Preparing a Marketing Campaign?

Planning a marketing campaign well requires good attention to detail, patience, a lot of hard work and commitment. If the plan is good then your campaign starts from a solid foundation. You will be able to use the plan as a point of reference throughout the campaign.

Social Nation UK’s step-by-step guide provides you with key areas to address when planning your campaign.

1 Objectives

Start by setting SMART objectives for your campaign (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time). Remember that you will be revisiting these objectives when you come to evaluate the success of your campaign. So it is essential that these are communicated clearly to your team from the outset.

2 Budgets

Sit down with your team and discuss how much money you have available to realise your objectives. Then set a budget and manage it.

3 Target Audience

Identify your target audience. What are their characteristics? Why would they purchase your product or service? How often and where would they purchase? How can you reach your target audience? Are the characteristics of each group similar enough to be able to deliver the same proposition through the same communication medium? Or is a different slant/adaptation required?

4 Competition

Find out what your competitors are doing. How have they positioned themselves? What is their strategy? What mediums do they use? What is their geographical dispersion of their product or service? What are their core customer segments? What communication channels do they use? What is their proposition?

5 Marketing Communications Mix

Think about the best ways to communicate with your target audience. How will you integrate online and offline? Draft a tactical plan which details: who you will target, what your communication mediums will be, the proposition and key messages, whether the communication mediums are primary or secondary (the primary medium is usually the lead communication medium), the timing of planned activity, how you will measure the success and what you expect to get out of each individual activity.

For guidance about how to integrate your marketing communication, please see Social Nation’s blog article Marketing Integration.

6 Propositions

As discussed above, develop a proposition that will appeal to your target audience.

Each and every day we are bombarded with marketing messages. Your target audience is no different, so bear in mind that your proposition needs to appeal and stand out from the rest. Do you need an incentive to get your target audience to buy into your offering?

You may want to consider testing a few different approaches to a small sample of your target audience, prior to the full blown launch of the campaign.

 7 Schedules and Launch

The T in the word SMART (objectives) is for Time. Look over your campaign. Have you allocated enough time for what you are planning to do? Also, be aware of any seasonal fluctuations that may affect the success of your campaign i.e. holiday periods etc.    

Now launch your campaign!

8 Communicate

Although it’s down as step 8, this is integral to the entire campaign process and involves you briefing your team about the campaign at large from the very beginning. Get their buy-in, explain their roles, what is expected of them and who they can go to for help should the need arise. Constant, open and detailed communication can make a huge difference at the pre-planning, live and post evaluation stages of the campaign. So, make sure you keep your team up to date at every stage to keep everyone motivated to ensure your success!

9 Monitor, Analyse & Evaluate

Now it’s time to monitor the results of the individual components of the campaign based on the measurement criteria you set in step 5.  For example, Direct Mail and Traditional Advertising may be measured by telephone/email/web enquiries generated, conversions and web hits, whereas PR may be measured by media coverage gained and the would-be cost of this coverage and email may be measured by open rate, click through rate to landing pages, forwards, unsubscribers, enquiries, conversions etc.

We recommend that you monitor your activity rigorously on a daily basis through whatever means set and report on this regularly to the team.

Next it is advisable at the end of the campaign to do an evaluation. This is a permanent record, which you can look back on and learn from for future campaigns. It usually contains a brief overview of the campaign, SMART objectives, your approach, enquiries generated per medium, cost per lead, cost per conversation, ROI per communication medium where possible to calculate and overall ROI.

The conclusion should detail learning points and give an account of how well this campaign met your SMART objectives and any other additional benefits.

Finally, celebrate your success!!

You may want to leave the full campaign evaluation for a short time after the campaign has finished.
In our experience quite often companies enjoy an upturn in sales for up to 3 months after the original monitoring has concluded.

Comments : No Comments »

Sample Product/Service Review for Kendlebell Luton

I have been using Kendlebell Luton for about a year now and have found their service to be excellent. My business is called Crendon Skin Clinic, an Aesthetics clinic offering beauty laser treatments using state of the art equipment. From my therapy rooms based in Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, I offer a wide portfolio of aesthetic treatments, including: injectable face treatments, laser treatments, skin resurfacing, red vein treatment, hair removal and much more. 

All of my treatments require a very high level of competence and my clients expect this to be evident in every aspect of the service, whether this relates to taking
their telephone booking, my personal greeting of customers at their first appointment or performing the treatment. First impressions in particular are vital to my business as customers expect to speak to someone who will take their appointment for them rather than having to leave a message on a voice mail. This is where Kendlebell Luton work with me as part of my business. They handle all of my incoming calls and by me providing them with access to my diary they can maintain this for me, so I don’t have to worry about taking the calls or booking client’s appointments. In addition, Kendlebell Luton also send appointment reminder text messages to my customers twenty-four hours before their visit, send me emails with all the details of the enquiries they have dealt with on my behalf and provide a daily report of calls and bookings. 

On average Kendlebell Luton take over 100 calls a week for me, so I am never interrupted when I am with a customer. They are a small team, very friendly, extremely professional and always conscious of my customers’ needs. In fact I have got to know the staff very well, built good relationships with them and found that their style suits my business. 

I would thoroughly recommend Kendlebell Luton to any business looking for a flexible solution to outsource their reception. Using Kendlebell Luton means I am able to focus on my customers, offer the best service possible and save so much time that I can fit in an extra five appointments a week!

Comments : No Comments »