The marketing director of a small but growing gluten-free pasta company was stuck. They tried so many different marketing approaches to reach customers but nothing worked. As they shared the details with me I uncovered an important missing element.
Everything was a “one and done”. Never a campaign of activity.
They sent a single email to a prospect list hoping that magic would occur. Instead, they should have created a campaign of activity with one theme over several messages. It is a small but consequential decision when your marketing happens once not frequently over time.
A Campaign of Activity
Think of a drip of water into a glass. One drip isn’t going to fill the cup. Over time, that drip will be overflowing and be spilling onto your table.
Marketing is a slow and persistent unfolding of information, education, and entertaining insight. If it rides the moment, it can be flashy but equally as easy to forget.
Remember the last novel you read? Over chapters, the story unfolds, the characters grow or change or mature? The theme emerges as you see pieces of the puzzle in a new light.
We all love a cliffhanger.
Lessons:
- Marketing needs an arc – a beginning, middle and end.
- Think of marketing as more like a calendar than a clock. Time can be your friend if you are honest, persistent and engaging.
- Don’t waste your time on one-hit-wonders. Except for Apple’s 1984 ad, few marketing examples aren’t campaigns of communications.
- Campaigns can start off with a tease that gains attentions and makes the viewer/reader hungry for a little more information.
- Leverage anticipation and expectation like a novelist. Or, like a TV show uses a cliffhanger. (You’ll have to watch for our next message to learn what happens).
Campaigns are better than one-time messages. In my next blog post, I’ll reveal the secrets to an effective technique that has worked for many of my clients.
Some clever marketers end their emails with things like In my next blog post, I’ll reveal the secrets to an effective technique that has worked for many of my clients.
In my next blog post, I’ll reveal the secrets to an efficient method that has worked for many of my clients.
Stay tuned.
Need someone to help you build a campaign of activity? Find out how here.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jess2284/280004765
