In today’s digital world, businesses are bombarded with advice on the latest marketing frameworks. A quick search reveals hundreds of millions of results for “business framework” online. Yet, despite this wealth of resources, many companies still struggle to create content marketing programs that truly resonate with their customers. Why? Because many existing frameworks are designed for outdated, siloed approaches to marketing, failing to capture the complexity of today’s customer journey.
Traditional frameworks often focus on departmental perspectives – marketing teams use AIDA, engineering adopts Agile, and so on. They also frequently overlook the nuances of digital marketing, especially the power to build relationships at scale through mobile and social platforms. These older models struggle to account for rapid iteration, long-tail customer engagement, and the shift from interruption marketing to becoming a valued part of a customer’s life. The reality is, we now have access to data and opportunities unimaginable just a few years ago, but our frameworks haven’t kept pace.
This article introduces a simpler, more effective lens through which to view all your marketing activities: the See-Think-Do Framework. This framework isn’t just another business model; it’s a way of thinking designed to empower you to create content marketing programs that your customers genuinely care about, ultimately driving greater profitability.
Why a new framework? Because frameworks are powerful teaching tools. They don’t just offer ready-made solutions; they teach you how to think. By understanding the underlying principles, you can adapt the framework to your unique business context and create customized strategies that yield real results – strategies that are far more effective than generic, consultant-driven advice.
This framework addresses critical gaps in how we typically approach content marketing:
- Customer-Centricity: We often talk about putting customers first, but our actions frequently fall short. Many frameworks, like AIDA, are inherently company-centric, focusing on pushing products rather than understanding customer needs.
- Expansive Marketing Thinking: We often limit our marketing scope, missing significant opportunities. The digital landscape offers vast potential, but narrow perspectives prevent us from fully capitalizing on it.
- Irrational Measurement: We often use flawed metrics to evaluate success, leading to misguided decisions. Measuring the wrong things obscures what’s truly working and prevents us from optimizing our efforts.
These are significant challenges, and the See-Think-Do framework offers a solution. It will transform how you approach various aspects of your business, starting with content strategy. This framework is structured around four key areas:
- The See – Think – Do Framework
- The See – Think – Do Framework: Content Strategy
- The See – Think – Do Framework: Marketing Strategy
- The See – Think – Do Framework: Measurement Strategy
By the end of this article, you’ll gain a fresh perspective that simplifies the complexities of your daily marketing tasks and empowers you to create content marketing programs that customers truly value.
The See – Think – Do Framework: Putting Customers First
The See-Think-Do framework is built on the fundamental principles of customer consideration stages and audience understanding. It encourages you to view your marketing efforts through the customer’s eyes, not your own.
The framework identifies three core consideration stages:
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See: This stage encompasses the broadest possible audience relevant to your business. It’s defined by a general characteristic, not immediate purchase intent. For a clothing company, the “See” audience is “all people who wear clothes.” For a car repair website, the “See” audience could be “all car owners” or “anyone interested in car maintenance.” This is your largest addressable market.
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Think: This stage narrows the audience to those who are starting to consider a need or interest related to your product or service. They aren’t ready to buy yet, but they are in the “thinking” phase. For the clothing company, the “Think” audience is “all people who wear clothes who think they might need some.” For a car repair website, this could be “car owners experiencing car problems” or “people researching car maintenance tips.” This audience demonstrates initial intent.
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Do: This stage represents the most targeted and valuable audience – those actively looking to make a purchase or take action now. They are in the “doing” phase, ready to convert. For the clothing company, the “Do” audience is “all people who wear clothes who think they might need some, and are currently looking to buy them.” For a car repair website, this could be “people searching for local car repair shops” or “those looking for specific car parts online.” This audience has high purchase intent.
These stages aren’t always a perfectly linear funnel, and customer behavior can be complex. However, for most products and services, these distinct stages offer a valuable structure for understanding customer intent.
The power of the See-Think-Do framework lies in its ability to structure your digital efforts around these stages, enabling you to:
- Identify Content Gaps: Pinpoint where your current content and engagement strategies are lacking for each customer consideration stage.
- Optimize Marketing Initiatives: Ensure your marketing and advertising efforts are appropriately targeted and effective for each stage of the customer journey.
- Refine Measurement Strategies: Accurately measure the success and value of your marketing activities at each stage, using relevant metrics instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
By adopting this customer-centric framework, you can move away from siloed, product-focused marketing and begin to build content marketing programs that truly resonate with your audience at every stage of their journey.
Crafting Content Customers Crave: The See-Think-Do Content Strategy
Many businesses, especially those focused on sales, tend to concentrate their digital efforts solely on the “Do” stage. They create websites and content primarily designed to push for immediate sales. While catering to the “Do” stage is essential, neglecting the “See” and “Think” stages limits growth potential.
If your website and content are only geared towards customers ready to buy, you’re missing out on engaging a much larger audience. To truly expand your reach and build a sustainable business, you need to develop content and engagement points for the “See” and “Think” stages. This approach allows you to nurture potential customers early in their journey, build relationships, and ultimately increase conversions at a lower acquisition cost.
Imagine a website solely focused on “Do” stage content. It might feature product pages, pricing information, and direct calls to action like “Buy Now.” While effective for immediate conversions, it fails to attract or engage those in the earlier stages of consideration.
The key is to create a balanced content ecosystem. When a potential customer interacts with your brand online, regardless of their consideration stage, they should find relevant and engaging content tailored to their needs. Even if they aren’t ready to purchase, you can still initiate a connection and build a relationship.
Consider ModCloth as a prime example of a company with a robust See-Think-Do content strategy. ModCloth isn’t just a “Do” business; they excel at engaging customers in the “See” and “Think” stages.
Visiting any product page on their website reveals this strategy in action. They clearly cater to the “Do” stage with prominent “ADD TO BAG” calls to action. However, they also provide numerous engagement points for customers in the “See” and “Think” stages.
For “See” and “Think” stage audiences, ModCloth offers options like becoming a “virtual fashion buyer,” signing up for their blog, or following them on social media. For those in the “Think” stage, considering a purchase but not quite ready, they offer features like review notifications, connections with “ModStylists” for personalized advice, and wishlist creation. These micro-conversions build engagement and nurture potential customers.
By implementing See and Think stage content strategies, like ModCloth, your business can position itself for significant growth and maximize its marketing and measurement effectiveness. Without these broader content strategies, you’re limiting your potential and only capturing a fraction of the available opportunity.
Another crucial area to apply the See-Think-Do content strategy is mobile. Many companies, even large ones, fail to fully leverage mobile platforms beyond the “Do” stage.
For example, while @WalmartLabs has dedicated significant resources to mobile innovation, their mobile app primarily focuses on features for existing customers ready to buy. It includes functionalities like product purchases, local ad viewing, price checking, and a “Value of the Day” widget.
While these features are valuable for “Do” stage customers, they largely ignore potential customers in the “See” and “Think” stages. What about attracting new customers who aren’t already Walmart shoppers? What about engaging users who aren’t ready to buy on mobile right now? Are these opportunities being missed?
Contrast Walmart’s approach with Walgreens’ mobile app. Walgreens provides a compelling example of a See-Think-Do mobile content strategy. Like Walmart, Walgreens excels in the “Do” stage, offering a smooth purchase experience.
However, Walgreens goes further by incorporating “Think” stage content, such as pill reminders. This feature provides ongoing value to users, keeping Walgreens top-of-mind even when they aren’t immediately needing to make a purchase. It’s a clever way to stay connected and build future purchase consideration.
Walgreens also innovates in the “See” stage, aiming to reach the broadest possible audience. They integrated with Instagram, tapping into a vast audience who might not typically think of Walgreens. They also include a built-in photo editor and a rewards program for tracking steps and weight. These features attract a wider audience and create engagement beyond immediate purchase intent.
Walgreens’ mobile app demonstrates the power of utility marketing – providing valuable tools and content that attract and engage customers across all consideration stages. By implementing a See-Think-Do content strategy, businesses can build stronger customer relationships and unlock significant growth opportunities.
Reaching the Right Audience: The See-Think-Do Marketing Strategy
Developing a customer-centric content marketing program is only half the battle. The next critical step is to ensure your marketing strategies effectively reach and engage your target audiences at each stage of the See-Think-Do framework.
The starting point is to critically evaluate your current marketing activities. For every marketing channel you use, ask yourself: Which audience consideration stage are we targeting? Are your display ads designed for the “See” audience, the “Think” audience, or the “Do” audience? The answer to this question will fundamentally shape your marketing execution.
For “See” stage audiences, your display ad creative should be broad and brand-focused. Targeting should be based on demographics, psychographics, or geography – the general characteristics of your widest potential audience. The primary purpose is branding and awareness.
For “Think” stage audiences, your ad creative can be more targeted, hinting at intent. Targeting can become more specific, focusing on relevant websites, content categories, and interests. The purpose shifts to presenting brand value and driving initial engagement, such as micro-conversions like email sign-ups, video views, or app downloads.
For “Do” stage audiences, your ad creative should be highly focused and conversion-oriented. Targeting leverages intent signals like retargeting, past behavior, and customer data. The primary goal is to drive immediate sales and revenue.
This stage-based approach applies across all marketing channels. Consider SEO: when targeting a keyword cluster, determine which consideration stage it aligns with. Keywords with clear purchase intent (“best car repair shop near me”) target the “Do” stage, while broader, informational keywords (“car maintenance tips”) target the “Think” or “See” stages. This understanding informs landing page content, calls to action, and overall optimization strategy.
Similarly, for PPC, affiliate marketing, and email campaigns, tailor your approach to the specific consideration stage of your target audience. Send “See” stage audiences awareness-focused emails and “Do” stage audiences direct promotional offers.
Conduct a comprehensive review of your marketing programs. Ask your teams: What customer consideration stage are we targeting? Is our execution strategy – creative, targeting, and purpose – aligned with that stage?
Understanding the customer’s perspective and aligning your marketing accordingly brings clarity and focus. Bombarding “See” stage customers with “BUY NOW” messages is ineffective and off-putting.
This exercise will reveal your current marketing focus across different channels.
With this understanding, you can ask critical questions:
- Is our current marketing execution optimized for the intended consideration stage and audience? This focuses on improving current effectiveness.
- Are we fully leveraging the potential of each marketing channel across all consideration stages? This prompts strategic expansion and opportunity maximization.
For example, if your display advertising is solely focused on the “See” stage, ask if you are truly maximizing its potential. With the wealth of data and targeting capabilities available in digital advertising, can display ads be more than just online billboards?
The answer to the first question leads to immediate improvements by optimizing creative, targeting, and the post-click experience for the “See” stage. The answer to the second question can be more transformative, potentially leading to a complete re-evaluation of your marketing strategy. It might reveal limitations in skills, agency partnerships, or even management ambition.
These strategic discussions are crucial for maximizing marketing impact and monetizing opportunities across all See-Think-Do stages. For display advertising, this might lead to a strategy that utilizes different display ad formats and targeting approaches for each stage.
Optimal Display Strategy: Tailoring Display Ads to See, Think, and Do Stages
This optimal display strategy moves beyond generic branding to incorporate retargeting for “Do” stage audiences, content-driven ads for “Think” stage audiences, and broad awareness campaigns for the “See” stage. It eliminates ineffective practices like using “Do” stage messaging in social ads or product-centric ads for “See” stage audiences.
The key is to prioritize the audience and their consideration stage, then tailor your advertising creative, targeting, and purpose accordingly. This framework can be applied to all your marketing channels.
Re-examine your PPC strategy. Are you only targeting “Do” stage keywords? Consider the vast potential of “Think” and “See” stage queries. Analyze your SEO efforts. Are you solely focused on brand and product terms? Expand your reach to capture intent-driven queries across all stages.
By asking these critical questions, you can optimize your current marketing efforts and identify opportunities for expansion across all See-Think-Do stages. This can lead to a more comprehensive and effective digital marketing strategy.
An optimal digital marketing strategy aligned with the See-Think-Do framework might look like this:
This represents a best-practice amalgamation of strategies across various companies, but your specific optimal strategy may differ based on your industry, target audience, and business model. The important takeaway is the process of analyzing your current marketing, asking critical questions, and aligning your efforts with the See-Think-Do framework.
Measuring What Truly Matters: The See-Think-Do Measurement Strategy
A common reason for ineffective marketing strategies is flawed measurement. Companies often rely on narrow metrics, leading to misinterpretations of campaign performance and missed opportunities. Why do companies have underoptimized paid search strategies or limited display advertising impact? Often, it boils down to choosing the wrong success metrics.
Many businesses obsess over conversion rate. While conversions are important, judging all marketing efforts solely by conversion rate is a mistake. The average e-commerce conversion rate hovers around 2%. If you evaluate your entire marketing strategy through this narrow lens, you’re making flawed decisions about effectiveness.
Conversion rate is a highly relevant metric for the “Do” stage audience, who are ready to buy. Measuring “Do” stage marketing by conversion rate makes perfect sense. However, applying this same metric to “See” and “Think” stage campaigns is fundamentally flawed.
It’s like judging a fish by its ability to climb a tree. “See” and “Think” stage audiences are not ready to convert immediately. Using conversion rate as the primary metric will inevitably show poor performance, leading to the premature termination of valuable campaigns.
For example, PPC can be highly effective for reaching “Think” and “See” stage audiences. It allows you to connect with people researching topics related to your industry or showing early signs of interest. However, if you judge PPC success solely by conversions, you’ll likely miss the value of engaging these audiences early in their journey. You’ll lose the opportunity to build brand awareness and relationships, and by the time these potential customers reach the “Do” stage, they may never consider your brand.
This flawed measurement approach is why many marketers mistakenly believe “display doesn’t work” or “social media doesn’t drive sales.” They are judging channels and campaigns by metrics that are misaligned with their intended purpose and the audience’s consideration stage.
The See-Think-Do framework addresses this problem by advocating for stage-appropriate measurement. Use “See” metrics for “See” stage campaigns, “Think” metrics for “Think” stage campaigns, and “Do” metrics for “Do” stage campaigns. Measure success based on whether each campaign is achieving its intended objective for the specific audience it targets. Judge the fish by its ability to swim.
Once you’ve aligned your marketing strategies with the See-Think-Do framework, collaborate with your analytics team to identify the optimal metrics for each stage.
For the “See” stage, the primary goal is brand awareness. Metrics should focus on reach and engagement. For broad reach campaigns like YouTube homepage roadblocks, measure interactions. For social media, track conversation, amplification, and applause. For display, PPC, and SEO, measure brand awareness lift or new visits.
For the “Think” stage, the goal is to nurture interest and drive engagement. Relevant metrics include click-through rates (CTR), page depth, per-visit goal value (for micro-conversions), and assisted conversions to understand the channel’s role in future conversions.
For the “Do” stage, traditional conversion metrics are appropriate, such as conversion rate, revenue, and cost per acquisition (CPA). Additionally, consider customer loyalty metrics to capture repeat purchase behavior.
By aligning metrics with each stage, you gain a much more accurate understanding of campaign performance. You can then optimize effectively, killing what isn’t working and scaling what is – based on metrics that truly reflect success at each stage of the customer journey.
This stage-based measurement approach doesn’t sacrifice accountability. It emphasizes cost-effectiveness at every stage, evaluating performance against economic value and traditional advertising benchmarks. Every marketing dollar should be justified and contribute to overall business goals.
This framework is also applicable to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
SMBs can adapt the same metrics, focusing on those most relevant to their business and resources. Freely available tools like Google Analytics provide all the necessary data to implement a See-Think-Do measurement strategy.
By adopting stage-appropriate measurement, businesses of all sizes can unlock the full potential of digital marketing, optimize their programs based on relevant insights, and drive long-term success.
Beyond the Purchase: The See-Think-Do-Coddle Framework
Customer engagement shouldn’t end with a purchase. Focusing solely on new customer acquisition while neglecting existing customers is a shortsighted strategy. Businesses that prioritize customer retention and loyalty ultimately build stronger, more sustainable growth.
This is why the See-Think-Do framework extends to a fourth stage: Coddle. The term “retain” often used to describe customer loyalty efforts feels inadequate. “Coddle” better captures the proactive, indulgent approach needed to truly cultivate customer relationships. It’s about going beyond minimal retention efforts and actively nurturing your existing customer base.
Think about companies that truly excel at customer loyalty. They don’t just try to “retain” customers; they actively coddle them, creating exceptional experiences that foster deep loyalty and advocacy.
The “Coddle” stage focuses on customers who have purchased from you more than once – your existing customer base. These customers are invaluable. They are more likely to make repeat purchases, spend more over time, and become brand advocates, driving word-of-mouth marketing.
Just like with new customer acquisition, you need a dedicated content, marketing, and measurement strategy for your “Coddle” audience. This might involve creating exclusive content, personalized websites or mobile app experiences, targeted email campaigns, and special offers.
Measure the success of your “Coddle” stage efforts with metrics like customer lifetime value (LTV), repeat purchase rate, and customer satisfaction. Just as the See, Think, and Do stages require tailored strategies, so does Coddle.
By extending the See-Think-Do framework to include “Coddle,” you create a holistic, customer-centric approach to content marketing. You’re not just attracting new customers; you’re building lasting relationships and fostering a loyal customer base that drives long-term success.
The See-Think-Do(-Coddle) framework provides a powerful catalyst for rethinking your content marketing program. It encourages you to move beyond siloed approaches and product-centric thinking, and to truly create content that your customers care about, at every stage of their journey. By adopting this framework, you can unlock new ideas, optimize your marketing efforts, and build stronger, more customer-centric business.
