Your marketing campaign planning checklist

A marketing campaign is an opportunity to deliver consistent messages over a set time period, on a specific topic, that increases your audience's knowledge, resonates with their problem and engages them enough to take action.

That all sounds straightforward, but if there are no strategic decisions at the outset (ie. objectives and required outcomes) and organised processes for the delivery, the campaign can become a bit of a mess!

We've put together the key steps to help keep you on track.

Steps to create a marketing campaign

1. Decide and agree on what you are promoting - it sounds obvious, but it's useful to document it to keep everyone fully on track and use it as a reference point. Is it a new product? A new feature or product update? A new resource, like an app or blog? Or maybe a corporate or brand message?
   

2. Develop a campaign theme. Starting with what you're promoting (point 1 above), really think about your audience - how will your product, service or company ease their 'pain', or add value, or increase performance, or make their job easier, etc? When you've got your list, what are the 'key words' that will resonate the most with your audience? It's a great idea to brainstorm with a larger team, often one perceived 'silly idea' can spark an absolute gem to take forwards. Two important questions to ask here: a) What do I want customers to do, ie. register for something, do a trial, buy something, etc? b) How can I get them to take action?
   

3. Establish your marketing channels - how and where will you communicate with your customers? What's worked well for you in the past? What channels might develop a bigger audience for your product and/or company? What constraints are there on time or budget that will impact your choices?
   

4. Set goals and KPIs for each marketing channel (ie. #x generated leads) so that you can manage and monitor success.
   

5. Plan what you'll need for each channel - adverts, support materials, promo goods, website updates, PR plans, etc etc.
   

6. Map it all out on a calendar, including deadlines, and make sure you include time for research, content writing and the approval process. Assign elements to team members and keep track of status regularly for each element.
   

7. If needed, write a clear brief for any external parties to help you deliver the elements - content writers, designers, online developers, etc.
   

8. Book your advertising space, online campaigns, etc. as needed.
   

9. Brief all personnel impacted by the campaign so that they are fully prepared logistically and can talk knowledgeably with customers if needed - include sales, customer services, purchasing, planning, manufacturing, etc.
   

10. It sounds obvious, but ensure there's a strict plan and process to follow up with every lead and report back on successes (it's surprising how many times this final detail is too lapse!). Don't forget to ask every lead where they heard about you so that you have a clearer picture on what works for you for next time.

Campaign planning is a hugely regular part of our workload and we'd love to talk about your next idea and how we can help.