Marketing is not a business practice where you just start “bombarding” your customers with those “pointless” funny commercials or flashy ads. It is a complete process that goes step-by-step to achieve tangible results. So how do you market your business? Of course, you can only do it by planning and moving things in order. In other words, you market your business and create brand awareness by running a successful marketing campaign.
However, the question is, how to launch a marketing campaign? This is exactly what we are going to discuss in this article.
Table of Contents
What is a Marketing Campaign?
A marketing campaign, in simpler words, is a course of action which a business adopts to market/promote a brand, product, or service. The business running a marketing campaign may use multiple marketing channels (such as social media, TV ads, newspaper ads, billboards, etc.) at the same time. However, here is something very important;
- A marketing campaign is not as same as a marketing strategy. Marketing strategy is a completely different term; it is a business’s overall plan of action to cater to its marketing needs. A marketing campaign, on the other hand, is a part of a business/brand’s marketing strategy.
- Any marketing campaign usually exists/runs out of existing marketing activities.
- There is a specific budget for a marketing campaign.
- It always targets a defined/desired outcome.
- Most importantly, it has a starting and ending date.
So, this was the basic introduction of a marketing campaign. Let’s move to our next section; how to run a marketing campaign for your business.
7 Steps to Run A Successful Marketing Campaign For Your Business
Set Your Campaign Goals
As we mentioned earlier, a business runs a marketing campaign to achieve some organizational goals. That means the first step in the process is to determine what you want to accomplish with your campaign. One common mistake which marketers make at this stage is they set general goals. For instance, “we want to increase our profit with this marketing campaign” is a vague or general goal.
On the other hand, “with this campaign we want to increase our sales by 20% in next two months”, this is a more specific goal. Businesses generally run marketing campaigns to;
- Generate more leads
- Gain some good publicity
- Create brand awareness
- Increase sales
- Improve customer retention
- Gain customer feedback
- Launch a new product or service
Know Your Target Audience
Whether you are just starting your business or launching a new product to your existing customer base, you have to do some thorough homework on whom you are targeting. For instance, if you are starting a new business, you have to understand what your target audience actually needs. Do they really need your product, or are you just trying to “force” it?
On the other hand, if you are launching a new product/service, trying to incentivize repeat customers, or create brand awareness, you have to study your current customers thoroughly. Here are some important factors which you must consider while understanding your target audience.
- Income bracket
- Preferences
- Needs
- Interests
- Age
- Gender
- Buying patterns
- Education level
Set Your Campaign Budget
A great idea is always practical; easy to implement. If you came up with an idea, but its implementation is out of your financial reach, it is useless. Apart from that, you need to consider the expected ROI of your marketing campaign.
Another important factor that needs consideration is the purchasing power of your audience. You need to identify how much does your average customer spends. In a nutshell, a successful marketing campaign always targets a good ROI (return on investment). The ROI can be in the form of more leads, better brand awareness, customer retention, etc.
Choose Your Communication Channels
The selection of communication channels to run your marketing campaign depends on your target audience. A marketing campaign may use single or multiple communication channels depending on the campaign’s objectives. However, you need to be sure about these two things;
- Which communication channel your target audience mostly uses? For instance, teenagers mostly social media, and if you are targeting them, your main focus should be social media platforms. Similarly, oldies spend their time on television, newspaper, radio, etc., so choose accordingly.
- Do you have enough resources to market your products/brand on specific communication channels? There is a lot of difference between running Facebook ads, newspaper ads, or TV ads. Facebook ads are generally the cheapest among these three.
Design Your Content
Now that you know your target audience and what you want to say, it is time to decide, “How do you want to communicate your message to your audience”? One this for sure; your message must resonate with your audience. It must speak to their preferences, interests, needs, experiences, problems, etc. Most importantly, you have to talk about how your product/service can help them. Don’t start preaching your product’s specifications. Rather, focus on its benefits for your potential customers.
Here are some helpful tips while designing your message
- Be precise; say more in fewer words
- Use catchy and impactful images in your message
- Always use a CTA (call-to-action) option.
- Talk about the product’s benefits.
- Highlight discounts, promotions, offers, etc. clearly (if any)
Execute & Monitor Your Campaign
Now, it is time you implement what you have planned; launch your marketing campaign. However, your job doesn’t end here. Yes, you have made your campaign live, but it is equally important to monitor it regularly. Of course, you intend to achieve your organizational goal(s) with your marketing campaign. Therefore, you need to monitor how things are working. Is everything moving as planned? Are there any discrepancies? It is better to set milestones in your marketing campaign rather than waiting for the end results.
Analyze Your Results
If you reached a milestone or predetermined end date of your campaign, it is time to analyze the outcomes. Obviously, you will compare the end results with what you planned at the start. If your campaign achieved what you wanted or even near to that, then it is a successful campaign.
Still, you need to ask other important questions, such as,
- Which practice/tactic/action was more helpful in achieving the goal?
- What were the loopholes in your overall marketing campaign?
- How did your customers respond to your campaign? Did they like it? If they didn’t, what went wrong?
- Did you make any wrong assumptions during the planning or implementation stage?
- Are you going to repeat a similar marketing campaign?
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