In the face of increasingly fierce competition, marketing is a formidable weapon for maintaining market share and winning new ones. Provided, of course, that the right actions are taken. And that's exactly what campaign management is all about. So what's it all about? And above all how to manage your marketing campaigns properly? That's what we're going to look at in this article.
What is marketing campaign management?
Campaign management refers to all the processes involved in marketing operations. Namely: planning, execution, follow-up and analysis.
The idea is to achieve the campaign’s objectives, whether these involve acquiring new customers, launching a new product, taking part in an event, or collaborating with another brand.
To reach these goals, companies have a number of means at their disposal: emailing, advertising, trade shows, webinars, print media, social networks, competitions, surveys… Whatever the channel used, the message transmitted must pursue a specific objective. These are known as multi-channel campaigns. But of course, the more communication channels there are, the more difficult the campaign is to manage.
Good to know: if marketing campaigns are aimed at a single objective at a time, companies can launch several campaigns at the same time. For example, one campaign to launch a new product, and another to encourage renewals of an existing product.
How do you manage your marketing campaigns?
Here are the 6 main steps to successful marketing campaign management.
Target identification
Before getting down to the nitty-gritty of planning a marketing campaign, it’s vital to understand your target audience’s needs. Most of the time, the ultimate goal is to sell.
But to do this, you need to propose an offer that meets the target’s needs. To identify their expectations, you need to know your audience.
- Who is your ideal customer?
- What are their interests?
- What problems would they like to solve?
- What are their habits?
Answering these questions will enable you to anticipate the actions of prospects and customers, and thus multiply your chances of turning a marketing campaign into a success.
In this respect, collecting and processing customer data is an integral part of successful campaign management.
Defining objectives
This is the basis of any marketing campaign management. Without clear, precise objectives, it will be difficult to apply the right actions and measure their effectiveness. Objectives must be SMART. In other words, specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic and temporary.
And to facilitate measurement, performance indicators must also be defined.
Audience segmentation
While a marketing campaign may have a single objective, it can also be aimed at a wide variety of potential customers: people who are completely unfamiliar with the brand, skeptical prospects, customers who are already convinced… For each of them, you’ll need to adapt your message.
That’s why it’s best to segment your audience to optimize campaign management.
The idea is above all to provide the most relevant response possible to each individual’s problem.
This improves the customer experience and conversion rate.
The right channels
Social networks, websites, webinars, trade shows, print media, radio, television… companies have a multitude of communication channels at their disposal to launch their marketing campaigns. But not all of them are relevant. What’s more, they complicate campaign management. Companies therefore need to identify the right channels, depending on their budget and target audience.
The conversion tunnel
The aim here is to encourage prospects to take action, without necessarily buying directly. Conversely, the conversion tunnel offers a multitude of micro-actions that gradually lead to a sale. Each step includes convincing offers that encourage prospects to move on to the next.
Analysis
It’s one of the essential steps in campaign management. Without measurement, how do you know if your marketing actions are effective? You can’t. To measure the relevance of a campaign, the first step is to identify key performance indicators (KPIs). These are then evaluated throughout the campaign. This regular analysis enables any necessary adjustments to be made.
Why is campaign management so important?
Efficient campaign management is essential for a number of reasons:
- Managing multiple channels: with the multiplication of channels, it’s sometimes difficult to know which action is the most effective. That’s why rigorous monitoring of all channels is essential.
- Reaction time: good campaign management means regularly analyzing the actions implemented. This allows you to react quickly if results deviate from the initial objective.
- Coordination between marketing and sales teams: although the two teams often work hand in hand, their collaboration can sometimes be difficult. Campaign management must harmonize relations between the two. This can be achieved through the use of marketing tools such as CRM.
Optimizing campaign management with data
Whether it’s to better understand your target, find the right communication channels or analyze the performance of your marketing actions, data is an indispensable resource when it comes to campaign management.
But in the age of Big Data, the amount of information available is increasing all the time. Tracking and analyzing marketing data requires technical skills that cannot be acquired overnight.
To master analytics and optimize your campaigns, training is essential. DataScientest offers training courses in data analysis and data science.
