
have, have gone through EOS it's
a business operating framework.
It's based on the book
Traction by Gina Wickman.
And because in that it really.
It forces you as the CEO, as the
owner to work with your team to map
out what those goals and metrics are.
And so that's always fun getting to work
with folks that have gone through that
process because they're already coming to
the table with a lot of this defined and
for the folks that don't, no problems.
But that's why we wanna look at that here
and try to better understand what are
the goals, what does success look like?
AnnieLaurie: Great.
Okay.
Moving on to guidepost number two.
In the assessment, we ask, do you
have a written marketing strategy?
There's that word written down.
Again, do you have a written
marketing strategy that aligns
with your business goals?
So someone's listening, they don't
have a strategy, or they want a
strategy, or they think they have
a strategy, it's in their head.
What are they to do with this next step?
Steve: So let me, let
me break this strategy.
When we think about that, that's kinda
nebulous and, and sometimes that can bring
a picture of this really long deck or this
really long document that has all this
information that you're never gonna use.
So there's a part of your strategy that
is foundational and you're not going
to be reinventing that every quarter.
That's the part of your strategy
that gets into things like defining
who your target audience is,
developing marketing personas.
What, what's your key messaging?
What does your messaging guide look
like based on your different audiences?
You know, what are the a lot of times
when we're working with somebody we're
going through a SWOT analysis to better
understand who they are as a company.
What's your brand personality?
You have all of these things that are
very fundamental and that you're not
gonna be changing every quarter, at least.
I hope you're not.
And so once you get that part of the
strategy down and documented, I mean,
heck, just get out a notepad and just
put some of this stuff down on paper.
We can get into developing
personas that they, we've got some
content on our website that talks
about how to build those out.
You just want to get it written down.
It doesn't have to be, if
it's not helpful, if it's not
useful, don't write it down.
You want enough to get clarity to direct
your marketing and your messaging.
You know, even if it's, you know,
again, I'll, I'll mention this
as a resource, but EOS has put
together what they call their VTO.
It's the Vision Traction Organizer.
If you go online in search for
it, I'm sure you can find, you
probably watch YouTube videos on
how to build this out, and that
gets into a lot of business things.
But there's a lot there that.
Feeds into a marketing strategy as well.
AnnieLaurie: Yeah.
In the D of guide, when we talk about
develop and execute a sales plan, we talk
a lot about alignment and it's difficult
to have alignment when you don't have
some of these things written down, right?
Steve: Absolutely.
And
if you're just looking for
super basic marketing plan.
Write down who's your customer?
Write down some basic descriptions
of who they are and the problem
they have that you solve.
And then write down a
couple of key messages.
What are a few things that you
might say to that person if you
were having a conversation about
how you solve their problem, how
you're different from a competitor.
Then think through a couple of
different tactics that would help
you get in touch with that audience.
Maybe it's using your network, maybe it's
asking for referrals and introductions.
Maybe it's something more robust,
but at least get some of that down
and that's a good starting point.
AnnieLaurie: Awesome.
Okay.
Let's move to Guy Post number three.
We are gonna answer the question,
are you mapping your marketing to
each stage of the buyer's journey?
What I think is interesting about this
one, Steve, is that I think people
assume that they are in kind of a
loosey goosey kind of way, right?
But are they really mapping
it to the different stages?
Talk to us about that.
Steve: So the first thing I'll say here.
And I'm gonna use a typical
marketing sales funnel.
There are any variations out
there, but I'm gonna talk about the
top of the funnel, middle of the
funnel, and bottom of the funnel.
And the idea here is that as people
go through the steps in the buying
process, at each of those stages,
they're asking different questions.
They're looking for different
types of information.
If somebody's at the top of the funnel.
They recognize they have a problem
and they're just looking for basic
information, trying to figure
out how to solve that problem.
They might have to do a lot of educating
before they start looking for what you do.
Middle of the funnel, they're shifting
their questions because now maybe
they're starting to look at you.
They're starting to look at
what services or products you
provide your competitors provide.
So they're starting to do some comparison.
Well, those are different questions,
and then at the bottom of the
funnel is where they're really
starting to vet out and make.
They're, they're filtering through
and narrowing the selection down to
a final choice, if anything at all.
Sometimes people just, they just stop.
They don't keep going through the
process, and so both the questions
or the content that we're creating to
answer those questions is going to change
based on where they are in the funnel.
And so the top of the funnel might be
what is, or how do I, the middle of the
funnel might be a versus you versus your
competitor or the best of whatever you do.
In the bottom, they're gonna be looking at
things like case studies and testimonials
and getting into the details of what
you do versus what your competitors do.
Evaluating what your processes look like.
Before they make a final decision.
Again, that gets a little bit squishy, but
the idea is the tactics you use to reach
people, the top of the funnel versus the
middle versus the bottom is gonna change.
So you want to know what those things are
so you have the right content, reaching
them at the right place at the right time.
You know, I'll give
you this quick example.
It's like if somebody's at the top of
the funnel or maybe even the middle,
they get to your website and they're
getting information, but they're
not ready to have a conversation.
They don't wanna schedule a call.
They don't want to see a demo.
They just want information well.
If, if you're, if you were having
a conversation with them and you,
you kept asking them, Hey, would
you, do you wanna schedule a call?
It, it would almost be akin
to being on a first date with
somebody and proposing marriage.
They're not ready for that.
So that's why on your website, it's
important to have options for people,
not just schedule a call, but for
the folks that aren't ready for
that, give them something else to do.
Give them, again, we're back to
creating content that answers questions,
that builds trust so that people
can start moving through the funnel.
Build that trust, then they're more
likely to say yes to scheduling a call and
taking that next step in the relationship.
AnnieLaurie: I wanna circle back
to something that you said a minute
ago, and that is how in each stage
of the buyer's journey, people
are asking specific questions.
And I just wanted to throw in that
from a content marketing perspective,
I do search engine optimization,
SEO, I do keyword research, and
there are keywords that match up.
To each stage of the funnel, which
is also very interesting to point out
because you can, on your service pages,
or if you have created specific sales
pages on your website, you can add an
FAQ document, or not a document, but
just a section like on the website, not A
PDF, but like a, a full fledged section.
At the end of a sales page with
the frequently asked questions that
are the questions they're asking at
that stage in their buying journey.
And especially in a B2B space, one very
common high volume term is free trial
for, or you know, brand name free trial.
So that's just something to consider
when you're thinking through all of that,
like that is a bottom of the funnel.
Keyword that absolutely, you know,
if you have content and, and you
can address that, that question,
that's just gonna be another way to
establish more trust between you and
this person that's been consuming a
lot of your, like, if they're at the
bottom of the funnel by now, they've
been consuming a lot of your content.
So let them see behind the curtain.
Steve: Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And, and even yeah, we could keep going.
I wanna pause 'cause I'm, I'm
jumping ahead to I, okay, we'll,
we'll, we'll cover that more when
we get to inform with content.
AnnieLaurie: I know.
It's so hard not to go to content.
It's so fun.
Okay, let's move to number
four, guy post number four.
Do you have a clear description of
your ideal client persona development?
Let's go.
Steve, tell us what are all the must
dos, must haves, and must knows about
knowing who your ideal client is.
Steve: the biggest thing about knowing
your audience is what's unique about them.
What are the unique descriptions that
help you communicate to them more
clearly about their specific needs?
You know, so for instance, I was doing
a strategy session with a company last
week, and on one hand they can sell into
companies that are doing a hundred million
in revenue and up and at that particular.
Company they're gonna be dealing
with, you know, they're gonna be
talking with mid-level managers.
They might be talking to a director
of marketing or an HR director.
Whereas if they go to a smaller company
that's 25 to 50 employees, they're having
a conversation with the CEO or the owner.
So same services, same products,
but by understanding those different
audiences, not only the role, but the
company that they're with, that they're
in, It's a different conversation.
It's different pain points, it's
different frustrations, and so
it's important to get that defined.
And, the biggest thing here is get clarity
on the problem that you are solving.
And not only the obvious problem,
but, but think about the internal, the
emotion, what goes along with that.
When you can start speaking into
that, now you're starting to
build a, a deeper connection.
The part of the brain that controls
emotion is the same part of
the brain that makes decisions.
And when we connect there, when
we understand that it increases
the likelihood that they're
gonna be become a customer.
AnnieLaurie: Yes.
And I think this is another one of those
things that people will have in their
head, but they don't have on paper.
Steve: Exactly, exactly.
If I, a lot of times if I sit down and I
have a conversation with somebody, well,
tell me about who your ideal customer is.
They can start communicating.
but there's often details that would
be helpful to them that are locked into
their brain that when they're asked the
right question, they can articulate.
And that's what this does.
It helps you get it out because at some
point, somebody else on your team needs
to know this so that you can collectively
be selling and marketing more effectively.
AnnieLaurie: Right, because
when you try to reach everyone,
you really reach no one.
Steve: Exactly.
AnnieLaurie: People don't wanna just
commit to a few personas sometimes because
they, they want everyone to want to buy
and use their products and services.
But I.
, You have to be specific.
You have to really drill down and
nail down like who you are talking to
because we're all bombarded with so many
messages and so much noise constantly.
Every time we turn on social media or
whatever, go to a website that's already
running ads to redirect us back to
that thing we were checking out before.
Like there, there's so many
messages out there vying for.
People's attention.
People, if you aren't specific
Steve: and know your, your
audience will tune you out.
Well, exactly, exactly.
When you know your audience and
you're more specific, you're more
relevant and you're cutting through
a lot of that noise and chaos and,
and the other, the other thing that.
I comment to people about when it comes
to marketing and budget and things like
that, is I have yet to meet the individual
or the company that has an unlimited
budget to be able to market to everybody.
So getting your personas down helps you
focus your resources on the customers
that are most likely to convert, and
it helps you generate a better ROI.
AnnieLaurie: Yes.
Yes.
That's great.
That is great.
Okay.
So we're on now to guidepost number five.
This one answers the question.
Have you talked to your customers lately?
Okay, that's an interesting one.
Tell us about that.
Steve: So the reason why, this is
something that I encourage people
to do, we do this for our clients.
It, I was in a strategy session
with a client the other day and
they're looking to move into
more of a commercial space.
A lot of what they do is B2C
e-commerce, but they're looking
to shift into corporate space.
And the CEOI, I gave him a list
of questions to go ask the folks
who were his target audience.
I gave him a list of 10 questions.
So he went, he had these conversations
and when we met, he talked about how
insightful that was, because this
is a mission driven organization.
They have a social impact
element of what they do.
I.
And so it was very eye-opening to him to
better understand how that was perceived
and, and what importance that did or
didn't carry with commercial buyers.
But he never would've known that
had he not had these conversations.
So talking to your customers is, is really
a great source to inform your messaging.
It helps clarify your personas.
A lot of times the words that
they give you are really.
Good, clear words to use in your
messaging because it's gonna resonate
with other people just like them.
Who are your customers or your future
customers and, and sometimes they will
point out things that you didn't realize
either that they really value and
appreciate, or that might be a pain point.
There's a couple of different ways
that I think CEOs need support.
One is they have an in-house
marketing person and they're
frustrated because they're not
getting the ROI from that person.
Well, a lot of times that person
doesn't have the resources.
They don't have a framework.
They're very good tactically,
but they don't have a framework.
They don't have a strategy.
So consider maybe marketing coach,
maybe some sort of marketing training
program would be helpful or useful
for your marketing manager and.
You can come in and help cast the vision
and make sure that the strategy is
aligned, but then from the execution
standpoint, they're getting guidance
and training to implement and execute.
Now, another frustration is where CEO
could benefit from support is maybe
your current agency talks a good
game, but they're not getting results.
Or I see this situation
a lot of times where.
The agency becomes their order takers.
They, they come to the CEO.
What do you want us to do next?
Does the CEO need input?
Absolutely.
But the marketing partners should be
bringing ideas and recommendations to
the table and helping give strategic
direction, not just taking orders.
And then some people, they've not
started, they don't know where to
go, they're not sure what to do.
And so in that case, maybe it's just
have sit down, have a conversation again,
go to the assessment that gives you a
reference point on where to get started.
And, people can always reach out to us
through a website for a conversation.
Connect with me on LinkedIn,
send me notes there.
But yeah, I mean, I would just say.
Take the assessment, get your arms around
where you are, what you could be doing,
and then make determination as to whether
you wanna do it in-house, whether you
wanna outsource it, or some combination.
AnnieLaurie: So we've spent
the time together talking about
generate your story and your
strategy and why that's important.
Steve.
What's at stake if you don't do
this legwork on the front end,
Steve: you know, you, you're gonna end up.
Wasting a lot of time and money, and
that leads to a lot of frustration
potentially missing goals or having
to work a lot harder to hit the goals.
So take the time, figure
out your strategy.
I.
A lot of the time strategy is
about figuring out what not to do.
There's so many choices.
There's so many options, so many
different ways that you could
spend your marketing dollars.
There are more than enough people
out there who are willing to
take your marketing dollars for
whatever service they provide.
But having to plan can help.
Get that direction.
And I do wanna say one other things.
'cause right now a lot of what
we talk about here is very much
on building that foundation.
And, and as we go through the rest of
this framework, that's really, we're
gonna unpack the tactical, because you
might be wondering, well, great, if I have
this, how do I get in front of people?
How do I get more people to my website?
What do I do to convert people from
my website or into sales process?
What I would say is.
Keep coming back for the, these next
few episodes where we continue to deep
dive into this framework and we're
gonna talk about what those things are.
If you go to our website
way, find marketing.com,
go to our learning center, you'll
find a ton of content there.
, There's a lot of great resources,
checklists, it's a lot of practical
information that you can use to guide
your marketing and efforts and activities.
AnnieLaurie: And if you, you just set
aside, you know, this is something
I've heard you say many times.
You just, you set aside maybe just
one hour a week to get started.
One hour a week, you're going to
turn off all the distractions and
you're just gonna give it your full
on an undivided attention one hour.
Work, start working through some of
these, you know, if you haven't really
fleshed out your personas, start there.
Or , maybe you've have it
written down your value prop.
Start there.
When you look at these six guideposts
we've talked about today, there,
there's gonna be one that's gonna be
the, you know, glaringly obvious one.
Yeah.
We need to do that.
You know, take an hour, set it, carve
it out, put it on your schedule, and
. Just maybe for the next several weeks
or until you get it done and you feel
like it's where it needs to be, , commit
to that time and it will pay off.
Steve: Absolutely.
Any forward movement is going to help.
our next episode is
gonna be focusing on you.
Of the guided framework, which
is upgrade your online presence.
So if you have questions about
your website or LinkedIn or social
media, be sure to come back.
We're gonna dig in.
We're gonna talk about things
like usability and what type of
content should be on your website
so that it doesn't suck and.
AnnieLaurie: We don't want websites
that suck, that's for sure.
No, no.
We are definitely against that.
Yeah.
So
thank you for joining us for
the second episode of the
Growth Minded Marketing Podcast.
We look forward to bringing you some
fresh, new content again next week.
Until then.
See you soon.
We'll see
Steve: you next week and don't forget to
subscribe and share this with a friend who
could benefit from what you heard today.