BroadVision Marketing Blog

Have you ever sat down to a meeting where you had a very good idea of the topic only to hear what sounded like a foreign language? As I looked at definition for “marketing campaign” I felt that way on occasion. As you will see when going through these definitions there are 16 items that aid in the definition of a marketing campaign.

Let’s take a look at a few definitions and then round up the 16 items that make up a complete definition.

An article, Developing a Campaign Strategy, offers a very abbreviated definition:

A campaign is a series of coordinated actions, organised within a strategy that aims to achieve concrete objectives in a specific timeframe.

Steve Seager in The truly strategic marketing communication campaign is equally brief and while he said almost the same as above he captures some different elements:

You could define a campaign as:

“An operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a specific purpose at a specific moment in time.”

Our next set of definitions are a little more specific as to what the campaign strategy is supposed to do. An article, Campaign Strategy, states:

The Campaign Strategy is completely customized to your business goals and budgets, and is designed to increase the impact and ROI of your marketing dollars.

Here is an actual mention of the point of the campaign strategy. In a similar vein, but again with a few differences comes the article 10 Steps to Building a Killer Marketing Campaign by Richard Gabel. Gabel adds:

A killer campaign is one that has a defined goal, minimizes risk and has a high ROI.

Getting more in depth

Investopedia.com gives two more in depth definitions of “marketing campaign.” The first is a flat definition and then they offer their explanation:

Definition of 'Marketing Campaign'

Specific activities designed to promote a product, service or business. A marketing campaign is a coordinated series of steps that can include promotion of a product through different mediums (television, radio, print, online) using a variety of different types of advertisements. The campaign doesn't have to rely solely on advertising, and can also include demonstrations, word of mouth and other interactive techniques.

Investopedia explains 'Marketing Campaign'

Businesses operating in highly competitive markets may find themselves initiating frequent marketing campaigns and devoting significant resources to generating brand awareness and sales. Marketing campaigns can be designed with different ends in mind, including building a brand image, introducing a new product, increasing sales of a product already on the market, or even reducing the impact of negative news.

Thomas Testi  delivers some more information in Developing An Internet Marketing Campaign: The Five Phases when he writes:

Building an internet marketing campaign that works today takes a lot of effort for it to be successful. It must target the right user, at the right place, at the right time. Just having a high quality product or building a better mousetrap does not guarantee success. Rather it is the successful implementation of a well developed plan that promotes that great product that will bring long term success.

In an article Advertising Campaigns – Meaning and its Process we move a little closer to specifics:

Why you are advertising and what are you advertising ?

Why refers to the objective of advertising campaign. The objective of an advertising campaign is to

• Inform people about your product
• Convince them to buy the product
• Make your product available to the customers

And finally we get down to specifics in Campaign Development Platform (CPD) where we see

Campaign Defined…

A Comprehensive Communication Vehicle that makes the audience aware of a specific initiative and consists of the following

• Email Marketing Campaign Consisting of 4-8 Email Broadcasts (Invitations)
• 3-5 Social Media Updates for Facebook and Twitter (if necessary)
• Youtube Video Script followed by a recorded video
• Autoresponder emails (Thank You, Reminder 24 hours in advance, and reminder 3 hours in advance)
• Custom Designed Landing Page
• Fliers for print
• Follow up messages which reinforce the call to action

Let us sit back and reflect on the 16 items from what we read.

A marketing campaign is or has:

1. Series of coordinated actions
2. Organized within a strategy
3. Concrete objectives
4. Different goals:  brand image, introduction of new product or reducing impact of bad news
5. Specific timeframe
6. Energetically pursued
7. Defined goal
8. Customized to business goals and budgets
9. Purpose: Increase the impact and ROI of marketing dollars
10. Targets the right persona, at the right place, at the right time
11. Takes effort
12. Well developed
13. Minimizes risk
14. Uses different media/platforms
15. Uses different types of promotion: email marketing campaigns, autoresponder emails, website landing pages, calls-to-action and off-computer promotions
16. Frequently occurring

I think we have a complete definition of "marketing campaign" now. What do you think?

Jaco Grobbelaar is the owner of BroadVision Marketing. BroadVision Marketing works with business owners to put in place inbound and outbound marketing strategies that consistently secure new clients. The BroadVision Marketing Training Center is located in Petaluma, CA and primarily serves companies in the San Francisco Bay area.

Jaco can be reached at jaco@broadvisionmarketing.com or 707.766.9778 or connect with Jaco on Facebook - www.facebook.com/broadvisionmarketing - and LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/JacoGrobbelaar. He can also be found at Jaco+.