Not all marketing campaigns are created equal.

In order for a successful marketing campaign to be successful, there are several key ingredients that need focus.

First, there needs to be focus.  By this I mean, what specifically you want to market.  Define the key factors to your marketing campaign.  Don’t just say them out loud, but actually write them down.  This provides more meaning and a blueprint as to want you want to accomplish in the marketing campaign.

Second, define your target audience.  You need to narrow down your target audience, as not everyone will need your service or product.  If the target audience is not defined, this can mean wasted marketing efforts, which equate to wasted money spent on marketing that was of no value.  Marketing dollars need to count and bring a return from your marketing campaign.

Third, what do you want to accomplish with the marketing campaign? Yes, I know you want to make a sale, but that is not specifically what I am talking about.  The sale / purchase are the end result.  We are not there yet.  Establishing the goals to accomplish in a marketing campaign take you to the end result; the sale or purchase.  However, you also need to set the stage for product recognition, awareness, how it will benefit your target audience, provide value, let them know what makes your company unique, keep them interested and wanting what you are marketing (trying to sell them).  These are main focal points when creating a marketing campaign.

Fourth, determine the venues in which you want to promote your campaign.  Basically decide whether to market through social media channels exclusively or other forms of mediums, such as print, radio, video, or television or combine all venues.  Again, this goes back to focus on what you want to accomplish.

Fifth, “The Call to Action and Urgency”.  This is the most important item in a marketing campaign.  Everyone needs a little nudge.  Our mind works like this when we see an ad.  As an example let’s use a shirt we see in a marketing campaign, first thing we do in our mind, is justify why we don’t need to buy a new shirt, but maybe the shirt has a unique style and color that entices us to give it a second thought.  Since there was a second thought, which is interest in the shirt, so now our mind is thinking how that new shirt would look on and what would you would wear with it to accessorize the new shirt.  Now in our mind we are thinking more positive thoughts about why you should purchase that shirt, rather than not.  Then there is “The Call to Action and Urgency”, which can be in the form of a discounted price, while supplies last.  There are many other ways to create a “Call to Action and Urgency”, but in our example you can see how our mind goes from negative to positive and now we want it and we have to have it.

As you can see, all of the key ingredients in a marketing campaign are necessary elements to be successful and they are complementary to one another, which lead to the ultimate goal in the sales funnel, which equates to a sale or purchase.