Bonafide Marketing Genius

How to Set Up a Successful Online Marketing Campaign

For several years now, the growth of online marketing campaigns has been nothing short of phenomenal. According to Statista, in 2021 alone, online marketing activities (such as website building, content creation, social media posts, and email marketing) cost businesses approximately US$16.83 billion worldwide.

Despite the growing popularity of online marketing, many businesses still feel somewhat clueless about how to successfully execute an online marketing campaign. If your business isn’t yet equipped to take advantage of online marketing, here’s how you can set up a successful campaign:

Establish a clear vision and overall business strategy

If you’re starting from scratch, it’s no secret that establishing a successful online marketing campaign can be a challenging task. However, there are several guidelines you can follow to ensure you start off on the right foot.

Identify the target audience and decide on the role of the campaign

The first step to setting up a successful online marketing campaign is to identify the target audience for your campaign. This audience will act as the “buyers” of your products or services. When establishing the target audience for your campaign, make sure to consider factors such as age, gender, interests, and location. After you’ve defined your target audience, you can move on to deciding on the role of your campaign. A good rule of thumb is to consider the type of content you’ll produce and how you’ll promote it. For example, if you intend on using video content in your marketing efforts, establishing a YouTube channel for your target audience might be the perfect fit. Conversely, if you’ve decided to use blog content to promote your business, you might want to target a narrower audience (i.e., businesses in your niche)

Understand how digital marketing technology works

In the same way that a savvy businessperson would never attempt to run a marketing campaign without first understanding how digital marketing technology works, you should never attempt to set up a successful online marketing campaign without first understanding how online marketing technology works. It’s important to have some familiarity with the following topics:

  • search engine optimization (SEO)
  • semantic web markup (HTML)
  • static content website
  • wordpress platform
  • email marketing
  • marketing automation
  • social media marketing
  • video marketing
  • inbound marketing

Get detailed on the types of content you’ll need to produce

The next step in setting up a successful online marketing campaign is to get detailed on the types of content you’ll need to produce. This is especially important if you’ve decided to use video content in your marketing efforts. Before you embark on producing a video marketing campaign, it’s imperative you define the following:

  • the video’s topic (i.e., what will the video be teaching viewers)
  • the objective of the video (i.e., what will the viewer be learning at the end of the video)
  • the target audience for the video (i.e., who will the video be beneficial to)
  • the style of the video (i.e., will it be informative or entertaining)
  • the platform the video will be published on (i.e., which social media channels)
  • the camera the video will be shot with (i.e., it needs to be suitable for recording video content)

With so much content vying for the viewer’s attention, it’s essential the video captures the interest of the viewer within the first few seconds. If you can create a compelling opening scene that hooks the viewer and keeps their attention through the whole video, you’ve done your job well. Think of the opening scene of the movie, Avengers: Endgame – a fitting homage to one of the greatest opening scenes of all time.

The goal of your opening scene should be to quickly establish your video’s theme, set the scene, and tease the viewer about what’s to come. In the case of Avengers: Endgame, the teaser—a short scene showing the Avengers confronting their foes—sets up the story and establishes the film’s main conflict: Tony Stark/Ironman’s (Robert Downey Jr.) desire to make peace with his former allies, while the sinister Ronin (Lee Pace) wants to start a war.

When it comes to pitching videos to sponsors, having a short and snappy pitch that gets the attention of the viewer is indispensable. ProTip: Create a short pitch video to introduce yourself to new potential sponsors.

Produce a brief overview of your marketing plan

As you near the end of your preparation stage, it’s time to produce a brief overview of your marketing plan. This overview should contain the following:

  • the goal of the project (i.e., what does the brief overview of the marketing plan seek to achieve)
  • the strategy you’ll use to achieve the goal (i.e., what are the specific actions you’ll take to achieve your goal)
  • the metrics you’ll use to assess your progress (i.e., what does the brief overview of the marketing plan seek to measure)
  • any relevant details about the target audience (i.e., what are their demographics, interests, and psychographics)
  • the competitors you’ll face (i.e., what are the key players in your industry and what are their marketing strategies)
  • the marketing materials you’ll need to execute the plan (i.e., what are the documents you’ll need, such as media kits, press releases, and any other materials)
  • the timeframe you’re working to (i.e., when do you intend on starting and completing the plan)
  • the budget you’re working with (i.e., what are the costs associated with the plan)
  • the key personnel involved in the plan (i.e., who will be responsible for what aspects of the plan)
  • a review of the plan, identifying areas for improvement (i.e., what does the brief overview of the marketing plan seek to review)
  • a review of the plan from the vantage point of a professional in the field (i.e., what does the review from a third party seek to identify)
  • a discussion of alternatives (i.e., what does the review provide in the way of alternatives)
  • a clear statement of future directions (i.e., what does the review suggest you do next)

This plan will serve as a road map for the rest of your marketing efforts. Be sure to review it frequently as you go along, ensuring you stay on course and don’t get distracted by the numerous opportunities that constantly present themselves. It’s also vital you keep the big picture in mind as you go about your day-to-day activities.

Plan your content pipeline

The final step in setting up a successful online marketing campaign is to plan your content pipeline. A content pipeline is simply the plan you make to create, curate, and distribute content (i.e., content creators) that are relevant and useful to your target audience.

The goal of your content pipeline is to ensure that your content is accessible to your audience. To achieve this, you need to create content that is both relevant and useful to your audience. ProTip: Look for content that is both entertaining and educational and try to create content that is both timeless and useful. You can also use the content you create to curate and distribute other useful and informative content.

When mapping out your content pipeline, you have two options: you can either plan to produce all the content yourself, or you can outsource the work to a content creator.

Choose the content creator that’s right for you

If you’ve decided to outsource your content creation to a third party, it’s important to choose a content creator that is the best fit for your company. To identify the most appropriate content creator for your company, consider the following: