What is a Marketing Campaign and How Do You Actually Create One?

Learn how to create effective marketing campaigns without big budgets or teams. Step-by-step guide with practical examples and ROI tips.

Hey marketer! 👋🏻

Today we're diving into a topic that might sound complicated or a bit abstract – marketing campaigns. When you hear "campaign," you might picture a huge team of people in an advertising agency, brainstorming complex concepts and spending hundreds of thousands on execution. But a marketing campaign can be much simpler and more accessible – and you can prepare one yourself, without a team of experts and without a massive budget.

What Actually is a Marketing Campaign?

At its core, it's a thoughtful, time-limited set of activities designed to achieve a specific goal. It could be introducing a new product, a seasonal offer, acquiring new customers, or boosting sales of something specific. The key is that a campaign has a clear beginning, end, and measurable objective.

Let me give you an example – imagine you have an online store selling outdoor gear and summer season is approaching. You want to sell more tents, sleeping pads, and sleeping bags. You could create a "Get Ready for Summer in Nature" campaign that runs for a month before peak season, targeting people planning summer outdoor activities.

How to Prepare a Campaign Step by Step

1️⃣ Define Your Campaign Goal

What do you want to achieve with your campaign? It's not enough to say "I want more sales." A specific goal should be measurable – for example:

• Increase tent sales by 20% compared to the same period last year

• Acquire 50 new clients for a newly launched service

• Increase traffic to a specific product category by 30%

Without a clear goal, you won't know if the campaign was successful. You don't always have to fully achieve your goals, but having one helps you figure out how many additional people you need to bring to your e-shop (when you look at your usual traffic and sales statistics).

2️⃣ Think Through Your Main Idea and Message

Every good campaign stands on some main idea. It could be:

• A new offering ("Introducing our new service...")

• Seasonal theme ("Get ready for winter with...")

• Limited offer ("Only until the end of the month...")

• Special price or promotion ("20% off entire inventory...")

• Problem solution ("Never get soaked again thanks to...")

The main idea should be simple, understandable, and attractive to your target audience. Something people immediately get. Few people voluntarily admire advertising - for any ad to catch their attention, it must be as straightforward and maximally clear as possible.

3️⃣ Clarify Who You Want to Target

Universal campaigns trying to reach "everyone" usually don't work well. The more precisely you define who you want to reach, the more effective your campaign will be. Think about:

• Demographics (age, gender, location)

• Interests and lifestyle

• Problems your product solves (and who has such problems)

• Shopping habits

If you're selling sports equipment, your target audience might change depending on whether you're offering professional gear for elite athletes or basic equipment for casual sports enthusiasts.

4️⃣ Plan Your Communication Channels

Where will you communicate your campaign? There are many options and they should match where the people you're targeting spend their time:

• Social media (paid ads and organic posts)

• Email marketing

• PPC ads, banners

• Content marketing (blog, videos)

• Offline materials (flyers, posters)

For smaller entrepreneurs, it often makes sense to focus on just 2-3 channels and use them fully, rather than spreading energy in many directions. They're also easier to evaluate.

5️⃣ Prepare Your Visuals and Copy

Your campaign should be visually cohesive and recognizable. This doesn't mean you need a professional graphic studio – just follow a few basic rules:

• Use consistent colors and fonts

• Maintain a unified style of photos or illustrations

• Repeat the same key message (campaign slogan)

• Use the same logo or promotion branding

For creating simple graphics, you can easily use tools like Canva or similar platforms that offer pre-made templates.

6️⃣ Don't Forget the Landing Page

When you catch someone's attention with an ad or post, where do you send them next? Ideally, have a special landing page prepared specifically for that campaign. It should:

• Graphically match the campaign's visual style

• Repeat the main message and benefits

• Include a clear call to action ("Buy," "Register," etc.)

• Be simple and clear

A landing page gives visitors confirmation they're in the right place and focuses only on what you want to achieve with your campaign. Or have a banner with the promotion on your website's homepage or service description page where you direct visitors from your ads.

💰 Campaign Budget and Return on Investment

Even a small campaign costs something – whether it's your time, money for advertising, or payment to a graphic designer. That's why it's important to calculate beforehand:

Campaign costs:

• Time spent on preparation (even your own time has value!)

• Costs for graphics and copy

• Advertising budget (if working with a PPC specialist, they should recommend a budget based on their experience)

• Any discounts, gifts, or promotions you offer in the campaign

Expected revenue:

• How many new customers/sales do you expect

• What's their average value

• What's the margin on sold products

A simple formula for return on investment (ROI) is: (Revenue - Costs) / Costs × 100 = ROI in percentage

A campaign with 100% ROI means for every dollar you invested, you got two dollars back (so one extra).

📊 Measuring and Evaluation

A campaign doesn't end with launch – you need to continuously monitor results and evaluate everything after completion. What to track:

• Reach (how many people saw the campaign)

• Engagement (how many people reacted somehow)

• Conversions (how many people took the desired action)

• Cost per acquisition (CPA)

• Total revenue and profit from the campaign

For tracking online results, it's ideal to have Google Analytics or a similar tool set up that shows you where people come from and what they do on your website, and how many took the desired action based on the campaign (purchase, form submission, etc.).

🥊 Example of a Simple Online Campaign

To make this more concrete, let's imagine an example of a simple campaign for a fictional small e-shop with natural cosmetics:

Basic info:

• Campaign name: "Chemical-Free Summer"

• Duration: 1 month (June)

• Goal: Increase sunscreen sales by 30%

Campaign components:

• Series of 4 Instagram and Facebook posts about the harmfulness of regular sunscreens and benefits of natural alternatives

• Discount code "SUMMER25" for 25% off natural sunscreen products

• Email to existing customers introducing the campaign and discount code

• Paid Facebook and Instagram ads targeting women 25-45 interested in healthy lifestyle and natural products

• Landing page on website with information about natural sunscreen benefits and product offerings

• Simple blog article "5 Reasons to Switch to Natural Sunscreen"

Budget:

• Canva graphics (self-made): 5 hours of time

• Copywriting (self-made): 4 hours of time

• Facebook advertising: $200

• 25% discount from margin: about $400 (at expected sales volume)

• Total costs: about $600 + own time

Expected results:

• Increase sunscreen sales from 100 units to 130 units monthly

• Average order value: $32

• Additional revenue: $960

• Additional margin (after discount deduction): about $640

• ROI: (640 - 600) / 600 × 100 = 6.7%

Plus acquiring new customers who may shop in the future.

💭 What to Take Away?

A marketing campaign doesn't have to be complicated or extremely expensive. Even a small entrepreneur or beginning marketer can prepare an effective campaign with minimal resources. The key is having:

• A clear goal

• Attractive messaging

• Consistent visual and communication

• Measurable results

And as always in marketing – test, measure, and learn. Every campaign gives you valuable data you can use to improve the next one. No one can give you reliable advice on how to do it best. You need to test, try, compare, and evaluate what works specifically for you within your project and with your audience.

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Looking forward to the next article!

Jan Barborik

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