All ad campaigns must have clearly defined goals in place that tie in with a comprehensive marketing plan; because unlike marketing products, managing a successful ad campaign is tricky.
Therefore, to make it easy for you, we’ve put together a list of helpful steps to construct an effective ad campaign.
The Drawing Board
It is important to brainstorm and come up with an original idea. Once you do that, you could define how long the project should last for, the resources involved, and the expected results. All through that process, you must keep your audience in mind. People really buy benefits as opposed to products, so design a plan with clear benefits to your consumers.
Next, visualise your Marketing Funnel and determine which part of it you’re targeting, which in turn will help you establish the type of content (image, newsletter, video…etc.) and platform (Social Media, Emails…etc.) that best suits that target.
Set Specific Goals
“More sales” isn’t a goal; it’s wishful thinking. Your results should be measurable, so declare specific goals, such as “1000 more leads” or “10% increase in shares”. However, once you set the goals, you must create your campaign landing page to reflect that goal and illicit the correct action.
For example, your landing page should be self sufficient and clear on what the campaign is (i.e. contest), what the benefits are to the consumer (prize) and what action they need to take (purchase tickets). However, if your website is not up to date and mobile-optimised, don’t bother with creating campaigns. Put whatever budget you planned to spend on the ad campaign into updating and polishing your website.
Tracking Plan
You must decide on a tracking method before you even launch a campaign. Google Analytics is a good start if you’re dealing with something simple like number of downloads; however, you should consider something like KISSmetrics that draws data from your billing system into a comprehensive report to track results. The benefit is that you will be able to put together a Funnel Report and see where prospects are dropping off in the conversion funnel (breakdown in your campaign if any).
Promotion
Now that you’ve devised a well thought out plan with goals, tools and tracking mechanisms, it’s time to decide on your promotion method. This is where you need to research your options according to your budget. For example, a fortnight’s worth of air time in the radio could cost 1000s, and a quarter of a page in the newspaper a few hundreds; however, social media and email campaigns cost nothing but the time and effort they take to prepare.
Therefore, it is a wise practice to consider multi-placements, such as the main ad for social media platforms, another for the news feeds, and yet another for mobile ads. By thinking over your channels of placements, you will be better equipped to adapt the ad design to fit that placement before hand.
Feedback
Once you’ve launched your campaign, by announcing it on social media platforms and whatever channels that best fit your goals, gauge reactions and collect feedback. Make sure you respond to comments and questions about your campaign, which will create a culture of interest and buzz about what you’re offering.
Are you ready to elevate your business to another level?
Feel free to talk to one of our digital strategists today. We are more than happy to help! Contact us now.
