Marketing engineering.
I measure where your marketing gets stuck and cut what does not pay back. The method I use is the 4E method, in four phases.
Marketing engineering is the discipline of understanding what customers need, choosing a target audience (the strategy), creating the offer and putting it into practice, and then doing growth, the practice of testing and improving. The method that organizes these four phases is the 4E method. The name comes from the phase names in Portuguese, which all start with E: Entendimento, Estratégia, Estrutura and Evolução.
The term already exists in academia. Gary Lilien and Arvind Rangaswamy published the book Marketing Engineering in 1998, about using data and decision models in marketing choices. Here the term also covers understanding the customer and the four phases.
The first step is the free diagnostic: a 45-minute call.
The four phases
The four phases of the 4E method.
Each phase starts from what the previous one delivered. The focus is retention: the customer comes back to buy again and each customer leaves more money. Technology and AI work in all four phases and across the whole customer path, which is what a person goes through from the first visit until buying again. Every 90 days, what the tests showed goes back to the first phase.
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01
Understanding
Understand the customer.
You leave with:The customer's needs and how much money stops coming in, each month, at each step of the customer path.
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02
Strategy
Choose the target audience.
You leave with:A positioning sentence (who you sell to and why they should choose you) and a target with a number and a deadline.
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03
Structure
Create and implement the offer.
You leave with:The seven tactics working, with an owner and a target for each step of the customer path.
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04
Evolution
Test and improve (growth).
You leave with:The result of each test, measured with a metric defined beforehand.
Technology and AI, across the whole customer path.
Phase by phase: what I do, the question, the first action and who does what
| Phase | What I do | Question and first action | Who does what |
|---|---|---|---|
| UnderstandingPhase 1: understand the customer | I research the market, the customer, the competitors and the context. | Question: What percentage of the people who reach you end up buying? First action: Write down, for 7 days, where each person who reaches you comes from. | Technology and AI: Research the market and the competitors, read customer reviews and pull together the data from the customer path. Person: Decides what matters, talks to the customer and reads the context. |
| StrategyPhase 2: choose the target audience | I split the market into groups, choose which one to serve and which to turn down, and define the value proposition: what that group gets that the competitor does not deliver. | Question: Can you say in one sentence who you sell to and why they choose you? First action: Write the sentence with the target and the value proposition in 30 minutes. | Technology and AI: List options, test arguments and point out holes in the positioning sentence. Person: Chooses the target, gives up the rest and answers for what was left out. |
| StructurePhase 3: create and implement the offer | I define the offer for the chosen audience, with the seven tactics: product, service, brand, price, incentives, communication and distribution. | Question: Does each step of the customer path have an owner and a target? First action: Name an owner for the step that loses the most customers. | Technology and AI: Write pages, emails and ads, build automations and handle the first contact. Person: Approves the promise and the proof, sets the price and answers for the brand. |
| EvolutionPhase 4: test and improve (growth) | This is growth. I test one hypothesis at a time, prioritize with ICE (impact, confidence and effort) and improve each step of the customer path. | Question: How many tests have you run in the last 90 days? First action: List five test hypotheses for the step that loses the most. | Technology and AI: Set up tests, reports and alerts, and read the results. Person: Defines the hypothesis, what to measure and what stays untouched. |
Frequently asked questions
What people ask about marketing engineering.
What is marketing engineering?
Marketing engineering is the discipline of understanding what customers need, choosing a target audience (the strategy), creating the offer and putting it into practice, and then doing growth. Technology and AI work through the whole process and the whole customer path, and give the modern marketer more autonomy. The focus is retention: the customer comes back to buy again and each customer leaves more money. The four phases are Understanding, Strategy, Structure and Evolution, and what the tests show goes back to the first phase.
What is 4E?
4E is the four-phase method of marketing engineering. The name comes from the phase names in Portuguese, which all start with E: Entendimento (Understanding the customer), Estratégia (Strategy, choosing the target audience), Estrutura (Structure, creating the offer and putting it into practice) and Evolução (Evolution, testing and improving, that is, growth). Every 90 days, what the tests showed goes back to phase 1.
What does a marketing engineer do?
A marketing engineer applies the four phases of marketing engineering: understands the customer, chooses the target audience, creates the offer and puts it into practice, and then does growth. This is the modern marketer, who with technology and AI has more autonomy and covers the whole customer path. A marketing engineer knows the execution (paid media, SEO, email, CRM, content, data and automation) and goes deep into strategy: deciding who to sell to, what to offer and what to turn down.
Where does the term marketing engineering come from?
The term already exists in academia: Gary Lilien and Arvind Rangaswamy published the book Marketing Engineering in 1998, about using data and decision models in marketing choices. Here the term also covers understanding the customer and the four phases of the 4E method.
Is marketing engineering the same as growth?
No. Growth is the practice of testing and prioritizing where to make changes at each step of the customer path. In marketing engineering it is phase four. Before it come understanding the customer, choosing the target audience and creating the offer, and testing without those three phases means testing on an audience and an offer that nobody chose.
Will AI replace marketers?
In my view, the part that decides will not be replaced: choosing who to sell to, deciding what to turn down and owning the result stay with people. AI already does a good share of the execution, and the work changes: less manual execution, more deciding and checking. If you cannot do the work, you cannot check what the AI delivers.
Does marketing engineering work for a small business?
It works when the business sells repeatedly and can record where each customer comes from. With few sales a month, the method measures the step before the sale, such as the conversation or the quote. It does not fix problems in production, regulation or cost of capital. If the business does not yet have a sale that repeats, the first step is finding out whether anyone buys the offer. My diagnostic is for businesses with revenue above R$ 50,000 a month.
Where do I start?
With the marketing diagnostic, which is free and is phase 1 of the 4E method. In a 45-minute call, you tell me where your customers come from, how much comes in, how much goes out and what you have already tried. Within 2 business days, you get the diagnostic document, with what to stop doing and the next steps. To start on your own, run the numbers in the CAC calculator and write down for 7 days where each person who reaches you comes from and how many buy. With few sales a month, record for longer than 7 days.
Contact
Want the diagnostic for your case?
Message me on WhatsApp and we will book the free marketing diagnostic: a 45-minute call and, within 2 business days, the diagnostic document, with what to stop doing and the next steps.
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