How To Create a Successful Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps - Guide

Marketing campaigns are a sensible method to achieve a certain goal by means of targeted measures. However, this only succeeds if the campaign is designed and implemented in a meaningful and target-oriented manner. But what is important and how does it work? We have defined 7 steps for you that will guide you to a successful marketing campaign!

Table of Contents

7-step guide to creating marketing campaigns

1. Define a goal

Every marketing campaign has a clear goal. If not, then it is doomed to fail. After all, how are potential customers supposed to know what to do with it if they don’t even know exactly what they want?

At the beginning of every marketing campaign, there is a goal. It forms the basis for all further decisions. There are different goals such as E.g:

Improve image
Increase awareness
Win new customers

Increase sales/profit
Strengthen customer loyalty

Only you can know exactly what your goal is. However, it is important that you define it precisely before you start designing the marketing campaign. Of course, it is also possible to combine several destinations. Often they also go hand in hand indirectly.

So z. For example, a campaign for a product launch not only increases awareness of the product but also attracts customers and boosts sales. In this case, however, the focus would initially be on mere awareness and that is what you should focus on.

2. Define the target group

Do you already know what you want to achieve? Then it’s a question of who you address at all. Because only if you know exactly who you are addressing can you really address these people. Otherwise, your marketing campaign will be in vain, you will unnecessarily burn your media budget – and will not reach your goal.

To define the target group, a target group analysis is necessary. To do this, you record the various dimensions of possible target persons: demographics & socio-economics, purchasing behavior & consumption as well as nature & life. These points are evaluated using market research methods and ultimately recorded in personas. You can read more about this in our blog post:

Target group analysis: Create the basis for successful online marketing.

3. Deriving channels from the target group

Once you have defined a clear persona, it will be easy for you to derive the appropriate marketing channels. After all, you have thoroughly examined your target group. This way you know which media are used by the groups of people. Possibilities are e.g. E.g.:

Social Media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Twitter)

Google Ads (SEA)
Display Ads
Flyer

Poster
Advertisements in print magazines and newspapers
TV spots

Radio advertising
Cinema Ad

The important thing is that you don’t expect your target audience to come to you. Instead, you need to pick up your target audience with your marketing campaign exactly where they are. This is where the good preparatory work of a target group analysis pays off.

4. Finding the right tonality

Addressing the target group is also of great importance for a successful marketing campaign. It is important to walk the tightrope between the appropriate tonality of the company and the language of the target group. Because just because a certain approach would suit the target group, it does not have to suit the company’s image.

For example, many young people are interested in climate protection. Nevertheless, a large animal protection organization should not be forced to throw youthful language around, because that would not correspond to the seriousness, even if it could possibly affect the target group in terms of tonality.

It is always a matter of weighing up what the findings from the target group analysis will help you with. This way you know which people are involved, what their everyday life is like, and what language they speak. If you find the intersection between these insights and the image of your company, then you have the right tonality for your marketing campaign.

5. The right format

Depending on which channels you have chosen, you have to think about the right format for your ad in different ways. In social media, in the case of Instagram, you have e.g. B. Stories with images, videos, and interactive elements or static posts available in the feed. A print ad can also differ in size (small ad vs. full page) and implementation.

You should take a wide variety of factors into account when making this decision: Knowledge about the target group, insights into the psychology of attention, the reach of certain formats (videos often perform better on social media than images)… The format should fit your goal and your company.

6. Allow yourself to be creative

The basic data have been defined and the briefing for the creative people is now complete. Ideally, at this point, you now know who you want to reach, how, and why. Now it’s time for the concrete implementation, your marketing campaign takes shape and color.

Many companies like to use the simplest solution at this point. Often there is already a wealth of experience in the marketing team and so advertisements are quickly put together according to the formula. Add the usual texts and the marketing campaign is complete.

Of course, it can work. However, it is always worth leaving the well-known paths and allowing yourself new ideas. Therefore, this sixth point should be understood as a plea for more creativity. Think of topics from completely different perspectives, incorporating aspects such as storytelling, and dare. Because creativity always depends on the courage to pursue a good idea.

7. Test, evaluate, optimize – and repeat!

Once the campaign has been designed, the test phase begins. Especially with marketing campaigns on the web, the possibility of testing is particularly high. You can use different images or videos as well as formats, vary texts and targeting – and always collect what works best. In this way, you can continuously optimize your campaign by shifting the budget to the measures that work best.

A marketing campaign is not simply over, at least on the web. It is constantly monitored and optimized in order to get the best possible performance from the budget with a view to the goal. It is therefore important to take this step very seriously.

Only when the campaign has ended can you take a breather and enjoy the success. But not for too long – because the next campaign is definitely just around the corner…

Summary: The 7 steps of a marketing campaign

Define your goal.

Elicit and define the target group.

Guide the suitable channels from the target group.

Find the right tonality for your company and the target group.

Choose the appropriate format for your channel and audience.

Allow yourself room for creativity.

Test, evaluate, optimize – and repeat!

If you follow these instructions and carry out all steps conscientiously, a successful marketing measure will not stand ts in the way. We wish you much success!