We understand that running a small business takes up all of your time and resources; hence, marketing efforts are probably the furthest thing from your mind. Your main goal should be to retain your current clients and if at all possible, get them to recommend you to others.
But what about brand-new clients? Even if they are finding you on their own (without your help), how long will that last? Your business cannot expand if you do not work to promote it.
The best course of action is to take the time to write a thorough business plan that includes a marketing component. The marketing strategy section should outline your strategy for convincing clients to purchase your goods or services. It will have sections outlining your goods, services, and USP (unique selling proposition), as well as your pricing strategy, sales and distribution plan, and advertising and promotion strategy.
However, starting by developing your first marketing campaign is a terrific place to start if you’re still not ready for this phase.
We’ve put together a list of 6 suggestions to assist you in integrating marketing campaigns into your current marketing initiatives.
1. Put a Plan In Place
Your marketing effort is very likely to fail if you don’t have a clear plan in place. Spend some time developing a thorough plan that will direct you through the various phases of your campaign.
- The following should be in your plan:
- Goals that you have
- Your spending plan Promotional or content calendar
- Information on your intended audience
- Dissection of the phases (design, pre-launch, launch, post-launch)
- Utilizing email templates and being familiar with email best practices
- List of individuals who will aid in spreading the word about your campaign Tools and platforms you want to employ.
2. Set a Goal
Establish your goals first. The better is to be more specific. When your campaign is over, this will help you plan and evaluate its performance. Are you aiming to boost a certain product’s sales? How much more? Will 400 pieces be sufficient?
Here’s a list of the 7 most common marketing campaign objectives:
- publicize a new product
- Boost sales Expand
- the consumer base
- encourage repeat business
- Obtain more publicity
Choose one and try to be as specific as possible.
3. Set a Budget
When you concentrate on the details of a fantastic marketing campaign idea only to learn that you lack the funds to implement it, it stinks. The budget-setting process should start early because of this.
If you’re unsure about exactly what you can afford, consider figuring out the CLTV (customer lifetime value), which is the revenue brought in by an average customer. then attempt to determine how many clients the proposed promotion could potentially attract (as well as how many customers you can realistically handle).
For instance, if your CLTV is about $4k and your predictions indicate that this campaign would bring in at least three clients, you should budget $4k for it. You can guarantee a favorable ROI in this method.
Your current financial situation is very important. Don’t borrow money to run a campaign since you won’t be able to pay the money back if your campaign is unsuccessful. Make an effort to use what you have.
3. Define the Target Audience
You must comprehend the requirements and characteristics of your target market to design an effective marketing campaign.
What you should consider is as follows:
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Job title
- Income
- Level of education
- Challenges
- Interests
Additionally, you must ascertain the locations where your audience spends their time. You can choose the type of content you’ll be producing by understanding which platforms your potential customers utilize most frequently. Here are some key points to keep in mind:
- The best sites for ads are Facebook and YouTube, in part because of their lucrative user populations.
- Young professionals and educated individuals make up LinkedIn’s user base, which makes it the ideal platform for informative, sector-specific content. If you choose LinkedIn, think about utilizing a solution that will assist you in automating your labor. To help you make contacts much faster, tools like LinkedHelper include services like LinkedIn bulk messaging or bulk invitations.
- On Pinterest, women outnumber males.
- Gen Z and millennials make up a sizable chunk of Instagram’s user base, therefore you should employ engaging, personable material.
4. Create the Content
Because it communicates your message and includes a CTA, content is crucial to marketing initiatives.
The call to action (CTA) must be clear and precise. To reduce confusion, there should only be one CTA per marketing campaign.
The material you produce can take many different forms. For instance, you might choose to promote a video that invites viewers to sign up for your email newsletter. The call to action in that situation would be to sign up for the email newsletter.
Make sure the information is appropriate for your target audience and presents a professional image, no matter what it is. Utilize programs like Canva and iMovie to produce excellent material with minimal effort.
5. Select the Channels
Social media, email, TV, radio, digital media, online advertising, print media, publicity, events, and trade exhibitions are examples of common marketing channels.
Which ones you select will primarily depend on your budget and target market.
TV commercials are probably out of the question at this point due to their high cost. However, Facebook advertising is reasonably priced and can provide you an excellent value for your money.
Your greatest bets are probably email and social media, so concentrate your efforts there.
Starting, think about your audience. What channels do they employ? Email is a terrific approach to connect with your target audience, for example, if they are Baby Boomers. Use a solid automation solution, such as ActiveCampaign, or, even better, use one of these ActiveCampaign Alternatives, if you decide to use email as your method of communication. Automatic emails are timely, relevant, and individualized for the reader. They receive more clicks and opens as a result, increasing traffic and sales for your company.
6. Track and Analyze the Results
Even when your campaign is active, your work is not yet done.
The outcomes of your campaign still need to be watched. Your goal will determine the tracking techniques you select. For instance, if you want to enhance sales of a particular product, find out how every customer learned about it. Keep note of how many positive reviews you have received if you want to encourage people to leave them.
Once the campaign is over, you should determine whether it was a success or not. If you have a certain target in mind, all you have to do is ask: Did this campaign achieve my goal?
You might also consider the following inquiries to gauge the campaign’s effectiveness:
- Which marketing components aided in achieving our goal the most or the least?
- Which elements of the campaign were the most difficult, and which were the easiest?
- Have we discovered anything new about our clients?
- Will we run this campaign again? why or why not
Your next campaign will be more successful if you use these insights to help you make the required modifications and improvements.