The practice of marketing has been around since ancient times, yet marketing as a concept with an emphasis on advertising and sales was not introduced until late nineteenth century. Today, marketing plays a vital role in our societies, and has developed into a version of itself that is significantly different than what it represented in antiquity. In fact, it is significantly different than what marketing was twenty years ago, when the internet was mobile technologies were still new territories for marketers, and marketing strategies were implemented mostly offline.
As the needs of customers became more and more complex, and new businesses started emerging with a swiftness characterized by the presence of technology in a wide array of industries, marketing needed to keep up with trends in order to survive. And since both customers and businesses needed marketing, the relationship became one of interdependency, with fruitful benefits for all parties involved.
Being able to gather and analyze marketing metrics regarding campaigns and their impact on both businesses and customers is an efficient method for tailoring current campaigns that might not run as expected, and also for better-drafting future strategies. Further, we are going to discuss how long should you run a marketing campaign and what are the methods through which to know when a campaign should be completed, or when a campaign has been terminated abruptly.
Determining the Type of Your Marketing Campaign
Before establishing the duration of your marketing campaign, you need to determine the type of the campaign you are about to implement, and make sure you understand the differences between a marketing strategy and a marketing campaign. Marketing strategy is the guiding principle that informs the types of tactics you use to achieve a specific goal. A marketing campaign is usually a subset of a strategy that may or may not involve a variety of tactics.
Regardless of the metrics that go into analyzing your marketing campaign type, you need to keep in mind that automating the duration of your marketing campaigns can turn out to be an unwise business decision, as automation does not factor in what happens during the implementation process.
The Characteristics of Shorter Marketing Campaigns
If you are planning on drafting and executing short marketing campaign, that last for less than a month, you need to make sure that you have a comprehensive understanding of how a shorter campaign operates, and of what you need in order to be successful. A short marketing campaign usually requires a bigger financial effort, as you will need to support it with paid ads and a wider range of methods through which you can reach customers, since it lacks the ability of waiting for organic interactions. When drafting a marketing campaign for a shorter period of time, it is mandatory that you use marketing methods which can offer you immediate results, such as text message marketing, rather than relying on email or social media marketing.
Customarily, shorter marketing campaigns perform well when they are promoting seasonal products, events your company is organizing, flash sales, or any other related type of marketing need. Make sure that you are gathering and analyzing all the necessary metrics from your short marketing campaign, and keep them in mind when implementing a similar one—assuring that you are also considering the specific characteristic of future campaigns.
The Characteristics of Longer Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns that last for more than a couple of months are usually in need of less intricate methods of implementing, and more analyzing of its course, and they mostly used when it comes to improving brand identity or brand loyalty. Also, longer marketing campaigns perform well when executed for products and services that are the cornerstone of your business—but also for creating and maintaining a rewarding relationship with customers and the community.
Longer marketing campaigns, although they will provide a lot of data for analyzing, might prove to be more challenging for marketers, as losing momentum and working toward a goal that is not in your immediate reach cam sometimes seem like a tedious task. Thus, assuring that all your longer marketing campaigns are analyzed and supervised for their entire duration is of utmost importance for their success.
How Long Should You Run a Regular Marketing Campaign?
Once you have all the necessary information on when and how to use a marketing campaign of a certain duration, determining how long you should run a regular marketing campaign will become a simpler business decision, since you know what metrics to analyze. Keeping in mind that a marketing campaign needs sufficient time to reach your target audience, but it shouldn’t surpass the timespan in which customers might lose interest in your promotions, the average duration of a marketing campaign is 45 days. This gives you time to run approximately 8 marketing campaigns per year, and create an implementation calendar that will help you stick to your current marketing strategy. Make sure that you are not implementing your campaigns based on this notion alone, but that you are tailoring each and every one of them in accordance to its type, your current goals, and the needs of your audience.
Multi-channel campaigns need to be in complete harmony with the core of your marketing campaign, and you need to analyze their performances throughout all channels. If you are going to run a regular campaign for more than 45 days, don’t forget to refresh your message and reach out to customers with regularity.
Tips for Running a Successful Marketing Campaign
Regardless of its duration, of the industry you are operating in, and of the target audience of your marketing campaign, implementing it requires effort and understanding on behalf of your company and on the team of marketers responsible with its execution. Therefore, drafting and implementing your campaign with the help of modern marketing solutions will give you a competitive edge over other businesses in your industry, and will help the campaign operate towards your goals.
Don’t forget that your customers need to have a clear understanding of all your campaigns—make the benefits of your campaign visible throughout all mediums, and don’t use ambiguous messages. The use of eye-catching graphics will get the attention of your audience, so make sure to include photos of your products, and also photos that will make customers feel that their needs are understood by your company.
Having a clear understanding of the metrics that go into a marketing campaign and of how long should you run a marketing campaign will help your marketing strategies adhere to industry standards and, if implemented through wide-ranging and modern solutions. In fact, it can even give you an advantage over your competitors who are still using traditional marketing methods, or ineffectual marketing solutions. Don’t forget to analyze all metrics, regardless of whether your campaign was successful or not.
