INBOX INSIGHTS, October 15, 2025: Lost the Plot on Planning Part 2, AI for Frameworks - Trust Insights Marketing Analytics Consulting

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INBOX INSIGHTS: Lost the Plot on Planning Part 2, AI for Frameworks (2025-10-15)

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We’ve Lost the Plot on Planning- Part 2

Remember the BIG question from Part 1?

What problem are we actually trying to solve for our customers?

That’s where we start. Not with AI. Not with efficiency metrics. Not with technology selection.

With your customer.

And the framework that keeps you focused? The Trust Insights 5P Framework: Purpose, People, Process, Platform, Performance.

It’s intentionally simple. Because simple is what actually gets used.

Why This Framework Works

Before I break down each P, here’s why this approach cuts through the planning noise:

It forces you to answer questions in order. You can’t jump to Platform (the shiny AI tool) without first defining Purpose (what your customer needs). Resist the urge; I am begging you.

It keeps everyone aligned. Five components. That’s it. Your team can remember them. More importantly, they can use them.

It’s customer-centric by design. Every P connects back to serving your end user better.

Let’s walk through it.

Purpose: Start With Why (And For Whom)

What customer problem are we solving?
What does success look like for them?
What need are we addressing?

This is not your mission statement. This is not a list of your internal goals.

This is: “Our customer is struggling with X, and we’re going to help them accomplish Y.”

Everything else flows from this. If you can’t articulate the customer problem clearly, stop. Don’t move to the next P because without clarity here, you’re guessing.

People: Who Needs to Be Involved

Who are we serving? (your end user)
Who needs to be part of solving this?
What skills and perspectives do we need?
Who has decision-making authority?

Notice what we’re NOT doing here: we’re not reorganizing your entire company. We’re identifying who needs to be involved in solving this specific customer problem. That’s it.

And yes, your customer might need to be part of this conversation. Revolutionary concept, I know.

Process: How Will We Actually Do This

What steps do we need to take?
In what order?
What are the decision points?
How will we handle roadblocks?

This is where you get practical. But – and this is critical – your process should be as simple as possible while still being effective. And don’t forget to document it!

If your process requires a flowchart with 47 decision trees, you’ve overcomplicated it. Simplify.

Platform: What Tools Support This Work

What technology do we need? Like, really really need? (not just want)
What tools will help us serve the customer better?
What do we already have that works?
What’s actually missing?

Here’s where AI comes in. Maybe. If it solves the customer problem better than what you have.

But Platform is fourth for a reason. You don’t start here. You arrive here after you know what you’re trying to accomplish, who’s involved, and how you’ll do it.

BIG TAKEAWAY: Stop buying tools looking for problems. Start with problems and find the right tools.

Performance: How Do We Know It’s Working

What metrics actually matter to the customer?
How will we measure if we’ve solved their problem?
What data do we need to collect?
How often do we evaluate and adjust?

Your performance metrics should reflect customer value, not just internal efficiency.

Yes, track your operational metrics. But if you’ve improved efficiency by 30% and your customer is still frustrated, you’re measuring the wrong things.

How the 5Ps Work Together

Here’s the key: you can’t skip steps.

You can’t define Performance metrics without knowing your Purpose. You can’t select a Platform without understanding your Process. You can’t identify the right People without clarity on what customer problem you’re solving.

The framework is sequential for a reason. It keeps you honest. It keeps you focused on the customer.

Your Next Steps

Pick one initiative. Just one.

Walk through the 5Ps:

Purpose: Write down the specific customer problem you are solving. One sentence.
People: List who needs to be involved. Keep it minimal.
Process: Outline the basic steps. Keep it simple.
Platform: Identify what tools you actually need. Start with what you have.
Performance: Define 2-3 metrics that demonstrate customer value.

That’s it. You should be able to do this in one focused session.

The Bottom Line

Simplifying your strategy doesn’t mean dumbing it down. It means cutting out everything that doesn’t serve your customer.

The 5P Framework gives you a way to plan that’s:

Clear enough that everyone understands it
Simple enough that people actually use it
Focused enough that you stay connected to customer needs
Flexible enough to work across different initiatives

AI, efficiencies, ROI – they all have their place. But they’re in service of something bigger: solving real problems for real people.

Start there. Everything else follows.

How are you un-complicating your strategic planning? Reply to this email or join our free Slack group, Analytics for Marketers.

– Katie Robbert, CEO

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In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris discuss the worth of conferences and events in a tight economy.

You will learn a powerful framework for evaluating whether an expensive conference ticket meets your specific professional goals. You will use generative artificial intelligence to score event agendas, showing you which sessions offer the best return on your time investment. You will discover how expert speakers and companies create tangible value, moving beyond vague thought leadership to give you actionable takeaways. You will maximize your event attendance by demanding supplementary tools, ensuring you retain knowledge long after you leave the venue. Watch this episode now to stop wasting budget on irrelevant professional events!

Watch/listen to this episode of In-Ear Insights here »

Last time on So What? The Marketing Analytics and Insights Livestream, we took a surprising tour through the complex world of Microsoft Copilot. Catch the episode replay here!

We’re on break for the MAICON conference this week, so it’s a great time to catch up on back episodes. Are you following our YouTube channel? If not, click/tap here to follow us!

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In this week’s Data Diaries, let’s talk about frameworks. One of the most important tools you can have on hand at any given time is a set of frameworks that you’ve built or gathered and that you can deploy at a moment’s notice.

Frameworks are like templates; when you’re staring at a blank page and you don’t know what to do, the moment you drop a framework onto that page, you’ve gone from the vast, soul-eroding void to something, something for your brain to react to.

Why does this work? Fundamentally, when we create, we’re recalling all the knowledge we’ve accumulated around a starting point. Like crystals forming in a science experiment, everything needs a nucleus, a starting point to latch onto and grow. (This is why people say to put a chopstick in a container of water you’re boiling in the microwave, so that the bubbles have a place to start forming and the water doesn’t just explode on you)

Your creativity – our brains – are the same way. And if you’re running low on starting points on any given day, a framework gives you one or more starting points.

For example, this week at the MAICON Conference, Katie and I were originally just going to do a workshop. At the eleventh hour, the organizers said, “Hey, a speaker has canceled, can you step in?” (Which, by the way, is one of my favorite things to do – if you’ve got me at your event already and someone can’t make it, hit me up, always) I looked at the session title and abstract, about creating video and multimedia with AI. Within seconds, I said, ”Sure, we can do that.”

Then Katie said, “Yeah, but now we have to come up with something.” I said, “easy, no problem” – and then using the framework she invented, the Trust Insights 5P Framework – I created an entire hour long talk in under 3 minutes. Why? Because the framework provides so many starting points and great questions that making a powerful, compelling talk is easy. We use the framework as the backbone for the talk to make sure attendees know how to use it in the context of creating AI video and audio.

Today, generative AI makes it even easier to build your own frameworks. Sit down with the beverage of your choice (like a nice espresso) and a voice recorder, then talk aloud about how you tackle a particular process. Turn on voice mode in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or similar services and have a two way conversation where the AI can prompt you with followup questions. Then when you’re done, ask it to help you build a memorable framework. Here’s an example:

You’re a world class systems analyst and management consultant. From this {conversation / transcript}, we need to build a memorable {integer}-letter framework that uses an acronym corresponding to a real-world word. Prefer verbs for the words, and remember that the acronym must be a real {your language} word. Good examples would be WORLD, FOCUS, PACE. Bad examples would be LEKAD, SWOT, TIPR, EDLAK, or other nonsense words. Here’s how to accomplish this task. First, think through the major points of the conversation. Then order them in a logical narrative such as beginning, middle, end or small, medium, large, inside out, outside in, etc. Once you’ve established a clear narrative, design 3-7 different {integer}-letter framework acronyms and a concise 1 sentence explanation of each. Rank order your creations in terms of relevance to the main {conversation / transcript}.

This prompt will help you distill down your thinking into something memorable that you can reuse whenever you need something on the blank page.

The next time you’re faced with the blank page or a last minute assignment, pull out your favorite frameworks and you’ll jump start your efforts towards creating something great that doesn’t require you to reinvent the wheel.

Almost every AI course is the same, conceptually. They show you how to prompt, how to set things up – the cooking equivalents of how to use a blender or how to cook a dish. These are foundation skills, and while they’re good and important, you know what’s missing from all of them? How to run a restaurant successfully. That’s the big miss. We’re so focused on the how that we completely lose sight of the why and the what.

This is why our new course, the AI-Ready Strategist, is different. It’s not a collection of prompting techniques or a set of recipes; it’s about why we do things with AI. AI strategy has nothing to do with prompting or the shiny object of the day — it has everything to do with extracting value from AI and avoiding preventable disasters. This course is for everyone in a decision-making capacity because it answers the questions almost every AI hype artist ignores: Why are you even considering AI in the first place? What will you do with it? If your AI strategy is the equivalent of obsessing over blenders while your steakhouse goes out of business, this is the course to get you back on course.

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Where can you find Trust Insights face-to-face?

SMPS, Denver, October 2025
MAICON, Cleveland, October 2025
Generative AI for B2B Marketers, London, October 2025
MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Boston, November 2025
Social Media Marketing World, Anaheim, April 2026

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