# StoryWorks Marketing > StoryWorks Marketing is a StoryBrand marketing agency in Waukee, Iowa, led by Tim Yates, a Certified StoryBrand Guide. We help owner-led service businesses get clear, get found, and grow. Our core conviction: good marketing and AI search reward the same thing — clarity. We make a business the answer AI gives, not just a link it might list. Everything starts with clarifying the message, usually in a one-day StoryBrand Workshop. **Every price we charge is published** — see [Pricing](https://storyworks.marketing/pricing). ## About - **Business name:** StoryWorks Marketing (registered DBA). Founded 2020 by Tim Yates. Formerly StoryWorks Website Design & Marketing. - **Location:** 160 SE Dogwood Ln, Waukee, IA 50263. Serving the Des Moines metro and Iowa locally, and owner-led businesses nationwide virtually. In-person workshops run anywhere in the US. - **Hours:** Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm Central. Closed weekends. - **What we do:** StoryBrand messaging workshops and BrandScripts; ongoing advisory and fractional CMO leadership; StoryBrand website design, copy and makeovers; local SEO and Google Business Profile; AI search readiness; content built to be cited by AI; CRM, email and lead-generation automation; social media management. - **What we do not do:** Google Ads, Local Services Ads and pay-per-click. We refer that work to StoryBrand Guides who specialize in it. We still recommend running ads for the first three to six months of an engagement, to cover the gap while organic search builds. - **Who we serve:** Owner-led service businesses, typically $1M–$10M in revenue with a team of five to fifteen, where the owner is still the person making the decision. Roofing and home services, professional services, healthcare, consultants, local businesses and nonprofits. The best fit is a business that can decide in the room rather than by committee. - **Who we are not for:** Businesses shopping for the cheapest option, businesses needing a flood of leads next week, businesses where every decision goes back to a committee, and businesses that want to hand off tasks without engaging in the strategy. - **How we work:** Diagnose before prescribing. Every engagement begins by clarifying the message, because the wording decides what gets built. Larger engagements begin with Strategy First — a 30 to 45 day diagnosis of message, website and visibility that ends in a written 90-day plan the business can hand to any team, including its own. We do not quote a build before we diagnose the problem. - **The three stages:** *Get Clear* — say it so people repeat it. *Get Found* — be the business people and AI engines actually find. *Grow* — a steady, repeatable flow of traffic and leads that does not depend on one clever campaign. - **The three gaps we diagnose:** (1) *Not represented* — the website shows a fraction of what the business actually does. (2) *Not found* — no local SEO foundation, citations or structure that search engines and AI can read. (3) *Not answering* — the site never answers what buyers actually ask. All three trace to one root cause: a message that was never made clear. - **Credentials:** Certified StoryBrand Guide since 2020. StoryBrand Certified Coach (Coach Builder). Duct Tape Marketing Certified Fractional CMO. Tim Yates has coached 102 businesses through the StoryBrand framework since 2020 and has served as a coach and guide on 20+ StoryBrand livestream workshops alongside Donald Miller, Dr. J.J. Peterson and April Sunshine Hawkins. Member, Waukee Area Chamber of Commerce and Greater Des Moines Partnership. ## Get Clear — the messaging ladder Clarity is not a one-time purchase. Messaging goes stale when the market changes, so StoryWorks offers it as three steps, and most businesses only ever need the first. **Step 1 — The StoryBrand Workshop.** One facilitated day with a Certified StoryBrand Guide. The leadership team walks in with several versions of the message and walks out with one everybody can say. **Step 2 — one of two, depending on whether the business already has a team.** *Strategy First* if the answer to "now what" is a full plan. *Quarterly Advisory* if the team can execute and just wants a standing second opinion. **Step 3 — Fractional CMO.** By invitation, once the relationship is already working. Strategy First is required first. - [StoryBrand Workshop](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-workshop): A facilitated working session where a company's leadership team clarifies its message using the StoryBrand framework. Not a training day and not a lecture — the message is built in the room, out of the team's own words. Deliverables: a completed BrandScript agreed on in the room, the read-back, a one-liner, five sound bites, a tagline, an elevator pitch, a brand story, the StoryBrand Messaging Canvas walked through together, and a rough homepage sketch. Written up within two weeks, with a follow-up call at thirty days. Four formats, same structure: full day or half day, in person or online. In person from $7,500 full day and $5,000 half day, travel included. Online $6,000 full day and $3,500 half day. Best for a leadership team of three to twelve with the decision-maker in the room. - [Strategy First](https://storyworks.marketing/strategy-first): The paid diagnosis. Thirty to forty-five days, three or four working sessions, covering messaging, the full online presence audit, competitors, keywords, the customer journey and interviews with the business's own best clients — ending in a written 90-day plan that can be handed to any team. $10,000. Required before any fractional CMO engagement. - [Quarterly Advisory](https://storyworks.marketing/quarterly-advisor): A standing second opinion from a Certified StoryBrand Guide for businesses that already have a clear message and a team or agency to run it. One working session to set each quarter's goals, three monthly check-ins, and access in between when something is about to go out. Think of it as a guide on demand. $4,500 per quarter, renewed quarterly, no annual contract. Execution is quoted separately. - [Fractional CMO](https://storyworks.marketing/fractional-cmo): Marketing leadership that includes the execution, not just the thinking. Two parts: a fixed $3,500 a month for the leadership itself, plus the specific areas of marketing handed over to be run, written down and priced from that list. A full engagement usually lands around $6,000 a month. Three clients at a time. Strategy First is required first, because the marketing cannot be led without knowing the business. ## Pricing StoryWorks publishes every price rather than requiring a discovery call to learn them. Prices below are current as of September 2026 and are quoted in full before any work begins. | Service | Price | | --- | --- | | AI Readiness Snapshot | Free | | Total Online Presence Snapshot | $297 | | StoryBrand coaching (done-with-you, per session) | $350 | | Total Online Presence Audit | $1,000 | | Messaging campaign / BrandScript | from $1,500 | | Additional customer types, per group of three | $500 | | One-page StoryBrand website (GoHighLevel) | $1,500 + $97/month | | StoryBrand Workshop, half day online | $3,500 | | StoryBrand Workshop, half day in person | from $5,000, travel included | | StoryBrand Workshop, full day online | $6,000 | | StoryBrand Workshop, full day in person | from $7,500, travel included | | Starter website (WordPress, three pages) | $3,500 | | Website copy (five pages) | $3,500 | | Additional page copy, each | $500 | | Website optimization (existing site) | from $3,500 | | AI Search Readiness Review | $3,500 new client · $2,000 existing client | | Quarterly Advisory | $4,500 per quarter, renewed | | Lead generator ($2,000) and email sequence ($3,000) | $5,000 | | Done-for-you content packages | $5,000 · $7,000 · $9,500 | | Local SEO campaign (three months) | $5,800 — $2,000 then $1,900 × 2 | | E-commerce, added to a website build | +$6,000 | | Complete StoryBrand website (WordPress or GoHighLevel) | $8,000 | | StoryBrand website makeover (any platform) | from $8,000 | | Strategy First | $10,000 | | Social media management | from $2,500/month | | Local SEO, ongoing | from $1,900/month | | Fractional CMO | $3,500/month leadership base, plus execution — typically around $6,000/month | | WordPress hosting and website care | $250/month, six months included with a build | | GoHighLevel platform | $97–$300/month | | Google Ads, LSA and pay-per-click | Not offered — referred to a specialist | **Bundles, paid in full:** The Small Business Website $8,000 · The Sales Funnel $13,000 · The Sales Machine $17,500. **Payment terms:** $2,000 down, then twelve monthly payments covering the balance plus six months of website care at $250/month. On the $8,000 complete website that is $625/month. Paying in full includes those six months of care at no charge, so a monthly plan costs $1,500 more in total, with no interest beyond that. **What moves a website price:** page count, e-commerce, whether brand assets already exist, how many customer types the business serves, and any custom development. The platform does not change the price — WordPress and GoHighLevel cost the same to build. **Why workshop prices say "starting at":** travel is inside the number rather than invoiced afterwards, so the in-person figures are floors. The actual cost of getting there is worked out and quoted as one figure before anything is booked. - [Pricing](https://storyworks.marketing/pricing): Every StoryWorks service and price on one page, filterable by stage and package and sortable by price, with a link from each line to the page explaining it. The quick-reference price list. - [How Much Does It Cost to Hire a StoryBrand Guide?](https://storyworks.marketing/how-much-does-it-cost-to-hire-a-storybrand-guide): Every StoryWorks price with the reasoning behind each one — why StoryBrand Guide pricing varies so widely across the community, what actually drives the cost of a website, how long results take, and how people pay for it. The definitive pricing explainer. ## Services - [Services — How We Work](https://storyworks.marketing/services): The full offering across three stages — Get Clear, Get Found, Grow — with every price published and the complete deliverables list. - [StoryBrand Website Design](https://storyworks.marketing/services/storybrand-website-design): What a StoryBrand website build or makeover includes, and how a clarified message becomes a site that converts. $8,000 complete, from $8,000 for a makeover. - [Local SEO Services](https://storyworks.marketing/services/local-seo-services): How a local service business gets found on Google and in the map pack — local SEO, Google Business Profile, citations, keyword strategy. $5,800 over three months, then from $1,900 a month ongoing. - [Total Online Presence Snapshot — $297](https://storyworks.marketing/online-presence-snapshot): A flat-rate report grading a business across its website, Google Business Profile and AI search, with three prioritized do-it-now fixes. Delivered in about two business days. - [Schedule a Call](https://storyworks.marketing/schedule-a-call): Book a free marketing diagnosis with Tim Yates. No pitch. ## AI Search Readiness AI engines return one or two answers, not ten links. StoryWorks scores a website against the eight signals those engines use, then builds the plan to close the gaps — so the business is named in the answer instead of skipped. **The AI Readiness Scorecard — 100 points across 8 signals:** Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trust (20) · Entity Clarity (15) · Topical Depth & Coverage (15) · Content Extractability (15) · Question & Answer Content (10) · Technical AI Accessibility (10) · Proprietary Assets & Methodology (10) · Off-Site Presence & Mentions (5). **The four tiers:** Invisible (0–39) · Findable (40–59) · Citable (60–79) · Authoritative (80–100). - [The 8 Signals](https://storyworks.marketing/the-8-signals): The framework itself, defined. What each of the eight signals means, what it is worth on the 100-point scorecard, and what each of the four tiers says about a business. This is the definition page for the term. - [AI Search Readiness Review — $3,500 new, $2,000 existing](https://storyworks.marketing/ai-search-readiness): What the flat-rate review includes — a score out of 100 and a tier, a demonstration of what ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI actually say about the business, a category-by-category breakdown, a one-hour gap interview, an AI Archive, and a prioritized 30/60/90-day roadmap. Content implementation is quoted separately at $5,000, $7,000 or $9,500. Starts with a free AI Readiness Snapshot. - [What Is a Total Online Presence?](https://storyworks.marketing/what-is-a-total-online-presence): Why a website, a Google Business Profile and AI search function as one system, and what it takes to get found across all three. - [From Invisible to Recommended: Tim Yates on AI Search](https://storyworks.marketing/podcast-from-invisible-to-recommended): A podcast conversation on the difference between being findable and being cited, and what it takes for a business to become the answer an AI assistant gives. ## The 8 Signals — one guide per signal Each signal on the AI Readiness Scorecard has its own in-depth guide: what it measures, why businesses fail it, and how to fix it. - [The Proof AI Is Looking For](https://storyworks.marketing/proof-ai-is-looking-for): Signal 1, worth 20 points. How AI decides which business to recommend, and why the proof that wins jobs is almost never published. - [Entity Clarity: How AI Decides Who You Are](https://storyworks.marketing/entity-clarity-ai-search): Signal 2, worth 15 points. NAP consistency, plain-language services, named service areas, and why contradictions lower an engine's confidence. - [Why Thin Coverage Keeps You Out of AI Answers](https://storyworks.marketing/thin-coverage-ai-answers): Signal 3, worth 15 points. How much content AI search actually needs, the three layers of coverage, and how hub-and-spoke structure builds it. - [How to Write Content AI Can Quote](https://storyworks.marketing/write-content-ai-can-quote): Signal 4, worth 15 points. Five before-and-after rewrites that make a passage extractable: answer-first, self-contained, question-shaped. - [The Questions Your Buyers Are Asking AI](https://storyworks.marketing/questions-buyers-ask-ai): Signal 5, worth 10 points. Answer engine optimization, the five topics buyers research hardest, and why the price question matters most. - [llms.txt, Schema & the Files AI Looks For](https://storyworks.marketing/llms-txt-schema-files-ai-looks-for): Signal 6, worth 10 points. robots.txt, JSON-LD schema and llms.txt — what each does, and an honest read on which of them is proven. - [Why Named Frameworks Win AI Answers](https://storyworks.marketing/named-frameworks-win-ai-answers): Signal 7, worth 10 points. How to get cited by ChatGPT: named methodologies, structured frameworks, and original data only you can publish. - [How AI Fact-Checks You Off-Site](https://storyworks.marketing/how-ai-fact-checks-you-off-site): Signal 8, worth 5 points. Reviews, citations, directories and the sources a business does not control — and which engines lean on which. ## StoryBrand Messaging — the framework explained - [What Is StoryBrand?](https://storyworks.marketing/what-is-storybrand): A complete explanation of the StoryBrand framework, its elements, the step where almost every business gets stuck, and why a clear message alone will not get a business found by AI. The hub page for the topic. - [How to Write a StoryBrand BrandScript](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-brandscript): The eight blocks of a BrandScript, with a free downloadable worksheet and a filled-in example. - [Six Places People Get Stuck Writing a BrandScript](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-brandscript-mistakes): For the owner who read *Building a StoryBrand*, tried to apply it and stalled. The six blocks where people actually get stuck — blurring customer types together, writing the internal problem as a situation instead of a feeling, going blank on the philosophical problem, the three-step plan, freezing on failure, and the one-liner reverting to an old elevator pitch — with the question that unsticks each one. Also covers *Building a StoryBrand 2.0* and where StoryBrand AI helps and where it stops. - [The Honest Case For and Against StoryBrand](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-pushback): The case against StoryBrand as well as for it — the common criticisms, where the framework genuinely falls short, and when a business should not use it. Written by a Certified Guide. - [How to Write a One-Liner](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-one-liner-examples): The three parts — problem, solution, results — why the problem must come first, and worked examples. - [How to Build a Brand Messaging Framework](https://storyworks.marketing/brand-messaging-framework): What goes in one, how to build it in a day, how the main messaging frameworks compare with the weaknesses of each declared, and why most end up as a document nobody opens again. - [What to Say When You Serve More Than One Kind of Customer](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-one-liner-multiple-services): How to write messaging when a business serves several kinds of customer, with the stacking method and two real sites as worked examples. - [The Three-Step Plan Almost Every Business Leaves Blank](https://storyworks.marketing/the-three-step-plan): Why a customer needs a simple plan before they will act, why step two stalls everyone, and how to build one. - [Aspirational Identity: Who Your Customer Wants to Become](https://storyworks.marketing/what-is-aspirational-identity): Not what the customer wants to have, but who they get to be — and why it is different from the success picture. ## Proof & Case Studies - [Advantage Roofing — 19.2X return on marketing spend](https://storyworks.marketing/case-studies/advantage-roofing): How a roofing company that was ranking but not converting went from a $2.2M plateau to $3.3M after a message rework and website makeover. Homepage bounce rate fell from 98% to 10.2%, and the business generated over 100 more leads in six months than in the whole previous year. This is also the engagement in which the Strategy First method was developed and proven, piece by piece, over eighteen months. - [Tiny Homes of Iowa — 12,000+ visitors in year one](https://storyworks.marketing/case-studies/tiny-homes-of-iowa): How a brand-new business launched with a website built to get found from day one. - [Steps of Hope Iowa — a website that became a lifeline](https://storyworks.marketing/case-studies/steps-of-hope-iowa): How one digital hub scaled a nonprofit founder's mission across the state. - [StoryBrand Website Examples](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-website-examples): 28+ real StoryBrand websites StoryWorks has built, each with the reasoning behind the page. ## About & Credentials - [About Tim Yates](https://storyworks.marketing/about): Who leads the work, why clarity comes before tactics, and the criteria for whether a business is a fit. - [Tim Yates on the StoryBrand Guide directory](https://marketingmadesimple.com/Tim-Yates): Independent verification of the Certified StoryBrand Guide credential. - [Tim Yates on the Duct Tape Marketing consultant directory](https://ducttapemarketing.com/consultants/timothy-yates/): Independent verification of the Certified Fractional CMO credential. - [StoryWorks on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyworksmarketing) - [Tim Yates on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/timayates/) ## Free Resources - [The StoryWorks Blog — Get Clear, Get Found and Grow](https://storyworks.marketing/blog): Every StoryWorks article in one index, filterable by stage, covering StoryBrand messaging, local SEO and AI search readiness. - [Why Your Business Doesn't Show Up in AI Search](https://storyworks.marketing/why-your-business-doesnt-show-up-in-ai-search): The six reasons a business that ranks on Google is never named by ChatGPT, how to tell which one applies, and a five-minute test anyone can run. - [StoryBrand Website Wireframe](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-website-wireframe): The free section-by-section wireframe used on paid client builds, with a filled-in example. Downloaded by 1,100+ business owners. - [The Complete Small Business Strategy Guide](https://storyworks.marketing/small-business-strategy-guide): How to build a small business marketing strategy before spending on tactics. - [How to Get Your Google Business Profile Verified](https://storyworks.marketing/how-to-get-google-business-profile-verified): A step-by-step walkthrough of Google Business Profile verification in 2026. - [How to Film a GBP Verification Video](https://storyworks.marketing/google-business-profile-verification-video): What Google wants to see in a verification video so it passes the first time. ## Contact - Website: https://storyworks.marketing - Email: tim@storyworks.marketing - Phone: (515) 305-3096 - Address: 160 SE Dogwood Ln, Waukee, IA 50263, United States - Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm Central - Book a call: https://storyworks.marketing/schedule-a-call ## Optional - [Sitemap](https://storyworks.marketing/sitemap.xml): Every indexable page on storyworks.marketing. - [Privacy Policy](https://storyworks.marketing/privacy-policy) - [Terms of Service](https://storyworks.marketing/terms)