In dedication to the John Lewis Monty the Penguin advert (which we love!), or the “Christmas fairies” M&S campaign, I decided to look at what a marketing campaign is and how to get the most out of one.
So guess what…I am going to start with a definition. What exactly is a marketing campaign?
Investopedia states that a Marketing campaign is:
“Specific activities designed to promote a product, service or business. A marketing campaign is a coordinated series of steps that can include promotion of a product through different mediums (television, radio, print, online) using a variety of different types of advertisements”.
So in simple terms, it is a collection or number of activities all promoting the same product, service or business, or in other words, it is a common theme for your advertising during a set period of time. But how do you get the most out of a campaign?
For me there are three key aspects to a successful campaign with the dominating factor of continuity throughout.
1) Consistent Message
It is key for any campaign that your marketing message and communication is consistent. The common theme throughout any campaign has to be the message. The message of a campaign is based upon both the objective of the campaign (e.g. to sell a product or promote a service) and the promotion of this message (e.g. special offer, unique selling points and pricing).
In order to make it clear and understandable to the customer the message, communication and call to action all must be consistent and last the duration of the campaign. Something as basic as making sure the price for your product is the same for the duration of the campaign, or the wording of your promotional tool (summer sale for instance) is consistent. You can’t go from having ‘summer sale’ to ‘summer savings’ to ‘full price summer’ in one campaign, it’s just confusing.
2) Consistent Branding
In keeping with the above message, the branding of a campaign also has to be consistent. Whether it is the colour scheme/brand colours or the logo/branding used it needs to be the same throughout. Think about a notable campaign such as John Lewis, the music on their advert, wording in their advertisement and even the colour scheme/design element will be consistent throughout their Christmas period advertising. And M&S will use “Magic & Sparkle” and the fairies consistently across all channels and adverts throughout Christmas. This is essential for the target audience to be able to associate and identify with your brand and advertising.
3) Engage audience
Continuing with association and identity of an advert, try and make your target audience engage with your adverts and to relate to your campaign. Why suddenly does everyone want a soft toy penguin? Because John Lewis have featured them throughout their campaign and we empathise with the comfort a soft toy brings.
Now not everyone can be as big as John Lewis, but making sure your campaign engages with your audience is a crucial lever anyone can use. Make sure your campaign is consistent throughout all your channels including physical, in-store/office, online and through social media. Encourage participation through online and social channels. Hashtags give a great way to engage and build a campaign. It gives people the opportunity to participate and spread the word, and gives common identity to a campaign.
If an audience is engaged in a campaign, and spreads the word for you, then what better way to make your campaign appear larger.
So there you have it, the key to a good campaign is consistency. And speaking of consistency, I will be back next week with another marketing blog post, the topic of which will be managing a small budget.