A Guide to Campaigns for Your Business

Campaigns made simple!

We understand that hearing the word campaign sounds rather daunting. It can feel like a lot of work is involved, but we would like to show you how easy and beneficial it can be to run campaigns for your business! Campaigns can be executed in a range of formats and don’t always need to be grand in scale or require a big budget to match. Let us expand further on what campaigns can entail and how you can plan your own today!

What is a campaign?

A campaign is known as any initiative or strategic marketing activity outside of your ongoing marketing plans. To help define this concept further, a campaign will always have a set budget in mind and work in conjunction with a certain timeline.

An example of this can be shown with the annual Spotify Wrapped Campaign. Once a year Spotify run an annual campaign for approximately 2 months. The campaign provides a unique report to each user recapping their top artists, favourite genres and most listened to tracks. This is an over and above marketing activity that Spotify runs annually for a set period to encourage a peak in activity on their platform and generate multiplatform and global reach through resharing and ongoing user dialogue.

It sounds simple enough, right? Let us show you how you can commence creating your own campaign today!

Where do I start?

We’re glad you asked! The best place to start varies depending on your desired outcome for running a campaign in the first place. ShortStack, a cloud-based campaign creation company, provide a range of reasons to start running campaigns and they include:

1. Brand awareness
2. Data Collection or lead generation
3. Customer Feedback
4. Testing purposes

If your business is launching a new product or service, running a campaign is an ideal way to generate awareness and target your audience to generate sales. You don’t always have to have something new to promote either. Potentially your business is experiencing a lull in sales and traffic; a brand awareness campaign is an ideal way to remind your customer that “Hey! We’re still here!” and you convert some new customers along the way. There are many reasons to start running a campaign today, just remember to keep in mind what your desired outcome is to drive your strategy and overall campaign plan.

How do I execute my campaign?

Let’s start with your plan and strategy! We know that jumping to the creative and design stage is fun, however, the planning stage is pivotal to setting the scene for your entire campaign. According to Hub Spot, a cloud-based CRM states that “The planning stage will determine how you measure success and will guide your team and campaign.”  Based on this, there are a few stages to follow when planning your campaign, which are listed below:

1. Purpose and goal setting:

a. As we outlined earlier, it’s important you have a goal or desired outcome in mind. This is your campaign’s reason for being. Do you want to build your database or generate brand awareness? Whatever it is, once you have a purpose and measurable goals in mind you can progress to the next step.

2. Set a budget:

a. Unless you have a pool of unlimited funds (how good would that be?) it’s vital you set a realistic budget for your campaign. This needs to include your time, outsourcing, media buying, design costs and more. Whatever it takes to build this campaign and execute it effectively – there will always be a cost involved. Keep in mind, your campaign can have a varying budget anything from $10 – $1 million dollars! The budget should not determine the success of your campaign though, permitting you are strategic and measured with your decisions, you will have a great chance at achieving your overall goals!

3. Measurement parameters:

a. To ensure you can review your campaign in hindsight and track its success, you will need to set some realistic goals with aligned measurement tactics. A popular and simple way to measure the results of your campaign is to set SMART goals. According to Indeed, a global job site for job seekers, “using the SMART goal framework sets boundaries and defines the steps you’ll need to take…With SMART goals, you’re more likely to achieve your goal efficiently and effectively.” Once you have set your SMART goals you can confidently know that you will be able to track and measure your campaign once it goes live.

4. Setting your target audience:

 a.Setting a target audience is a pivotal consideration for any type of marketing activity. If you don’t know who you are speaking to, then your campaign may completely fail as your messaging could potentially fall on deaf ears. One thing to keep in mind is your audience cannot be “everyone!” We know that you would like to gain the widest reach possible, however, using a blanket approach is not the best use of your budget as you will end up speaking to people who are not your ideal customer. For example, if you’re promoting a new tool specifically designed for plumbers, promoting this to individuals who work in IT or as a Chef won’t provide great results, as this is not an item they would be looking for. However, if you were to target professional plumbers and others within the construction industry, this is a more targeted approach to selling your new product via your campaign.

5. Concept:

a. Now you know WHAT you would like to achieve from this campaign and WHO you are talking to, you can define your campaign concept. According to Smart Insights, publisher and online learning platform, uncovering a “…compelling insight that encapsulates a real truth and problem to solve for the consumer” is the ideal way to develop your campaign concept. This will allow you to curate your key messages and campaign positioning around a need or problem applicable to your target audience. If you speak directly to your audience and approach them from their point of view, you have a better chance of creating a conversion outcome for your campaign. A great example of addressing your audience’s problem is shown in Vegemite’s “Vegeknife” campaign. Vegemite aimed to address an issue their customers regularly experienced which was getting residual butter left in their Vegemite jar when using the same knife to spread both condiments on their toast. To address this concern, Vegemite released a “Vegeknife” which was a double-ended knife, allowing one end for butter and the other for Vegemite which would stop the cross-contamination occurring! The overall campaign allowed for further brand awareness and understanding of customer sentiment.

6. Channels:

a. Another pivotal stage to consider when planning your campaign is your channel strategy. With your audience, budget, and concept in mind, you’ll be in a great position to strategically determine the best platforms for you to promote your campaign on. This can include a mix of channels such as digital, print, outdoors, TV and more. Just keep in mind where your target audience will be most present in addition to your budget allowance.

7. Timeline:

 a. Setting a timeline is easy. You need to know when you want to commence your campaign, how long it will run for and when it will end! Once you have this in mind, you’ll need to work back from the end date to ensure that all associated parties such as designers and media outlets have availabilities to align with your desired timeline.

Let’s get your campaign live!

Once you have worked your way through the planning stages of your campaign, you can commence creating assets (which is super fun!) and organising your channels through media bookings or online scheduling. It is essential that you don’t just set and forget your campaign. With your SMART goals in mind, keep checking in on the performance of your assets as this will allow you to gain insights into the effectiveness of your campaign and give you an overview of learnings that you can reflect on and apply for your future campaigns. If you become overwhelmed or confront any challenges throughout this process, you are welcome to reach out to us as we have in-depth experience in planning and executing campaigns. Plus, we love watching brands grow, expand, and develop in new areas, so send us an email or DM today to seek our support!