Rediscover Business 2025: Our Keynote Speaker, Steve Pailthorpe, Shares The 7-Step Marketing Chassis

Watch Steve Pailthorpe, Keynote Speaker of Rediscover Business 2025 share his 7-Step Marketing Chassis. Learn how to build systems, use AI, and scale smarter in today’s fast-changing digital world. Steve is recognised as a UK authority on marketing and AI, who helps Government and business leaders adapt, grow and thrive in the age of digital transformation.

The 2025 Rediscover Business Conference in Exeter brought together some of the UK’s most dynamic business minds and one of the standout sessions came from Steve Pailthorpe, keynote speaker, author,
award-winning entrepreneur and CEO of Iconic Digital.

In a world where marketing has changed faster in the last 12 months than in the last decade, Steve delivered a practical and inspiring message about how to adapt to the AI era. He introduced his proven 7-Step Marketing Chassis framework, which has helped thousands of businesses generate predictable, measurable growth through smart systems, automation and AI.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the pace of digital change, this video clip will help you:

• Turn your marketing into a reliable system that delivers consistent results
• Optimise your website so it becomes your best-performing digital asset
• Use AI to reach your audience through Search Everywhere Optimisation
• Create content that converts — not just content that fills space
• Build automated campaigns that generate leads while you sleep

According to Steve, Google’s market share has now dropped below 20% as people increasingly use AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to find information. This shift changes how businesses attract and convert customers and he explains how to stay ahead of the curve.

This clip, recorded live in Exeter in October 2025, is packed with practical insight and clear strategies for anyone serious about growing their business in the age of AI.

The 7-Step Marketing Chassis from Steve Pailthorpe, Keynote Speaker

Transcript

When I started Iconic Digital, I just wanted to be free from my old job. I thought, “If I could start my own business, I’d be financially free.” What I didn’t realise was that being your own boss often means you’re now the finance department, marketing department, HR, operations, and janitor all in one! It consumed me. But here’s the truth: If you’re willing to become a learner, and to build systems, your business can move from consuming you to empowering you.

The Seven Steps Marketing Chassis

Let me now introduce you to what I call The Seven Steps Marketing Chassis. Now, Why ‘chassis’? Because, just like a car, you can have the most beautiful Porsche, Ferrari, or Bentley – whatever your taste – but if the engine isn’t working, it’s not going anywhere. Your marketing needs a working engine.

So this framework is that engine. It’s the systematic model we’ve built over years to generate predictable leads and measurable growth. It’s based on science, data, and automation but more importantly, it’s practical and scalable for any business.

Step 1: Your Digital Asset – The Website

At the heart of the framework is your digital asset, your website. Now, you might say, “Steve, do we still need websites in 2025? Aren’t we all on social media?” Yes, you still need one. Here’s why:

• Your website is your home base, the hub where all your traffic comes together.
• Your tracking, analytics, and conversions happen there, not on Instagram, not on LinkedIn.
• Social media creates interest; your website creates action.

So your first priority is to make sure your digital asset is optimised, fast and conversion-ready.

Step 2: Search Everywhere Optimisation

I no longer call it Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) because it’s not just about Google anymore. Google’s global market share has dropped from 24% to just 19% in six months, largely due to AI search tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity. So, “search” today happens everywhere.

That’s why you need Search Everywhere Optimisation. There are two essentials here:

1. Google Search Console – you should already have this set up.
2. Bing Search Console – this connects your website to Microsoft’s AI ecosystem (including ChatGPT).

To make your content discoverable by AI tools, you need an lm.txt file on your website — a simple index that lets large language models crawl and understand your pages. (And if you don’t know how to do it? Just ask ChatGPT — it’ll write one for you!) Next, you must understand search intent. There are four types: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.

Transactional intent is the one you want, it’s where people are ready to buy. Use a tool like answerthepublic.com to find out what your audience is asking right now and write content that answers those questions. Answer their questions, and they’ll find you. Do this consistently, and you’ll generate at least 10 solid leads in the next 90 days just from search.

Step 3: Paid Search (Google Ads)

Next, we have paid search. This is where you put your business directly in front of people searching for your product or service. Now, yes, 96% of users skip over the top three paid listings on Google. But here’s the good news: that still leaves 4% who don’t and everyone else who simply sees your ad, giving you free visibility.

It’s digital billboard space. If they don’t click, it’s free advertising. The key is to target transactional phrases — the ones that show intent to buy, not just curiosity. And don’t forget remarketing. Remarketing lets you follow your website visitors around the internet with banner ads, keeping your brand top of mind. So when someone visits your site and accepts cookies, congratulations, you can remarket to them for 30 days.

And if your ad includes your phone number, and they pick up the phone to call you? That’s a free lead. Smart, right? From paid search and remarketing combined, you should be generating around 35 leads every 90 days.

Step 4: Content Marketing

Now, let’s talk about content. If marketing is the engine, then content is the fuel. Content marketing is about positioning your business as a trusted expert by creating consistent, valuable material — blog posts, guides, case studies and videos.

But here’s the catch: quality matters. If you’re using AI to write your blogs (and let’s be honest, we all are), make sure you humanise them. Tools like Phrase.io can strip out AI markup so your posts don’t get penalised by Google. Write content that:

• Answers questions your customers are actually asking.
• Runs between 1,000–1,500 words.
• Includes clear calls to action.

If you blog three times a week, even short articles, you’ll outperform 90% of your competitors. And over time, this will add another 10 high-quality leads to your funnel.

Step 5: Social Media Marketing

“Social media!” Love it or hate it, you’ve got to be on it if you want to get found. But here’s the thing – social isn’t a sales tool. It’s an engagement tool. Think of it as the middle of your marketing funnel:

• Awareness at the top.
• Engagement in the middle.
• Leads and conversion at the bottom.

So how do you win at social? Remember the five E’s:

1. Engage – Spark conversations. Build community.
2. Entertain – Make it human and relatable. Humour works!
3. Educate – Share value and insight.
4. Empower – Give your audience something actionable.
5. Enroll – Turn followers into raving fans.

In business-to-business marketing, companies with “brand fans” grow 8.5x faster than those without. From social alone, you can expect roughly nine new leads every 90 days as your engagement compounds.

Step 6: Paid Social Media Advertising

Now we move into paid social ads — on Meta (Facebook/Instagram), TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube. Here’s the big difference between Google Ads and Meta Ads:

• On Google, people are looking for you (transactional intent).
• On Meta, people are not looking for you — they’re scrolling to relax.

So your ads must stop the scroll. Use disruptive visuals, story hooks and short videos. Gary Vaynerchuk says it best “Social media is free. Use it.”

Content distribution costs time, not just money. If you spend £1,000 over three months on paid social, you can reasonably expect at least five good leads — plus all the visibility that builds momentum.

Step 7: Marketing Automation (Email & Retargeting)

Finally, my favourite — email marketing automation. After today, please promise me this:  Never send another boring newsletter again.

Most B2B email newsletters are dull, templated, and get deleted before they’re even opened. Instead, build campaigns around three key ingredients:

1. Trust – Use a real human sender name, not just your company. Emails from people, not brands, get higher open rates.
2. Interest – Craft compelling subject lines. That’s your first impression.
3. Action – Use the preview text to invite a click, not waste it with “Can’t read this? Click here.”

Schedule emails smartly — not at 10:00 a.m. like everyone else, but at 10:15. That small shift can increase open rates by 15–20%. Track behaviour using pixel tracking (compliant, of course). If you know who’s engaging with your emails, you can personalise your follow-ups and dramatically increase conversions.

Statistically, for every 10,000 emails you send:

• 10% (1,000) will open.
• 1% of those (100) will click.
• A good landing page converts 3–13%.

That’s 3–13 new leads per email campaign. Send weekly or monthly, and you’ll hit your 100-lead target over a 90-day period.

The Marketing Machine

So there you have it — The Seven Steps Marketing Chassis:

1. Website (your digital asset)
2. Search Everywhere Optimisation
3. Paid Search
4. Content Marketing
5. Social Media Marketing
6. Paid Social Ads
7. Marketing Automation

Build the machine. Run the system. And let it generate predictable, scalable growth. Because when you build the system, it produces profit and profit gives you the power to transform lives.

About Steve Pailthorpe

Steve Pailthorpe is an award-winning entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker. He is the Founder and CEO of Iconic Digital, a multi-award-winning digital marketing agency based in London. An influential philanthropist, Steve is also the President of Crown Global, which supports leadership development, community transformation and charitable projects across the UK and internationally.