Gone are the days when a billboard or a radio spot were the most effective marketing tools. Now, advertisers need to be craftier and more creative than ever, as the Internet has more or less leveled the playing field for every business.
If you’ve never crafted a digital marketing campaign before (or even if you have, really) it’s understandable that you might feel a little intimidated by the process.
So how can you reach your audience and ensure a successful campaign without spending a fortune in the process?
It may be difficult, but it’s entirely possible. Here are nine things you’ll need to run a successful digital marketing campaign.
1. A Realistic Mindset
It’s understandable that you want to be the best company in your industry. That’s an admirable goal!
But climbing the ladder of success is going to take quite some time. So in the meantime, make sure you’re realistic about your marketing efforts.
Don’t expect one great campaign to change the landscape of your company forever and catapult you to success overnight. As you begin planning your digital marketing strategy, think about what you want to get out of this campaign.
Let’s say your company’s Facebook page has about 100 likes or so. A reasonable goal for a six-month campaign would be to double or triple those figures.
Having lofty goals is fine. But if you’re thinking big, you’ll still need to start small.
2. Effective Planning
A digital marketing campaign without proper planning is like traveling to a new destination without a map or GPS — you’re going to get lost, and it won’t end well.
Just like you wouldn’t head to that new area without knowing what you’re getting yourself into, you shouldn’t begin a new digital campaign without a complete plan.
Think of yourself and your team as a group of cartographers mapping out the path to success. Your map needs a starting destination, landmarks and paths along the way, and a clear destination.
3. A Variety Of Tools
While we’re having fun with metaphors, here’s another one for you.
Let’s say you’re rebuilding a car. You’ve got the body, a fresh coat of paint, a brand new engine, and some great new wheels. You should be road-ready in no time!
Not so fast.
You quickly realize that you’ve forgotten key elements like a carburetor, spark plugs, a steering wheel, and seats. Yikes.
It takes a lot to make a marketing strategy work. You’re going to need tools like metrics, content strategies, market research, and more to meet your expectations.
Even just one missing element can have a tremendous impact on your campaign’s success, so make sure you have the specifics of each before beginning your campaign.
4. Clearly-Defined Goals
As you begin to create a list of goals you want to accomplish with your campaign, it’s important that you get as specific with your goals as possible.
The more specific your information, the easier it’ll be to determine whether you hit or missed the mark.
5. An Understanding Of Your Audience
Every marketing campaign needs to serve its audience in some capacity. Yes, even if the bottom line is to get more sales for your company or increase your exposure, your audience is still the driving factor in your success or lack thereof.
Therefore, your team needs to prioritize coming up with a clearly defined audience.
One great thing that digital marketing consultants use to accomplish this is to create what’s known as a customer avatar.
In this process, you and your team interpret the data you have on your audience and come up with a fictional representation that encompasses your findings.
So maybe your avatar is a 35-year-old mom with a college degree and dreams of becoming a blogger.
It may seem silly to make your avatar that personified, but it can really help you when you determine your brand’s voice.
6. Brand-Building Potential
A business needs to be so much more than a business these days. Customers are tired of calculated, corporate advertising. Instead, they prefer to give their business to companies who take the time to work on their branding.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of branding, it’s more or less how your company is perceived by the public.
There’s a ton that goes into establishing your company’s branding, such as:
- The tone of voice in your marketing.
- Colors and styles used in your designs.
- Your logo.
- How you interact with your customers.
Like establishing the next Fortune-500 company, establishing branding isn’t done overnight. But the good news is that you can dictate your branding for the most part as long as your marketing meshes with your branding goals.
7. Great Content
The cornerstone of any great campaign is content. Be it blogs, video content, or even social media posts, consistently creating content is a must for any campaign.
Make sure that you’re regularly putting out engaging content that your audience actually wants.
Let’s reiterate that last part — your audience should actually want to interact with your content. So as you begin developing your content strategy, design your content with a customer-first mindset.
8. Cohesive Implementation
Whether you’re sharing content on your social media feeds, posting to your blog, or updating your website’s copy, it’s important that your tone of voice remains consistent.
If you take a conversational tone with your blog, the rest of your content should reflect that.
Failing to stick to your brand’s tone not only ruins any potential to strengthen your branding, but it takes your customers out of the experience. It’s like watching a movie where the lead actor changes in every other scene.
9. Adaptability
Finally, make sure that you have a plan in case your initial marketing strategy isn’t as effective as you’d hoped.
There’s nothing wrong with this, and it happens all the time. But that’s why it’s so important to check in with your metrics on a regular basis.
If you catch a dip in performance quick enough, you can course correct and turn things around.
Use These Tips To Smash Your Digital Marketing Campaign Goals
As you can see, there isn’t one defining element needed for a great digital marketing campaign, but several smaller, yet equally important elements.
Make sure that your next digital marketing strategy includes each of these elements and you’ll have a fast pass to success.
Need some help coming up with your next campaign? Be sure to get in touch. I’d love to meet with you to discuss your company’s marketing needs.