Creating and running a successful, income-generating marketing campaign is not as easy as you may first think but neither, you will be glad to hear, is it rocket science.
It is however about getting the foundations right at the outset, which will ensure that you get the most out of your marketing budget.
Before we talk about those foundations we thought we would give you a simple definition for a marketing campaign.
A marketing campaign is the stuff you do:
- To get more customers
- To sell more
- To become more profitable
As you will be well aware, the range of marketing activities available to us is vast and it grows year on year with new opportunities opening up through the advances in technology.
Advertising and marketing can be expensive and so when you are deciding on how to spend your marketing budget it makes sense to ensure that you are getting your message across to those people who are most likely to spend their money with you.
The Building Blocks of Marketing
Before we can even begin to think about what marketing activity we are going to pursue we need to make sure that we have some solid foundations in place on which to build our marketing campaign.
These foundations are intrinsically linked with good business management, which is what makes this type of campaigning so successful. We like to call it integrated marketing.
First off , and this applies to a new business or new product line as well as an existing business or product, we have to fully understand what it is that we have to sell, who our competitors are and who our potential market is.
If we use the small nursery business in Foundation tips 1 as an example we can see that:
- The products on offer are plants- perennials and herbs in particular.
- The competition is other local business such as B&Q and the larger garden centres; there are few if any small nurseries within the area.
- The target market is likely to be people who live local to the nursery and is a mix of senior citizens who enjoy buying from individual providers and younger people who are embracing the grow your own/ organic/ buy local ethos. All appreciate a bargain and a friendly and knowledgeable service.
With this information under our belt, we can begin to define our proposition, pricing structure, brand and message.
- Proposition and Pricing: The nursery owner now knows that she will be unlikely to compete on price with her competitors because they are large retail chains who benefit from their bulk buying capability. She can however keep prices comparable and on occasions run promotions such as plant of the week and discounts on multiple buys. What will set her apart from the competition is the uniqueness of her proposition i.e. a small independent family run nursery growing locally and selling locally, direct to the public.
- Brand Identity and Message: Taking that proposition and knowing the target that she is trying to attract, her message and brand must reflect the uniqueness of the proposition. The message to be given to her potential customers therefore has to be that the nursery is a charming alternative shopping experience, selling local home grown unusual plants and herbs at reasonable prices. And everything about the brand identity must reflect this. There would be no point putting a huge flashing neon light outside the property or having a high tech website; it would be confusing. A simple rustic logo with complementary branding would however fit perfectly with the low key, back to basics gardening image that this company is all about.
Creating and Running a Marketing Campaign
Having the foundations in place, we can now look towards the next steps, which are about putting a marketing campaign together.
Setting Objectives
As with all good business practice, we should start with setting objectives for our campaign. The reason for this is so that we know whether or not we are achieving what we set out to do. It keeps us focused on our goals.
Examples of a marketing objective may be:
- In 3 months I will have gained 15 more customers
- By December 2010 I will have increased my sales by 50%
- In 2010 I will have sold 20% more of product ‘B’ to my customer base
Choosing Your Audience
Having set your objectives, you need to decide what set of customers you want to target.
Not all of your customers, depending on your business, will be interested in the same thing. Take us for instance. We are a marketing company with a wide range of customers from very small companies to large technological corporations with big marketing departments. Our large customers are unlikely to want our marketing tips but may very well be interested in employing us for a one off piece of consultancy to launch a product in a new country. So when we solicit for new work we have to know what we have to offer and who it will appeal to. And when we know that, then and only then can we decide which marketing activity will get that message across to that target audience.
(Foundation Tips 1 gives more information on defining your target market)
Choosing Your Activity
This is not just as simple as guessing what publication your target audience will read; there are a number of factors that should be taken into account to make sure you spend your marketing budget in the most efficient and beneficial way. Your budget will also dictate what activities are possible.
Things to keep in mind when deciding on appropriate activities are:
- What is your budget and is it realistic?
- Are there any barriers to getting your message across i.e. language, culture, disabilities etc?
- Is the timing right? For example are you ready for an influx of business, do you have the capacity to cope should your campaign be successful or is your business seasonal and will your customers be in the right frame of mind at this time of year to hear your message; just think of the impact on the sale of PC’s during “Back to School” burst marketing campaigns.
- How are your customers influenced? Do they read trade magazines or local freebie papers; do they like referrals, discounts, bargains, specialties, one-offs, social media sites, prize raffles for customer surveys etc?
- Do you know where your customers live or where they go? Are they local people, are they likely to be commuting each morning to London, will they be at a music venue where you could leaflet 100’s of potential customers in 2 hours, do they do the school run?
- What response do you want? If you carry out market research on 100 companies with an offer of some free consultancy if they answer your questions, have you really got the time to fulfill that offer if they all respond?
When you have thought about these questions, you should be able to identify a few marketing activities that will effectively deliver your message. (See fig 1).
Measuring your success against your original objectives?
Having spent your marketing budget on several marketing activities now is the time to see if your efforts have paid dividends. And the only way to really know if you have achieved what you set out to do is to look again at your objectives. Have they been met?
Questions to think about when you are measuring the effectiveness of your campaign are:
- Did the campaign work?
- What went right?
- What went wrong?
- Do you need to revisit your basics (message/ brand/ pricing / proposition)?
- How much time did it take?
- How much did it cost?
- Are the results worth the time and money?
Lessons Learnt and Time for Re-Planning
We are convinced that when you use the techniques described in this document your marketing campaign will see some success. There may well be times when you will need to re-visit and tweak your plan because life and business and the world’s economic situation is not set in stone, but as a general rule this procedure for creating and running a marketing campaign is tried and tested.
You may have heard the saying that success breeds success and what we advocate is that you continue learning and re-planning your marketing campaigns so that one successful campaign rolls into another. As a rule of thumb 5% of your profit should go back into marketing- you should be looking at re-investing to create another campaign, after all marketing is not a one off activity. If it was we would never see Coca Cola, McDonalds or BMW- organisations at the top of their game- bothering with advertising or re-branding.
And when you have had a successful campaign, don’t forget to shout about it…..can you get some publicity out of it; can you create a case study from it? Always be on the lookout for ways to promote your business.
But whatever you do regarding your marketing- remember to PLAN your activity!
