What are the six essential parts of a campaign planning template?

Today's marketing campaigns are complex since they need to reach and engage audiences across a range of digital and traditional channels as shown by our RACE growth system visual.  In this article, we'll step you through an effective structure for briefing marketing campaigns to an agency or in-house team that has been used by tens of thousands of businesses in different sectors including financial services, retail, travel and consumer brands. I will also answer some of the key questions about marketing campaigns. I originally developed the template for structuring one-day training courses on Creating Effective Marketing Campaigns that I ran for the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.  We emailed the Word template to course participants after the training so that they could adapt it to their planning process. For…

Examples and definitions of integrated marketing today. Find out why integrated omnichannel marketing is essential to the success of your business

Without getting too Aristotelian, with marketing, the whole is most certainly more than the sum of its parts - when it's done right that is. But what is 'Integrated Marketing done right'? The goal of practicing integrated marketing is to align your multichannel marketing mix. As channels and platforms continue to evolve, the concept has extended to include a structured approach to: Search Social media Display PR Landing pages Product catalogs Email marketing Direct marketing At Smart Insights, we define Integrated Marketing as follows: "Integrated Marketing is a strategic approach to integrating communications and interactive experiences targeting defined audiences and individuals which coordinates all aspects of marketing of a brand, including: Paid media (offline advertising, direct marketing and online display and programmatic); Earned media (Organic search fuelled by content marketing, PR…

Mastering the art of the product launch: 3 product launch examples plus our recommended process and templates for a successful product launch

You are working during one of the most entrepreneurial eras in history. Thanks to digital media, launching a product to a global audience has never been so manageable.

Equally, competition has never been as fierce. To successfully launch your product online, you need a winning product launch marketing plan. For a successful launch, product marketers need to work with marketing communications experts so that the benefits of the new product are carefully positioned and then, the best online reach channels are selected to reach your audience. We'll show how you can use the RACE framework to review the different media options and build a funnel to maximize interest and sales in your new product.

By using this type of strategic planning and following best practices for using…

AIDA model explained: Examples and tips for using this strategic marcomms planning model the real world

The AIDA model, tracing the customer journey through Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action, is perhaps the best-known marketing model amongst all the classic marketing models. Many marketers find AIDA useful since we apply this model daily, whether consciously or subconsciously, when we're planning our marketing communications strategy.

What is the AIDA model?

The AIDA Model identifies cognitive stages an individual goes through during the buying process for a product or service. It's a purchasing funnel where buyers go to and fro at each stage, to support them in making the final purchase. It's no longer a relationship purely between the buyer and the company since social media has extended it to achieving the different goals of AIDA via information added by other customers via social networks and…

Review your campaigns and learn how you can improve your digital media performance with our marketing campaign analysis tools

The process of setting up, brainstorming, planning, and ultimately delivering digital marketing campaigns is an exhausting, challenging, yet fun and extremely rewarding process. Once the campaign goes live, you can witness the fruits of your labor. However, all digital marketing campaigns must at some point come to an end and there is always one final step in the process: campaign analysis. Every company, brand, or agency will approach the end of a campaign differently, with some going into detail and others taking a much broader view. However whilst digital campaigns can be quite simple and straightforward, perhaps with maybe just one or two channels, others may be more complex and multifaceted. I, therefore, believe it’s always best to err on the side of detail so that you can get a true picture of how different…

Planning your communications strategy with the DRIP Model

What is DRIP?

The DRIP model is used to support marketing communication planning and is useful when setting broad communication goals. It can be applied when launching a new product or repositioning an existing business, for example. DRIP stands for Differentiate, Reinforce, Inform and Persuade and can be an alternative to the AIDA model. It was created by Chris Fill and will be familiar to readers of his classic Marketing Communications text.

How to use it?

These are the aims within each of the DRIP elements, it’s a working 'communications flow’ model. Differentiate:  Differentiate your product or service by defining where it's positioned in the market and often the 7Ps digital marketing mix can inform this. Reinforce: To reinforce the brand's message, consider consolidating and strengthening your messages…

Do you think your business is good at writing briefs? Your agency likely disagrees...

Research from Smart Insights exploring best practices for marketing planning has often reviewed the importance of annual marketing planning and how to structure marketing and digital marketing plans. See, for example, our recent Digital Maturity research report reviewing how many businesses integrate planning for digital marketing into their annual plans. However, we haven’t explored how marketers approach the process of creating a marketing campaign brief and whether it is effective. Of course, this is important because of the amount of investment in marketing campaigns that support and must deliver on targets set out in annual marketing plans. [si_blog_banner_cta] But, we do recognize the importance of a structured, insights-driven campaign planning process through the templates recommending how to structure a brief in our campaign planning toolkit. Campaign Planning Learning Path module learning objectives: Define the essential parts of a marketing campaign…

The creation of a ‘big idea’ is a fundamental part in the development of a digital marketing campaign

Without a clear, impactful and differentiated concept, there is substantially less chance a campaign will pierce through the noise and generate the desired attention from the target audience. That's why you need a big idea. The creative element of any campaign is by far one of the most enjoyable. However, the process of coming up with a big idea can also be a little daunting, especially with so much at stake. Whether agency or client-side there will be many interested stakeholders involved, each with an opinion or point of view. So, in this post, we’re going to look at some of the key steps in the development of a big idea to help provide some structured thinking around the process. [si_monthly_campaign_blog_cta_banner id=160114]

What is a ‘Big Idea’?

Any new campaign will need a hook or…

A manifesto and ten-point checklist for delivering more relevant online and offline communications

To gain the best results from integrated marketing communications needs a deep understanding of the multiple touchpoints that a brand has with its prospects and customers on its own sites, partner sites digital, and traditional media.

Integrate your marketing communications with the RACE Framework

To fully join up your marketing communications, you will want to consider the focus of your marketing strategy - do marketing activities happen independently, or within a sales funnel, or are they integrated with a structure focused around your customers' omnichannel experiences? Use the RACE Framework to break this down further, what are the key messages and platforms at each stage of your customers' journeys? Which marketing activities are most efficient at meeting your objectives, what can scale up or down? Integrated marketing is all about asking these bigger picture questions, and using these insights to plan integrated…

Find out how to use different keyword research steps and techniques to inform your marketing themes and messages. Using keywords for research means giving your customers what they want

As one of the fundamental, foundational elements of effective search engine optimization (SEO), using keywords for research enables digital marketers to understand what consumers are looking for online and the potential opportunities to capture this interest and attention through the creation of relevant content and optimized user experiences.

Using keywords for research: campaign or always on?

SEO is often seen as an always-on, hygiene activity that is necessary before, during, and after campaigns but rarely seen as an integral part of a campaign itself. However although keyword research can be very useful for unearthing larger, more permanent content opportunities for an owned media presence, the process itself can also be used to help inform ideas, themes, and concepts for a campaign,…