Piecing Together the Puzzle with the RACE Method

Piecing Together the Puzzle with the RACE

Method

By Adam Stoker Every successful marketing campaign starts with a secret sauce, a set of distinguishing strategies that provide oneupmanship in a highly competitive business environment. One proven, action-oriented, customer-centered strategy is the RACE method.

If you look up the RACE method online, you’ll get a lot of different results for the acronym. At Relic agency, it stands for Research, Analysis, Creation, and Execution, and it is used for every marketing campaign, case study, and strategy session. Applying the RACE method is like putting together a big puzzle—it takes time and patience. Overall, having a method is infinitely better than trying to fit random pieces together. Each letter of the RACE method is one of our corner pieces, building the foundation of our marketing mix. Research: This is the most crucial step of any campaign, and yet, it’s the most overlooked. Many businesses will jump into a project without putting in the work to understand first. In this step, we follow the four Cs: Customer, Company, Competition, Community. These allow us to identify target audiences and insights, equipping us with the information to build an effective campaign. The key is to gather as many puzzle pieces as possible. Don’t stress too much about understanding it all at once—that comes next. Analysis: Now that you and your team have gathered all the data, it’s time to plan how to put the puzzle together. Organizing your research will ensure that you get the right message to the right people at the right time. In a real puzzle, most people start with the outside pieces. Determine the most crucial parts of your campaign first, and build off of that. Sift through your data, and pull out the relevant parts. Once you have the basic outline, the other pieces start to fall into place. Creation: This is where the puzzle really starts to take shape. You have the background information and a plan. In our agency, this step looks like a catchy, creative design or enticing written content. Picture what this step looks like in your business. This is where many businesses tend to start the process, leading to a lot of backtracking and wasted time. Having all the pieces is key before creativity comes into play. Execution: Putting your plan into action is where you get to see the rewards of your hard work. This might be hitting send on an email campaign, promoting a digital ad, or hosting a live event. At this stage, you start to see feedback and conversions from your targeted audience. Once it’s published, you can breathe easier knowing you followed a tried-and-true recipe to piece together your puzzle. Results will roll in when you’ve put in the necessary effort to make a successful marketing campaign. The RACE method is cyclical, meaning as soon as you have actionable data, you immediately go back to the analysis phase. It’s reliable and effective because each project builds on the last. There’s nothing more satisfying than putting in the final piece of a puzzle except pulling out the next box.

Adam Stoker is the president and CEO of Relic+EKR. He graduated from Brigham Young University’s nationally-ranked advertising program and has been working in advertising for fifteen years. Adam builds businesses, people, and products through his leadership. His role includes overseeing the vision of the company, creating relationships with employees and clients, and identifying growth opportunities. In 2020, he successfully led Relic in acquiring EKR, an agency that specializes in digital marketing and web development. Adam is the host of the Destination Marketing Podcast and author of Touchpoints: A Destination Marketer’s Guide to Brand Evaluation and Enhancement. Adam is listed in the 40 Under 40 from Utah Business and Utah Valley Business magazines.