How To Launch a Successful Marketing Campaign

How do you launch a successful marketing campaign? We believe that while most of our readers already have an established business, some might not be certain of how marketing campaigns work. For the benefit all aspiring entrepreneurs out there, we want to share with you some general steps and tips on launching a successful marketing campaign.

Does my business need Marketing?

Marketing is important to generate sales for your business. It is a mix of strategies that your business will have to execute to either promote sales of a product/service, to boost your brand exposure or to encourage customers to engage with your business.

Choosing the appropriate strategies for your campaign is crucial to having a successful campaign. While almost all businesses require marketing, there is no ‘one size fits all’.

Stage 1 : Market Research

Before you launch your campaign, one important step to this process is understanding your target market. Launching a successful marketing campaign requires your business to cater to a specific target market.

For example, Cosmetic brands are much more popular with females – Which is why most cosmetic brands target females and adapt their products to appeal to more females.

When targeting a market segment, brands should not restrict themselves just by gender! You could study your target market according to demographics, geographics, psychographic, benefits and behavior.

Your target market should be identifiable, substantial, reachable, responsive and most importantly – profitable.

To understand your target market, surveys and focus groups can be very useful to learn hidden insights your business might not have recognised earlier.

Stage 2 : Budgeting and Planning

We understand that most of the time, businesses have one objective in mind – profit.

We believe that while marketing campaigns are important, it is also important to sustain the businesses. After you’ve established the target market, its time to plan out your budget.

Most companies reserve 5% of their revenue for their marketing budget. Others, with the objective to expand and boost brand exposure, spends around 10% of their revenue for marketing. Ultimately, we’d recommend to compare your marketing budget with your expected returns.

When budgeting, ask yourself ; “How much leads can I generate and will it pay for my marketing budget?”

At the very least, you’d want your campaign to allow you to break even.

Stage 3 : Marketing Activities & Schedule

Now that you’ve established your target market and budget, it is time to iron out the details of your marketing campaign.

This is when you start compiling marketing strategies and ideas that your brand wants to execute. These activities must fit into your budget and also cater to your target market.

Plan out a timeline/roadmap for your campaign with specific dates. This will serve as a guideline for your team and monitor the progress of your campaign. Most importantly, make sure you reach your deadlines! We recommend planning at most 6 months prior to launching your campaign if its a big programme like a Christmas Promotion.

Since Marketing is a fluid topic, here are some examples of marketing strategies successful brands will use. The ‘$’ indicates the typical price point for each strategy ($ – Cheap, $$$ – Expensive) :

Digital Marketing $
Email Marketing $
PR Marketin $
Print Media $$$
Trade Show Marketing $$
Events Marketing $$$

Market Research will help clarify which strategies will work and appeal most to your target market.

Brands should also consider which marketing channels will be appropriate for the target market. For instance, Social Media is a great way to capture attention from youths and adults. Print Media might be more popular with the elderly who are not so tech-savvy.

Stage 4 : Execution & Content

Now that you’ve planned out your campaign timeline/schedule, it is time for execution.

This is when your brand should be focusing on promoting the campaign and also creating content to attract customers.

Using graphics and images really help with promoting your campaign, as it helps maintain interest in readers.

Your marketing messages should be concise and easy to understand. Customers should also be able to identify your brand and it should simplify the way they can contact your company for your services.

Stage 5 : Sales Promotion

In order to see if your campaign is successful, we have to look at sales! How can you improve your sales?

Sales promotion strategies are strategies brands use to encourage customers to use their products/services.

These can come in the form of promotional discounts, gift-with-purchase, corporate gifts, purchase-with-purchase promotions and on-pack promotions and more.

Using promotional products can be a very good investment to promote sales and branding. Promotional products can give an added value to your core product and will encourage customers to buy from your brand. This is important as it will help your brand stand out from competitors.

Stage 6 : Acquire feedback and inquiries

Now that you’ve successfully reached out to consumers, its time to evaluate your campaign. Get feedback from your clients and customers to see how you can improve. It is important that with every activity that your campaign executes, it ties back to your branding. It is also important to make sure your campaign was able to engage with the customer. This will allow you to develop strong relationships with the client and create a loyal following.

How Can ODM Help?

The ODM Group is a promotional products company, with 17 years of work experience. We can help procure and design promotional products such as POS Displays, Company Gifts and Promotional Merchandise that will cater for your brand.

We have helped businesses improve their branding using promotional products, and have made over 8,000+ case studies on marketing.

Want to learn more? Contact us or read our online magazine for more interesting blogs and articles.