DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES

The following objectives must be clearly defined before you execute your marketing campaign. Answering these questions is vital to ensuring your campaign is focused, timely, and aligned with your business goals.
Well-Defined Goals. What are your goals for the campaign? Create tangible and measurable goals, whether they be increased sales, heightened brand awareness, or new customer leads.
Budget Planning. What is your available budget for the campaign? Before you begin creating and customizing your marketing materials, you must know how much money you will be able to devote to your efforts. A definite budget will help you determine which marketing activities you should add to your plan. (Tip: A large budget does not equal a successful campaign —all relevant marketing elements must be applied in cohesion to achieve success.)
Go-To-Market Alignment. Choose the GTM campaign that coincides with solutions you are able to offer your customer.
Customer Segment. Have you identified the right customer segments for the campaign? Make sure your customized and personalized materials are going to the right individuals—don’t waste your money and efforts on those who wouldn’’t be interested in the first place. (Tip: You can segment by industry, vertical, line of business, IT function, etc.)

CREATE YOUR CAMPAIGN

Create a Marketing Plan

• Outline a clearly defined marketing strategy for your product or service— identify the materials you’ll need to execute your campaign, a budget, and an execution timeline.
• Assign an individual within your company to manage all aspects of the
  marketing campaign. This will help keep the process moving smoothly.

Define the Medium or Media
Choose the best way to disseminate your message. Again, it is most effective
to approach customers through several different media. The following are
possibilities for executing your marketing campaign:

• Special Events
• Trade shows and conferences
• Industry press and weeklies
• Electronic and Print Collateral
• Web site
• E-mail
• Online promotions
• Printing and shipping
• Self-Generated Offers
• Deployment discounts
• Free coupons or service options
• Iperson customer assessments

KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Identify your customer needs. Understanding your customers’ preferences will help determine the focus of your campaign— figure out their most pressing problems, then solve them. (Tip: Talk to existing customers and find out what they like most about your products or services. What compels them to buy?)
• Involve your sales efforts. Your direct sales efforts can be a powerful marketing tool. They provide a personalized and interactive approach to communicating marketing messages to the customer.
• Always brand yourself. Reinforce your messaging by using your logo and company colors on anything the customer sees, including stationery, packaging, signage, office space, your Web site—even uniforms.
• Reward loyalty. Loyalty schemes are an excellent way to keep your customers coming back for more. Programs that offer bonus cards or points for frequent business can serve as a strong incentive to return again and again.
• Share the word. Community involvement—such as public speaking at your local chamber of commerce, or writing articles for local press—is a great way to get your business name out in the public.
• Get out more often. Participate in conferences and trade shows. They help position your company’s expertise and provide good opportunities for generating leads.

PROBLEMS TO AVOID

• Keep it simple. Don’t try to communicate multiple messages with your
  campaign. A single, cohesive message should be the focus of your
  marketing efforts.
• Get help. Local agencies, marketing contractors, and free lancers can help fortify and direct your marketing efforts.
• Avoid spam. Give your customers a clear opt-out when they supply their e-mail address to you. No one likes unsolicited mail.
• Avoid operating in silos. Marketing integration requires close coordination between all functions in your company. Make sure you’re involving representatives across the company strata—good ideas can come from unforeseen sources.

MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS

After your efforts in creating and running an integrated campaign, you’ll want to gauge its success in acquiring customers and/or sales. There are several methods for measuring this success:

• Web and e-mail tracking. —The interactive portion of your marketing campaign uniquely lends itself to more easily tracking and measuring consumer behavior and measuring trends. Keep track of all customer responses.
• ROI —This is perhaps the most important ratio in calculating the success of your efforts and investments.
• Leads. —How many new opportunities resulted from your marketing efforts?
• Response rates. —Determine how many customers responded to your offer. Providing tracking codes of other methods to understand how the customer responds will better shape your future campaigns.