If you inspect the inner workings of a successful company, it’s clear that there are many moving parts. One department can’t thrive without the other.
A well-oiled machine runs on all cylinders, and the health of a company depends on its weakest department.
The Importance of Your Marketing Department
If you were to look at one of the first departments a business owner needs to focus on developing, it might be the marketing department.
This is because if people don’t know about a product or service, they won’t know that it’s worth their attention or money. This is one of the main reasons it’s essential for companies to focus on developing excellent marketing campaigns from the very start.
If you’re in charge of developing the vision and logistics for a particular marketing campaign, consider the following components.
1. Setting Smart Marketing Campaign Goals
To execute a successful campaign, it’s best to become clear about what your campaign goals are.
Come up with specific numbers. If you’d like to achieve $10,000 in sales within one month of launching the new campaign, that’s a clear goal with a number attached to it. Once you have numbers attached to what you’d like to achieve, consider whether your goals are realistic.
If you have none contacts or a large marketing budget, set your sights on a goal that is more realistic to achieve.
As you’re able to hit small goals out of the park, you’ll be able to learn from the experiences and build the infrastructure to manage large marketing campaigns. When it’s time to set goals, it’s a great idea to look at what other businesses within your niche are doing.
Look at companies that are your size. Once you study the marketplace and learn some fundamental tips to create successful campaigns, you’ll have a better idea of what you’ll want to do.
Don’t copy another company’s marketing plan. Just draw inspiration from what seemed to work.
2. Consideration of the Target Audience
Too often, companies set their nets too wide and hope to reach everyone. The key is to pinpoint the person who you know would have the most benefit from your product.
Get clear on the audience you’re looking to reach.
Then, tailor your marketing to that customer. If your business provides a food subscription service where people can order easy to prepare portion-sized meals, you’ll want to start with young parents with young children.
They don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen but want to enjoy home-cooked meals. When it’s time to define the audience, think about everything from the jobs they have to the TV shows they watch.
When you’re able to put a face with the campaign, it’s easy to craft your messaging.
3. Determining Your Budget
Most companies wish they had access to large budgets and tons of money. However, it’s better to strategize with a small budget than waste a large one.
If you have a smaller budget, you’ll want to capitalize on the inexpensive nature of social media. Social media ads are the least expensive out of the bunch. You can always opt to collaborate with major social media influencers.
As you set your budget, consider what the goal is for every single dollar.
Consider each dollar its own advocate for your company. When you send it out into the world to promote your business, look at the possibilities of what it will do for your business.
4. Developing a Plan to Execute
Depending on the size of the company, it is fruitful to have a team that’s managing the executive part of the marketing campaign. Whether this team counts two people or ten, try to have over one person managing the entire show.
One reason to have more people on the team is that you can have multiple perspectives on how a campaign gets perceived.
There have been countless missteps by large corporations who failed to run their marketing campaigns through a diverse group of people.
In the current climate, there’s no room for messages that communicate hurtful rhetoric. A marketing campaign can backfire if it’s not vetted.
5. Setting up Plan Logistics
It’s also wise to have a plan to execute each part of the campaign from a logistics standpoint. A good marketing campaign needs a good campaign organization. It needs a setup similar to an assembly line.
When you look at how automotive manufacturers improved the efficiency of car assembly over time, it’s no wonder that the strategies they used spilled over to other industries, even those unrelated to cars, machines, and manufacturing in general.
Much like the assembly line, everyone involved in the marketing campaign has their own task but is also a part of a bigger project.
Consider elements such as a consistent posting schedule for social media pages, buying ad space on specific podcast shows and developing relevancy within the marketplace through visible, pertinent commercials.
Truthfully, those tasks make up a long to-do list for one person. If you can split up the tasks among a few people, it’s more likely to get executed with excellence. Ford and Toyota realized that when they were setting up their car manufacturing practices.
6. Measuring Analytics and Results
Once you’ve finished a marketing campaign, one of the most beneficial practices involves analyzing the data. If you’re using social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to run your campaigns, make sure to register as an official business profile.
Most social media platforms will offer in-depth data when you have a business profile. Then, you’ll want to look at the amount of money the company brought in during the campaign.
Measure the results against the goals to see how the campaign did. Look at the various elements that seemed to capture more attention and gain more visibility.
Also, take note of the efforts that didn’t do so well. Try to analyze why certain elements didn’t perform to expectations. You might have to tweak some component and eliminate those that caused more harm than good.
As you gather the data from the campaign, use it to help you craft future campaigns with greater detail and insight to what people tend to want more of.
Conclusion
When you work on your marketing campaign, don’t be reluctant to take risks and try new concepts. That’s how creativity and ingenuity inspire a company’s ability to leave an indelible imprint within the marketplace.
Gather data on your audience and tailor a message that will resonate with them. Back up your team with the right tools and listen to their advice and critique. Break up the campaign into tasks and assign and assemble each to the right team member.
That way, you’ll have the right talent in each position, increasing your efficiency and conversion rates.
What’s the biggest issue you have with your marketing campaigns?
