Pillar 4: Campaigns

Thank you for joining us to learn how to translate strategy into campaigns
Once you establish your marketing strategy (Pillar 3), you implement the strategy into campaigns (Pillar 4). Bryan Waldon Pope explains more about campaigns in his An Introduction to The 7 Pillars of Successful Marketing. You can learn more by following Bryan’s blog and buying the download.
Campaigns Turn Your Strategies into Effective Tactics
“We’re all familiar with the term “marketing campaign.” But just like “marketing
strategy,” the term “marketing campaign” is often misused and misunderstood. Once we
have established a strategy, or strategies, for our marketing efforts, we need to be able to
carry out actions that will turn those strategies into the tactics that will bring us the
success we’re seeking. This is where campaigns come into play.
A marketing campaign may consist of only one marketing method and one vehicle
delivering that message to our audience; but more often, campaigns employ multiple
marketing methods and vehicles to get our message to our intended audience.
Campaigns can be based on an event; time of the day, week, month, or year; or a
specific marketing goal. Campaigns become a handle we can attach to a group of
marketing activities that are aimed at accomplishing a specified outcome. Here are a few
examples of possible marketing campaigns:

1. A holiday sale: This type of campaign is mounted a short time before the holiday
   (unless it’s Christmas, in which case we see people beginning their campaigns earlier and
   earlier). So we may give our campaign a name like our “Annual Mother’s Day Sale” or
   the “Deer hunter Widow Sale,” a popular one in many communities for getting women to
   spend money while their husbands are away hunting with all that expensive equipment
   they bought recently.
2. A client-base building campaign: If my company were looking to add 10 new
   clients to its client base over the next six months, I might launch a campaign called my
   “Two New Clients a Month” campaign. Going back to strategy, in this scenario I’ve
   obviously set a goal to get 10 new clients in the next six months. I’ve decided that getting them at the rate of a couple a month makes the most sense. Thus, the “Two New Clients a Month” campaign.
3. End of the Month Deadline campaign: Sometimes involving your audience in your goals can be helpful. Getting client buy-in can be very powerful. One place I see this regularly is in the new car sales industry. The dealer will let his audience know he needs to move 200 new cars by the end of the month. To put a handle on it, we would probably call this our “200 Cars Must Go by the End of the Month” campaign.

Have you got the picture? I hope so. If you need more input on this, or any of The 7
Pillars, involve your marketing team or look at the specific audio program titles I’ve
produced on most of these topics. They go deeper and offer more resources for
implementation.
A few elements that will play into putting together your campaigns include creating
campaign budgets from your overall marketing budget, identifying the elements and
deliverables necessary to mount the campaign, being specific on timelines for each
campaign, and creating a campaign calendar which, for most businesses, should be
looking at least one year ahead.”
Questions to Ask Yourself About Each Campaign

• Based on the goal(s) I’ve set and the strategy(ies) I’ve devised, what is one campaign I
  can run to support my goal(s) and strategy(ies)?
• How much of my overall strategic marketing budget will I allocate for this campaign?
• What are the elements and deliverables necessary to mount this campaign?
• For example, design and print work, copywriting, mailing services, website-related work, telemarketing service, memberships in associations or organizations, and more)
• What is the timeframe/timeline for this campaign?
  

Remember to create your campaigns in advance, to the best of your ability, for at least
one year. This will result in better quality campaigns, more cohesion between campaigns,
and more control of your marketing budget. A one-year calendar is very helpful!”

Please check back on my blog on Tuesday when we discuss Pillar 5: Methods & Vehicles