Many small businesses think they’re done after a few ads, a website, or a Facebook page. It’s like fishing on dry land—you can cast all you want but won’t catch anything because you aren’t near the pond.
Profitable marketing requires meticulous planning. A successful marketing campaign follows these steps.
Contents
- Know Your Campaign’s Fit
- Set goals and parameters for your campaign
- Decide on Success Metrics
- Decide on the best Channels of Communication
- Have an Action Plan and a Timeline
- Execute
- Evaluate the outcome
Know Your Campaign’s Fit
Ideally, you should have a marketing strategy in place before launching a campaign. This plan outlines the overall marketing objectives and strategies to attract your target market. A marketing campaign, on the other hand, is a marketing action designed to achieve a specific goal.
Knowing where your marketing campaign fits into your overall strategy helps you identify your target demographic.
Set goals and parameters for your campaign
What do you hope to achieve? The campaign’s goal should be clear. “More sales” is too broad. A specific metric—a specific number of sales for a specific product or service—is required. Why? So you can focus your campaign’s parameters and track its progress.
What will be achieved plus how long will the marketing campaign run?
“Sales of face beauty masks will double in three months.” “Travel services sales will increase 15% over the next eight weeks.”
Decide on Success Metrics
What metrics will you use? Less is more in marketing. If not, metrics will help you determine if continuing the campaign is worthwhile.
Assemble the tools necessary to track your metrics. Google Analytics can help you increase brand awareness or improve your website’s search engine ranking.
The marketing strategies you choose will be heavily influenced by your budget. A Super Bowl TV ad costs much more than a local TV or social media ad.
Don’t rely on free marketing for your small business. Not all free marketing strategies are bad, but marketing always has a cost, even if it’s just your time. The most effective way to reach your customers may not be the cheapest.
Decide on the best Channels of Communication
How will you communicate? Email? PPC online marketing? Social Media? Some communication channels will be more effective with your target demographic. Place radio ads only if your target market regularly listens. Consider your audience’s habits. Where are they most likely to see or hear about your products or services? A bus? Their phones? Supermarket?
Have an Action Plan and a Timeline
Specify what you’ll do and when. This will increase your chances of following through and give you a record to evaluate your marketing campaign’s success.
Execute
Make an ad copy. Set your dates. Set up ads. Find and approach a spokesperson for your online marketing campaign. Execute your campaign’s actions.
Revisit your action plan timeline and mark completed items. It will keep you motivated.
Evaluate the outcome
After the campaign, evaluate its success. When did you sell the most bike seats per week or month? How many are post-campaign? If your goal was to double bike seat sales in four months, compare sales in May, June, July, August, and September.