With 15 years in the marketing world under my belt, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is simpler than you might think: relax and have fun. Marketing is constantly evolving, with endless strategies and new emerging trends on the daily—you can’t do it all. Instead, embrace your budget, create a strategic plan and follow through. Don’t be afraid to try new things, but stay flexible enough to pivot when something isn’t working for your business.
Even though it’s a bit dated now, one of my favorite marketing campaigns that has always stuck with me is Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign from 2006. These were the iconic Mac versus PC TV ads starring Justin Long as the laid-back Mac and John Hodgman as the buttoned-up PC—making it easy for consumers to compare the capabilities and attributes of each computer and choose the experience that resonated most. The campaign was simple, relatable and funny—qualities that, in my opinion, helped kickstart Apple’s identity as a modern, consumer-focused brand.
While most small businesses don’t have Apple’s budget or the resources for national TV ads, there are core elements we can all recreate in our marketing strategies. I believe that a successful marketing campaign can be broken down into six key steps:
1. Identify
A successful marketing campaign is mapped out from conception to close, and the very first step is to identify the core need behind the campaign. Start with a clear purpose—are you launching a new product? Looking to boost sales? Driving website traffic or app downloads? Define your top priority and set a clear goal from the outset to make sure your campaign strategy is focused and measurable, which sets the foundation for a campaign that delivers impactful results.
2. Brainstorm
Here comes the fun part—once you’ve identified your core need, you can start brainstorming what type of campaign you want to create and the steps involved in bringing it to life. Consider the messaging, visuals and marketing channels that will best reach your target audience. Think outside the box, explore different approaches and don’t be afraid to get creative. This step is all about ideas—pay attention to emerging trends and media channels and consider how you might incorporate them into your strategy.
3. Plan
I think as marketers we are all planners at heart. A well-structured campaign plan will outline goals, tactics, content and materials, team responsibilities, distribution channels and a detailed project timeline leading up to the official campaign launch. Arguably the most important element, be sure to define how you will measure success—whether through campaign metrics, audience reach, sales data, etc. A good campaign plan keeps everyone aligned and on track from start to finish.
4. Execute
Time to put the plan to work! Launch your content, engage with your audience and closely monitor the rollout across your chosen distribution channels. Stay proactive and be ready to pivot if something isn’t landing as expected. Executing, analyzing and adjusting all go hand in hand—track performance in real-time and make strategic tweaks where needed to optimize results.
5. Analyze
During the execution phase, you should be actively analyzing the performance of your campaign to identify what is working and what is not working, making adjustments as needed. Are you reaching the right people? Are engagement and conversions aligning with your goals? Use this information to make data-driven decisions that refine your approach and maximize your impact.
6. Adjust
Based on your analysis, make adjustments to improve performance—whether that means tweaking messaging, shifting your ad spend, testing out new graphics or a different call to action, or exploring alternative media channels. Small, strategic changes can make a big difference and flexibility is key to ensuring success.
A Real-World Case Study
We often think of marketing campaigns as huge projects—like Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign—but campaigns can be big or small. A marketing campaign can be as simple as identifying a need or action your small business wants customers to take, and building a plan for how to achieve that desired action.
At my software company, we’ve prioritized thought leadership and content marketing as key strategies to grow our small business. Some of our most effective marketing campaigns are small but strategic—like driving more readers to view a particular article on our company blog. Once we’ve identified that need, we create a quick plan that may include promoting the article on social media, featuring it in an email newsletter, sharing it with our industry partners or tapping our sales team to use it in their outreach. We then set a timeline for promotion and establish goals for the key metrics we’ll be tracking.
Once we’ve started, we are continuously analyzing our performance as we go. Are we seeing more traffic to the blog on our website? Are our email subscribers clicking on the article link? From there we can make adjustments, focusing on the channels where we’re seeing the best results and refining those that need improvement.
In the early days, our blog was attracting maybe a handful of readers each day. But after a few years of consistent, focused marketing campaigns, we started seeing thousands of daily readers. Today, over six million people have engaged with our blog content, positioning us as a top industry resource and creating new opportunities for business growth. The key? Creating a clear plan and sticking to it—plus a commitment to continuous improvement.
Kaycee Miller has 15 years of marketing expertise, leading strategies to drive brand awareness, enhance customer engagement and help businesses grow and thrive. Today she is co-owner and Director of Marketing & Operations at Rentec Direct, a property management software company recognized as a top small business by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
