Marketing campaigns by definition are an organized, strategized effort that promotes a specific company or brand goal. This could be done for a number of reasons. It could be to promote a new product/service, increase brand awareness, gather feedback, get new leads, increase revenue, boost engagement or promote an upcoming event. Whatever the reason, it is important that the campaign be planned and managed properly. Here are some steps to help your brand efficiently plan for their next marketing campaign.
Know the purpose and goal. Use the SMART technique. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Is your goal to promote a new product? Is it to get more engagement across social media channels? Key Progress Indicators (KPI) will define the goal, show how it will be measured and which metrics will track its progress.
Know how you will measure metrics. This will also depend on the goal of the campaign so it will be different for each one and for every brand. For example, say the goal is to increase brand awareness you can measure this goal by keeping track of shares, social mentions and press. Another example would be for increasing revenue. Tracking new leads, sales as well as upsells would be a way to measure the success of the campaign.
Know your audience. What are your audience’s interests? Where do they spend time online? Instagram, Facebook, TikTok? What problems do they have that my product will fix? These are all questions that will help define your audience. It’s imperative to understand who they are, what their age range is, if they’re predominantly male or female or both. Knowing their age range and sex will help to determine where they hang out online on social platforms. It also helps to know what you can solve for them. You’re not going to market a joint pain supplement to the age group of 18-25 for example.
Know the right management software. There are so many marketing management softwares now. Here’s a short bullet point list of some and what they do.
a. Marketing automation & data analytics: offers campaign scheduling, customer segmentation, content creation, and analytics. Helps track campaigns in real time.
b. Project management: helps assign employees to tasks and gives an overview of the project when using a multi-team campaign.
c. Online advertising: measures ROI across all advertising channels.
d. CRM: deals with accounting and reporting so that your team can focus on more important aspects of the campaign.
e. Social media marketing: helps schedule content, monitor brand sentiment and gather data.
f. Email marketing and lead nurturing: examples are Mail Chimp and Constant Contact. We’ve all heard of these.
g. SEO Marketing: 93% of all web traffic comes through search engines according to Search Engine Statistics. These SEO marketing tools help improve search presence and help with keyword brainstorming. These tools are more relevant than ever before.
h. Content and graphic creation: these tools offer consistent graphic design across all channels.
Know you have created the perfect team. Make sure to develop the right team. Define clear roles for each employee and an understandable brief. Make sure to keep them motivated. Have check ins often and empower your team through positive and constructive feedback. Don’t forget to celebrate the small wins!
A successful marketing campaign comes from the successful relationships within the team. Having the right people and the right tools ensures a smooth and successful campaign. Therefore, planning the marketing campaign starts with building a good team. Monitoring the success of the campaign in real time allow for adjustments to be made as needed so that success rates are almost certain.
