In some of the most expensive marketing campaigns recorded, Chanel once spent $33 million, Guinness spent $16 million and Chrysler expended nearly $13 million. Keep in mind, these aren’t their marketing budgets for the year, these are the costs for one, single campaign. The truth is, a successful campaign is worth the big bucks, but how can you ensure that it will pay off? Read on for six questions you should ask when developing a new campaign.
1. What are you saying?
Your campaign message is the cornerstone to your campaign, the idea that you are trying to get your audience to believe. If you work for Audi, you want your audience to believe that they need your newest model with the latest features. If you’re selling a cleaning service, you need to convince people that your company is the best choice, offering convenience, service and value. Once you know how you’re trying to affect your audience, you can begin to explore verbiage that will transcend all the platforms that your campaign might utilize – print, TV, radio, digital, etc. To help make the transition between these platforms easier, and to help the audience remember what you’re saying, your overall messaging should boil down to one core tagline that keeps the campaign consistent. “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” “Got Milk?,” and “Can You Hear Me Now?” are good examples of these core taglines.
2. Who are you talking to?
Say you’re a restaurant owner. You recently discovered the secret to barbecuing the most delicious burger of all time, but if you only go around telling vegetarians, no one will ever enjoy your burger – and you will probably go broke. A great product and message is useless if you’re talking to the wrong people. Luckily, you have the ability to narrow your audience into endless demographic groups: gender, age, ethnicity, income, location, hobbies, marital status, etc. There are a million factors that make up your audience. Once you discover what those are, you have the power to craft a message they’ll relate to.
3. What do you want from them?
The point of your campaign is to elicit a response from your target market. What is that desired response? Whether it’s calling a phone number, visiting your website, or posting a selfie with a specific hashtag, make sure your campaign utilizes a call to action that encourages people to take the next step toward building a relationship with your brand.
4. How will you reach them?
So, you know what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to, but how do ensure your message is heard? Part of this goes back to question #2 above. Knowing your audience will also determine what channels you use to communicate with them. Traditional forms of advertising include print ads and radio or TV commercials. The explosion of the digital frontier, however, has opened doors for advertising through social media, radio/video streaming sites, mobile apps and more. In addition, there are all kinds of other advertising opportunities such as bus wraps, billboards or direct mailers. Don’t be afraid to cast a wide net at first, and then narrow in and invest more into the outlets that are seeing greater ROI.
5. How will you stand out?
Can you remember three ads that you’ve seen today? You’ve seen hundreds in the last 24 hours, but there’s a good chance you can’t recall any of them. Strive for creativity both visually and through content. Additionally, campaigns that ask the audience to engage can help create more buzz and help them grow organically. When the audience interacts with your campaign, they’re also more likely to remember it because they’ve acted on it.
6. How is your campaign performing?
So you’re running a great campaign, but three months in your numbers start to plateau. Don’t be discouraged! Revamp your efforts by analyzing where your campaign was seeing traction, and where it was falling through. In fact, you should determine your metrics of success before you even launch. From impressions and click through rate to reach or engagement, there are plenty of ways to monitor the response you’re getting from your audience. Keeping up with how your campaign is performing will show you where to make refinements, which will increase the longevity and effectiveness of your campaign.
What campaign is the most memorable in your mind? Share it with us in the comments below, and then try to apply an element that made that campaign successful into your own efforts.
