Behind The Strategy with Kristina Stubblefield

Hosted by Kristina Stubblefield

Business Marketing Education

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Episodes

228

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Behind the Strategy with Kristina Stubblefield is the podcast for service-based business owners who are overwhelmed by everything they could be doing and just need someone to help them figure out what actually matters. Every episode covers one real thing: how to set up your Google Business Profile so people can actually find you, how to write a homepage that makes visitors stay, how to build a follow-up system that does not fall apart when you get busy. Not trends, not theory. The actual stuff that helps your business move forward. Kristina Stubblefield is a business strategist, tech educator, and co-owner of So In Media Group. She has spent over 20 years working with service-based small businesses across industries including home services, healthcare, real estate, wedding and event professionals, and beyond. She is known for taking the parts of running a business that feel overwhelming and making them feel completely manageable. This show is a behind-the-scenes look at what Kristina tells her clients every day. The strategy, the systems, the straight talk. Get found. Get clients. Keep them. New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you never miss one. Want to talk through your own situation? Book a free 15-minute call at kristinastubblefield.com/start-the-conversation . No pressure, just a conversation.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 26, 2026Episode 32612 min

SEO, AEO, GEO: the new search terms, explained

Show Notes: SEO. AEO. GEO. If those letters make your eyes glaze over a little, you are not alone, and you have not missed some memo everyone else got. In this episode, Kristina decodes all three, one at a time, in plain English. She explains what each one actually means using search examples anyone recognizes, clears up the "SEO is dead" myth, and shows why almost every one of these acronyms rewards the exact same handful of fundamentals: a clear website, a complete Google Business Profile, recent reviews people and machines can both see, and consistent business information everywhere online. If the pile of acronyms has started to feel like a test you forgot to study for, this is the episode that makes them make sense, and shows you don't need to memorize any of them to actually win. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/seo-aeo-geo-explained To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

October 19, 2026Episode 32514 min

Why one page can't sell all your services

Your homepage might finally say what you do and where you do it. But if every service you offer is packed onto one page underneath it, that clarity runs out fast, for a person scrolling to find the one thing they came for, and for the search engines and AI tools trying to figure out what that page is actually about. In this episode, Kristina walks through why one page can't be five sales pieces at once, using a general contracting business as the example, and breaks down exactly what a real service page needs: a clear title and headline naming the service and the city, a focused intro, structured sections on how it works and what it costs, real local relevance, a couple of quoted reviews, a short FAQ section, and a clear call to action. She also covers where to start if you're staring down a long list of services and aren't sure which page to build first. If your services page has turned into one long scroll trying to cover everything you do, this is the episode that shows you why that's quietly costing you business, and what to build instead. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/one-page-cant-sell-services To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

October 12, 2026Episode 32411 min

Your website has two audiences now (and one can't read pictures)

Who is your website actually for anymore? If that question has been on your mind, the honest answer might surprise you: it is not just for people anymore. In this episode, Kristina explains why your website now has two audiences, the person deciding whether to trust you, and the machine, a search engine or an AI tool, deciding whether that person ever sees you in the first place. She walks through why words, not photos, are what a machine actually reads, uses a lawn care business's homepage headline to show the fix in plain language, and gives the one piece of homework for the week: running your own homepage headline through a five second clarity test. If you have wondered whether AI made your website less important, or you are not sure your homepage says clearly enough what you do and where you do it, this is the episode that tells you exactly where to start. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/website-two-audiences To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

October 5, 2026Episode 32316 min

What's changed in marketing (and what still works for service businesses)

Marketing feels harder than it used to, and it is not because you are doing something wrong. It is because the standard changed. In this episode, Kristina draws on twenty years of watching this shift to explain why there are now two audiences to reach: the person scrolling on their phone, and the machine deciding whether that person ever sees you in the first place. She walks through the pattern she has watched repeat across home services, real estate, wellness, and event businesses, where marketing that worked for years quietly stops getting revisited, until a newer, more legible competitor starts winning the call instead. She ties it back to the six fundamentals that still work today: clarity and findability, a real website with an obvious next step, recent proof over vague claims, fast follow-up, a right-sized system, and consistency over time. If you feel like you are doing more marketing than ever and still getting less out of it, this is the episode that explains what actually changed and exactly where to start. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/what-changed-in-marketing To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

September 28, 2026Episode 32217 min

What service businesses should actually post on social media

You sit there with your phone in your hand, knowing you are supposed to post something, and you have no idea what. So you post nothing, or you post filler and you know it is filler. In this episode, Kristina gives a completely different way to think about what to post on social media, and it has almost nothing to do with the algorithm. She explains why the person looking at your page is usually not a stranger scrolling but somebody who already has your name and is deciding whether to use it, the three questions they answer in about thirty seconds, the one-minute gut check on your last nine posts, and the four things worth posting: the work itself, your face and your voice, the questions you answer on every job, and proof from other people. She also covers why capturing content on site beats any content calendar, why consistency beats volume, and where AI actually fits, as a tool that amplifies your voice rather than replacing it. If you know you should be posting and genuinely do not know what a person would want to see from a business like yours, this is the episode that tells you exactly what to put out there and why it works. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/what-to-post-on-social-media To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

September 21, 2026Episode 32118 min

You're not too small for a CRM (here's what to pick)

Everybody keeps telling you to get a CRM, and part of you is thinking you are one person, not a sales team. Here is the thing nobody explains. The word CRM gets used for four completely different things, which is exactly why the advice you keep getting feels contradictory. In this episode, Kristina makes the case that being a one-person business makes a central place for leads more urgent, not less, because there is nobody behind you catching what falls. She walks through counting every door a lead can come through, from your phone and website form to Instagram DMs and the person who stops you at a ballgame, then defines the four things people mean when they say CRM, a pipeline, a spreadsheet, an actual CRM, and an all-in-one business system. She shares what it looked like when an event services business had an inquiry form that vetted, qualified, and sold before anyone picked up a phone, and a client paying close to a thousand dollars a month for what turned out to be website hosting. She closes with the four questions that point you to the right tool and the three things to do before you buy anything. If you have been told to get a CRM and you are not sure whether that is for a business your size, this is the episode that tells you what to sort out first. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/too-small-for-a-crm To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

September 14, 2026Episode 32023 min

The first 24 hours of a new lead: what should actually happen

Somebody fills out your form at 4:59 on a Friday. Then what? Not the big picture, the actual next few hours. How fast should they hear something, what should it say, and at what point have you waited too long? In this episode, Kristina walks the first 24 hours of a new lead on a clock, minute by minute and hour by hour. She covers the automatic response at minute zero that she calls the floor for every service business, why a human call in the first five minutes is the ceiling and what to do when you honestly cannot get there, where AI answering services actually rank, the second touch at the one hour mark and why it has to come on a different channel, what to send while someone is still deciding, and the five minute end of day check that is the single most skipped step in the whole playbook. She also walks through how a Friday afternoon inquiry turns into 60 hours of silence without anyone meaning for it to, and the three places every lead should be by the 24 hour mark. If you have never had a clear answer for what is supposed to happen after someone reaches out, this is the episode that hands you the playbook to copy. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/first-24-hours-new-lead To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

September 7, 2026Episode 31927 min

What I check first when a website isn't getting calls

You have a website. People are finding it. And still the phone isn't ringing, the form isn't getting filled out, and you're starting to wonder if the whole thing is just sitting there looking pretty. In this episode, Kristina walks through the five things she checks first when a website isn't getting calls, in the order she actually checks them, because going out of order means fixing the wrong thing. She covers whether anyone is landing on the site at all, whether a stranger can tell what you do in five seconds, whether the next step is obvious or buried at the bottom, whether the form actually works, and what happens to a lead after someone hits submit. Only one of the five is about how the site looks, and that's usually where everyone starts. If your traffic is up but your calls are down, this is the episode that tells you which layer is actually broken before you spend a dollar rebuilding. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/website-not-getting-calls To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

August 31, 2026Episode 31815 min

5 marketing tasks you can stop doing in 2026

You sit down at the end of a long day, look at your marketing to-do list, and think, how am I supposed to keep up with all of this? The posting, the platforms, the new tools, the trends, all of it on top of actually running your business. If that is you, this episode is meant to feel like a deep breath. In this episode, Kristina walks through five marketing tasks you can stop doing in 2026, and why letting them go will help your business instead of hurting it. She covers why you do not need to be on every social platform, only where your customers actually are; why posting just to stay active and chasing likes and follower counts is not the scoreboard; why handing repetitive follow-up to a system beats doing a machine's job by hand; why endlessly tweaking your website, logo, or the same email is usually busy work; and why you do not have to chase every new tool, trend, or AI the moment it drops. She closes with a simple filter for deciding what stays and what goes: keep what you can trace to a lead or a customer, and let the rest go. If your marketing list feels endless and you are worn out trying to do everything, this is the episode that gives you permission to do less on purpose, and shows you why that is a strategy, not laziness. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/marketing-tasks-to-stop-doing To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

August 24, 2026Episode 31719 min

The follow-up system every service business needs

The most expensive lead is the one you already paid for and then lost. The leads are coming in, you are spending money to make the phone ring, and then somewhere between that first contact and the signed job they slip away, and you are not even sure where they went. This is the follow-up system every service business needs. In this episode, Kristina walks through why leads slip through the cracks for service businesses, where the leaks actually are, and the simple system that stops the loss. She covers the three places leads tend to leak, when nothing captures the lead, when the response is too slow, and when follow-up depends on one busy person remembering, why speed to lead so often decides who wins the work, and the three-part fix any business can put in place: capture every lead in one place, respond fast every time, and follow up on a rhythm automatically. She shares two real examples, a thirty-plus-year trade business running on QuickBooks and memory, and a wedding and event client whose single automation kept leads warm over a whole weekend. If you can't say right now what happened to the last five people who reached out to you, this is the episode that shows you where the leaks are and exactly what to put in place. Want to go deeper on this one? Read the full breakdown on the blog: kristinastubblefield.com/blog/follow-up-system-service-business To connect with Kristina, follow along, or book a call, everything is in one place: kristinastubblefield.com/find-me Send us Fan Mail

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