by Gloria Martinez at WomenLed.org
Every business needs a stellar marketing campaign if they are going to live up to their full potential. This is especially true nowadays; businesses big and small are all vying for consumers’ attention, whether it’s through traditional marketing or a digital approach. When the time comes to put together a marketing campaign, you’ll need to begin researching your target audience, developing your branding, discovering marketing tools — and it can all get overwhelming pretty quickly. Learn about the components needed for a great campaign — this guide can help.
Know your target audience.
The first step in putting together a good marketing campaign is to understand who the people are who are likely to want your product, what else they are buying, and what their demographic descriptions are. Consider the average age of your target audience, their gender, their financial situation, their education, where they are likely to live, and what kind of media they tend to prefer. For professional services, know what the client’s problems are so you can offer a solution.
Understand marketing channels.
Your marketing channels are the diverse platforms or pathways you will use to reach your target audience – which is why it’s important to know who your target audience is and their media habits. For instance, if you are trying to reach an older demographic in a more rural area you will want to focus on more traditional channels such as newspapers, television, radio, and direct mail. But if your audience is younger and more plugged into digital, you will want to rely more heavily on online channels such as social media, email marketing, websites, and SEO.
Familiarize yourself with the concept of messaging.
One very important concept to master, in the world of marketing, is that of messaging. Once you know your target audience, and you know the channels you can use to reach them most effectively, the big question you need to deal with is: what message, content, or information do you want to convey to them to bring about the desired result? Because, keep in mind, you could take the same information and package it one way, and it could provoke a very different reaction if you were to use a different method of presentation or marketing rhetoric. This is where hiring a marketing agency like Pinstripe can be beneficial – we can help tailor your brand voice and messaging for all channels to bring about the desired results.
Find out how best to craft a message for your target audience.
When thinking about how to design a message that will bring about the desired results for your target audience, you need to think both about their identity and desires, and about your company’s identity and what it has to offer. Some questions to ask here include: what is important to your audience? What needs are they seeking to fill? What problems do they need to solve? And don’t neglect to ask: how do they see themselves? For instance, a customer who prefers to see themselves in terms of their own unique individuality might not respond well to messages about “customers just like you.” However, other customers might respond well to that because it implies the security of the tried-and-true. Make sure to carefully craft your message so as not to alienate your target audience.
Use the right marketing tools.
Marketing doesn’t end with the message, however. You need to be able to analyze your results. Use analytics tools available for your website and social media sites to look at things like how long people stay on your page, how often they come back, how much organic traffic you’re acquiring, and how often traffic converts into sales. You also need to be ready to craft more specific messages when creating and launching new products. In this case, having a tool like a go-to-market strategy template can help you keep track of all the components of this new launch, including information about the product, your general strategy, and which channels you intend to use.
Even if you do intend to hire a marketing agency, eventually, it’s a good idea to master basic marketing ideas and know-how to craft and analyze a marketing campaign. It can help you grow your business now and keep it healthy in the future.
