Digital campaign: the important steps to get started

Launching a digital campaign is a good way to make yourself known, to attract more prospects to your page, and to boost the sales of your products. But for it to work, you still have to launch it correctly! In this article, we will review the 8 key steps to ensure the success of your digital campaigns. Let's go!

Step 1: Set the objective of your digital campaign

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Setting a clear and specific objective is essential to structure your action plan. As they say, it's the base!

Each business has its own goals linked to its overall marketing strategy. Here are some examples of common digital campaign goals:

• promote a new product or service;
• increase brand awareness;
• boost sales;
• gather customer reviews;
• generate leads;
• announce an event, etc.

Careful! A good goal should always be SMART, which means:

👉Specific : Clearly define what you want to achieve.

👉Measurable : Make sure you can track progress and measure success.

👉Achievable : Set realistic goals that you can achieve.

👉Realistic : check that the objective is relevant and reasonable.

👉Temporally defined : Set a deadline to reach the goal.

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Step 2: Define the audience

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You probably already know the importance of the persona in marketing. It's important to determine who your message is for. This approach allows you to define:

• the content;
• its shape;
• appropriate distribution channels.

To do this, you need to draw up a typical portrait of your consumer. Based on your knowledge of the market and your customers, this marketing persona is characterized by:

• his age;
• gender;
• its socio-professional category;
• its geographical location;
• their consumption habits;
• its needs and challenges;
• her fears;
• its position in the customer journey.

With this information, you can segment your audience to target only individuals who meet these criteria.

⭐️ The Growth Room Council : there is often a difference between what we think we know and the reality. To know your target audience well and refine your personae, survey your current customers or prospects directly, for example via an online questionnaire.

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Step 3: Target the right distribution channels for your digital campaign

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In a marketing campaign, channels can be classified into three categories:

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👉Owned Media

These are the communication media that your company owns and fully masters. They include:

• your website;
• your mobile application;
• your profiles on social networks;
• your Newsletter.

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👉Earned Media

These are the touchpoints that have been earned by your business thanks to its commitment and reputation. They include:

• your positioning in search engines (SEO);
• mentions of your business (e-reputation);
• mentions and shares on social networks.

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👉Paid Media

These are the paid acquisition channels that your business uses to achieve its marketing goals. They include:

• paid search ads (SEA);
• The Display advertising ;
• sponsored posts;
• paid partnerships.

With so many options, how do you choose the right channel?

The selection depends on several factors:

1. Your objective : the channel to choose varies according to the objective of your campaign. For example, if you want to increase your reputation among young people, social networks like Instagram or TikTok can be effective.
2. Your target : knowing your audience is essential. It's silly, but if you target seniors, you'll more easily reach them by phone, mail, or radio, and probably not on TikTok.
3. Your budget : costs vary considerably between channels. A television commercial is much more expensive than an email. It is therefore important to calculate the return on investment (ROI) for each channel.
4. Your past performances : Use data from previous campaigns to identify the channels that work best for your business.

Today, the omnichannel approach is essential. In other words, use several channels to multiply the points of contact with your target. That said, it's important to prioritize these channels to avoid spreading your efforts and budget.

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Step 4: Determine your budget

Money is the lifeblood in digital marketing, and you need to manage your budget well so as not to close your doors. Here are some key things to consider to balance the price of your digital campaign:

1. Sufficient budget : make sure that your budget is large enough to avoid failure due to lack of resources. An underfunded campaign is often ineffective.
2. Financial balance : avoid putting your finances at risk by investing too much. Find the right balance between investment and financial security.
3. Alignment with the objective : adapt your budget to the size and impact of your objective. Decide if you want to allocate more resources to conversion, lead generation, brand awareness, etc.

⭐️ The Growth Room Council : anticipate the return on investment (ROI) of your campaign. Compare the expected profit with the expenses generated. Remember to account for all associated costs, including the time your team spent on the project, because time is money!

Step 5: write an impacting message

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Your marketing campaign message should be carefully designed taking into account several elements:

1. Your objective : align the content of your message with the objective of the campaign. Ask yourself if it's promotional, informative, or inspiring. The aim is to encourage your audience to act on this objective.
2. Your persona : personalize your communication to meet the specific needs of your target at a specific time. Knowing your persona helps you adapt your message to be relevant and engaging.

To stand out from the competition, understand how your campaign concretely meets the needs of your audience and what your unique value proposition is. Here are a few things to consider to highlight your strengths compared to the competition:

👉Competitive price : offer your product or service at an advantageous price compared to alternatives on the market.

👉Innovative offer : highlight unique features or benefits of your offer.

👉High-end positioning : position your product as a superior quality option, offering significant added value.

👉Values : for example, respect eco-responsible values, thus responding to a growing demand for sustainable options.

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Step 6: don't forget the form and format of your digital campaign!

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For your paid search ads, you'll need to work on editorial content and keyword research. On the other hand, for display ads (visual), you will need to create relevant graphic elements, such as photos, montages, motion design or videos.

Your digital campaign will probably be “multi-channel”, which means that you will have to adapt your ads to different formats depending on the media used. The key is to remain consistent with the key message of your campaign and to respect your brand identity, both graphically and editorially, regardless of the medium used.

Also, think carefully about the form of your message. Visuals, colors, typography, music, or background music all communicate something about you and the type of person you want to reach.

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Step 7: Give something in return

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To increase the engagement of your audience, why not offer something in exchange for the expected action?

In B2B, for example, it is common to offer the download of quality content (white paper, case study, etc.) in exchange for contact details via a form. This makes it possible to generate qualified leads while offering your prospects free access to your expertise.

In B2C, online contests and tests are often used to collect data. Some businesses even ask participants to share the post on social media or tag a contact, which increases the visibility and virality of your post.

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Step 8: analyze the performance of your digital campaign

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How do you know if your digital campaign is working well? No secret: you need to carefully measure its performance.

Start by defining appropriate KPIs (key performance indicators). There are a lot of them, such as:

• traffic (organic, paid, etc.);
• the conversion rate;
• the number of new leads generated.

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Choose the right indicators based on your goals and the channels used. For example, on social media, you'll monitor metrics like:

• the number of subscribers;
• the reach of your publications;
• engaging your audience.

👉 To help you, you can read our article on 10 marketing KPIs to follow !

Once the results have been analyzed, if all goes well, you can repeat the process again. If not, identify weak spots so you don't make the same mistakes again.

⭐️ The Growth Room Council : assess your performance even during the campaign. If the results aren't there, you can always adjust your strategy along the way!

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Our advice to maximize your digital campaign

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👉Take care of your calls to action and your landing pages. Clear and well-placed CTAs naturally encourage people to visit the landing page of your choice. Make sure that this landing page reflects your value proposition and encourages consumers to take action, such as buying a product.

👉Refine your forms, because they are essential for collecting data on your prospects and transforming them into qualified leads. Once the Internet user is attracted, don't let them go! Be clear and only ask for the information you need.

👉Consider A/B testing. By launching several versions of the same campaign (especially in emailing), you can see which one works best and learn valuable lessons from it.

👉Learn from your past digital campaigns. It is by experimenting that you will find the winning formula. Each failure is a valuable source of information to improve yourself.

👉Adopt a “data centric” vision. Marketing is deeply driven by data. Consistently use the information your software provides to learn more about your customers, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

👉Watch for trends. Stay informed of changes in your market and consumer habits so as not to miss out on any opportunities. Also, keep up with marketing trends and new technologies that are constantly developing.

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And if you really want to go further with your digital campaign, use a digital strategy agency ! It will activate the right levers to propel your growth and exceed your acquisition goals.

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