In this episode of Construction Disruption, hosts Todd Miller and Ryan Bell of Isaiah Industries engage in a lively and informative discussion with Katie Smith, founder and Fractional Chief Marketing Officer of Wildpath Consulting. Katie shares insights on the impact of authentic and truthful marketing, the evolving customer journey, and her unique approach to helping businesses grow sustainably through customized marketing strategies. She also explains how her background as a wilderness guide influences her approach to guiding companies through the complexities of modern marketing. Filled with anecdotes, professional advice, and laughter, this episode is a must-listen for businesses looking to enhance their marketing efforts.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and Co-Host Banter
01:11 Introducing the Challenge Words
01:34 What Makes a Business Stand Out?
02:19 Guest Introduction: Katie Smith
03:17 Katie's Background and Marketing Journey
04:50 The Role of a Fractional CMO
06:48 Wilderness Guiding and Marketing Analogies
12:34 Marketing vs. Branding
21:32 The Power of Authenticity in Business
22:49 Identifying Ideal Clients
24:24 Building a Custom Marketing Strategy
25:52 Success Story: Transforming a Metal Manufacturer
32:03 The Importance of Marketing and Sales Alignment
32:47 Trends to Watch: AI in Marketing
34:17 When to Hire a Fractional CMO
35:36 Rapid Fire Questions
39:40 Conclusion and Contact Information
Connect with Katie Online
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiesmithwildpath/
Website: https://followthewildpath.com/
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This episode was produced by Isaiah Industries, Inc.
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I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer
Todd Miller:of specialty metal roofing and other building materials.
Todd Miller:Today, my co host is Mr.
Todd Miller:Ryan Bell.
Todd Miller:Ryan, how you doing today?
Ryan Bell:Hey Todd, I'm doing great.
Ryan Bell:How are you?
Todd Miller:Doing well also.
Todd Miller:So I'm curious if you read any good books lately.
Ryan Bell:Actually, I'm glad you asked.
Ryan Bell:I have, I've been reading this book on, anti gravity and it's just
Ryan Bell:so good I can't even put it down.
Todd Miller:Can't put it down.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:That's a good one.
Todd Miller:That's a good one.
Ryan Bell:Pretty bad.
Todd Miller:I have a question for you.
Ryan Bell:Okay.
Ryan Bell:What is
Todd Miller:Where do pirates buy their hooks?
Ryan Bell:I've heard this one before.
Ryan Bell:I don't know.
Todd Miller:At the second hand store.
Ryan Bell:I should have gotten that one.
Todd Miller:But wait, they get worse.
Todd Miller:I have another one for you.
Ryan Bell:Oh, good.
Todd Miller:It don't sound so thrilled.
Todd Miller:What do you call a song about a tortilla?
Ryan Bell:I don't know.
Todd Miller:It's a rap song.
Ryan Bell:Oh, that's good.
Ryan Bell:That's a good one.
Todd Miller:Get anything else fun at forest to throw into the mix here today?
Ryan Bell:I don't think so.
Ryan Bell:I'm ready to get into this episode.
Todd Miller:Well, let's do it.
Todd Miller:I'm excited about this episode.
Todd Miller:It's going to be a good one.
Todd Miller:so.
Todd Miller:One of the things that, you know, I think you'll, Oh, by the way,
Todd Miller:we are doing challenge words.
Todd Miller:So each of us does have a secret word to work into the conversation,
Todd Miller:somewhat surreptitiously.
Todd Miller:Is that a word?
Todd Miller:I think it is.
Todd Miller:It's not a challenge word.
Todd Miller:Anyway.
Todd Miller:we do each have a challenge word to work into the conversation.
Todd Miller:So you, our audience can be listening for our challenge
Todd Miller:words and we'll see what happens.
Todd Miller:We'll let you know at the end, whether we worked them in or yet or not.
Todd Miller:But one of the things that I wanted to start out today is, you know, this idea
Todd Miller:of what is it that makes a business stand out from their competition?
Todd Miller:And I think a lot of times businesses kind of start out and they, they talk all
Todd Miller:about the product or service they provide.
Todd Miller:But the reality is.
Todd Miller:It's the impact they have on the customer.
Todd Miller:You know, that sort of human touch, that very personal thing.
Todd Miller:You know, what is that impact on the customer that is usually remembered
Todd Miller:and talked about by that client?
Todd Miller:Um, far long after the sales complete and going to be talked about much
Todd Miller:more than the actual physical product or service that company provided.
Todd Miller:So, today I'm excited, our guest is Katie Smith.
Todd Miller:Katie is known as the queen of the customer journey, she is a visionary
Todd Miller:marketer dedicated to transforming chaos and stagnation into strategic success.
Todd Miller:Katie is a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer or CMO, and she helps her
Todd Miller:clients drive sustainable growth while invigorating their marketing games and
Todd Miller:leading them to new heights of success.
Todd Miller:Based in Livingston, Montana, one of our favorite places,
Todd Miller:we have a team member there.
Todd Miller:Katie's business is called Wild Path Consulting.
Todd Miller:Katie, welcome to Construction Disruption.
Todd Miller:It's a pleasure to have you here today.
Katie Smith:Thank you so much.
Katie Smith:I'm really excited to be here and chat with you both.
Todd Miller:Well, very good.
Todd Miller:Well, thank you again.
Todd Miller:So, I know that you even have some history working specifically in the building
Todd Miller:materials space, which is very cool.
Todd Miller:But love to kind of start out with maybe some details on your background
Todd Miller:and what brought to where you are today as a consultant, in marketing, and
Todd Miller:also this idea of being a Fractional CMO or Chief Marketing Officer.
Katie Smith:So, I've always made my own path in life.
Katie Smith:I haven't really taken a traditional role.
Katie Smith:I spent my 20s as an outdoor guide, learning how to take people into
Katie Smith:the wilderness, make sure they have a good time, make sure we get
Katie Smith:where we're going and back safely.
Katie Smith:And then I fell into marketing because I really love connecting people.
Katie Smith:I love connecting people with a need, with people who can solve that need.
Katie Smith:I love communication.
Katie Smith:And so I really fell into that role.
Katie Smith:And one of the first places I worked at was a metal manufacturing company,
Katie Smith:which fell in love with manufacturing.
Katie Smith:I mean, come on, how fun is it to build things?
Katie Smith:And then how do you communicate those needs out to people.
Katie Smith:That's where I really cut my teeth and learned.
Katie Smith:and then, because I need to make my own way in life, I wanted to experience
Katie Smith:what that was like in other industries.
Katie Smith:So I've worked in international nonprofit.
Katie Smith:I've worked in FinTech, just trying to gain as much experience
Katie Smith:as I can, but I think my heart and my home is manufacturing.
Katie Smith:So, what I found is that.
Katie Smith:People need, in those areas, in all areas, we need help communicating.
Katie Smith:How do you say the right thing at the right time to the right people?
Katie Smith:And when you are a large company, you can have a Chief Marketing
Katie Smith:Officer who can provide a lot of leadership, can guide your team
Katie Smith:through whatever gets thrown at us.
Katie Smith:And, You know, why can't a smaller company have that same level of
Katie Smith:leadership, that same level of strategy?
Katie Smith:And so that's where the fractional comes in, where, I'm not beholden to just
Katie Smith:one company taking up all of my time.
Katie Smith:A smaller company doesn't need a full time fractional CMO.
Katie Smith:So I can come in, I can look at what's going on with their team because I
Katie Smith:have all this experience to draw from.
Katie Smith:I can create a really solid path for them moving forward, and help guide
Katie Smith:them through whatever life throws at us.
Katie Smith:And then I can work with multiple people, which keeps my brain engaged.
Katie Smith:and really, you know, I like to help those small medium businesses
Katie Smith:have a competitive advantage.
Todd Miller:You know, I have to imagine that, you know, doing the fractional
Todd Miller:thing, you get exposure to a lot of different companies and there has to be
Todd Miller:some overlap that has to help you with all of your clients, just having that broader
Todd Miller:base of things to pull from, doesn't it?
Katie Smith:It does.
Katie Smith:I mean, honestly, we're solving the same problem.
Katie Smith:The components are different.
Katie Smith:And because I've worked with a lot of different companies, I
Katie Smith:can think outside of the box.
Katie Smith:I can bring in different solutions or we come up with different solutions.
Katie Smith:So that's really one of the most fun parts of it for me the problems are
Katie Smith:the same, but the solutions can be wildly tailored to whatever's going on.
Todd Miller:Very cool.
Todd Miller:And there you worked in that wildly word.
Todd Miller:So, got to ask you, Wildpath Consulting, not exactly a common
Todd Miller:everyday name by any stretch.
Todd Miller:What's the story behind that name?
Todd Miller:And, I guess what's more, what do you feel that name means to your clients or
Todd Miller:means that you bring to your clients?
Katie Smith:Yeah, so that really comes from my years of outdoor guiding and
Katie Smith:this idea that, you know, marketing can feel like a wilderness for a
Katie Smith:lot of people, and I am the guide.
Katie Smith:I'm the guide through, so one of the, activities that I guided was
Katie Smith:horseback riding in Yellowstone National Park and, in the surrounding areas.
Katie Smith:So I'm in the lead, but I'm never facing forward.
Katie Smith:I'm always twisted to the side in my saddle so that I'm watching my clients.
Katie Smith:I'm watching what's happening behind me, making sure everyone's having a good
Katie Smith:time, but I have one eye looking forward.
Katie Smith:I know where we're going, but what's in our path?
Katie Smith:Is there a bear in our path?
Katie Smith:Is there a moose?
Katie Smith:Is there a fallen tree?
Katie Smith:How do we navigate the things that, that will often push us off our path
Katie Smith:so we can still get to our destination?
Katie Smith:Do I need to change the destination based on what's happening in our climate?
Katie Smith:So taking all of those pieces.
Katie Smith:That's how I work.
Katie Smith:That's how I work with my clients.
Katie Smith:That's how I work in the industries.
Katie Smith:I've always got one eye looking back, making sure everybody's safe
Katie Smith:moving along when I coming forward.
Katie Smith:And then I'm a guide.
Katie Smith:And so I want to join you on your journey.
Katie Smith:I want to make it fun, exciting and just take us along on
Katie Smith:a wild journey to success.
Todd Miller:I love that analogy to being a wilderness guide.
Todd Miller:Obviously you've thought about that and it went into the name of your
Todd Miller:company, but, that is a great analogy.
Todd Miller:I love that.
Todd Miller:So I'm going to go a little bit off of what we had planned to talk about.
Todd Miller:I'm going to ask you this question and if this, Doesn't work out.
Todd Miller:We'll edit it out.
Todd Miller:How does that work?
Katie Smith:Sounds good.
Todd Miller:I'm curious as a guide and it's interesting.
Todd Miller:I have a cousin out your way who is a hunting and fishing guide, but I'm kind
Todd Miller:of curious ever get in any precarious or scary situations as a wilderness guide.
Katie Smith:Uh, yes, there have been a few, mostly involving wildlife.
Katie Smith:So whenever you see a grizzly bear out, you know, your heart just starts pounding.
Katie Smith:so I've been out, I prefer to see grizzly bears on horseback because generally
Katie Smith:they're not too, you know, too bothered by that and they'll move on and move away.
Katie Smith:But definitely have been out on horseback tours and come across grizzly bears.
Katie Smith:I think, another one we would go out in the winter time, I'm a Nordic
Katie Smith:ski guide, I was, and we would go into the park with a company that
Katie Smith:ran snow coaches over snow vehicles.
Katie Smith:And, you know, we have various stop offs.
Katie Smith:So Fountain Paint Pots is, it's one of the best places to visit in Yellowstone.
Katie Smith:It's beautiful, especially in winter.
Katie Smith:And, the driver and I, we got there and people were kind of pulling away
Katie Smith:cause there were a bison along the boardwalk, but we kind of decided, you
Katie Smith:know, let's just, See what we can see.
Katie Smith:So we took our people out and there were bison and, you know, some
Katie Smith:were on one side of the boardwalk, some were on the other, but we felt
Katie Smith:like there was a good safe gap.
Katie Smith:So we took our people around and we saw the bubbling mud and
Katie Smith:hot pots and the little geysers.
Katie Smith:And then the bison just sort of started to come together around us
Todd Miller:Wow.
Katie Smith:On the boardwalk.
Katie Smith:And we had to start kind of like dodging bison and and moving really closely and
Katie Smith:get our tourists who didn't, they didn't understand, you know, I think they don't
Katie Smith:realize that these are wild animals.
Katie Smith:And so we have to like get them from taking pictures without panicking,
Katie Smith:get them to move in the right way.
Katie Smith:So that was definitely a little touch and go between the driver
Katie Smith:and I, but we got out of there.
Katie Smith:No bison gorings, and, I think the people had a good time.
Todd Miller:That had to be interesting though, cause they probably are
Todd Miller:like, wow, what a cool experience.
Todd Miller:And you're like, this is kind of scary.
Todd Miller:Let's get out of here.
Todd Miller:And how do we do that safely?
Ryan Bell:I saw a funny meme the other day that was like a lady standing right
Ryan Bell:in front of a bison trying to take a picture and it said like it's tourist
Ryan Bell:tossing season or something like that.
Katie Smith:You know, I feel like they should do it more than they do.
Ryan Bell:Yeah.
Katie Smith:They let people get away with a lot, but they are wild animals and
Katie Smith:you should not be close to them at all.
Todd Miller:Well, there's all kinds of analogies there too, because certainly
Todd Miller:in marketing and business, we run into a grizzly bear now and then.
Todd Miller:And, so that's cool stuff.
Todd Miller:What about that geyser that exploded recently out in Yellowstone.
Todd Miller:Tell us your perspective on that.
Katie Smith:Biscuit Basin.
Katie Smith:Well, Biscuit Basin is a really great site to go to, especially in wintertime.
Katie Smith:The colors were really wonderful, but you know that it's not the
Katie Smith:coming of the of the next volcano.
Katie Smith:It was just really kind of like a hydraulic buildup of gases.
Katie Smith:So sometimes that happens throughout the park.
Katie Smith:Features are changing all the time in the park, which is one of the
Katie Smith:things that makes it so interesting.
Katie Smith:So these kinds of things happen often, not generally that big
Katie Smith:or in such a populated place.
Katie Smith:but I think it's really great that nobody was hurt and, just kind of makes it a
Katie Smith:little more exciting and reminds you about just how wild and how cool Yellowstone is.
Katie Smith:It's definitely, you know, one of my favorite places is why I've
Katie Smith:chosen to live so close to it.
Katie Smith:Spend a lot of time in Yellowstone, all seasons.
Todd Miller:Very neat.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:The footage of that was just incredible.
Todd Miller:But yes, I'm glad no one was hurt and, everyone got away safely.
Todd Miller:So let's get back on track.
Todd Miller:I suppose we should, I'm kind of curious to hear your thoughts on,
Todd Miller:what is marketing and specifically, any distinctions you call between
Todd Miller:marketing and another word we use a lot, which is branding.
Katie Smith:So I think that's a great thing to start with because what I think
Katie Smith:of marketing as encompassing all the ways that we communicate with people.
Katie Smith:So that's external internal, it's sort of a broad brush and then there are different
Katie Smith:categories between, you know, within that and then branding, I think of it's like
Katie Smith:the foundation in the framing of a house.
Katie Smith:So, you know, a lot of people say, Oh, I just need a logo and maybe a fun
Katie Smith:tagline and I'm going to design it in the way that I think is really cool.
Katie Smith:And you can do that certainly.
Katie Smith:But the better a foundation you lay for your business, the more
Katie Smith:thought that goes into your branding, what it looks like, what it sounds
Katie Smith:like, what's your tone of voice?
Katie Smith:Who's your customer?
Katie Smith:The better a foundation you're going to have, the better framing
Katie Smith:you have, the easier it is to build up your brand down the road.
Katie Smith:It helps you maintain, what you're going to do, it eliminates scope creep.
Katie Smith:So the branding is really like, what are we, who are we, and how are we
Katie Smith:going to communicate that with people?
Katie Smith:And then the marketing takes that information and it just
Katie Smith:helps you make decisions.
Katie Smith:It's easier to say, yes, that fits within our brand.
Katie Smith:No, that doesn't fit within our brand, rather than always kind of having
Katie Smith:to decide every time a new marketing thing comes up, should we do this?
Katie Smith:This is what's trending.
Katie Smith:Is this something that we should be worrying about?
Katie Smith:If you have a really strong brand, if you have a really strong foundation.
Katie Smith:Those decisions become easy.
Katie Smith:Yes, it fits.
Katie Smith:No, it doesn't fit.
Katie Smith:So I think it's important to put some good thought into that.
Katie Smith:I actually help people go through rebrandings a lot.
Katie Smith:And I'm really happy when they find me before that happens.
Katie Smith:because it's really difficult, just like the foundation of a house to re engineer
Katie Smith:that once everything's built up around it.
Todd Miller:That is really interesting.
Todd Miller:I love the way you explain that.
Todd Miller:So branding almost becomes sort of like a litmus test, for a lot of, you know, what
Todd Miller:your activity and behavior is going to be.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:Well, I'm kind of curious when you step into a company as a
Todd Miller:Fractional Chief Marketing Officer, you know, what does that mean?
Todd Miller:I mean, you just stay in one little silo trying to help them with
Todd Miller:marketing things or do you end up touching more parts of the business?
Todd Miller:How do you interact with your clients?
Todd Miller:What does that look like?
Todd Miller:Do you go see them?
Todd Miller:Is it all done virtually?
Todd Miller:You know, what are some of the nuts and bolts of it all also?
Katie Smith:Yeah, so when I come into a company, there's no silos.
Katie Smith:Marketing touches all areas of the company because marketing
Katie Smith:is mostly about listening.
Katie Smith:You need to listen to your customers.
Katie Smith:You need to listen to every, person in your company has insight
Katie Smith:into what a customer needs, what a customer issue is, and also
Katie Smith:insight into how we can solve that.
Katie Smith:And so I need to be able to talk with the CFO.
Katie Smith:I need to know what the financials look like, what products are selling well,
Katie Smith:what products are not selling well.
Katie Smith:I need their insight.
Katie Smith:Marketing and sales work so closely together.
Katie Smith:And in a lot of our industry, it's.
Katie Smith:B2B, which is sales led.
Katie Smith:And so marketing needs to be a tool for sales.
Katie Smith:In this day and age in this climate that we're in marketing and sales
Katie Smith:can no longer be butting heads.
Katie Smith:We need to be working very closely.
Katie Smith:We need to not worry so much about attribution.
Katie Smith:In marketing, we need to know what are you hearing in sales?
Katie Smith:What do you wish you had during sales call?
Katie Smith:What do you wish your clients knew before they got to you?
Katie Smith:And that's how we can start making decisions.
Katie Smith:Um, the people who are customer service have so much insight.
Katie Smith:People on the manufacturing floor, they know timing, you know, they
Katie Smith:know what promises we can make.
Katie Smith:They have ideas about how we can make things better.
Katie Smith:And so my job when I first come in is to listen.
Katie Smith:I need to find some of that low hanging fruit so that we can get quick wins.
Katie Smith:I need to build trust.
Katie Smith:and I need to do a lot of listening.
Katie Smith:So I don't come in right away with, I mean, I do have my ideas in the back
Katie Smith:of my head, but I come in and listen.
Katie Smith:It's about building teams.
Katie Smith:It's about building trust so that we can all work together.
Katie Smith:And a lot of times people have great ideas and nobody's really
Katie Smith:listened to them or heard them out.
Katie Smith:So, that's what I do.
Katie Smith:You know, that first 90 days is how do I get to know this company?
Katie Smith:How do I get to know this particular industry very well, very fast?
Katie Smith:How do I build up the team?
Katie Smith:And then, what are, you know, what's our goal?
Katie Smith:What are we working towards so that I can start building our strategy,
Katie Smith:based on all of those factors.
Todd Miller:So you've used a phrase a couple of times, um, something like in
Todd Miller:the environment that we're in today.
Todd Miller:Kind of gives a hint that you feel there's some special challenges or new
Todd Miller:challenges, new things we're running into.
Todd Miller:Can you elaborate on that a little bit as far as, you know, some of the
Todd Miller:perhaps new challenges you do think businesses are facing today and, you
Todd Miller:know, perhaps even going forward?
Katie Smith:Yes, so I think this was happening before
Katie Smith:COVID, but COVID sped it up.
Katie Smith:The customer has so much more control of the buying journey than ever before.
Katie Smith:So with the internet, with everything on the internet,
Katie Smith:and now it's their preference.
Katie Smith:So they want to do the research.
Katie Smith:They want to gather more information before they talk to somebody.
Katie Smith:And so that really changes how we approach that customer journey,
Katie Smith:you know, what does it look like?
Katie Smith:It's so much less linear than it used to be because we're dealing with
Katie Smith:people, they bounce around a lot.
Katie Smith:You know, we might lay out, well, first they're going to experience
Katie Smith:this topic and then we're going to lead them to watch this video.
Katie Smith:And then we're going to ask them to download this book, but people
Katie Smith:are going to come in with their own ideas and they're not going to do
Katie Smith:that, they're going to bounce around.
Katie Smith:And so now we have to build out.
Katie Smith:several options of that journey the customer will take from first discovering
Katie Smith:who you are to starting to build trust, understand if you can solve their
Katie Smith:problem to wanting to talk to somebody and then going into the sales process.
Katie Smith:We have to be so flexible within that and kind of create a space, a comfortable
Katie Smith:space for people to bounce around in before they want to talk to somebody.
Katie Smith:You're going to get a lot less people if the only thing on your website, the only
Katie Smith:thing you're offering people is to talk to you and get a quote, it will frustrate
Katie Smith:people if they can't do their own research first and everybody wants to do something
Katie Smith:different for their own research.
Todd Miller:You know, I love that.
Todd Miller:And that's something we have talked a lot about here also is that, that
Todd Miller:customer journey, yeah, it's just no longer A to B to C like it used to
Todd Miller:be, and they may enter that sequence at all kinds of different levels
Todd Miller:and all kinds of different places.
Todd Miller:And yet, wherever they choose to enter at, you got to engage with them in a
Todd Miller:personal way and, you know, take hold of that, you know, quickly and personally.
Todd Miller:So, I love that and love that, you know, that's where you're leading, your clients.
Todd Miller:I know another topic you talk a lot about is truth in marketing.
Todd Miller:Seems like a good thing.
Todd Miller:Seems like a common sense thing, but I'm kind of curious, doesn't
Todd Miller:every company want to be truthful?
Todd Miller:Are there some times companies that don't, or maybe they just
Todd Miller:inadvertently aren't being truthful?
Todd Miller:What does that look like?
Todd Miller:That idea of truth in marketing.
Katie Smith:So I think truth in marketing really comes in with authenticity as well.
Katie Smith:There's a lot of pressure to put out perfection.
Katie Smith:We are this perfect place.
Katie Smith:And if you are talking about something, you know, I think a
Katie Smith:lot of this might be like ESG.
Katie Smith:We are environmentally friendly and you put out something and no,
Katie Smith:In our world in manufacturing, you can't be perfect about it.
Katie Smith:And so, you know, you see pushback with like the Amazons or like the
Katie Smith:bigger companies, and then people feel discouraged when they actually are
Katie Smith:doing what they can within their power to, you know, have clean air or provide
Katie Smith:their people with a good work life balance, but they can't be perfect.
Katie Smith:And what we're really seeing is that people are craving authenticity.
Katie Smith:They don't buy into the mistruths or trying to just smooth everything out.
Katie Smith:And so telling the truth is being authentic and it's saying, this
Katie Smith:is as far as we can get right now.
Katie Smith:And we're doing what we can, and not being perfect.
Katie Smith:Or if you make a mistake, being honest about that, that builds trust, it builds
Katie Smith:authenticity because nobody's perfect.
Katie Smith:And so it makes you feel more real.
Katie Smith:And when you're just trying to kind of weave a story to be perfect around
Katie Smith:your imperfections, it's inauthentic.
Katie Smith:People will smell it a mile away.
Katie Smith:And so I take that pressure off.
Katie Smith:We tell the truth because most people aren't out here doing bad things.
Katie Smith:So if we tell the truth of the struggle, if we tell the truth of,
Katie Smith:what's working and when things aren't working, then people start to trust
Katie Smith:us more, we become more authentic.
Todd Miller:So I can see that all over the place now that
Todd Miller:you've explained it that way.
Todd Miller:I mean, so many businesses, I don't think they're not trying to be truthful,
Todd Miller:but you know, they're sugarcoating.
Todd Miller:They're not necessarily telling the whole truth.
Todd Miller:They're not being vulnerable with inauthentic with their struggles.
Todd Miller:And, you know, what are our next steps?
Todd Miller:This is, you know, where we got to eventually get.
Todd Miller:so I love that you did a great job of that is really cool.
Todd Miller:That's cool.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:So what does your typical client look like?
Todd Miller:Do they usually come to you and you find that they're already pretty progressive in
Todd Miller:terms of their marketing and you just kind of elevate them further or, sometimes the
Todd Miller:clients come to you who are pretty stodgy and stuck in their past and, you know,
Todd Miller:you got a long way to climb with them.
Katie Smith:So I think there's a lot of different, you know, different types of
Katie Smith:CMOs and different places in business.
Katie Smith:I'm not here to convince anybody that they need to do marketing.
Katie Smith:I need buy in because otherwise, if people view marketing just as an expense, Then
Katie Smith:we're not really going to get anywhere, you know, and they don't need me because
Katie Smith:they can just go and do your run of the mill advertising and nothing special
Katie Smith:and invest your dollars there and see it as an expense and grumble about it.
Katie Smith:That's not a good fit for me.
Katie Smith:So I work with companies who are already forward thinking.
Katie Smith:They probably don't know a lot about marketing or newer tools, but
Katie Smith:they're open to learning about it.
Katie Smith:They're open to experiencing it.
Katie Smith:They know that they want to get to the next level.
Katie Smith:I like to come into companies who, you know, they're past the
Katie Smith:beginning stage, so they have their business structure figured out.
Katie Smith:They know how the business operates, and now they're
Katie Smith:ready to get to the next level.
Katie Smith:And they know to do that, they need to instill some kind of marketing plan.
Katie Smith:They may have one person doing marketing.
Katie Smith:They may have a couple of people who have taken on pieces of
Katie Smith:it aside of their regular job.
Katie Smith:And I like to build a marketing program within the company.
Katie Smith:So I like to help the company develop something that works within their
Katie Smith:climate, within their environment, with how they want to build, with
Katie Smith:the people that they already have.
Katie Smith:I want to elevate that talent and then fill in the holes where they need it
Katie Smith:and where we need it, depending on, you know, what strategy we've built.
Katie Smith:No company has to do every marketing that's out there.
Katie Smith:You may feel the pressure to follow the trends, but we
Katie Smith:talk about being a trailblazer instead of being a trendsetter.
Katie Smith:A trailblazer means that you're focused on your goal.
Katie Smith:You're focused on where you want to go and that can help you pull
Katie Smith:in exactly what you need and then not invest in, what's just going to
Katie Smith:be extra, not going to be helpful.
Katie Smith:There are a lot of tools that we can use and it's really dependent on who your
Katie Smith:customers are, what your resources are, who you already have in your business.
Katie Smith:So I like to keep things lean.
Katie Smith:I like to keep things flexible.
Katie Smith:and I like to keep things really laser focused and you know, people need
Katie Smith:to be ready to go along with those ideas and ready to take some risks.
Katie Smith:You know, marketing, I think of it a little bit like a science experiment.
Katie Smith:So you have a hypothesis that's based on data, based on information,
Katie Smith:and you test that hypothesis, and then you make decisions from there.
Katie Smith:So it's not a guaranteed thing, but it's not a magical thing either.
Todd Miller:Very interesting.
Todd Miller:Can you share with us a story or two perhaps of a client whose business
Todd Miller:was really transformed by, you know, having this greater focus on
Todd Miller:marketing that you can bring them?
Katie Smith:Yeah, so I think a great one of a great examples is I work with a metal
Katie Smith:manufacturer here, and they had worked for a larger manufacturer and they broke off.
Katie Smith:They wanted to make sure that they focused on the quality of life of
Katie Smith:their employees and of their community.
Katie Smith:and those were their major pieces.
Katie Smith:They wanted a place that was fun to go to work to every day.
Katie Smith:And they wanted to value families.
Katie Smith:They wanted to make sure their employees could make their kids sports games.
Katie Smith:That was important to them.
Katie Smith:And we were also in a really interesting building climate.
Katie Smith:So we were worried about, catastrophic growth.
Katie Smith:And so my job, they didn't have any kind of marketing department,
Katie Smith:but they knew it was important.
Katie Smith:So my job was to assemble a team for them.
Katie Smith:That could be agile, and decide how much we were going to invest so that we could
Katie Smith:put our stake in the market, gain a good share, but also not overflow them while
Katie Smith:they're still figuring out their systems.
Katie Smith:And that was a really, you know, a really fine line to dance.
Katie Smith:How much do we invest?
Katie Smith:When do we invest?
Katie Smith:What do we start with?
Katie Smith:And so I have, luckily, what's something I love about being a, a
Katie Smith:fractional CMO is that I have a lot of partners that I can pull in depending
Katie Smith:on what kind of marketing we need.
Katie Smith:I have an agency that I love and trust and we work really well together.
Katie Smith:So, for this one, we needed a lot of manpower.
Katie Smith:We needed it fast, but we needed it lean.
Katie Smith:We didn't want to hire a graphic designer, hire a, you know, a
Katie Smith:website specialist, hire a writer.
Katie Smith:That's a lot of investment upfront when we didn't really need to, we didn't want
Katie Smith:to go that, that fast and that hard.
Katie Smith:So, we brought in an agency that has all of those parts and we can pick and choose.
Katie Smith:But sometimes, you know, a graphic designer at an agency doesn't match
Katie Smith:the company that we're working with.
Katie Smith:So I have another graphic designer that I can pull in so we can make
Katie Smith:things perfect or, you know, maybe they can do something faster.
Katie Smith:So while I'm working with this company, I'm kind of like
Katie Smith:assembling our dream team.
Katie Smith:You know, there's someone on their staff who has studied marketing
Katie Smith:was really interested in it.
Katie Smith:And so I said, okay, come into this team.
Katie Smith:With the company, we figured out, part time you can take
Katie Smith:on these responsibilities.
Katie Smith:I'll help guide you through.
Katie Smith:I also have a business manager that I work with who really knows like
Katie Smith:social media and all of these pieces.
Katie Smith:So I compare them together and help grow people within that team
Katie Smith:so we can be really flexible.
Katie Smith:So it's all about what do we need?
Katie Smith:What's the foundation?
Katie Smith:The first thing we did was create a brand.
Katie Smith:They already had a logo that they liked, but we created a brand around
Katie Smith:their values so that we can pick and choose what we want to do.
Katie Smith:We also really narrowed down who the customer was.
Katie Smith:So within, you know, within our region here, you work with homeowners,
Katie Smith:you work with architects, you work with contractors, the whole gamut.
Katie Smith:And we decided to focus on contractors because there are four owners.
Katie Smith:They had so much experience.
Katie Smith:They can do custom, metal work, metal manufacturing.
Katie Smith:They have a whole custom trim shop because that's where, that's
Katie Smith:what they knew really well.
Katie Smith:They'd all been contractors.
Katie Smith:So we decided we're going to focus on contractors.
Katie Smith:That's the way the business works the best.
Katie Smith:It, you know, it's less time, we speak their language.
Katie Smith:So that means that all of our writing, you know, we don't do Pinterest writing.
Katie Smith:When we, you know, one of the ways that we've decided to, to just kind of
Katie Smith:sustainably grow is to focus on SEO.
Katie Smith:And so I have an agency working with them, they have a writer, and we together come
Katie Smith:up with the keywords that makes sense for our audience and they're going to get us
Katie Smith:the biggest bang for our buck in Google.
Katie Smith:And then the four owners, they have all the knowledge.
Katie Smith:So I set up an interview and I'm kind of going back and forth.
Katie Smith:I know what the writer needs.
Katie Smith:I know what I need to prompt the guys to say or to get them talking.
Katie Smith:And when things start to, you know, there's a big gap between a writer who
Katie Smith:has no building experience and then these guys with, you know, to combine, they have
Katie Smith:like more than 60 years of experience.
Katie Smith:And so I'm that bridge.
Katie Smith:I make sure that we get exactly the information that
Katie Smith:we need, that everybody needs.
Katie Smith:And then we have these blogs that are really high quality.
Katie Smith:They're not beginner blogs.
Katie Smith:It doesn't sound like, you know, it's coming from HGTV.
Katie Smith:So they're dual purpose.
Katie Smith:They're, you know, that is one of the.
Katie Smith:The highest driver of traffic to our website is Google
Katie Smith:search, is organic traffic.
Katie Smith:And these blogs are part of it and are big part of it and they're high quality.
Katie Smith:And then the guys can use them in their sales, right?
Katie Smith:So they're talking to somebody.
Katie Smith:Somebody has a question.
Katie Smith:Oh, here, let me send you to this blog.
Katie Smith:People could come to our website.
Katie Smith:They can peruse the resources, find something that's
Katie Smith:actually helpful for them.
Katie Smith:That builds trust.
Katie Smith:So everything that we do has more than one purpose.
Katie Smith:And we're not just going to do something to do it.
Katie Smith:We're going to make it the best that we can so that it's valuable.
Katie Smith:And I think that's the biggest difference and that's something that I bring in.
Katie Smith:Cause as a fractional CMO, I'm very discerning.
Katie Smith:We're not just going to do the baseline to do it.
Katie Smith:Anything that we're going to do, we're going to do it really well.
Katie Smith:If we're not, there's a particular reason why we're not.
Katie Smith:So I think that's, you know, that's one of the best things.
Katie Smith:And we've seen seven figure growth over the past few years.
Katie Smith:And it's been steady and they're maintaining their quality of life.
Katie Smith:They're maintaining the ability to go, you know, go on vacations,
Katie Smith:show up for family, show up for friends, spend time in the outdoors.
Katie Smith:They're maintaining all of it.
Todd Miller:That's good stuff.
Todd Miller:and I want to go back to something you said earlier and kind of ties all this
Todd Miller:together also is this idea of marketing and sales needing to be lockstep.
Todd Miller:And, you know, how often have I seen sales teams, you know, marketing produces all
Todd Miller:this great stuff and sales teams later like, oh, I didn't know we had that.
Todd Miller:Why didn't you tell me about that?
Todd Miller:And so that, you know, communication and that ability to be able to
Todd Miller:have a sales team that says, oh yeah, they did a blog post on that.
Todd Miller:I need to send that to my client.
Todd Miller:is really good stuff.
Todd Miller:So I'm kind of curious, are there any, trends you're seeing right now that one
Todd Miller:way or another, a company should be having on their radar to impact their marketing?
Katie Smith:I mean, everybody's got to be looking at AI and with a thoughtful lens.
Katie Smith:But I think it's.
Katie Smith:It's really important to see how that's going to change, how it can make things
Katie Smith:easier for you, but how maybe your competitors are going to be using it.
Katie Smith:And that's even things like having an advanced chatbot on your website.
Katie Smith:If you have a chatbot that actually helps somebody, versus somebody who doesn't,
Katie Smith:you know, you can, that can help get people into your pipeline faster, So
Katie Smith:looking around, seeing what's available, staying on top of things, but keeping in
Katie Smith:mind your customer, what do they need?
Katie Smith:Not getting too involved in the trends just because they're interesting to you.
Katie Smith:It's going back to that foundation.
Katie Smith:you know, it's like, You know, you don't want to add just a bag of
Katie Smith:Funyuns to, to your mix without really thinking, does it go with the meal?
Katie Smith:Does it go with what we're trying to do?
Katie Smith:It's the same thing with marketing.
Katie Smith:You don't want to just add something because it's trendy.
Todd Miller:Makes a lot of sense, but I love that having your eye on AI also.
Todd Miller:And yeah, I agree, I think every company needs to, I mean, and
Todd Miller:chatbots are great, great use of that.
Todd Miller:I think, I mean, you don't want to have a consumer that's coming to you looking
Todd Miller:for butterscotch and you just keep telling them about lemons or something.
Todd Miller:So, good stuff.
Todd Miller:Well, Katie, this has been a great time talking to you.
Todd Miller:We're kind of close to wrapping up what we call the business end of things.
Todd Miller:Is there anything we haven't covered yet today that you wanted to be
Todd Miller:sure to share with our audience?
Katie Smith:You know, I think, the idea of when you should hire a fractional
Katie Smith:CMO, I think a lot of companies, there's such a big gap between
Katie Smith:you know, you have some marketing and then you have this leadership.
Katie Smith:And I think it's important for companies to know that you can bring in somebody.
Katie Smith:Sometimes I'll just come into a company for two months and we create a strategy
Katie Smith:that they could execute themselves and then they have their path forward and
Katie Smith:that can give you a competitive advantage.
Katie Smith:So you don't have to be making, you know, 20 billion to hire somebody.
Katie Smith:You can always, look in to.
Katie Smith:having just a little bit of help and hiring fractional even for everything,
Katie Smith:you know, you can have a fractional CFO.
Katie Smith:You can hire a sales director for advice, but I think when companies
Katie Smith:are in that transition from that like smaller side of medium and it's
Katie Smith:such a big jump to the next step.
Katie Smith:If you need guidance in any part of your company, you can find somebody
Katie Smith:who can come in and provide that for you so that your company can
Katie Smith:move forward without having to invest in a full time staff member.
Todd Miller:Well, good stuff.
Todd Miller:And certainly they would be very wise to seek out Katie Smith and WildPath
Todd Miller:Consulting and we're going to put all your information in the show
Todd Miller:notes, and we're going to ask you for that here in a little bit as well.
Todd Miller:But, before we do close out, I have to ask you if you're willing to participate
Todd Miller:in something we call rapid fire.
Todd Miller:So these are just some simple questions.
Todd Miller:Some are silly, some are more serious, that we like to ask our guests
Todd Miller:and, see what your response is.
Todd Miller:You up to it?
Katie Smith:Oh yeah, I love these.
Todd Miller:Cool.
Todd Miller:Well, we will alternate.
Todd Miller:Would you like to ask the first one, Ryan?
Ryan Bell:Sure, I would love to.
Ryan Bell:Question number one.
Ryan Bell:What is a product or service that you've recently acquired that
Ryan Bell:was a real game changer for you?
Katie Smith:I love, speaking of AI, Otter AI.
Katie Smith:I just have it running when I'm having meetings.
Katie Smith:I get so into the meetings that sometimes I forget to take notes and Otter is
Katie Smith:just transcribing it for me and then it can pick out the highlights and
Katie Smith:it just makes everything easy for me so I can just be in the moment and
Katie Smith:then not forget anything later on.
Todd Miller:I love it.
Todd Miller:I think I saw the other day where Zoom has something like that now too.
Todd Miller:They just came out with where they will actually, you know, create a
Todd Miller:summary as you're talking type thing.
Todd Miller:So cool stuff.
Todd Miller:Second question.
Todd Miller:What did the first grade Katie hope to be when she grew up?
Katie Smith:I wanted to be a professional horseback rider.
Todd Miller:Oh, well, you get to do some of that.
Todd Miller:So that's cool.
Ryan Bell:Like the ones that race?
Katie Smith:I was thinking jumping, the ones that jump,
Ryan Bell:Oh, jumping.
Katie Smith:but I guess I was a professional horseback rider
Katie Smith:for a little bit.
Ryan Bell:Yeah, just in a little bit different of a form.
Todd Miller:I'm
Todd Miller:not sure that's the, the, professional horseback rider is a way that
Todd Miller:a lot of people make a living, but, some of them do out there.
Todd Miller:So that's
Katie Smith:Yeah.
Ryan Bell:All right, question number three.
Ryan Bell:What non family person in your life have you had the longest friendship with?
Katie Smith:Uh, I think it's my friend Whitney.
Katie Smith:So I did a stint as working in a rock climbing shop.
Katie Smith:I was a rock climber and, she walked into the shop, and we became instant
Katie Smith:friends, and we're still friends to this day, and that was, we've
Katie Smith:been friends for over 20 years.
Todd Miller:That's awesome.
Todd Miller:I always think that's a fun question to ask because it's something
Todd Miller:you don't often think about.
Todd Miller:but, yeah, I think it's a fun question.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:This next one, dogs or cats.
Katie Smith:Dogs.
Todd Miller:That's a pretty common response.
Katie Smith:Yeah.
Katie Smith:I like cats.
Todd Miller:answer.
Todd Miller:You like cats, but dogs are better.
Katie Smith:Dogs are better.
Katie Smith:I foster dogs,
Todd Miller:Oh, that's right.
Todd Miller:You do the dog
Todd Miller:sitting.
Katie Smith:So,
Ryan Bell:Okay, question number five.
Ryan Bell:Do you prefer circus clowns or mimes?
Katie Smith:Ooh, I think maybe circus clowns because you can hear them coming.
Todd Miller:That's interesting.
Todd Miller:If you've seen this, these videos of this mime at SeaWorld, I think it is.
Todd Miller:Yeah.
Todd Miller:He's kind of funny sometimes.
Todd Miller:Okay.
Todd Miller:Next question.
Todd Miller:What is your favorite meal?
Katie Smith:You know, I, um, being in Montana, I'm a big fan of regenerative
Katie Smith:agriculture and I have a couple of like meat subscriptions from local
Katie Smith:Ranches, so I love to have a nice, steak, from one of our local ranches
Katie Smith:and, just a nice, you know, local salad.
Katie Smith:So I love to have a local meal.
Todd Miller:That's awesome.
Todd Miller:I love going into new towns and, you know, of course you're eating at restaurants.
Todd Miller:I'm always looking at farm to table places and places that source
Todd Miller:locally and all that type of stuff.
Todd Miller:So good stuff.
Katie Smith:Yeah,
Ryan Bell:Question number seven.
Ryan Bell:Would you rather have the ability to see 10 minutes into the future
Ryan Bell:or 150 years into the future?
Katie Smith:10 minutes.
Todd Miller:That's interesting.
Todd Miller:I think it's, that's probably more useful than seeing 150 years.
Todd Miller:Probably my curiosity would get me on the 150 years thing.
Todd Miller:10 minutes would certainly be a heck of a lot more useful.
Katie Smith:I feel like you'd have no context in 150 years and it
Katie Smith:would just be so anxiety producing.
Ryan Bell:You'd be lost.
Ryan Bell:Yeah.
Todd Miller:That's true.
Todd Miller:It's true.
Todd Miller:Well, Katie, thank you again.
Todd Miller:for folks who do want to get in touch with you or learn more
Todd Miller:about, WildPath Consulting, tell us some ways they can do that.
Katie Smith:Sure, so you can visit my website which is followthewildpath.
Katie Smith:com and I really like to hang out on LinkedIn so you can find me
Katie Smith:there but my name is Katie Smith and there are millions of us so you
Katie Smith:have to search Katie Smith Wild Path Consulting and then you can find me.
Todd Miller:Good stuff.
Todd Miller:Well, we will put that in the show notes as well.
Todd Miller:So, thank you again.
Todd Miller:This has been great.
Todd Miller:I know you got your challenge word in Katie, which was
Katie Smith:Funyuns!
Todd Miller:Funyuns.
Todd Miller:Good job.
Todd Miller:I worked mine in, which was butterscotch and Ryan got his as well there at the end.
Ryan Bell:Circus clown.
Todd Miller:Good job.
Todd Miller:I kept thinking has he worked in Circus Clown yet?
Todd Miller:Yeah, you got her in there.
Todd Miller:Good job.
Todd Miller:Well, thank you again, Katie.
Todd Miller:This has been a blast and very informative and I hope very much that our guests
Todd Miller:check it out and learn more about Wildpath Consulting and maybe bring you
Todd Miller:into their business to help them out.
Katie Smith:Thank you all so much.
Todd Miller:And thank you to our audience for tuning in to this very special
Todd Miller:episode of Construction Disruption with Katie Smith of Wildpath Consulting.
Todd Miller:Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.
Todd Miller:We always have great guests.
Todd Miller:Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or YouTube.
Todd Miller:Until the next time we're together though, keep on disrupting, keep
Todd Miller:on challenging, keep on looking for better ways of doing things,
Todd Miller:and don't forget to have a positive impact on everyone that you encounter.
Todd Miller:Make them smile and encourage them.
Todd Miller:So God bless and take care.
Todd Miller:This is Isaiah Industry signing off until the next episode
Todd Miller:of Construction Disruption.