I good marinade I have been using my whole life is liquid hickory smoke, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, a little bit of soy sauce, a pinch of brown sugar, pepper, tabasco sauce, and crushed red pepper. The base of the marinade is the smoke sauce so put enough in a pan to cover your meat. Dont add the meat to the pan yet.
On the meat, sprinkle all of the seasons and dry rub them into the meat. then add a little bit of olive oil to the meat and place in bags for about 5 hours. then pour your liquid smoke, soy suace, tabasco(if preferred). Put enough liquid smoke and soy sauce in the pan to cover the meat. place meat in the pan and let marinade over night. I dont have a smoker so I just use my oven. Set oven temp* to 190. Let the jerky dry for 4-6 hours. Take it out and enjoy!