How to make an advertising campaign? - stages of planning and creating an advertising campaign

Bydefinition, an advertising campaign is a set of precisely planned activities calculated to achieve the goals set by the advertiser. Example of an advertising campaign should meet sales targets and improve performance at the same time, but this is not the only possible goal. The definition of an advertising campaign also mentions building brand awareness with the customer, which can be part of a well-executed sales strategy. Another goal of an advertising campaign is to ultimately convince the customer to buy or to solidify awareness of a good purchase decision. Determining in the plan to carry out an advertising campaign its objectives is as important as defining the target customer. It is under such a person that actions are arranged, because, after all, different techniques have to be used to sell jeans to teenagers, and others if the object of the sales process is an expensive, elegant watch. And here we come to the next stage of good preparation of a promotional campaign - product analysis. At this point it is worth answering some basic questions - what are we selling, who needs it, what is the market situation, how many similar products there are, what distinguishes ours. With such preparation, it is easier to implement an effective strategy, as confirmed by numerous examples of successful advertising campaigns.

Advertising campaign idea

We already know what we want to sell, we have a defined target customer, we have analyzed the market and we know our starting position - we have a new product and we want to show it, or we want to improve our sales performance. We have gathered as much competitive information as possible. It seems that everything is ready to start operations. Now it's time to choose the right ideas for marketing campaigns. Agencies usually make their choices based on the information they have gathered, so once again, the more information there is, the better. No example of a promotional campaign plan skips this stage. And there are as many ideas as there are agencies and people in charge of planning. The choice of a good concept can determine the success of the entire operation. Experts agree, an effective campaign refers to a theme, a situation, a time. It takes into account current events, well-known social dilemmas, popular stereotypes. This is evidenced, for example, by the example of the T-Mobile advertising campaign carried out in cooperation between the operator and the DDB Warsaw agency. It was launched a day before the Champions League final, in which Robert Lewandowski played (and together with Bayern Munich won). Our best-ever soccer player takes part in a series of spots recorded on the pitch, surrounded by very high grass, which is impossible to play on. It is being mowed by a tractor operator who is not very focused on his job. When he notices Robert Lewandowski wanting to play, he decides to approach and call his son via video call. The call breaks off. This is the moment when the familiar "that's nonsense" and Robert's explanation that the lawnmower driver can't make it fun for his loved ones because he has poor-quality Internet. The example of the ad campaign described above shows the use of a well-known celebrity and linking it to a current event showing that good quality matters to both Robert and T-Mobile. The customer can have one, too. Of course, the timing of the implementation of these activities is no coincidence. It was known that at that time Robert Lewandowski's silhouette in Poland would be by far the most recognizable - the advertising market among football fans is very large anyway. But there was probably no Pole who, around August 22 at least, had not heard that our compatriot was playing or had played for a European trophy and won it. Of course, not every entrepreneur can afford to engage Robert Lewandowski to advertise his product, the footballer's entourage itself also chooses very prudently the products it agrees to advertise. But a step-by-step analysis of this marketing campaign shows certain patterns that, if used correctly, can also be effective with much smaller-scale activities. For example, if we advertise a very local production of cheeses from milk from our own cows. The example of many promotional campaigns proves that linking product advertising with topicality, locality, humor can significantly improve the effects. Consistency in the preparation of graphic advertising materials also counts. Flyers, posters, billboards and slogans on them must form a harmonious whole. This will "show" the new product to the potential buyer in an encouraging way. Only at a later stage of the promotional campaign will we try to convince the customer to buy.

Promotional campaign assumptions

How to make an advertising campaign successful? This is a question that probably all advertising agencies ask themselves. Sometimes it seems that it was planned and carried out as expected. Costs have been incurred and results are lacking. Perhaps in preparing, planning an advertising campaign at some stage a mistake was made, which, duplicated many times, made the whole strategy misaddressed. It may also be that from the grand, bullish assumptions of the ideal, as it seemed, promotional campaign came out simply a caricature. A customer is a living organism, and he too adapts to the market. That is why it is so important to conduct very thorough analysis, both in terms of the proposed product itself and the target customer, his behavior, habits, needs. Planning and "strategic thinking" are basic elements of an advertising campaign. Without this, it's hard to get started at all, because you don't know who to address. The marketing campaign template will not always be the same for every product, after all. The premise is to achieve the goals set by the advertiser. If they can be achieved, the campaign can be considered successful.

Advertising campaign step by step

The first stage of an advertising campaign is to familiarize the customer with the brand. Driving along city streets, you often see billboards with the names of various brands. There are no advertising slogans, no fancy scenes. There is one word and sometimes a well-known celebrity showing "It's ok! Smile!". This is the beginning. To build brand awareness in the customer. If he doesn't know us, he first has to learn that we exist at all. The right moment will still come for selling. The duration of this stage varies, depending, of course, on the scale of the campaign and the reach we want to achieve. If we are creating a completely new brand it is worth spending a little more time on this. It also depends, of course, on the assumed budget although this one should always be determined with some reserve.

The next stage of a good promotional campaign is to assign a product to some specific category in the mind of the target customer. This is a good time to enter with simple slogans associating the product with usefulness. For example, if you sell shoe insoles, it is worth associating them with comfortable walking, breathable feet and comfort. Slogans appearing on flyers, posters or banner ads displayed on the Internet should also move in this direction. This is a time of increasingly firm conviction that the product must be in the hands of the customer because, for example, it will make his life easier. Of course, one must constantly remember the consistency of actions. All materials at each stage of the process of shaping a promotional campaign should be kept in a similar layout and generally similar style.

Analyses show that the next step of a good marketing campaign plan is to make the customer like our product. The idea is to establish a sense of high awareness in the customer and create positive connotations. It may be enough that our product is better than a competitor's. But if it isn't, you have to at least cause the customer to simply feel like trying it.

A customer who has liked a product or a message associated with it is more likely to make a purchase. And this is probably the most important moment in the plan to carry out any advertising campaign. Now you should make a direct impact on the purchase decision. "Buy now", "last pieces left", "end of promotion in a moment" are just a few examples of slogans that should appear at this stage. They are the ones that directly induce a purchase, provided, of course, that the customer associates the product and brand. That is why the order in which marketing activities are carried out is so important.

The customer has bought our product. The next task is to have them come back to us soon! A good example of a promotional campaign is one in which consistent branding results in both the return of old customers and their automatic recommendation to new people. This builds the sales network and keeps the results high. Neglecting the last step can bury the chances of establishing our product in the market.

How long should an advertising campaign last?

This, of course, depends on many factors. A good marketing campaign plan only imposes a certain time frame. Precise deadlines may depend on the effectiveness of a given campaign, but also more prosaically on budget limits. It is very estimated that the average duration of an advertising campaign is no more than a few weeks, but this also depends on the marketing strategy of the brand. Designing a promotional campaign is a tedious process that must be carried out meticulously. Otherwise, it is easy to make a mistake and fail to achieve results.

Principles of advertising campaigns

Analyzing examples of marketing campaigns , it is possible to extract a few principles to follow when planning activities. Campaigns must be very well prepared. It is worth to write out a precise strategy and meticulously implement it. It is worth remembering consistency in the implementation of activities. Uniform layout at each stage of thepromotional campaign is an important theme in this context. It is very important to carefully control and guard against mistakes. And these can be made a lot, starting from the very planning of activities and ending with implementation.