If you are marketing your business or nonprofit, you might be thinking about running a campaign, launch, or event.  Something I have commonly noticed among clients is that they tend to think about a campaign as one marketing activity.  Today, I want to address how you can improve the results of your marketing campaigns by thinking of them instead as a series of opportunities.

A marketing campaign usually involves stringing together a variety of outreach activities and preparation.  Whether it builds to a final event or just involves steady, consistent sharing of a key message, a marketing campaign creates multiple touch points with your audience around a central theme.

A #marketing campaign creates multiple touch points with your audience around a central theme. Share on X

What this means for you is that every time you do outreach within the campaign is an opportunity to leverage your overall message.  Each impression you make within a marketing campaign can draw attention to the wider campaign.  And any one component of the overall campaign can be leveraged even further with partners, influencers, or other collaborators to bring in a larger audience.

Each impression you make within a #marketing campaign can draw attention to the wider campaign. Share on X

Sometimes people get surprised when I tell them how far in advance I will begin to plan an event or campaign.  I might start a year ahead for something big.  The advantage of starting early is that you can chart out all the steps of the process, look for areas where you can seek collaborators, and have enough time to implement it all.  Sure, a campaign or event can be thrown together more quickly.  The problem is that you miss opportunities.  Once you are on your heels, you will be focused on meeting deadlines and not on how to squeeze every last drop out of each moment of your campaign.

If you have a campaign or event coming up, try breaking it down into a timeline.  Use that timeline to show deadlines of the various components that make up the campaign.  Then ask yourself: Are there additional opportunities to reach out to sponsors? Partners? Influencers? Suppliers? Vendors? Venues?  Can you run mini-campaigns to attract attention to the overall campaign?  Perhaps a series of print ads?  Online events?  Email marketing lead-up?  Can you create a referral incentive?  Even with this short list, you can already see that there may be more opportunities than you initially thought.

If you have a campaign or event coming up, try breaking it down into a timeline. #smb #smallbiz Share on X

Once the campaign is over, it may still not be over!  How many ways can you remind people of your campaign or event?  Do you have photos?  Stats?  Public acknowledgement of supporters?  Recognition of winners?  There could be any number of ways for you to extend the life of your marketing campaign with the good news that came from it all.

So, if you have a marketing campaign coming up that you want to run, it is worth taking some time to map it out for yourself.  Look at all the places where you can expand any one component into something larger.  If you do this, you will make the most of your campaign!

For more insight on how to continue the momentum of your campaign or event after it has concluded, read here!