See-Think-Do-Care

The framework that saves your marketing budget

By Alexander Schneider, founder of OOTO — Out of the Ordinary

Most SMEs burn through their marketing budget. Not because they have bad products, but because they only ask one question: "Who's buying now?" – and ignore everything else.

The See-Think-Do-Care Framework (STDC), developed by Avinash Kaushik, digital marketing evangelist at Google, answers five questions simultaneously: Who is the target audience (WHO)? When do I reach them (WHEN)? What content do they need (WHAT)? Through which channels (WHERE)? And how do I measure success (WHY)? – and that for each of the four phases.

This is not a funnel. It is not a linear funnel from awareness to purchase. It is a planning matrix that forces you to think about your own marketing from the customer's perspective—not from the perspective of your own department.

Where does STDC come from—and why isn't it AIDA?

Kaushik developed the framework in 2013 as a direct counterpoint to classic models such as AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action). His criticism: AIDA was designed by a door-to-door salesman at the end of the 19th century – in a world without the internet, without search behavior, without the ability to measure intent.

 – said Kaushik in an interview with Acronym CMO Mike Grehan. Instead: intent. What does the person really want at that moment? Not what the company wants.

The second major difference: STDC thinks in terms of target group clusters, not phases of a linear journey. A person does not have to start with See and end with Care. They can jump straight into Think or Do. They can jump between phases. And Care customers can become See candidates again for new products.

The four intent clusters: What they mean

SEE – The largest achievable audience

The sea phase includes all people who are fundamentally eligible for your product or service but currently have no intention of purchasing. No commercial intent. They may not even know that they need your product.

The broadest qualified target group. For an SME in the digital marketing sector: entrepreneurs, marketing managers, self-employed people in Switzerland who primarily communicate digitally.

In moments when you have no intention of buying. When scrolling through LinkedIn, reading an article, watching a video.

Content that is useful or inspiring without selling anything. Blog articles that describe a problem. LinkedIn posts with real added value. Videos that show how something works.

Social media (reach), low-frequency display advertising, organic content via SEO and GEO.

No conversions. Reach, new users, video views, brand awareness, brand keyword development in Search Console.

THINK – The reflection phase

Thinkers begin to actively research. They consider, compare, and search for answers. They don't have any intention to buy yet, but they are sending clear signals: they are engaging with the topic.

A subset of the sea audience—people who are now actively looking for solutions. They google, read reviews, compare providers.

Active research moments. Informational search queries. Reading comparative articles. Initial interview with a potential provider.

Comparative content, case studies, FAQ pages, explanatory videos, white papers. Content that helps people make decisions—without directly selling to them. In the think phase, SEO is worth its weight in gold. Those who rank for information-driven keywords become visible precisely when someone is still undecided. The same applies to GEO – AI search systems such as Google AI Overviews primarily cite structured, clear content that answers questions directly. Read more about this in our article on SEO vs. GEO 2026.

SEO, YouTube, email newsletters, LinkedIn articles, retargeting website visitors.

Time spent on the site, page views per session, newsletter signups, white paper downloads, return visits.

DO – Willingness to buy

Do-people want to act now. They have the intention to buy. They are looking for the best offer, the easiest way to convert, the final argument that seals the deal.

Smallest segment, but highest intention. People with transactional search behavior: "Google Ads agency Bern," "book SEO consulting Switzerland."

At moments of decision. Transactional search queries, direct visits to the service page, clicks on retargeting ads.

Clear offers, simple conversion paths, trust signals (testimonials, figures, guarantees). No long explanatory content. People have already made up their minds—now they just need the right impulse and zero friction.

Google Ads on transactional keywords, retargeting, direct landing pages, email to warm leads.

Cost per lead, cost per acquisition, conversion rate, ROAS.

Crucial for the Do phase: eliminate friction. No Calendly link that requires three clicks. No form with five mandatory fields. We measured this in our own campaigns: switching from a booking tool to a simple contact form immediately increased the conversion rate.

CARE – Existing customers

Customer care is the most neglected segment—and at the same time the most valuable. Retaining existing customers costs five to seven times less than acquiring new ones. Nevertheless, most SMEs do not have a structured customer care strategy.

Existing customers. Particularly valuable: returning customers, active users, potential brand ambassadors.

After the purchase. After project completion. At regular intervals—not just when something needs to be sold.

Emails with real added value (no spam, no discount emails). Proactive updates. Exclusive content. Check-ins after completed projects. Invitations to events or webinars.

Email marketing, personal communication, LinkedIn, customer meetings.

Customer lifetime value (CLV), churn rate, net promoter score (NPS), percentage of repeat purchases, referral rate.

STDC is a matrix – not a sequence

This is the crucial conceptual point that many overlook. The HSLU describes it aptly: STDC is a grid of five questions (WHO, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE, WHY) times four phases – resulting in 20 planning fields.

Each field answers a specific question: What content does the target audience need on LinkedIn? What KPIs should I set for video campaigns on YouTube? Which micro-moments are crucial in the do phase?

And: People don't necessarily go through the phases in a linear fashion. Someone may jump straight into Think because they come to you through a recommendation. A Care customer becomes a Sea audience for your new product. The cycle closes – Care customers who become brand ambassadors feed new people into the Sea phase.

That's why the framework is so much more powerful than a classic funnel: it forces you to actively decide who you want to reach, when, with what, and on which channel—instead of blindly investing your budget in performance channels and hoping for the best.

How to apply the framework in practice

Step one – Audit: Which of the four phases are you currently really playing? The most honest answers from SMEs: almost exclusively Do, sometimes Think, rarely See, never Care.

Step two – Build a matrix: Take a simple spreadsheet. Four columns (See, Think, Do, Care), five rows (WHO, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE, WHY). Fill in each field. Where you don't have an answer – that's a gap in your strategy.

Step three – Allocate budget: A rough rule of thumb we use: 20% See, 30% Think, 40% Do, 10% Care. This is not a law – it depends on brand awareness, industry, and competition. But it prevents 95% from ending up in Do.

Step four – Define phase-specific KPIs: Measuring the see phase in terms of conversions is wrong. Measuring the care phase in terms of new customer acquisition is wrong. Each phase needs its own performance indicators – otherwise, the see phase will always be cut in the next budget meeting.

Step five – Produce content specifically for each phase: An explanatory blog article belongs in Think. A "Book now" CTA belongs in Do. A follow-up email after project completion belongs in Care. If you mix up these categories, you'll waste content and annoy the wrong audience at the wrong time.

Practical example: OOTO and Dr. Claudia Bruckert

We apply the matrix to every customer project. For our client Dr. Claudia Bruckert, an orthodontist in Switzerland, we deliberately applied all four phases:

New blog with educational content about orthodontics. LinkedIn posts with insights into the practice. Organic reach without direct sales pressure.

SEO-optimized landing pages for information-driven keywords. FAQ sections with schema markup. Clear answers to frequently asked questions—visible in Google AI Overviews.

Google Ads on transactional keywords. Simple contact form instead of booking tool. Maximum conversion friendliness.

Structured aftercare follow-up. Existing patients received relevant information after treatment—without any direct sales pressure.

The results: 148 conversions in three months. CPC reduced from CHF 2.62 to CHF 1.58. Conversion rate of 37%. Zero rankings lost during simultaneous relaunch on Squarespace. And: The practice now appears in Google AI Overviews – visibility exactly where tomorrow's searches will be made.

The most common mistakes

Leads to good ROAS in the short term. In the medium term, the channel dries up because See and Think do not bring new people into the cycle. We call this "reaping without sowing."

"Buy now" in the see phase annoys people who don't want to buy yet. Explanatory content in the do phase slows down people who already want to buy. Both cost money and trust.

Sending a "We're thinking of you" email once a year is not a care strategy. Care is continuous, relevant communication.

If management measures each phase by conversion rate, the see phase always loses—and gets eliminated. Wrong metric, wrong decision.

The framework is not a funnel. It has no fixed direction. People enter at different points. Care customers can become the target audience for new products. Anyone who thinks of it as a funnel is oversimplifying it.

STDC and GEO: What will change in 2026

AI search systems such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, and Perplexity are primarily changing the thinking phase. Google used to be the first port of call for research. Today, a growing proportion of users get their first answer directly from the AI system—without clicking on a website.

This changes WHAT and WHERE in the think phase in concrete terms: If you want to be quoted in AI-generated answers, you need structured content with clear, direct answers, FAQ sections with schema markup, and a credible digital presence that AI systems can draw on. Read more about this in our article on SEO vs. GEO 2026.

The following applies to the See phase: GEO increases the value of content that is truly useful—not content that has only been optimized for keywords. AI systems favor sources that are perceived as authoritative on a topic. Those who consistently produce See and Think content build precisely this authority.

The conclusion

STDC is not a theoretical model for strategy presentations. It is a practical planning tool with 20 specific fields.

Those who apply it correctly stop thinking of marketing as campaigns and begin to understand it as systematic support for people. From the moment they first hear about your brand to the moment they recommend it to others.

The biggest mistake is not running the wrong campaign. The biggest mistake is not having a strategy for three of the four phases.

Want to know where your marketing stands today?

Together, we will look at which STDC phases you are currently missing—and what that means specifically for your budget, content, and channels. No obligation, no fine print.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the STDC Framework suitable for?

For companies of all sizes and industries. The framework is independent of whether you are a sole trader or an SME with 50 employees. It is particularly important to prioritize when you have a small budget – and that is exactly where STDC can help. The more limited your resources, the more important it is to decide which phase you will focus on and when.

How does STDC differ from the traditional marketing funnel?

STDC thinks in terms of target group clusters based on intent – not in terms of stages of a linear journey. No one has to start with See. Someone can jump straight into Think or Do. And Care customers are not "released from the system" but can become part of the See audience for new products. The funnel has an end. STDC is a cycle.

How much budget should be allocated to the sea phase?

As a guideline: 15–25% of the total budget, depending on brand awareness. Those who are new to the market should invest more in See and Think. Those with high brand awareness can shift their focus further towards Do. Those who invest exclusively in Do will reap short-term rewards – and then burn through their budget on rising CPCs because no demand has been built up.

Does STDC also work for B2B?

Yes—often even better than in B2C. B2B decisions take longer, the think phase is more pronounced, and the care phase (customer loyalty, upselling, recommendations) is proportionally more valuable. The framework naturally fits in with the long sales cycle logic in B2B.

How do I measure success in the sea phase if there are no conversions?

Reach, new users, video views, share of voice, development of brand keywords in Google Search Console. When brand searches increase, the See phase is working. This is not a soft indicator—it is a measurable signal of growing awareness. Anyone who evaluates a See campaign based on cost per acquisition is using the wrong yardstick.

Sources

Avinash Kaushik: See-Think-Do-Care Winning Combo: Content + Marketing + Measurement (2015) – kaushik.net/avinash/see-think-do-care-win-content-marketing-measurement/

Avinash Kaushik: See-Think-Do: A Content, Marketing, Measurement Business Framework (2013) – kaushik.net/avinash/see-think-do-content-marketing-measurement-business-framework/

Search Engine Journal: See, Think, Do, Care: A New Way to Communicate Your SEO Strategy – searchenginejournal.com/seo/see-think-do-care-seo-strategy/

Rock Content: Why See, Think, Do, Care Is The Best Marketing Model For The Digital Era – rockcontent.com/blog/see-think-do-care-best-marketing-model-digital-era/

SignalFox / Sherrie Gossett: See-Think-Do-Care Model – signalfox.org/see-think-do-model/

Bain & Company: Prescription for Cutting Costs (Customer Retention Stats) – bain.com/insights/prescription-for-cutting-costs/

Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU): STDC as a planning matrix – teaching material for MAS Brand & Marketing Management