The silver bullet to a successful marketing campaign

Jennifer Broman

What is the silver bullet to creating a great marketing campaign?  Is it leveraging flashy creative or implementing the newest technology?  How about defining the most effective value proposition? Or maybe if your marketing team could create “an app for that” then maybe, your marketing message would truly take off. However, from experience working with clients as they craft their next ad campaign, it is clear that the silver bullet to any marketing campaign is a focused, clear and simplistic message.

I know many times with the beginnings of a branding campaign or launch of a new product, you may want to yell from the mountain tops everything that your brand has to offer the consumer. Yes, it can give you better X or help you be more effective at Y, which can translate into Z… divided by 2, then multiplied by the square root of 34. Even through my poor example, you can see that a complicated message always gets confusing.  Remember, the consumer engaging with your marketing message doesn’t have time to break down the complicated algorithm surrounding your product. Instead, they want a simple value equation—what differentiates your product and what does this mean to them.

Additionally, it becomes necessary to view the campaign itself as a sprint, not as a marathon. With campaigns, the reality is that you need to communicate simplicity with focus on 1-2 brand or product attributes that differentiate. As I’m sure you’ve heard before, it’s not worth throwing in everything plus the kitchen sink—and this is especially true when crafting an ad campaign.  Although there are many incremental messages you may be tempted to touch on, those additional insights can wait until the next campaign. Your current campaign should only be running for 1-2 years, don’t treat it like a never-ending marathon!  Overall, the reality is that too much information will cloud what you’re really trying to communicate to consumers. 

So, when planning your next campaign, try to go back to your marketing roots when crafting your marketing campaign and use the silver bullet of a focused, clear and simplistic message for your next marketing endeavor.

Jennifer Broman is an Account Manager at Hunt Adkins, a full-service advertising agency in Minneapolis.  Currently, she is serving as the MN AMA Blog Content Manager.