There are many best ways to make an entire successful marketing with a campaign. One of Nike’s famous brand slogans “Just Do It” should never be applied to your small business marketing campaign.
Many small companies put an ad here and there, build a website or Facebook page, and then think it’s done. Unfortunately, this method is like dryland fishing – you can throw as much as you want, but you won’t catch anything because you’re not near a pond.
A profitable marketing plan requires careful planning. Here are nine steps to creating a successful marketing campaign.
Find out how your Successful Marketing Campaign Fits In
Ideally, you should have a marketing plan in place for your business before planning a marketing campaign. The plan outlines your overall marketing goals and strategy to attract your target market to use your products and services.
A marketing campaign, on the other hand, is only a small part of a marketing plan – a marketing action designed to achieve a specific goal.
When you know how your marketing campaign fits into your overall plan, you can determine your target market and how best to reach it.
Set your campaign goals and parameters for Successful Marketing
What do you want from your campaign? The purpose of the movement should be as specific as possible. For example, “more sales” is too broad. Certain metrics are required – specific sales of a certain product or service over a certain period of time. Why? So your campaign parameters are laser focused and you can measure the effectiveness of your campaign as it progresses.
The general formulation of the campaign objectives is: what will be achieved and how long the campaign will run.
Decide how to measure success
Which metrics will you use? These numbers will tell you how successful marketing campaign its. Otherwise, these metrics will allow you to assess whether continuing your activity is worth the cost.
Make sure you have the right tools to track your metrics. If your marketing goal is to increase your brand awareness or increase your website’s search engine page rank, you can use Google Analytics.
Set your marketing campaign budget
How much you should spend on your campaign will greatly affect the marketing strategy you choose. Super Bowl TV commercials are much more expensive than ads on local TV or social media.
Don’t rely on free advertising and promotional tactics for your small business. That’s not to say all free marketing tactics are bad, but marketing always has a cost, even if it’s just your time. The most efficient way to reach customers may not be cheap, so be realistic when setting your budget.
Choose your communication channel
Which communication channel will you use? email? Direct mail? Pay per click online advertising? Multiple communication channels will be more suitable for your target market. If your target market doesn’t listen to the radio often, don’t advertise for the radio. Consider where your audience is spending their time. Where are they most likely to see or hear and follow information about your product or service? in the magazine? in the bus? on their smartphone?
Create timelines and action plans
Record exactly what you will do and when. This will greatly increase your chances of following up and give you a track record of evaluating the success of your marketing campaigns.
For example, let’s say you sell a bicycle seat that is designed to be more comfortable than most. The following are possible event plans:
- Sponsor a local Haitian Bike Race in September ($500 sponsorship fee).
- Send a press release when you first become a sponsor (free if you do it yourself).
- Submit another pre-match press release at the end of August.
- Run a series of ads in the local newspaper – one in June, one in July, two in August, and one after the events of September (5 x $125.00 = $625).
- Sponsored posts on your business Facebook page.
Well, this is the easiest marketing campaign you can have. If you get results, it’s pretty easy. It is also a marketing campaign that can be easily scaled up.
For example, let’s say a local who goes to a bicycle race is willing to wear a jersey with your name and company logo on it to get a free bicycle seat. It is also assumed that they are willing to be the face of an online marketing campaign for free or for a price.
You can then create a Facebook page and Twitter account to document their race practice (and, of course, promote your bike seat). You can tweet about their progress on match day and before the game starts. See how easy it is? And all for less than $2,000.
You can also get more promotional offers from your race sponsors by advertising elsewhere (buy banner ads on cycling related websites or advertise in cycling magazines).
Action to Operate
Write your ad copy. Confirm your date. Place your ad. Find and approach someone to be the face of your online Successful marketing campaign. Whatever action your campaign takes, execute it.
Go back to your action plan timeline and tick the items, write the completion date. This will keep you organized and motivated.
Measure The Results
Once the campaign is over, it’s time to measure its success. How many bicycle seats did you sell per week or month before the event? How much did you sell after the event? If your marketing goal is to increase bicycle seat sales by 25% in four months, compare sales data for May, June, July, August, and September.
Prepare The Next Plan
Why are metrics so important? Once you know the results of your marketing campaign, you can improve your marketing strategy. Let’s say your bicycle seat marketing campaign increased bicycle seat sales by 41%. You can repeat your campaign next year.
But you can also find ways to customize future campaigns. If data shows that only 2% of your sales growth comes from your Twitter and Facebook strategies, you may decide to remove them from your campaigns next year.
Some might argue that any marketing campaign is better than nothing. However, for maximum results, planning and using metrics is the best strategy.
3,214 comments on “The Best Way to Create a Successful Marketing Campaign”