What Is a Marketing Campaign? + How to Manage Them Like a Pro

When you've worked hard on your products, you'll want to share them with as many people as possible. But doing so can be difficult without a well-thought-out and managed marketing campaign. So what is a marketing campaign anyway, and how can you make one work for you?

We'll start to answer those questions today. In this tutorial, you'll learn about marketing and campaign management. Plus, I'll share nine steps to help you with your marketing campaign management.

What Is a Marketing Campaign?

 Defining a marketing campaign is actually pretty simple. It's an organized series of steps and actions that promote a product or service. There are multiple types of marketing campaigns, including:

• Product launch campaign. Used for when an organization is introducing a new product or service.
• Email marketing campaign. Focuses on using email to promote products or services.
• Video marketing campaign. Uses video content to inform audiences about products and services.
• Influencer marketing campaign. Brands find influencer partners in their niche that will promote their products or services to their audience.

There are even more types, and that's a lot to wrap the head around. That's why we're going to give you a general overview of marketing campaigns in this post. We'll discuss some of the principles and steps in the management of all types of campaigns.

What Is Marketing Campaign Management?

If you struggle to define marketing campaign management, here's what you need to know. Campaign management is essentially the deliberate process of planning, implementing, measuring, and improving your marketing campaigns.

The key word here is “deliberate”. This means that you go through every step of the campaign with specific intentions. Marketing campaign management always involves conscious decision-making.

This deliberate approach is essential for small businesses and marketing teams. They typically have fewer resources, networks, and experience to draw from. Every decision must be made with care, at the right time, within budget, and with a specific goal in mind.

Marketing Campaign Management in 9 Steps

You need to follow a clear path when managing your marketing campaigns. A step-by-step approach allows you to run campaigns without worrying about if you're prepared. Start managing your marketing campaigns from the beginning. You’ll know exactly what needs to take place and when.

The parts of each step might differ depending on your campaign. Marketing campaign management typically goes through the following phases:

Step 1. Customer Needs Analysis

The first step is to try to fully understand your customer. This might include:

• conducting customer research
• creating buyer personas
• research into your competitors' customers

The purpose of this step is to clarify who your target customers are. Your marketing decisions will depend on knowing your audience. That includes your marketing materials to where you’ll advertise. These are some of the marketing campaign management processes that let you get to know your customers:

• Define your target customers. You need to know the basic demographic information of your customers. That includes age range, location, and industry. Psychographic details such as their opinions, behaviors, and attitudes will come in handy. You can use this tutorial on defining your target audience as a starting point.
• Create customer personas.Customer personas are characters who represent the different market segments you’re targeting. There’s storytelling involved in buyer personas. This makes your target customers seem more real. In the marketing campaign example below from HUCACE (via HubSpot), they created the character of "Tina". She's an HR Manager who has trouble with hiring top talent. If you want to make your own customer personas, you can consult this tutorial. 

• Research your competitors.If you want to know who will be buying from you, looking at your direct competitors’ customer base is a good start.

If you need additional guidance for this stage, check out the following tutorials:

• How to Get to Know Your Customers

  David Masters

  05 May 2022
• How to Start an Online Business: Driven by Your Customers' Needs

  Brad Smith

  09 Apr 2021
• The 5 Elements of a High-Quality Sales Technique

  George N Root III

  04 Oct 2022

Step 2. Set Marketing Campaign Goals

After defining your audience, it’s time to set goals for your campaign. These goals should have the following two characteristics:

• Timebound. There should be an estimated deadline for reaching the goal.
• Simple to measure. Your goals should have quantitative results that can be measured easily. 

By creating measurable and timebound goals, you might have one or more of the following on your list:

• Increase number of sales by 50 percent in four weeks.
• Double our annual profit by the end of the year.
• Get 100 new subscribers to our mailing list in two weeks.
• Decrease product returns and refunds by 20 percent in three months.

Your goals might change, and that's perfectly fine. You can reset your goals as you get more information and list the steps needed to accomplish them. But it’s best to have a specific goal in the early stages of managing your marketing campaign.

Step 3. Set a Budget

It's unlikely you'll have unlimited funds for your digital or traditional marketing campaign. That's why if you want to create the best marketing campaigns, you'll need a budget.

Here are some expenses you’re likely to incur throughout your campaign:

• online tools (such as for social media management, analytics, email marketing, etc.)
• advertising expenses, whether traditional media or online
• printing costs
• consulting/contractor fees
• venue rentals (for events or focus groups)

Small teams usually have a limited budget. But there are ways to make sure that the campaign is as cost-effective as possible. Once you’ve made a list of all your expenditures, you can find ways to cut costs.

Here are some cost-saving marketing campaign examples:

• Pass on hiring a graphic designer to do your flyers. Instead, opt for a ready-made flyer template at a fraction of the cost. 
• Start with inexpensive marketing campaigns. This could be creating case studies or repurposing some of your old content.
• Find free online tools that are capable of doing what you need.

The following guides can also help you allocate your effectively:

• A Brief Introduction to Bootstrapping Your Marketing

  David Masters

  22 Feb 2021
• How Your Small Business Can Compete With a Larger Competitor

  Andrew Blackman

  16 Aug 2022

Step 4. Plan Your Marketing Campaign Strategy

You now know who you’re going to reach and what you want to achieve with the first two steps of marketing campaign management. Now, by writing a marketing plan, you can clarify when and how you're going to do it.

1. Choose Your Marketing Channels

First, clarify how you're going to execute your marketing plan. This includes the marketing channels you'll use. These channels could be online, such as email marketing or social media marketing. You could also choose offline channels like print ads, flyers, or event marketing.

Want a list of marketing channels to include in your marketing and campaign management plan? Look through the following guides:

• 10 Best Digital Marketing Tools to Help Your Business Perform Better in 2024

  Daniel Strongin

  19 Oct 2023
• How to Customize an Email Marketing Newsletter Template

  Alexis (Lexi) Rodrigo

  17 Nov 2023
• 30 Budget-Friendly Marketing Ideas: For Your New Small Business

  Julia Melymbrose

  07 May 2020

2. Pick the Right Metrics

You need to pick metrics that match your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase sales, choose metrics that track relevant data. That can include:

• number of online sales
• new customer registrations
• number of returning customers
• percentage of customers that buy multiple products

For offline marketing channels such as flyers, you can use coupon codes to track sales and leads you get. You can also include the address of a squeeze page for your leads to visit online so that it's easier to track them.

If you'll be managing a digital marketing campaign, here are some metrics that could be useful for you:

• What Is Business Intelligence?

  Andrew Blackman

  11 Nov 2022
• What Is a Means-End Analysis? & How to Use It

  Andrew Childress

  02 Jan 2023
• Content Marketing Metrics: How to Measure Your ROI

  Andrew Blackman

  23 Jun 2023

3. Write Your Plan

Put your marketing channels, metrics, and tools together in a single document. You should also add other resources required for your marketing campaign. This will serve as your campaign plan. Your plan can be in the form of a lean, minimalist plan or even a fully designed PowerPoint presentation.

Since your goals are time-bound, it's also best to write your plan in the form of a calendar. 

Step 5. Allocate and Delegate Your Campaign Resources

Once you’re confident about your marketing plan, it's time to allocate resources. This includes your time, team members, and other resources. You want to ensure that the campaign is carried out as you envisioned it. 

Here are a few of the tasks that might need delegation in your team. These depend on your marketing campaign plans:

• project management
• copywriting
• graphic design
• video
• social media account management
• website analytics
• social media analytics
• flyer distribution
• media/press relations

Step 6. Create Marketing Campaign Materials

This is where you combine creativity with your marketing goals. Your goal is to make materials that engage audiences based on what you know about them.

We've outlined some of the resources you can use above. But it's important to only choose what's best for your marketing campaigns. For example, it wouldn't make sense to write blogs for an audience that prefers podcasts or the radio.

Make sure you develop these materials with your audience and budget in mind. Even if your audience would like in-store activations, you might not have the budget. Take these insights and get creative to deliver something your audience will like.

Step 7. Execute Your Marketing Campaign 

With your plan, budget, and team in place, it’s time to follow through with the actual marketing stage. This is when you’ll see the value of proper marketing and campaign management. With every step laid out and scheduled, all you've got to do is stick to it. 

Be active in managing your campaign during this stage. Here are the things you should consider doing:

• Regular status reports. Depending on the length and scope of your campaign, you need regular status reports. These let you know if everything is being accomplished well and on time. This tutorial can help you and your team craft simple, actionable reports.
• Ensure that your team is motivated. It’s easy for a small team to get overwhelmed by a project. That's why each team member needs to have the motivation and productivity to go with their tasks. These basic management guides can help you do this:

• Should You Manage With a Carrot or a Stick?

  Lisa Jo Rudy

  28 Sep 2021
• Project Management Kickstart: How to Tackle Large Projects

  Laura Spencer

  06 Feb 2023

• Solve problems early. It’s tempting to procrastinate whenever problems or challenges come up. But, precisely because of your small team, you can’t afford to leave problems alone and let them fester. Use root cause analysis to find your way out of problems when they arise.

Be proactive and adaptable in your digital and traditional marketing campaigns. This will help you evolve to new customer needs and execute better.

Step 8. Measure the Results of Your Marketing Campaign

This is the part of marketing campaign management that we’re all waiting for—results. All brands, especially small teams, need to know if the time and money spent on the campaign was worth it. Earlier in the planning stage, you were able to set and clarify goals. Now, you’ll need to know for sure if you reached them.

Revisit your campaign goals and marketing plan metrics. Were you able to reach your goals and targeted metrics? Use your results to inform your upcoming campaigns. It's helpful whether you were successful or not.

Do you need to report your campaign stats to a supervisor or client? A professional presentation would help prove the effectiveness of your campaign. This PowerPoint template and this Keynote template are good slide decks for analytics.

Keep in mind that measuring the results of your campaign doesn’t have to take place at the end. In fact, you should track your results and progress along the way. You’ll be able to adapt more easily in case of problems or opportunities.

Step 9. Review Marketing Campaign Data

Measuring data from your marketing campaign is great, but there's more to be done. Now, it's time to interpret what it means for any campaigns you're planning in the future.

Do this with your marketing team and any other stakeholders that may have good insight. These are some of the items that should be up for review:

• how each member of your team was able to handle their assigned task
• if all your deliverables were completed on time
• any unexpected problems or challenges that came up
• anything you could have done better or differently
• ways you could save money in the future
• any new information about your target audience

Learn More About Marketing

Learning the marketing campaign definition is the first step to reaching your audience. If you're looking to learn more, stay right here on Envato Tuts+. Our instructors' tutorials will help you create the best marketing campaigns.

• 10 Best Digital Marketing Tools to Help Your Business Perform Better in 2024

  Daniel Strongin

  19 Oct 2023
• Content Marketing Metrics: How to Measure Your ROI

  Andrew Blackman

  23 Jun 2023
• What Is Product Marketing + Top Product Marketing Tips

  Nathan Umoh

  07 Oct 2023

Download Premium Marketing Materials From Envato Elements

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Your Marketing Journey Just Started

This guide is great for creating the best digital and traditional marketing campaigns. You've gotten some key marketing campaign definitions. You've learned crucial steps for marketing campaign management. You've even seen more resources for traditional and digital marketing campaigns.

Use this tutorial as an overview of the best practices for the goals you want to achieve. It'll help focus you and your team as you work to promote your brand. And save yourself some time and energy by using professionally-crafted templates from Envato Elements.

Editor's Note: This tutorial was originally published in 2018 by Celine (CX) Roque. It's been revised and updated for relevancy by freelance instructor, Nathan Umoh.