The Bullseye Framework: The 19 Marketing Channels Updated for 2026

The Bullseye Framework is a marketing method for identifying which customer acquisition channels are most likely to drive growth for a business.

Rather than committing most of your budget to the channels you already know, the framework asks you to consider every credible route to market, shortlist the most promising options, test them and then focus your resources on what the evidence says is working.

The Bullseye Framework was introduced by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares in their book Traction. Its original five-step process is to brainstorm, rank, prioritise, test and focus.

It remains one of the frameworks we use at Rise – Growth Marketing Collective when helping businesses decide where their marketing resources should be invested as part of a wider growth marketing strategy.

However, the marketing landscape has changed considerably since the original framework was developed. Channels such as “targeting blogs” and “email marketing” still exist, but the names no longer reflect the full range of ways businesses reach customers in 2026.

In this guide, we explain:

• What the Bullseye Framework is

• How the Bullseye model works

• The original 19 traction channels

• How those channels should be interpreted in 2026

• How to design and assess a channel test

• The limitations of the framework

• How Rise uses the Bullseye approach with clients

The Bullseye Framework in brief

The Bullseye Framework helps a business answer one deceptively difficult question:

Which marketing channel should we focus on next?

It uses a bullseye diagram containing three concentric rings:

The outer ring: Channels that are possible but currently appear less promising.

The middle ring: Channels that could work and deserve further consideration.

The inner ring: The small number of channels that appear most promising and should be tested.

The purpose is not to identify a winning channel through discussion alone. It is to identify the most sensible assumptions to test.

The results of those tests should then tell you where to focus your time, budget and specialist resources.

What does “bullseye” mean in marketing?

A bullseye is the centre of a target.

In marketing, the term is used metaphorically to describe the customer, market, message or channel that a business most needs to reach.

Within the Bullseye Framework, the bullseye represents the traction channel most capable of unlocking the business’s next stage of growth.

The terms Bullseye Framework, Bullseye model, Bullseye method, Bullseye marketing framework and Bullseye traction framework are often used to refer to the same channel-selection process.

Is the Bullseye Framework the same as a brand positioning bullseye?

No. There are several different marketing models that use a bullseye diagram.

A brand positioning bullseye or brand bullseye is normally used to define the central idea behind a brand. It may include the brand’s purpose, values, audience, personality, benefits, reasons to believe and positioning.

The traction Bullseye Framework covered in this article is different. It is used to select and test customer acquisition channels.

Both can be useful, but they answer different questions:

Brand positioning bullseye: What should our brand stand for?

Traction Bullseye Framework: How are we going to reach and acquire customers?

Strong positioning will influence the success of your channel tests, but it does not tell you which channel will work.

Is the Bullseye Framework outdated?

The underlying method is not outdated.

Businesses still need to consider their options, challenge internal assumptions, run sensible experiments and concentrate resources where they produce results.

What has become dated is the way some of the original 19 channels are named and described.

For example:

• Targeting blogs now includes newsletters, podcasts, creators and specialist publishers.

• Email marketing now sits within a broader lifecycle messaging environment that can include SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications and in-product messages.

• Engineering as marketing now includes calculators, audit tools, interactive assessments and AI-powered utilities.

• SEO now includes visibility within AI-generated search and answer experiences.

• Existing platforms now include app marketplaces, review sites, creator platforms, comparison sites and AI ecosystems.

Search itself has also changed.

Microsoft’s Copilot Search in Bing generates summarised answers with prominently cited sources, while ChatGPT Search and other AI platforms can provide answers using information retrieved from the web.

This means a business may now be discovered through a generated answer or recommendation before a potential customer visits its website.

We cover this changing search environment in more detail in our guide to AI search optimisation.

The framework still works. It simply needs to be applied to the marketing environment that exists now.

The original 19 Bullseye Framework traction channels

The original Bullseye model contains the following 19 channels:

1. Targeting Blogs

2. Publicity

3. Unconventional PR

4. Search Engine Marketing

5. Social and Display Ads

6. Offline Ads

7. Search Engine Optimisation

8. Content Marketing

9. Email Marketing

10. Viral Marketing

11. Engineering as Marketing

12. Business Development

13. Sales

14. Affiliate Programs

15. Existing Platforms

16. Trade Shows

17. Offline Events

18. Speaking Engagements

19. Community Building

These should remain part of any accurate explanation of the original framework.

However, we would interpret several of them more broadly when using the Bullseye Framework today. You can also explore how these activities fit across the complete customer lifecycle in our breakdown of growth marketing channels and tactics.

The 19 Bullseye channels updated for 2026

1. Targeting Blogs becomes borrowed audiences

The original channel focused on getting exposure through blogs that already reached your intended customers.

The same principle remains valid, but the relevant audience may now belong to:

• A specialist publisher

• An industry newsletter

• A podcast

• A YouTube channel

• A LinkedIn creator

• A Substack publication

• A professional association

• A trusted subject-matter expert

• An established online community

The opportunity is to reach an audience that has already been assembled by someone else.

Possible tactics include guest contributions, expert interviews, sponsorships, collaborative content and editorial coverage.

This should not be confused with affiliate marketing. The purpose may be credibility and exposure rather than paying a commission for each sale.

2. Publicity becomes earned media and digital PR

Publicity is coverage that you earn rather than buy.

It can include:

• National or trade media coverage

• Expert commentary

• Original research

• Newsworthy company announcements

• Reactive PR

• Podcast interviews

• Data-led digital PR

• Journalist request platforms

• Thought leadership contributed to relevant publications

The value of publicity extends beyond immediate referral traffic.

Coverage can build credibility, create links, introduce the business to new audiences and provide third-party evidence that search engines and AI systems can use when trying to understand a company or subject.

A press release without a genuinely interesting story is not a publicity strategy.

3. Unconventional PR becomes attention-led campaigns

Unconventional PR covers creative activity designed to attract disproportionate attention.

That might include:

• A carefully planned stunt

• An unusual product launch

• A provocative research finding

• A public challenge

• A distinctive partnership

• A highly shareable physical installation

• A campaign that behaves differently from normal category advertising

The objective is not simply to “go viral”.

A good unconventional PR campaign connects the attention it generates to the company’s positioning, audience and commercial goals.

4. Search Engine Marketing becomes paid search and paid discovery

Search Engine Marketing originally referred primarily to paid search advertising.

That still includes:

• Google Ads

• Microsoft Advertising

• Shopping campaigns

• Local search ads

• Comparison and marketplace advertising

• Paid placements in emerging search and AI environments

Paid search is usually strongest when people already know what type of product, service or solution they need.

It is therefore often a demand-capture channel rather than a demand-generation channel.

When testing it, businesses should look beyond clicks and assess:

• Search intent

• Lead quality

• Conversion rate

• Customer acquisition cost

• Revenue or qualified pipeline

• The volume available at an acceptable cost

Rise’s PPC and paid media specialists assess the full journey from the search term and advert through to the landing page, follow-up and final commercial result.

5. Social and Display Ads becomes paid social, video and programmatic advertising

This category now includes a wide range of paid media:

• Meta advertising

• LinkedIn advertising

• TikTok advertising

• YouTube advertising

• Reddit advertising

• Display and native advertising

• Programmatic media

• Connected television

• Retargeting

• Creator-amplified paid campaigns

These platforms are not interchangeable.

LinkedIn may offer valuable professional targeting but at a relatively high media cost. Meta may provide greater reach but require stronger creative and audience signals. YouTube can be effective for education and demand generation but may take longer to influence measurable conversions.

A Bullseye test should assess the specific platform, audience, proposition and creative approach rather than treating “paid social” as a single tactic.

6. Offline Ads remains offline advertising

Offline channels have not disappeared simply because digital marketing is easier to measure.

They can include:

• Direct mail

• Outdoor advertising

• Print advertising

• Radio

• Television

• Cinema

• Door drops

• Local sponsorship

• Industry publication advertising

• Inserts and physical promotional materials

Offline advertising can be particularly relevant when an audience is concentrated by geography, profession, event attendance or purchasing behaviour.

It can also be less competitive than established digital channels.

Measurement may require unique landing pages, promotional codes, geographic tests, matched-market analysis or customer surveys.

7. SEO becomes organic search and AI discovery

SEO still covers the work required to make a business visible when people search for information, products, services or answers.

In 2026, that includes:

• Traditional organic search results

• Local search

• Image and video search

• Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

• Bing and Microsoft Copilot

• ChatGPT Search

• Other AI assistants and answer engines

• Searches within marketplaces and specialist platforms

We therefore prefer the broader description organic search and AI discovery.

Google states that its generative search features remain rooted in its core search ranking and quality systems. It recommends strong technical SEO and valuable, original, expert-led content rather than separate “AI optimisation hacks”.

AI visibility should not be treated as a trick involving a few new pieces of markup.

It is influenced by a wider combination of:

• Crawlability and indexation

• Clear and accurate content

• Subject-matter expertise

• Original evidence and experience

• Strong brand and entity signals

• Relevant third-party coverage

• Consistent information across the web

• Content that directly answers genuine questions

• Useful supporting images, video, data and examples

For Bullseye planning, we normally include this under organic search while measuring conventional search performance and AI citations separately where the available tools allow it.

Our SEO specialists work across technical SEO, content, authority and emerging AI-search visibility rather than treating rankings as an isolated objective.

8. Content Marketing becomes expert-led content and education

Content marketing now covers far more than writing regular blog posts.

It may include:

• Practical guides

• Original research

• Case studies

• Comparison content

• Videos

• Webinars

• Podcasts

• Templates

• Reports

• Newsletters

• Interactive content

• Customer stories

• Technical documentation

• Founder and specialist thought leadership

The strongest content is normally connected to a defined commercial purpose.

For example, content might be designed to:

• Generate initial awareness

• Answer a question before a sales conversation

• Demonstrate expertise

• Capture high-intent search demand

• Support sales outreach

• Reassure a potential customer

• Help an existing lead make a decision

• Earn references from publishers and AI systems

Publishing more content is not necessarily a growth strategy. The content must reach the right audience and influence a meaningful action.

Our practical guide to getting started with content marketing explains how to turn content into a structured programme rather than a disconnected publishing schedule.

9. Email Marketing becomes lifecycle and direct messaging

Email remains important, but it now sits alongside other direct communication channels.

These can include:

• Email

• SMS

• WhatsApp

• Mobile push notifications

• Browser notifications

• In-product messaging

• CRM-triggered communications

• Sales sequences

• Behaviour-based automation

Lifecycle messaging can support several stages of growth:

• Lead nurturing

• Customer onboarding

• Activation

• Repeat purchase

• Retention

• Cross-selling

• Renewal

• Referral

• Reactivation

This highlights a limitation of the original Bullseye Framework: not every growth activity is purely about initial customer acquisition.

Email may not be the channel that originally acquires a contact, but it can have a substantial effect on whether that contact eventually becomes a customer.

10. Viral Marketing becomes referral and product-led growth loops

The word “viral” can imply that success depends on producing a social media post that suddenly reaches millions of people.

The original idea is more useful than that.

Viral marketing occurs when existing users or customers contribute to acquiring new ones.

Examples include:

• Customer referral programmes

• Member-get-member offers

• Collaborative products

• Shareable user outputs

• Invitations built into a platform

• Products that become more useful as others join

• Customer advocacy

• Review and recommendation loops

• Visible “powered by” branding

The important question is whether sharing is a natural part of the customer experience.

A discount attached to an otherwise uninteresting referral programme will rarely create a sustainable growth loop by itself.

11. Engineering as Marketing becomes free tools and interactive utilities

Engineering as marketing is more relevant now than it was when the framework was created.

It involves building something useful that attracts or helps potential customers.

Examples include:

• Calculators

• Website graders

• Audit tools

• Interactive assessments

• Benchmarking tools

• Templates and generators

• Browser extensions

• Data explorers

• Planning tools

• Free product utilities

• AI assistants

• Embedded widgets

• Public APIs

The tool should solve a real problem for the target audience while creating a logical path towards the paid product or service.

A complicated tool that attracts thousands of irrelevant users is not necessarily a successful marketing channel.

12. Business Development becomes partnerships and shared distribution

Business development includes relationships through which another organisation helps you create or access commercial opportunities.

Examples include:

• Referral partnerships

• Integration partnerships

• Reseller arrangements

• Co-marketing

• Joint propositions

• Strategic alliances

• Channel partnerships

• Embedded products

• Data partnerships

• Introducer networks

• Access to member or customer bases

A good partnership has a clear exchange of value.

Simply agreeing that two businesses will “promote each other” rarely creates consistent results unless the audience, offer and responsibilities are clearly defined.

13. Sales becomes outbound, social selling and account-based growth

Sales remains a distinct traction channel, particularly for high-value B2B products and services.

Modern sales-led acquisition may include:

• Founder-led sales

• Targeted outbound email

• Telephone outreach

• LinkedIn prospecting

• Social selling

• Account-based marketing

• Sales development representatives

• Product demonstrations

• Consultative selling

• Tender and proposal processes

The quality of the target list, proposition and timing matters more than the number of messages sent.

Automation has made it easy to send large volumes of poor outreach. That does not mean the sales channel is ineffective. It means undifferentiated outreach is easy for potential customers to ignore.

14. Affiliate Programs becomes affiliates, partners and performance creators

Affiliate marketing pays a third party when their activity generates an agreed result.

It may involve:

• Traditional affiliate publishers

• Comparison websites

• Voucher and cashback platforms

• Referral partners

• Influencers and creators

• Specialist reviewers

• Lead-generation partners

• Revenue-sharing arrangements

The result could be a purchase, lead, registration, booking or qualified opportunity.

Businesses should assess incrementality as well as reported conversions. Some affiliate partners introduce genuinely new customers, while others claim commission for demand that already existed.

Rise provides specialist support across affiliate, influencer and partnership marketing, including programme strategy, partner recruitment, commercial structures and ongoing optimisation.

15. Existing Platforms becomes marketplaces and ecosystems

Existing platforms allow a business to access demand that has already been concentrated elsewhere.

Examples include:

• Amazon

• Etsy

• App stores

• Software marketplaces

• Review platforms

• Professional directories

• Booking platforms

• Social networks

• Ecommerce marketplaces

• Procurement frameworks

• Partner ecosystems

• Product integration directories

• AI app and agent ecosystems

The attraction is built-in distribution.

The trade-off is reduced control. The platform may determine visibility, customer access, fees, advertising requirements and the rules governing the relationship.

A platform can be an effective acquisition channel without being a sensible place on which to build the entire business.

16. Trade Shows remains industry exhibitions

Trade shows can provide concentrated access to buyers, partners, suppliers and industry influencers.

The channel can involve:

• Exhibiting

• Sponsoring

• Speaking

• Attending pre-arranged meetings

• Hosting a fringe event

• Launching a product

• Running live demonstrations

• Conducting customer research

The cost should include more than the price of the stand.

Travel, staff time, design, materials, sponsorship, lead follow-up and the opportunity cost of having senior people away from the business should all be considered.

A trade show test also needs a follow-up process. Collecting hundreds of badge scans is not the same as creating qualified pipeline.

17. Offline Events becomes owned and hybrid events

Offline events include events organised by the business rather than attendance at someone else’s trade show.

These might be:

• Breakfast briefings

• Roundtables

• Workshops

• Dinners

• Product launches

• Customer events

• Local meetups

• Networking sessions

• Training events

• Hybrid online and in-person events

Smaller events can be effective for complex or high-value purchases because they create time for discussion and trust-building.

The event should be designed around a customer need, not simply the company’s desire to present its services.

18. Speaking Engagements becomes expert appearances

Speaking opportunities now extend beyond conference stages.

They can include:

• Conference talks

• Webinars

• Podcast appearances

• Guest lectures

• Panel discussions

• Online events

• Association briefings

• Video interviews

• Internal sessions for partner organisations

Speaking allows an individual to demonstrate expertise in a way that conventional advertising often cannot.

The commercial value depends on the relevance of the audience and the connection between the subject of the appearance and the service being offered.

19. Community Building becomes owned and third-party communities

Community building can involve creating your own community or participating usefully in an existing one.

Examples include:

• Customer communities

• Membership organisations

• Slack or Discord groups

• Professional forums

• LinkedIn groups

• User groups

• Local business communities

• Industry networks

• Online learning communities

• Peer-support groups

A community is not simply an audience list with a more fashionable name.

A functioning community creates value through interaction between its members, not only through communication from the business running it.

Community building can be powerful, but it usually requires sustained effort before producing commercial returns.

One important 2026 adjustment: identify a channel system

The original Bullseye method encourages businesses to find the one channel most capable of driving the next stage of traction.

That principle remains useful because spreading resources too thinly is one of the most common causes of ineffective marketing.

However, many businesses do not grow through one completely isolated channel.

They grow through a small channel system.

For example:

• Expert content creates awareness.

• Organic search and AI discovery help people find it.

• Retargeting brings some visitors back.

• Email nurtures those who are not ready to buy.

• Sales converts suitable opportunities.

In that situation, organic search might be the primary acquisition engine, while content, email and sales play essential supporting roles.

The aim of Bullseye planning should therefore be to identify:

The primary channel: The main source of scalable customer acquisition or demand.

Supporting channels: The channels that increase the primary channel’s effectiveness.

Experimental channels: The next options being tested to reduce dependence or unlock another stage of growth.

This still creates focus without pretending that customers experience marketing one channel at a time.

Our guide comparing the marketing funnel with the customer journey explains why customers frequently move between several touchpoints before making a decision.

How does the Bullseye Framework work?

The original Bullseye process has five stages:

1. Brainstorm

2. Rank

3. Prioritise

4. Test

5. Focus

At Rise, we add a preparation stage before starting the channel exercise.

Before you begin: define the growth objective

A channel cannot be judged without knowing what it is expected to achieve.

“Generate more awareness” is usually too vague.

A clearer objective might be:

• Acquire 500 suitable trial users in six months.

• Generate 20 sales-qualified opportunities per quarter.

• Increase first purchases from new customers by 25%.

• Fill 30 places on a new programme.

• Enter a new market and secure the first ten customers.

• Reduce overreliance on paid search.

• Generate £250,000 in qualified pipeline.

You should also define:

• The target customer

• The problem being solved

• The proposition

• The desired customer action

• The value of a customer

• An acceptable acquisition cost

• The available budget

• The timeframe

• Operational capacity

Without these, the team may choose the channel that produces the most visible activity rather than the one that produces the most useful growth.

This preparation forms part of the marketing strategy and planning process we use at Rise before recommending specific channel activity.

Step 1: Brainstorm possible uses of all 19 channels

Consider how your business might use every channel.

The purpose is to challenge channel bias.

A team with a strong paid media background may assume advertising is the answer. A content team may propose a publishing programme. A founder who enjoys networking may favour events and partnerships.

The Bullseye method forces the team to consider options outside its existing expertise.

For each channel, document at least one credible idea.

Do not simply write “SEO” or “LinkedIn”.

Write down an actual approach, such as:

• Create comparison pages for high-intent searches used by buyers.

• Run LinkedIn ads promoting an industry benchmark report to finance directors.

• Partner with three complementary software providers on a joint webinar series.

• Build a free calculator that estimates the cost of the problem our service solves.

• Test targeted direct mail with 100 high-value local prospects.

The unit being assessed is not merely the channel. It is the combination of audience, proposition, tactic and offer.

Step 2: Rank the channels

Place each channel into one of the three Bullseye rings.

Outer ring: long shots

These are possible channels, but the current evidence or circumstances suggest they are unlikely to be the strongest immediate option.

They should not be permanently rejected.

A channel that is unsuitable today could become relevant after the business changes its product, audience, economics, reputation or geographic reach.

Middle ring: potential channels

These are plausible options with some evidence supporting them.

They may deserve further research, but they are not currently among the strongest candidates.

Inner ring: the most promising channels

These are the small number of channels that should move forward into testing.

The original Bullseye process recommends identifying three promising channels, allowing the business to compare several ideas without dividing its attention across too many simultaneous experiments.

Step 3: Prioritise the inner ring

Having identified the most promising channels, decide which specific test you would run in each.

We recommend assessing the candidates against consistent criteria:

Audience fit

Can the channel reach the people who are likely to buy?

Commercial fit

Can it realistically acquire customers at a cost the business can sustain?

Intent

Will it reach people actively looking for a solution, or will it need to create demand first?

Speed to evidence

How quickly could the test provide a useful signal?

Scalability

If the test works, is there enough available volume to affect the business?

Delivery capability

Can the business execute the channel properly?

Measurement quality

Will the results be sufficiently clear to support a decision?

Strategic value

Could the activity create additional benefits such as data, content, brand recognition, customer insight or partnerships?

A channel should not be prioritised only because it is cheap.

A low-cost channel with little potential volume may be less valuable than a more expensive channel capable of generating profitable growth at scale.

Step 4: Run small, decision-focused tests

The first test is not intended to prove the full long-term value of a channel.

Its purpose is to reduce uncertainty.

A good test should help answer:

• Can we reach the intended audience?

• Does the proposition attract their attention?

• Will they take the desired action?

• Are the resulting customers or leads suitable?

• What might acquisition cost look like?

• Is there enough potential volume?

• What would we need to learn next?

The test should be large enough to produce meaningful evidence but small enough to limit the cost of being wrong.

Step 5: Focus on what works

When a channel produces sufficiently promising evidence, increase the investment and improve its execution.

This could involve:

• Increasing media spend

• Producing more supporting content

• Improving conversion rates

• Expanding the audience

• Introducing automation

• Bringing in a specialist

• Developing a more sophisticated measurement model

• Connecting the channel to supporting activity

• Testing new propositions or creative approaches

Focus does not mean running the exact same campaign indefinitely.

It means concentrating enough effort to understand and develop the channel properly.

When performance deteriorates because of saturation, competition, changing customer behaviour or rising costs, the business should repeat the Bullseye process.

How to design a Bullseye channel test

Every test should have a written hypothesis.

A useful format is:

We believe that using [channel and tactic] to reach [audience] with [proposition or offer] will produce [result] at [commercial threshold] within [timeframe].

For example:

We believe that paid search ads targeting UK businesses searching for outsourced CRM support will generate qualified enquiries at a cost of no more than £250 per opportunity during an eight-week test.

The test plan should specify the following.

Audience

Who are you trying to reach?

Customer problem

What problem or need makes the proposition relevant?

Offer

What are you asking the audience to consider?

Channel and tactic

What exactly are you going to launch?

Budget and resources

How much money and specialist time will be committed?

Duration

How long must the test run before it can be assessed fairly?

Primary metric

Which measure will determine whether the test is promising?

Supporting metrics

Which measures will help explain the result?

Commercial threshold

What result would make further investment worthwhile?

Decision rule

What would cause you to scale, optimise, retest or stop?

Need help applying the framework? Rise can review your current performance, identify the most credible channel opportunities and build a measurable testing plan. Speak to us about marketing strategy and planning.

Bullseye Framework template

The following template can be copied into a spreadsheet, document or workshop board.

Growth objective

What specific commercial result are we trying to achieve?

Target audience

Which customer group are we trying to acquire?

Customer value

What is a customer worth, and what can we afford to spend acquiring one?

Channel assessment

For each of the 19 channels, record:

• The channel

• The specific idea

• The intended audience

• The proposition

• Expected acquisition cost

• Potential customer volume

• Speed to evidence

• Evidence supporting the idea

• Key risks

• Delivery requirements

• Measurement approach

• Outer, middle or inner ring

Inner-ring test plan

For each shortlisted channel, record:

• Hypothesis

• Test activity

• Owner

• Specialist support required

• Budget

• Start and end date

• Primary KPI

• Commercial success threshold

• Supporting metrics

• Result

• Learning

• Decision

The value of the template is not the number of fields completed. It is the quality of the decisions the information supports.

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Download the Rise Bullseye Growth Channel Planner

We have created a practical Bullseye Framework template to help you apply the method to your own business.

The workbook includes:

• A planning brief for defining your growth objective

• All 19 original traction channels with their 2026 interpretations

• A consistent scoring system for comparing channel opportunities

• Automatic inner, middle and outer-ring rankings

• An inner-ring experiment planner for recording hypotheses, budgets and success measures

• A visual summary of your most promising growth channels

It is designed to help you move beyond simply listing possible marketing channels and create a more structured, evidence-led testing plan.

Download the free Rise Bullseye Growth Channel Planner

Rise_Bullseye_Growth_Channel_Planner.xlsx

Download XLSX • 26KB

The template is supplied as an Excel workbook and can also be uploaded into Google Sheets.

Already completed the planner but need help interpreting the results? Book a call with Rise to discuss your shortlisted channels and turn them into a practical growth plan.

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A simple Bullseye Framework example

Consider a specialist B2B consultancy that wants to generate ten qualified sales opportunities over the next three months.

The team brainstorms ideas across all 19 channels and identifies three inner-ring candidates.

Candidate one: paid search

Hypothesis: There is enough existing search demand from businesses actively looking for this type of consultancy.

Test: Create focused landing pages and run campaigns against a small set of high-intent search terms.

Primary measure: Cost per qualified opportunity.

Candidate two: expert content and targeted outbound

Hypothesis: The target market has the problem but does not consistently search for the service by name.

Test: Publish a practical report addressing the problem and use carefully researched outbound activity to place it in front of suitable decision-makers.

Primary measure: Qualified conversations generated among the target accounts.

Candidate three: partnership webinars

Hypothesis: Complementary providers already have trusted relationships with the intended audience.

Test: Run two educational webinars with relevant partners and offer attendees a follow-up assessment.

Primary measure: Qualified opportunities generated from attendees.

The purpose of the first phase is not to declare a permanent winner.

It is to learn:

• Whether sufficient search demand exists

• Whether the intended buyers respond to the problem-led proposition

• Whether suitable partners can attract the right audience

• Which route offers the strongest balance of cost, quality, speed and scale

The consultancy may discover that paid search produces opportunities quickly but at limited volume, while the content and outbound combination generates better-value opportunities over a longer period.

Its eventual channel system might therefore use paid search to capture existing demand and expert content to create new demand.

How should Bullseye success be measured?

The appropriate measure depends on the business model and the role of the channel.

Potential measures include:

• Customer acquisition cost

• Cost per qualified lead

• Qualified pipeline

• Revenue

• Conversion rate

• Trial activation

• First purchase

• Repeat purchase

• Sales cycle length

• Customer lifetime value

• Payback period

• Retention

• Referral rate

• Incremental revenue

• Contribution margin

Leading indicators such as impressions, visits, engagement or email sign-ups can be useful during early testing.

They should not be mistaken for commercial success.

A channel producing thousands of low-intent visits may be less valuable than one generating a small number of suitable opportunities.

Measuring search and AI discovery

Traditional search measures can include:

• Organic clicks

• Search impressions

• Rankings

• Relevant landing-page visits

• Leads and sales

• Assisted conversions

• Branded search demand

• Visibility for priority topics

AI discovery requires some additional measures.

Bing Webmaster Tools now provides reporting designed to show when pages are cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft Copilot, Bing and certain partner experiences. Its reporting includes citation activity, cited pages, grounding queries, intents, topics and citation share.

Useful measures can therefore include:

• AI citations

• Pages being cited

• Topics associated with those citations

• Referral visits from AI platforms

• Engagement and conversion from AI-referred visitors

• Changes in branded demand

• Mentions and recommendations within relevant AI answers

Not every AI-generated brand exposure will result in a measurable website visit. This makes it important to assess a combination of citation visibility, referral behaviour and eventual commercial outcomes.

Common Bullseye Framework mistakes

Choosing channels before defining the objective

The “best” channel depends on the result the business needs.

A channel suitable for acquiring the first ten customers may not be able to acquire the next ten thousand.

Only considering familiar channels

The framework is designed to expose channel bias.

Completing the exercise while dismissing every unfamiliar option defeats much of its purpose.

Confusing a channel with a tactic

“LinkedIn” is not a complete test.

A LinkedIn test could involve paid advertising, founder-led content, employee advocacy, social selling, direct outreach, event promotion or community participation.

These are different approaches with different economics.

Testing too many channels at once

Running ten poorly supported experiments creates activity, not reliable learning.

The team usually lacks enough budget, expertise and attention to execute each channel properly.

Testing channels unfairly

One channel may receive a professionally designed campaign, while another receives a hurried landing page and minimal follow-up.

The result then reflects execution quality rather than underlying channel potential.

Using the wrong success measure

A content campaign should not necessarily be judged by immediate last-click sales.

A paid search campaign should not be celebrated because it generated a large number of irrelevant form submissions.

The measure must reflect the channel’s intended role and the quality of the outcome.

Stopping before the test can provide evidence

Some channels provide rapid feedback. Others need time to build an audience, authority, partnerships or organic visibility.

The test duration should match how the channel works.

Continuing because money has already been spent

Previous investment is not evidence that future investment is justified.

Bullseye decisions should be based on likely future returns rather than sunk costs.

Failing to revisit the framework

The best channel can change as:

• The business grows

• The product develops

• The audience changes

• Competitors enter the market

• Costs increase

• Platforms change

• The brand becomes better known

• New technologies emerge

The Bullseye Framework should be repeated when the existing growth engine begins to lose momentum or the business enters a new growth stage.

What the Bullseye Framework does not do

The Bullseye model is a channel-selection framework.

It does not replace:

• Customer research

• Product-market fit

• Market segmentation

• Brand positioning

• Proposition development

• Pricing

• Conversion rate optimisation

• Sales process design

• Customer retention

• Financial planning

• Marketing measurement

A weak proposition will not become compelling because it is promoted through the right channel.

The framework can help identify how to reach customers, but the business must still give those customers a convincing reason to respond.

Once a channel begins generating traffic or demand, conversion rate optimisation may be needed to improve the experience after the click and turn more of the right visitors into customers.

When should a business use the Bullseye Framework?

The Bullseye method can be particularly valuable when:

• Launching a new business, product or service

• Entering a new market

• Marketing activity has become fragmented

• The business relies too heavily on one channel

• Previous campaigns have failed to produce consistent growth

• The team is unsure where to invest next

• A previously successful channel is becoming more expensive

• Different stakeholders are advocating different channels

• The business needs an evidence-based growth plan

• An agency or internal team is delivering activity without a clear channel strategy

It can be used by startups, established SMEs, ecommerce companies, SaaS businesses, membership organisations, professional services firms and larger teams introducing a new proposition.

The likely winning channels will differ, but the decision-making process remains useful.

Why Rise uses the Bullseye Framework

At Rise – Growth Marketing Collective, the Bullseye approach is one of several frameworks we use to build growth marketing strategies.

It is particularly well aligned with the way Rise is structured.

Traditional marketing providers can be influenced by the people and capabilities they already have available. A paid media agency is likely to recommend paid media. An SEO agency is likely to recommend SEO. A content agency is likely to recommend content.

Those channels may be right, but the recommendation should be based on the client’s circumstances rather than the agency’s delivery model.

Rise was built as a transparent alternative to the conventional growth marketing agency model.

We are a collective of UK-based freelance channel specialists brought together according to what each client actually needs.

That allows us to start with the commercial problem, assess the credible routes to growth and then involve the appropriate specialists.

We are transparent about:

• Who is working on the account

• The role each specialist is performing

• How much time is being spent

• What activity is being delivered

• How budget is being used

• What the evidence is showing

Clients can communicate directly with the specialists working on their business. We do not hide delivery behind white-labelled relationships.

This means the Bullseye process does not end with a strategic presentation.

Once the most promising channels have been identified, Rise can help design the tests, bring in the relevant expertise, implement the activity, establish the measurement and adapt the plan as evidence emerges.

You can learn more about how Rise works and view some of the businesses our specialists have supported.

Frequently asked questions about the Bullseye Framework

What is the Bullseye Framework in marketing?

The Bullseye Framework is a method for identifying the marketing or customer acquisition channel most likely to drive a business’s next stage of growth.

It involves considering 19 traction channels, ranking them, testing the most promising options and focusing resources on what works.

What is the Bullseye model?

The Bullseye model is another name for the Bullseye Framework.

It represents potential marketing channels using three concentric rings: long-shot channels, possible channels and the most promising channels to test.

Who created the Bullseye Framework?

The framework was created by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares and introduced in their book Traction.

What are the five stages of the Bullseye Framework?

The original five stages are:

1. Brainstorm

2. Rank

3. Prioritise

4. Test

5. Focus

How many channels are in the Bullseye Framework?

There are 19 original traction channels.

They range from SEO, content marketing and paid advertising to sales, partnerships, events, community building and engineering as marketing.

How many channels should a business test?

The original framework recommends putting three channels into the inner ring for initial testing.

The appropriate number will depend on the available budget, team and complexity of each test, but the objective is to compare a small number of credible options without spreading resources too thinly.

Is the Bullseye Framework only for startups?

No.

Although the framework was popularised as a startup traction model, it can also be used by established businesses, SMEs, professional service firms and larger organisations.

It is especially helpful when launching something new, entering a new market or reconsidering the existing channel mix.

Is the Bullseye Framework still relevant in 2026?

Yes, but some of its original channel names require a broader interpretation.

For example, targeting blogs now includes creators, podcasts and newsletters, while SEO now includes visibility across traditional search results and AI-generated discovery experiences.

Is AI search a new Bullseye channel?

It can be measured as a distinct source of discovery, but we normally treat it as part of a wider organic search and AI discovery channel.

AI visibility is also influenced by content, PR, third-party platforms, technical SEO and brand authority, so it cuts across several of the original categories.

What is a Bullseye Framework template?

A Bullseye Framework template is a worksheet used to record ideas for all 19 channels, rank them into the three rings and document the tests for the shortlisted channels.

A useful template should include the hypothesis, audience, proposition, cost, timeframe, success measure, results and next decision.

What are the benefits of the Bullseye Framework?

The main benefits are that it:

• Reduces channel bias

• Encourages structured experimentation

• Prevents resources being spread across too many channels

• Creates clearer investment decisions

• Helps teams learn before scaling

• Provides a repeatable process when growth begins to slow

What are the limitations of the Bullseye Framework?

It is primarily a customer acquisition and channel-selection model.

It does not replace positioning, product-market fit, retention planning, conversion optimisation or wider commercial strategy.

It can also oversimplify growth if interpreted as meaning that only one channel contributes to every customer journey.

Can Rise help us apply the Bullseye Framework?

Yes.

Rise can facilitate the channel-selection process, assess existing performance, identify and prioritise growth opportunities, design channel tests and provide the specialists needed to implement them.

Because Rise is structured as a transparent collective, the channel recommendation is not limited to whichever services a conventional agency happens to provide.

Get help finding your most effective growth channels

The difficult part of the Bullseye Framework is not drawing three circles or listing 19 channels.

It is making realistic assumptions, designing fair tests and knowing what the evidence means.

Rise – Growth Marketing Collective helps startups and established businesses turn the framework into an actionable growth plan.

We can help you:

• Clarify the commercial growth objective

• Review your existing channel performance

• Identify gaps and overlooked opportunities

• Prioritise the most promising routes to market

• Design measurable experiments

• Bring in the right UK-based channel specialists

• Implement and optimise the selected activity

• Build transparent reporting around results and spend

There is no obligation to commit to a large, fixed agency team or a predetermined collection of services.

The people working on your business are visible, their roles are clear and you can work with them directly.

Book a call with Rise to discuss your growth objectives and identify the channels most likely to move your business forward.