The 4Ws Of An Online Campaign
The 4Ws Of An Online Campaign
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
– Peter F. Drucker
An Internet marketing campaign is essential to the success of your business. A campaign requires more than a few banner ads placed in social media. It has to be carefully planned and executed. There are no excuses for a poorly planned and executed campaign. There are certain characteristics that all effective internet marketing campaigns have in common. Pay attention to these characteristics, and you will improve the success of your campaign.
Tailored for Your Audience
Campaigns need to be tailored specifically to the interests and needs of your target audience. To do this correctly, you need to consider the results of your market research. What is the average age of your customer? Are your customers local? What do they value?
Once you have established your target audience, use the information to tailor every aspect of your campaign, including the platform, content, and style.
For example, you might want to use a witty message and interesting font for an email to a creative audience. If you have more than one target market, it is worth your time to create a campaign for the different audiences. For example, try sending a message focused on savings to frugal shoppers and one focused on green initiatives to customers who have environmental interests.
Use Powerful Words
Everyone knows that word choice can make or break a marketing campaign. Using the right words will increase the chances of your campaigns success. According to a study at Yale, there are 10 power words that will engage customers and influence them to make purchases.
Power Words:
- You: The pronoun engages people at a personal level.
- Love: This creates an emotional connection.
- New: People are always in search of something new.
- Safety: This is most effective for health products and automobiles.
- Save: Everyone enjoys saving money.
- Results: Proven results provide a reason for a purchase.
- Health: An advertisement for health gives credence to specific products.
- Guarantee: The promise creates a feeling of trust.
- Discover: Offers customers a chance to try something new.
- Proven: A proven product feels safe and reliable.
The 4 W’s of a Campaign
Before you launch an Internet marketing campaign, it is important that you answer some basic questions called the 4 W’s. The W’s stand for who, what, where, and when. The answer to these questions will help you create an effective campaign.
- Who – Describe who you are marketing to with your campaign. This is your target audience, and you must tailor the campaign to the needs of the audience.
- What – Explain your product or service? This is your company’s brand.
- Where – Decide the type of media you are going to use. This is based on your customers. Do some research to determine which media has brought the most customers?
- When – Discover when customers are more likely to purchase. Research the past month of analytics to determine when customers are more likely to buy and time your ads accordingly.
Monitor and Tweak
An effective internet marketing campaign requires careful monitoring to determine how effective it is. Adjustments or tweaks should be made based on the information you gather. There are different tools that allow you to track the response to your campaign, and they will depend on the platforms that you use. It is important to monitor sales, traffic, engagement, inbound links, and ROI.
If these metrics are low, you should consider tweaking the campaign based on the information. If traffic is low, consider tweaking SEO and adding more inbound links. You should also examine your content. Make small changes at a time based on the information you have on hand. If you find that tweaking your campaign does not improve results, you should revisit the 4 W’s to make sure that you understand your customer. If you do not understand your customer, you will market to the wrong target audience.
Practical Application
Evelyn created a market strategy for her shoe company based on her personal interests. The font and tone of the messages were playful, and the campaign hinted at extravagance because she viewed shoes as a fashion accessory. The campaign did little to improve her sales and was a poor ROI.
Finally she did some market research and discovered that her customers were mainly students and young mothers who valued her low price point and variety of styles. Her next campaign concentrated on the excellent value of the product and was worth the ROI. Sales increased by 12%.
