There are different types of marketing campaigns to help companies get noticed and stand out. Just like Forest Gump named a plethora of shrimp, we can also name quite a few marketing campaigns like brand awareness marketing campaigns, clever marketing campaigns, transparent marketing campaigns, direct response marketing campaigns, social media marketing campaigns, product launch marketing campaigns, and, well, you get the idea.
There is no shortage of types of campaigns.
So how many types of marketing campaigns are there?
HubSpot lists 11, another site list 14. It really doesn’t matter how many there are if you’re not sure how to implement them effectively unless, of course, you’re writing a term paper. Then how many campaigns there are might be necessary.
What is a marketing campaign?
A marketing campaign is an organized set of initiatives designed to achieve a specific goal that offers value for your business and your customers.
General goals of marketing campaigns might include:
- Raising brand awareness
- Improving customer perceptions
- Changing customer beliefs
- Launching a new product
- Generating leads
What are the best types of marketing campaigns for my business?
No one can answer that question until you sit down and talk to them about your goals and objectives. To identify which type of marketing is the best for your business, you have to start with your business objectives and then remember what you’re trying to achieve for your customers.
More important than identifying the best type of campaign for your business is to identify the team or partner that will create, communicate and deliver the campaign. We make good marketing campaigns through a consistent and repeatable process that allows for unique inputs that distinguish the campaign’s output.
In addition, if you’re hiring an agency to develop the marketing campaign, you want to consider their culture and how well it blends with your own. The best marketing campaigns are developed collaboratively, and therefore, you have to get a sense of what it will be like to work with an agency. What do the agency’s team members make you think about the outcomes you’re trying to achieve? Are they challenging your assumptions and helping you make the best decisions? Are they committed to results and having honest discussions about what is working? Are they pushing you to be the best you can be and ensuring your prospects and customers will think so as well?
Here’s an overview of the marketing strategy we implement for our clients and a complete guide to marketing strategy.
What are the three types of campaigns most commonly used in Business to Business (B2B) marketing?
- Account-Based Marketing (ABM) – Businesses that provide services to other businesses such as consulting firms and SaaS (Software as a Service) companies often deploy this type of campaign. Typically sales and marketing teams are closely aligned to define targeted accounts that represent a good fit for your business and the highest potential revenue impact. You can identify a good fit and clients representing the best possible revenue impact by creating an ideal customer profile (ICP). ABM involves identifying key accounts for prospecting and the individuals responsible for purchasing.
The campaign focuses on highly personalized messages to those individuals combined with personalized sales follow-up. Together the marketing and sales teams agree on the cadence and content included in the campaign while holding one another accountable through the implementation and delivery.
The Terminus 2020 State of ABM reported “that 94.2% of respondents- currently say they’ve got an ABM program. Of those with an active ABM program, 7.9% were in an experimental pilot phase, and 43% rated their experience with ABM as “Early.”
If you’re considering an ABM campaign, you’re likely on the right track.
- Pay-Per-Click Campaigns – Often, companies that offer products and services to other businesses will use pay-per-click advertising to generate leads for their business. We’ve experienced that it’s useful for manufacturing suppliers that are critical businesses within the supply chain. The most common type of campaign is Google Ads, which allows you to bid on common keywords that your prospective customers search.
Keyword research and a knowledge of what motivates your customers to buy are a couple of essential elements to create effective campaigns that drive demand for your products. You can quickly waste money with these campaigns, so it’s necessary to have someone familiar with the medium to help create and launch the campaign. You’ll want to look at click rates, your cost per click, and ultimately conversions from marketing qualified leads to closed-won deals.
Another typical pay-per-click campaign for B2B marketing is LinkedIn advertising. We’ve found these campaigns to be effective when added alongside an ABM campaign, as you’re increasing the frequency of message in reaching your prospects.
- Inbound Marketing Campaigns – HubSpot, a marketing automation software company, made this term famous years ago. The idea is to create content that generates interest in your company. The essential element of inbound marketing is to have a thorough understanding of your prospective customers and the problems and challenges facing their business. You also want to tie your content into your search engine optimization efforts to ensure that you’re increasing your likelihood to appear in search results.
Creating content and putting it on your website is not enough. You’re going to need to determine where your prospects get information and their media preferences. Once you combine these components, you’ll also want to consider an email marketing initiative that moves your prospects through your marketing funnel and on to sales opportunities.
The initiatives listed above can be combined to create an overall demand generation marketing campaign that is highly measurable. With each of these campaigns, you will know what’s working and calibrate it to generate results.
What are the types of marketing campaigns most likely to generate ROI?
We’ve heard from clients more than a few times, “we wish we’d talked to you guys first.” But, unfortunately, if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be easy to waste money on marketing campaigns.
If you’re just trying initiative after initiative and only looking at short-term, leading indicators, you’re likely to become frustrated and start to believe marketing is ineffective.
Marketing is most effective when it is done consistently. Today, most executives want to go fast, and they say it without considering what it takes to go faster. Racecar drivers know that to go fast, everything around you and in you has to slow down.
The most effective campaigns that generate ROI include the following elements:
- Customer insights
- Competitor insights
- Cultural insights
- Truth & Transparency
- Customer Media Preferences
- Agreement & Alignment on Measurement
The truth is any type of marketing campaign can get you results if you take the time to do the work that makes the campaign memorable and actionable.
What are the most clever marketing campaigns of 2021?
Who says these are the most clever marketing campaigns of 2021? We do. And here are three of our favorites.
Subway: Fragrance with Tom Brady
It’s an epic release for the NFL season, which takes the viewer into a commercial that looks like it will be for a new fragrance that Tom Brady is promoting. Subway uses curiosity and humor to surprise the viewer and remind Subway fans of the bready aroma when entering the restaurant.
It’s essentially a brand marketing campaign that connects football fans back to a great Sunday afternoon game day essential, Subway.
A Fox Sports news article quoted the following. “The Subway Eat Fresh Refresh campaign brings to life how much new we have on our menu and is a significant moment in the brand’s transformation journey,” Subway chief marketing officer Carrie Walsh said in a statement. “We developed a creative idea with a supporting cast of the biggest names in sports to share all of the great changes happening at Subway in a story that continues across multiple spots and formats.”
Another brand marketing campaign we like is the new Caesars Sports Book Ad which ties in a promotional twist and could be considered a product launch campaign for its new app. It’s a transformational ad that reminds viewers to embrace their inner Caesar. The multi-million-dollar marketing campaign stars J.B. Smoove, an actor, and comedian. It also includes social media marketing initiatives to capture potential customers in the media they are using.
A bonus social video marketing campaign that is one of our all-time favorites is the #IndyIsHappy campaign we produced. Yes, full disclosure, we’re promoting one of our own produced commercials. It started just capturing scenes around Indianapolis of our iconic sports teams, restaurants, and venues. It was featured in the local news and has achieved more than 90,000 views since the original airing. 