The word “campaign” is one of those terms that may sound vaguely familiar, but it’s hard to articulate an exact definition or example. Your mind may jump to advertising campaigns, such as Coca-Cola’s classic “I Want to Buy the World a Coke,” or Apple’s famous “Mac or PC” commercials.

What is a Marketing Campaign?

At FMG Suite, we define a campaign as a series of outreach opportunities on multiple channels based on a common theme. For example, a campaign may consist of reaching out to pre-retirees as a niche market, sending an e-card every holiday, or sharing monthly communications about the market’s performance.

Campaigns generally include different ways to “touch,” or contact, your clients. This may include email marketing, social media, blogging, and other marketing strategies. Successful campaigns require careful research that is well-executed and focused on details, rather than resting on a single, grand idea.

Campaigns range in duration, but are usually long-term projects that last anywhere from a few months to over a year. We like to say that campaigns sends the right content to the right audience at the right times.

Creating Your Campaign

Every campaign is different, and therefore they will include different strategies. However, there are a few common threads that tie together some of the best campaigns.

  • First, successful campaigns address a target market.
  • Second, they emphasize a company’s mission statement or unique value proposition.
  • Third, they comprise of different strategies. Some marketing strategies include seminars, advertising, blogging, email newsletters, social media, print media, cold calling, and referrals.
  • Lastly, successful marketers monitor their campaigns and make changes as necessary.

These are just some of the building blocks of a campaign. From here, you can start to build out your own unique strategy and find out what works best for your firm. In today’s media world, there is so much noise and bombarding messages that one outreach effort won’t make a difference. Campaigns are a great way to continue to touch your clients and prospects with ongoing communication based on what they care about.

Action Steps

Marketing campaigns take a great deal of patience, dedication, and research. That said, though, the effort will be worth it because clients will be able to tell the hard work you put into your marketing strategy. The series of touches will show that you care, the common theme will be directly tailored to what they want to hear, and you will set yourself apart from other marketers in your field. Here are the steps needed to get started:

  1. Quantify your goals. Different campaigns have different goals, including generating more leads, educating clients, celebrating, and many more. Figure out what you want to accomplish with your campaign and develop it accordingly.
  2. Think of your target audience. Where are they? What are their biggest concerns? Questions like these will also help you segment your lists and send specialized campaigns to different markets.
  3. Generate campaign ideas and strategies. This may be the most difficult part, but is the meat of your strategy. Outline enough emails, social media posts, and other marketing mediums that will cover at least 6 months. For example, if you are sending out a bi-monthly newsletter, you will need at least 12 in your campaign arsenal.
  4. Develop a system to handle increased traffic coming from your campaign. For example, if you have written a whitepaper to send to any clients that give you their email, make sure they get that whitepaper in a timely manner. Hiring a part-time assistant or intern to field this traffic may be a good idea.
  5. Make changes! Once you’ve developed your campaign, it may be tempting to write it down in permanent marker and never look at it again. But one of the benefits of digital marketing is that you can measure how your efforts are performing and make changes accordingly. Your campaign isn’t set in stone once it starts.

If all this campaign talk has your head spinning, hiring a professional marketing team may help you streamline your process. At FMG Suite, we offer a variety of campaigns for financial advisors, including ones that educate, inform, and generate leads. Check out our new Campaigns tool here.