This is the capstone project for the first part of this curriculum: a single, coherent 90-day plan that uses the research, messaging, channel, conversion, and measurement skills covered in earlier lessons. The goal is not to prove a business can grow in exactly 90 days, real growth timelines vary enormously, but to practice running a complete cycle: research, build, launch, measure, and decide, on a realistic scope you can actually finish.
The three phases
- 1Days 1-21: Research and positioning (customer research, offer, messaging, decision gate 1)
- 2Days 22-50: Build and launch (content, landing page, chosen channel, CRM setup, decision gate 2)
- 3Days 51-75: Run and optimize (execute the experiment cadence, decision gate 3)
- 4Days 76-90: Measure, retain, and review (final metrics, retention follow-up, written review)
Phase 1: Research and positioning (Days 1-21)
Start by defining or confirming the ideal customer profile, the specific problem your offer solves, and how you want to position it relative to alternatives. Interview a handful of real or representative customers if you have access to them, or build a clearly labeled hypothetical persona grounded in realistic assumptions if you do not. Draft a one-paragraph value proposition and test it informally on a few people before moving forward.
End this phase with Decision Gate 1: do you have a specific audience, a specific problem, and a value proposition that a real person outside your own head understood without explanation? If not, stay in this phase rather than building content or channels around an unclear message.
Phase 2: Build and launch (Days 22-50)
With positioning confirmed, build the minimum assets needed to run the campaign: a landing page or offer page, three to five pieces of content for your chosen primary channel, one email sequence if you have or are building a list, and basic conversion tracking (even a simple spreadsheet logging enquiries by source counts as tracking at this scale). Set up a lightweight CRM (customer relationship management) approach, this can be a true CRM tool or a structured spreadsheet, to record every lead and its status.
Choose exactly one primary acquisition channel (organic content, email to an existing list, or a small paid budget) and optionally one secondary channel for reinforcement, mirroring the cross-channel campaign approach from earlier in this curriculum. Do not add a third channel for this project; the goal is depth and clean measurement, not breadth.
End this phase with Decision Gate 2: is the destination page live, is tracking functioning (test it with a real click before trusting it), and does the chosen channel have a realistic plan to reach your intended audience? If tracking is not confirmed working, fix that before launch, not after.
Phase 3: Run and optimize (Days 51-75)
Run the campaign on a defined experiment cadence, for example a weekly review of the funnel metrics described in the paid campaign diagnostic lesson: impressions or reach, clicks, landing page conversion, and sales or leads. Use the same diagnostic order each week: confirm tracking is still accurate, check delivery, then look at creative and offer performance, then destination performance.
End this phase with Decision Gate 3: is the campaign on track to meet, or reasonably close to, the success metric defined in Phase 1? If performance is far off target with no plausible explanation, this is the point to make a larger change (offer, audience, or channel) rather than only tweaking small details.
Phase 4: Measure, retain, and review (Days 76-90)
In the final phase, calculate your complete funnel metrics (CTR, conversion rate, CPA or cost per lead, and ROAS if paid spend was involved, remembering ROAS is attributed revenue over spend, not profit) and compare them to the target set in Phase 1. Follow up with anyone who converted, a short check-in, a thank-you, or an upsell offer, to begin practicing retention rather than treating the first sale as the end of the relationship.
Roles and dependencies
Even working solo, write down each task as if assigning it to a role, this forces clarity about what must happen before the next step can start. For a team, assign these explicitly.
| Role | Responsible for | Depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | Customer research, value proposition draft | Nothing (starts first) |
| Writer/creative | Content, email copy, landing page copy | Finished value proposition |
| Builder | Landing page, tracking setup, CRM structure | Finished copy and offer details |
| Channel owner | Publishing and running the chosen channel | Live landing page and working tracking |
| Analyst | Weekly metrics review and hypothesis proposals | At least one week of live data |
Your 90-day capstone checklist
- A written ideal customer profile and one-paragraph value proposition
- A landing page or offer page with working conversion tracking, tested before launch
- Three to five content pieces and one email sequence for the chosen channel(s)
- A lightweight CRM or structured spreadsheet logging every lead and its status
- A written success metric and three decision gates scheduled in advance
- Weekly funnel metrics recorded using a consistent diagnostic order
- A final written review covering what worked, what didn't, and what to try next
Common mistakes
- Starting content and channel work before positioning is confirmed at Decision Gate 1.
- Adding a third acquisition channel mid-project, which fragments both effort and measurement.
- Skipping the weekly review cadence and only looking at results once, at the very end.
- Treating the first sale as the finish line instead of following up to practice retention.
- Writing a vague final review ('it went okay') instead of specific, evidence-based conclusions.
When this is not the right tactic
If you are supporting an established business with existing campaigns, a full 90-day capstone restart is unnecessary; instead apply individual phases (for example, just the measurement and review structure) to existing activity rather than rebuilding everything from scratch. This project is also not the right format if you have less than a few hours a week available, since even the minimal version requires consistent weekly attention across all three months to produce a meaningful final review; a shorter two-to-four-week project, like the one in the earlier beginner roadmap, is more realistic in that case.
