Marketing is an important function in every business. You might sell the best product ever made, offer the best customer service, and have the lowest prices in the industry, but if no one knows you exist then you won’t have any customers. A poorly executed marketing campaign is about as ineffective as none at all or, in the worst-case scenario, could have a detrimental effect on your business.
For example, in the 1990s, the Hoover Company saw sales of its products decline due to a global recession. To try and turn this around, the company ran a promotion that offered two free return plane tickets to the USA, which were worth around £600 at the time, to any customer that bought a Hoover product worth at least £100.
It seriously underestimated the demand for such a generous offer and had hoped that customers would be deterred by the complicated set of forms they had to complete to claim the tickets. The company lost millions in the promotion and its European division had to be sold to a rival as a result of the disastrous marketing campaign.
This is an extreme example, but it shows just how important it is to make sure that you get your marketing campaign right. Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to help ensure you make your next campaign a success.
Research
To serve customers better, understand their preferences, choices, and problems. However, that isn’t always the best option as you may have a very different opinion from most of your customers.
That’s what happened in the case of Hoover; its executives misunderstood how the public would react to getting two flights to the USA for £100. Therefore, it’s important to always do your research before making any decisions for your campaign.
Understand your customers’ preferences, choices, and problems to better serve them. Armed with this information, you can begin to tailor your campaign to address each of these points.
This is what PokerStars did before refreshing its brand in 2020. The researchers aim to understand players by creating targeted marketing messages.
PokerStar’s I’M IN campaign targets adventure seekers among its customers.
Set Goals
Next, you need to set goals. Without them, you won’t know whether your marketing campaign has been successful or not. By having goals, you can review the results when the campaign is over and compare them to what you’d hoped to achieve.
You should make these goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. A goal to increase sales isn’t sufficient; specify it as “increase sales by 5% by December’s end”.
Decide How to Reach Your Audience
With your research, you will be able to better understand who your customers are, so you should know where you’re likely to reach them with your marketing. If you’re selling products aimed at people who ride horses, then ads in horse magazines or targeting horse-related videos on YouTube are going to be more effective than placing them in more general publications.
How much you have to spend will also be a factor here. With a $500 marketing budget, TV ads are unattainable. Consider an email newsletter or social media for effective options.
Review How it Went
Once your marketing campaign is over, conduct a review of how it went. Use your goals to compare the actual results with what you set out to achieve.
You may find that you didn’t achieve what you originally set out to, but this is ok. Try to understand why it didn’t go to plan and use that to create better campaigns in the future.
