Introducing the RACE Framework
The RACE framework is a practical framework to improve your digital marketing.
Streamline your planning and measurement of digital marketing with the RACE Framework and growth process. To explain and fully define the scope of ‘What Is Digital Marketing?’ we created this popular infographic structured around the RACE Framework of the plan, reach, act, convert and engage. It shows the key measures to set targets for and evaluate at each stage of the funnel.
The RACE funnel.
(Credit: Smart Insights; https://www.smartinsights.com/traffic-building-strategy/campaign-planning/structure-effective-campaign-plan/)
What does the RACE Framework stand for?
The RACE mnemonic summarises the key online and multichannel marketing activities that need to be managed as part of digital marketing. RACE covers the full customer lifecycle or marketing funnel from:
(Plan) > Reach > Act > Convert > Engage
There is an initial, vital phase of PLAN, which involves creating the overall digital strategy, objective setting, and plan. The planning phase will ensure that your digital communications are aligned with your business and marketing strategy. The RACE Framework consists of these four steps or online marketing activities designed to help brands engage their customers throughout the customer lifecycle.
- REACH. Reach involves building awareness of a brand, its products, and services on other websites and in offline media to build traffic by driving visits to different web presences like your main site, microsites, or social media pages. It involves maximising reach over time to create multiple interactions using different paid, owned and earned media touchpoints.
- ACT. The act is short for Interact. It’s a separate stage since encouraging interactions on websites and social media to generate leads is a big challenge for online marketers. It’s about persuading site visitors or prospects to take the next step, the next Action on their journey when they initially reach your site or social network presence. For many types of businesses, especially, Business-to-Business, this means generating leads.
- CONVERT. This is conversion to sale – occurring either online or offline. It involves getting your audience to take that vital next step which turns them into paying customers whether the payment is taken through online E-commerce transactions or offline channels.
- ENGAGE. This is a long-term engagement that is, developing a long-term relationship with first-time buyers to build customer loyalty as repeat purchases using communications on your site, social presence, email, and direct interactions to boost customer lifetime value.
Why the RACE Framework?
These are five reasons why we recommend the RACE framework for modern marketers, and why it has been widely adopted around the world.
Reason 1. RACE is data-driven, based on KPIs focused on business growth.
We believe that data-driven marketing is the best approach to growing business through digital marketing. Priorities and improvements should be based on a sound evaluation and optimisation process using digital analytics showing which marketing activities are effective and which aren’t.
Reason 2. The RACE Framework is practical and action-oriented.
Our dedicated Learning Path guides you through a step-by-step process to implement RACE in your digital marketing strategy and start achieving your goals straight away. Our unique digital learning approach integrates practical guidance and examples with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint templates that you can use to review your marketing activities and plan improvements. RACE is comprehensive, covering 25 essential marketing activities across the customer lifecycle which are explained in our digital learning paths and actioned in our templates.
Reason 3. The RACE Framework is strategic and integrated.
Digital channels always work best when they’re aligned with your overall business and marketing strategy and digital communications are integrated with other channels, so remember that where appropriate, digital channels should be combined with the traditional offline media and channels.
The Plan phase of RACE reviews marketing fundamentals such as segmentation, targeting and positioning and how they can be applied online.
The most important aspects of integration are first using traditional media to raise awareness of the value of the online presence and drive visitors to the website(s) at the Reach and Engage stages.
Second, at the Convert and Engage steps stage customers may prefer to interact with customer representatives as part of the buying or customer service process.
Reason 4. The RACE Framework is social.
Digital marketing today is not just about your website, and, it never has been. Partnering with other sites or co-marketing and influencer marketing have always potentially been important.
But today, the popularity of participation in social media with web users means that how to reach, interact, convert, and maintain ongoing engagement of customers through social networks is vital to the success of a brand.
At each step in RACE, you need to think about how social media can help achieve your goals and how you can measure the effectiveness of social media.
Reason 5. RACE helps evolve your process to drive growth with the RACE OSA growth process.
To make the RACE planning framework actionable, OSA gives a simple process to create your overall strategy and improve the results of individual channels such as search, social media, and email marketing.
OSA stands for Opportunity > Strategy > Action