Having a solid marketing campaign is crucial for the success of your business. If no one knows you’re there, it doesn’t matter how great your product or service is, the business won’t thrive. A well put together marketing campaign will make sure that the people who are interested in what you are offering see you and know you’re out there.
It sounds simple, but there are many factors involved in creating a good marketing campaign. You want your marketing campaign to be exciting and generate positive actions on the part of your target audience. Below we’ve outlined several points that go into launching a successful marketing campaign, that will make your business or company stand out from the competition.
Research Before You Begin
The very first step that needs to be done before you launch your business to the world is to do plenty of research. When you fail to learn about the industry of the niche you’re in, you’re missing some crucial pieces to the puzzle. Take a look at the successful campaigns that are being noticed, especially if they seem to have gone viral.
Don’t just look at one, find several and see what the common denominator is. Even if the campaigns are different, there will be a common thread among them that, with research and digging, you’ll be able to uncover. Compare the successful campaigns to the ones that seem to fall flat and see what’s missing from the unsuccessful ones.
Doing research up front is very important because it can prevent you from making some of the common mistakes that many business owners make with their campaigns. Your goal is to create a campaign that gets their attention and gets them to do whatever action you are asking of them: open the email, click the link, sign up for the list and yes, ultimately, purchase the product or service.
Who is Your Target Audience?
One of the biggest mistakes a business makes when creating marketing campaigns is to not have a good grasp of who their target audience is. Your marketing needs to “speak” to the people who are interested in and looking for the services and products you offer. If you’re random about the people you’re marketing to, you stand to just spin your wheels and not make good use of your marketing dollars.
It’s important to know certain things about your audience as well, such as where they are spending most of their time online and how to reach them in effective ways that encourage interaction. When you know more about them and what they’re looking for, you can better predict the kinds or marketing campaigns that will get them to act in a positive way. You want your campaigns to really resonate with your audience. This makes them feel a kinship with your business that leads to customer loyalty.
The Importance of a Plan
Winging it when it comes to marketing campaigns is never a good idea and can cost you time and money. Without a plan, your campaign is very likely to just fade away soon after you launch. With a strategic plan in place, your business won’t be a flash in the pan and will have longevity when it comes to reaching your target audience, including new customers.
So, what goes into a marketing campaign plan? You want to include things like:
- A promotion or content calendar
- Information about your audience
- Your goals for the business
- Email templates for staying in contact with your list
- Your budget
- A list of people who can assist in getting the word out about you
- Tools you plan to use during the launch (venues, sites, etc.)
- A breakdown of the different phases:
- Design
- Pre-launch
- Launch
- Post launch
- Ongoing
Have your plan in place before you launch and things will go much smoother and more successfully as well.
What Method Do You Want to Use?
There are many different ways that you can get the word out about your business and build a brand that people recognize. You have several methods to choose from, all of which are good in their own right. These methods include:
- Social Media
- Email Marketing
- Events
- Blogging
- PPC
These are just a few. Most marketing campaigns will include a combination of these methods so the business is seen more than just in one spot or type of media. The more places consumers see you and your business brand, the more that brand recognition will grow.
Make sure that what you’re putting out there for your customers and potential customers is of value. The quality of your content is crucial to the impression consumers get and keep about your business, so make sure that it’s as positive and beneficial to them as possible.
Don’t Rush Things
There’s a fine line between giving yourself too much time when planning a marketing campaign launch, and not giving yourself enough time to get the tasks done and be ready. A poorly timed launch can create chaos and not have the desired results. You need time to:
- Plan
- Design
- Promote
- Adjust to unknown factors
- Evaluate how things are going
- Readjust anything that isn’t working
- Get the word out
If you rush too much and haven’t had time to reach out to some people who can be crucial in helping get the word out about your business products or services, the whole campaign could be for nothing. You never want to waste marketing dollars intentionally, and not giving yourself enough time to do the required steps is ultimately wasting dollars because it won’t be utilized in the best way.
You will need to allow time for a few things. These activities include:
- Reaching out to any customers you already have before your campaign goes live to ask for their help with word-of-mouth advertising.
- Contacting anyone who would be willing to help promote your campaign.
- Following up with anyone who agreed to help get the word out about you and making sure they have the information they need.
- Creating a promotion calendar that includes those people who are on board with helping you.
Don’t give yourself so much time that there is no urgency, but making yourself rush is not the way to go either. Decide how much time it could take to do certain tasks, allowing for time for others to respond to your inquiries and allow just a shade more time than you think it will take.
Evaluating and Making Changes
Once you launch, you’ll no doubt, be watching what happens and the responses you get…or don’t get. If your marketing campaign launch doesn’t go the way you were expecting, it’s time to evaluate what steps you took and see what can be tweaked and even in some cases, flat out changed. You should never just create a marketing campaign, hit launch and then forget it. The best campaigns are the ones you keep working, tweaking and improving.
A marketing campaign is a crucial part of getting your business name, products and/or services in front of the people looking for it. Take the time to set it up correctly, launch it with the proper assistance and then maintain and make adjustments to it as needed, and you could become one of the great and successful marketing campaign stories out there that last a long time.
