What makes a successful campaign?
Whether you’re re-launching your brand, bring a new product/service to market or targeting a new audience, creating outstanding campaigns can be the difference between success and failure. So what makes a good campaign a great campaign?
Get the basics right
Before you start anything, be very clear on what you want to achieve. What I’m going to look at isn’t rocket science. It’s about building strong foundationson a close understanding of your objectives. So what are these core basics?
- Knowing your audience
- Delivering a clear USP
- Consistently communicating over multiple marketing channels
- Having a robust call to action
- Setting clear objectives
- Planning the follow up
The above points are not listed in order of importance, they are all as important as each other. Can a campaign be successful if you’ve got a great USP but it’s being promoted to the wrong audience? Of course not. That applies for all of these points. I’m not going to go through all of the above in great detail, but I will highlight some key areas to focus on.
Structure
All good campaigns follow a fairly similar structure. It’s all about intersecting the path to purchase of your desired customer and influencing them to choose your business vs your competitor. Knowing where and when your potential customer is making their purchasing decision is vital (knowing your audience) As soon as you know that, you know where to begin or indeed where to end your campaign.
Take FMCG vs Construction as an example. Buying a chocolate bar vs buying cement is obviously very different. Strong ATL with TV and VOD coupled with great in store execution is the mainstream way of conducting powerful FMCG campaigns. Compare this to Construction. Bold trade press presence, detailed editorials coupled with targeted PPC would work well. These are two vastly differing industries chosen to illustrate the differing options of campaigns. There certainly is no one size fits all.
Actionable
The call to action is another important part of a successful campaign. Some campaigns may have an obvious one. Buy my chocolate bar please, it’s very tasty. Others may be less so. It may be a download of a new catalogue, it may be the subscription to a newsletter or the attendance of a seminar. In these cases it is vital to make the call to action impossible to miss. Colour, text, images and video all enable a call to action to be seen first (having a robust call to action). Don’t spend thousands of pounds on PPC if your end product isn’t suitable or the customer clicks and then gets lost in a maze of online content. Be clear!
Flexibility
All plans change. During campaigns, analysing data is very important. React to trends when you see them. I have touched on flexibility in a recent budgeting blog that I have written. With all of the research and knowledge amassed before hand, you must be prepared for results that may have differed from your expectations.
The way that people interact with brands and companies is constantly evolving however do not forget traditional media. You may find that the 10% you have spent on print advertising in journals is accounting for all of your success. At ib3 we have been working in the print side for years, and I mean years, just ask Frank! Be open to change throughout the campaign but equally, always remain focused and fixed on your objectives (setting clear objectives) Try new mediums such as Mobile, video, PPC, blog content (as I’m doing now!) in order to communicate with your target market.
Differentiation
Be creative. This part I have specifically left out of the basics category. Being different and unique is not a basic factor. It’s a goal and it’s a defining factor of a campaign. People never talk about campaigns that have regurgitated old ideas and mirror the industry standard. People talk about different campaigns. Guiness’ white horses; the Meerkats; Nike’s Just do it and so on. They are all unique and instantly recognisable. This is down to them being very creative. I want to check my insurance renewal, drinking a pint of Guiness with a comfortable pair of Nike trainers on!
At ib3 we work on a variety of campaigns in a variety of industries in a variety of countries. Our successful campaigns are born on getting the fundamentals right and topping them off with plenty of creativity. Our multi-channel approach to campaign creation is designed for you to get the most impact from your budget. Careful planning, creative design and years of knowledge and experience is all brought together by our desire to achieve maximum customer service.
If you’re looking to start your next campaign, get in touch.
Thanks for reading,
Adam