At any given time, your company has hundreds of viable ways to run marketing campaigns.
We’re not exaggerating.
You can publish blog posts, invest heavily in pay-per-click ads, send segmented newsletters, and post on social platforms all day long. Within each choice are dozens of micro-decisions: Which audiences and creative will you use for your Facebook or Instagram ads? Will you create blog content in-house or hire vetted ghostwriters? Which email subject lines will win the open, and how will you A/B test them? Should you choose cost-per-click, cost-per-impression, or a target-CPA bidding model?
These questions can be daunting.
It’s easy to spin your wheels. As you research, you’ll inevitably find experts urging you to “just start testing.”
Ignore this advice.
Marketing is strategic. To succeed, you need focused goals and a scalable, repeatable plan. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced marketer, this never changes. If you run without direction, you’ll waste the two most valuable assets your company has: time and money.
Step #1 of successful online marketing is knowing your company’s exact needs and goals. You need relentless self-discipline. And laser focus.
This post takes a different approach from most marketing guides. We’re starting with the lessons veteran marketers learn the hard way—so you can (1) move faster, (2) save time, and (3) protect your budget.
Here’s what to lock in before you run your first (or next) online campaign. Use this playbook to leapfrog the crowd.
Marketing Starts with Your Customers
Every great strategy starts with your customers. Who are the people using your product? What do they value, what do they feel, what are they using now, and what will it take to convert them into paying, loyal customers?
Before sketching a marketing plan, have real conversations with existing customers.
How did they discover your product or service? What moved them from curiosity to purchase? What do they genuinely care about—and why did they choose you over alternatives?
Chances are, their stories won’t center on “we clicked an ad.” They’ll talk about outcomes: a painful problem your business solved, time saved, revenue gained, risk reduced, or life made easier.
Marketing is human-to-human. Channels are just delivery vehicles. Most customers won’t remember whether the first touch came from an ad, a search result, or a friend’s referral—they’ll remember the value you delivered.
Think about how you’ve found your favorite products and services.
Use those patterns as inspiration for your own campaigns—capture them in a simple “what worked for me” swipe file and look for themes.
Whether you run paid ads, email sequences, or retargeting, your job is to build systems that create genuine relationships with the buyers you want to reach. The key to successful Internet marketing is choosing the few channels that best support that outcome for your audience right now.
Develop Your Customer Personas
There is no one-size-fits-all customer. Your buyers are diverse, with distinct preferences, jobs-to-be-done, and constraints. Your initiatives need to speak to each meaningful segment.
The first step is documenting clear customer personas.
Personas capture the behavioral, demographic, and psychographic traits of your buyers. Use the quick worksheet below to get started.
Start with the following questions:
What roles do your typical customers hold? If you sell B2B, what are their job titles?
Consumer examples: husband, wife, father, mother, aunt, uncle, grandmother.
B2B examples: IT manager, marketing manager, CEO, business development manager, vice president, etc.
Do these individuals have decision-making authority? If yes, who else do they consult? If not, who has final sign-off?
Understand your personas on a personal level by pinpointing their key traits:
Demographic characteristics:
- Job title
- Age
- Education
- Industry
- Where they’re located (city, suburb, rural)
Key professional attributes:
- Seniority and team size they manage or influence
- Day-to-day responsibilities and workflows
- Primary KPIs/priorities within their area of influence
- The top problems/pain points they’re facing that your company can help solve
- Perceived barriers (budget, time, risk, compliance, internal politics)
- Actions they’ve already taken to solve those problems
- Decision influencers and approvers (who they report to and who weighs in)
- Years in role and domain expertise
- Buying triggers and red flags that stall deals
- Preferred channels and content formats (email, search, video, webinars, communities)
Marketing is like public speaking or performing. You might address a crowd, but each person hears you as an individual. Know who’s in the audience and why they showed up.
When building personas, picture real people—avoid cookie-cutter categories. Your core segments should reflect your unique business, not a generic template.
Start with real conversations and open-ended questions. Don’t assume. The answers will often surprise you—and they can dramatically improve your strategy.
Know Your Buyers’ Paths to Sales
Knowing your customers is step one. Step two is understanding how their values and behaviors translate into a purchase with your company. Partner with your sales team to map what’s already working and where momentum stalls. Use questions like these:
What are the most common ways prospects first hear about you?
Is it word of mouth, referrals, search, communities, or paid media?
Choose initiatives that amplify what already drives results. If referrals dominate, formalize a program to encourage and track them.
What initial questions do prospects ask?
Answer those questions early in your marketing messages, landing pages, and sales materials. Anticipation builds trust.
What does the decision-making process look like? Who’s involved, and what follow-ups do they request?
Expect an incremental, multi-touch journey. Provide the right content and calls-to-action for each stage rather than pushing for a premature close.
How long does the process take end-to-end? How long is each stage?
Make every initiative measurable with stage-appropriate metrics. Measure too early and you’ll misread noise as signal; measure too late and you’ll waste spend. Set realistic checkpoints tied to the journey.
Why do deals stall or die? Is it price, timing, internal priorities, or lack of fit?
Drop-off can happen at every step. Capture reasons systematically and address them with specific messaging, offers, and enablement.
Evaluate Your Company’s Conversion Funnel
Your conversion funnel is a simple diagram of the path to purchase.
Funnels vary by business model and segment—you’ll likely have more than one.
Use your funnel to visualize behavior and set expectations at each stage. A portion of visitors will advance toward your goal; a larger portion won’t.
Drop-off is normal. Your job is to understand why it happens and reduce it.
Work with sales and go back to the whiteboard (literally). Draw the stages, define exit criteria for each, and list the questions, objections, and proof points buyers need to progress.
Don’t copy someone else’s diagram. Build a funnel that reflects your product, price point, and motion—and align marketing and sales on stage definitions.
Stay connections-minded. A funnel is a process map, but more importantly, it’s a lens into human relationships. Behind the metrics are people with real needs and emotions.
Great funnels honor both logic and emotion. Track the numbers—and design experiences that make buyers feel confident, understood, and safe to act.
Know Where Online Marketing Fits In
Companies use online marketing to achieve three core goals:
- Build brand awareness around products, features, or services
- Engage prospects at both ends of the interest spectrum—when they’re most intrigued and when they’ve gone cold
- Grow revenue with existing customers through retention and expansion
All three ultimately serve customer acquisition and revenue growth.
Your plan should cover as many of these as your stage allows. Early-stage companies may prioritize awareness; later, you’ll lean more into expansion and re-engagement.
Every campaign must connect causally to revenue. With so many options, where do you start?
The answer is simple:
Where does that initiative fit within your path to user acquisition?
If you can’t answer, don’t fund it. And if it’s “free”?
Remember: time is money. Nothing in marketing is truly free—every tactic has an opportunity cost.
Each goal will require its own funnel and success metrics. For now, absorb the big idea: online marketing builds connections with your customers in just a few repeatable ways—awareness, engagement, and growth.
Don’t think in absolutes about channels. PPC isn’t “for awareness only,” and email isn’t “only for nurturing.” Results depend on how well each channel supports your specific motion and audience.
Some options will outperform others for you. Not sure where to focus?
Ask your audience. Do they click and convert on search and social? Do they read long-form blog content, attend webinars, or prefer concise comparison pages? Start with your buyers and work backward to choose channels and content.
Conclusion
Marketing starts with your customers. Before launching anything, do the work to understand what your customers want and need—they’re the reason your business exists.
Then map the path to purchase. Know your funnel, your stages, and the signals that show momentum.
Ignore blanket advice to “just start testing.” Testing without a plan burns time and budget. Test with a plan that revolves around your prospects and customers. No exceptions.