RACE Framework: a 90-day plan for SME growth

Most UK SMEs don’t have a marketing problem — they have a planning and follow-through problem. You’re running SEO, posting on social, maybe sending the odd email campaign… but you can’t clearly answer three questions: What are we trying to improve this quarter? How will we measure it? Which activities actually move revenue?

That’s why frameworks still matter in 2026. When budgets are tight and attention is expensive, you need a structure that makes marketing easier to run, not harder to manage. The RACE Framework (Plan > Reach > Act > Convert > Engage) is one of the simplest ways I’ve seen to organise digital marketing so it becomes measurable, repeatable, and—crucially for SMEs—automatable.

This post is part of our British Small Business Digital Marketing series, where we focus on what works on limited budgets. Here, we’ll translate RACE into a practical 90-day marketing plan you can execute with marketing automation, without turning your business into a full-time content studio.

Why the RACE Framework works for busy UK SMEs

Answer first: RACE works because it forces you to manage marketing as a customer journey with clear KPIs, rather than a pile of disconnected tactics.

Many SMEs run “random acts of marketing”: a paid search burst when leads dry up, an email when someone remembers, a flurry of posts when a competitor launches something. It’s not laziness; it’s the reality of small teams. The issue is that this approach:

• makes performance hard to diagnose (you can’t tell where the funnel is leaking)
• encourages short-term fixes (more spend) instead of systematic improvements (better conversion)
• wastes time because nothing is documented or repeatable

RACE gives you a funnel-shaped operating system. And once your funnel is structured, you can automate large chunks of it—lead capture, follow-ups, pipeline nudges, win-back flows—so you’re not rebuilding from scratch every month.

The hidden benefit: RACE makes automation safer

Automation goes wrong when it’s bolted on top of messy marketing. You end up spamming leads, misrouting enquiries, or measuring vanity metrics.

RACE flips that: define the stages, define the goals, then automate the handoffs. It’s a calmer way to scale.

Plan: set up measurement and a 90-day priority list

Answer first: The Plan stage is where you choose KPIs, decide what “good” looks like, and pick a few improvements you can actually ship in 90 days.

Planning is the part SMEs skip because it feels like “work that isn’t work”. I disagree. Planning is what stops you wasting the next quarter.

Here’s the planning approach I’ve found works best for small teams: one page, four numbers, and three priorities.

Your four numbers (pick one per RACE stage)

Use these as quarterly targets. Keep them boring and measurable.

1. Reach KPI: qualified sessions (e.g., organic + paid landing page sessions from target locations)
2. Act KPI: lead actions (form submissions, quote requests, demo bookings, phone clicks)
3. Convert KPI: sales conversions (orders, signed proposals, booked jobs) and conversion rate
4. Engage KPI: repeat revenue or retention proxy (repeat purchases, re-bookings, active subscribers)

If you’re using GA4, your CRM, and email platform reports, you already have most of this data. The trick is consistency.

Your 90-day priorities (choose 3, not 15)

A solid 90-day marketing plan usually includes:

• One traffic improvement (Reach)
• One lead-capture improvement (Act)
• One conversion or retention improvement (Convert/Engage)

Example for a UK B2B service SME:

• Reach: improve Google Business Profile + build 10 location/service pages
• Act: replace “Contact us” with a two-step enquiry form + add case study CTA
• Convert: implement quote follow-up sequence + sales pipeline reminders

Reach: generate demand without burning your budget

Answer first: In Reach, you’re buying or earning attention and turning it into relevant visits—then measuring quality, not just volume.

A common SME mistake is obsessing over impressions and follower counts. They’re not useless, but they don’t pay wages. Your Reach job is to build steady inflow.

What to do in Reach (UK SME-friendly)

Focus on channels that compound:

• Local SEO: Google Business Profile updates weekly, service area clarity, review requests
• SEO content with commercial intent: pages that match what people actually search (“emergency electrician Bristol”, “HR consultancy retainer UK”)
• Paid search that protects your calendar: branded terms + high-intent service keywords
• Partnership reach: trade associations, local directories that drive real enquiries

What to automate in Reach

Automation here is mostly about consistency:

• scheduled posts promoting evergreen pages (not just announcements)
• automated review requests after a completed job
• UTM tagging templates so you can track campaigns without fuss

Snippet-worthy rule: If you can’t track it in two clicks, you won’t track it in two months.

Act: turn traffic into leads (this is where most SMEs leak)

Answer first: Act is about getting the “next click” — and capturing details so you can follow up automatically.

RACE calls this stage Act (short for Interact). It deserves its own stage because for most SMEs, the big problem isn’t traffic. It’s that traffic doesn’t turn into anything.

High-impact “Act” improvements you can ship quickly

Pick two or three of these and you’ll usually see a measurable lift:

1. Offer a clear next step on every key page
   • “Get a quote”, “Book a call”, “Check availability”, “Download pricing”
2. Add proof right next to the CTA
   • review snippets, mini case studies, accreditations, turnaround times
3. Reduce form friction
   • fewer fields, or split into two steps (step 1: essentials; step 2: details)
4. Create one strong lead magnet (B2B especially)
   • a checklist, pricing guide, comparison sheet, or template

What to automate in Act

This is where marketing automation earns its keep:

• instant lead confirmation email (sets expectations and reduces ghosting)
• lead routing to the right person/team
• lead scoring based on actions (visited pricing page, downloaded guide, booked call)
• a short nurture sequence for “not ready yet” leads

A simple example flow for a UK accountant:

• Download “Year-end tax checklist”
• Day 0: send checklist + ask one qualifying question
• Day 2: send case study (company similar size)
• Day 5: send “common mistakes” email + invite to 15-min call

Convert: build a sales process that follows up (even when you’re busy)

Answer first: Convert is won or lost in follow-up speed and clarity—two things SMEs can automate without losing the human touch.

Conversion doesn’t just mean ecommerce checkout. For most UK SMEs, conversion is offline-assisted: a phone call, a quote, a site visit, a proposal.

Two conversion problems that show up everywhere

1. Slow follow-up: leads come in, then sit for 24–72 hours.
2. Weak proposals: no clear scope, no timeline, no “what happens next”.

What to automate in Convert

• quote/proposal follow-up emails and SMS nudges
• reminders for sales calls and no-show handling
• task creation in your CRM when a lead hits a high-intent trigger (e.g., “visited pricing twice”)

A practical KPI set for Convert:

• median lead response time (minutes/hours)
• quote-to-win rate (%)
• sales cycle length (days)

If you only pick one: response time. In many service businesses, faster response correlates directly with win rate.

Engage: retention is the cheapest growth channel you’re ignoring

Answer first: Engage is where SMEs create predictable revenue with repeat purchase, referrals, and reactivation—mostly through lifecycle email automation.

Acquiring new customers in 2026 is expensive. CPCs aren’t getting cheaper, and organic reach is inconsistent. Retention is the quieter path to growth.

What to do in Engage

• build a basic customer communications calendar
• ask for reviews and referrals at the right moment (after value is delivered)
• publish helpful “post-purchase” content that reduces support load

What to automate in Engage

• onboarding sequence (what to expect, how to get the best result)
• reorder/rebook reminders (especially trades, health, training, maintenance)
• win-back campaigns for lapsed customers
• quarterly “value” newsletter that isn’t just promotions

Good Engage metrics: repeat purchase rate, rebooking rate, email list active rate, NPS or review volume.

Use OSA to make RACE actionable: Opportunity → Strategy → Action

Answer first: OSA turns RACE into a working routine: audit what’s happening, choose the smartest moves, then execute in 90-day sprints.

RACE tells you what to manage across the funnel. OSA tells you how to improve it without getting overwhelmed.

Opportunity: a 60-minute audit

In one sitting, answer:

• Where are we losing people—Reach, Act, Convert, or Engage?
• Which channel is doing most of the work today (SEO, PPC, referrals, email)?
• What’s the one metric that’s clearly underperforming?

Strategy: pick the few bets worth making

This is where you decide, for example:

• “We’ll prioritise conversion rate over traffic this quarter.”
• “We’ll build one nurture sequence instead of five disconnected campaigns.”

Action: run a 90-day sprint

A simple sprint structure:

• Weeks 1–2: tracking cleanup + quick wins (forms, CTAs, follow-up)
• Weeks 3–6: build one big improvement (landing pages, nurture flow, proposal process)
• Weeks 7–10: optimise based on results (A/B tests, segmentation)
• Weeks 11–12: document SOPs + plan next sprint

Documenting matters. If you can hand your process to a colleague (or future hire) without panic, you’re building marketing maturity.

A realistic 90-day RACE plan (template you can copy)

Answer first: A strong 90-day RACE plan includes one measurable goal per stage and a small set of automated workflows that reduce manual chasing.

Here’s a simple version you can adapt:

1. Plan (Week 1)
   • define KPIs per stage
   • set up a single reporting view (weekly)
2. Reach (Weeks 2–6)
   • improve local SEO basics + publish 3 commercial-intent pages
3. Act (Weeks 2–8)
   • redesign lead capture on top 5 pages
   • build one lead magnet + a 5-email nurture
4. Convert (Weeks 3–10)
   • implement quote follow-up automation
   • add CRM pipeline stages aligned to RACE
5. Engage (Weeks 6–12)
   • onboarding + review request automation
   • win-back email for lapsed customers

The point isn’t perfection. The point is a system that runs when you’re busy doing the actual work of the business.

Where this fits in the British Small Business Digital Marketing series

RACE is a useful “spine” for everything else we cover in this series—SEO on limited budgets, practical email marketing, paid search that doesn’t drain cash, and content that leads somewhere.

If you adopt one habit from this post, make it this: run marketing in 90-day cycles, and measure each stage of the funnel. You’ll stop guessing, and you’ll start improving.

If you were to tighten just one stage over the next quarter, which would it be: Reach, Act, Convert, or Engage?