February 17, 2026
The customer journey isn’t a straight line anymore. Today’s buyers bounce between websites, reviews, social platforms and search results, comparing and revisiting before they ever speak to a company. For organizations trying to keep up, marketing has become less about promotion and more about understanding behaviour.
That shift is exactly where Marketing Mile has built its business over the past year.
“We just had our one-year milestone just before the new year, which is crazy to think that a year has gone by,” said founder Melissa Hughes.
Launched to help organizations navigate increasingly complex markets, Marketing Mile develops long-term, customer-driven strategy while building the internal capacity and marketing muscle required to turn marketing into a continuous, strategic advantage.
While Marketing Mile works with organizations across many industries, Hughes often partners with tech startups operating in fast-moving, competitive environments.
“There are engineers and developers, and they have this amazing software that’s going to solve this problem, but they don’t necessarily have any marketing in-house yet,” she said, adding she loves to help clients make sense of their customer data, map out the customer journey and create a clear strategy. “I get to go in and re-introduce people to who their customers and their prospective customers are. Those are my favorite types of clients.”
Hughes also works with several B2B industrial companies that face different pressures. Many are now investing significant time into marketing and consumer research, in some cases for the first time. Supply chain disruptions, shifting global markets, and tariffs have forced businesses that once relied on stable demand to rethink how they communicate value.
Why technology has changed the way people buy
The common thread across all of Hughes’ clients? Technology has fundamentally changed how people buy.
Early in Hughes’ career, marketing strategy was often an exercise in simplification.
“All of the research came down to one message, and that one message was put everywhere,” says Hughes.
That approach made sense in a world with fewer platforms and decision points. But today’s customers research in layers. They compare pricing pages, read reviews and watch demos. By the time they speak to the sales team, if they ever do, they are often deep into their decision-making process.
“People want a granular, detailed, tailored piece of information at their exact stage of research,” said Hughes.
That shift creates both opportunity and challenge. Consumers have more access to information than ever, and companies have more data about their audiences than ever. But more data does not automatically lead to better decisions.
Artificial intelligence can help streamline parts of that process. It can summarize quantitative data, identify trends and transcribe qualitative interviews, but Hughes emphasizes that human oversight is essential.
“People are taking more time to understand their customers, what’s unique about their business,” says Hughes. “I feel like strategic consulting and critical thinking is getting a light put back on it”
And that is exactly where Marketing Mile has found its footing.
The customer journey may no longer be linear, but for Hughes, the path forward is clear. As Marketing Mile moves into its second year, she’s doubling down on the kind of strategic thinking that helps organizations meet customers where they are, not where they used to be.