Creating and launching a successful digital marketing campaign will certainly take plenty of your time and resources. With so many competitors testing their best weapons in the online world, it has become more and more difficult to stand out from the massive offer of information, products and services.

But, you must have noticed that you can still find plenty of engaging campaigns on the web becoming viral overnight, and which do not seem to rely on huge budgets or on any complex process. And this is what you are looking for here – the Holy Grail of an unbeatable digital marketing campaign.

And it can become real for you with the correct use of some critical building blocks that you must take into consideration from the very beginning, so you get it right on your first try – bear in mind that the Internet has the longest term memory that any marketing specialist has ever had to deal before compared to other channels.

So get yourself ready to find out what you need to know to make the most of your next digital marketing campaign.

What You’ll Learn

In this listicle, you will immerse yourself into some of the key elements of digital marketing campaigns, such as:

• Who is your target audience?
• How to find your unique voice?
• What you need to know about your competitors?
• How to define your message?
• What keywords to use?
• How to balance between information and advertising correctly?
• How to use other social media platforms?
• How to shape your call-to-action?

What Is A Successful Digital Marketing Campaign?

Before we get started, it is important that you understand what we are calling success here, just to ensure that we are on the same page. So, a successful digital marketing campaign is one that:

• Helps you to achieve your business’s goals.
• Creates a strong relationship with your target audience.
• Increases your profits.
• Builds brand awareness.
• Brings traffic to your website.

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s start with our first critical block.

Block #1: Your Target Audience

Before you do anything, you need to get to know your primary target audience, which can be divided into three groups:

• Your potential clients – those will buy your product.
• Their influencers – those who will directly influence the decision-making process of your potential clients, such as their parents, best friend, spouse or boss.
• Their supporters – those who might offer an opinion about your product, without having an immediate impact on their buying behavior.

And in order to understand each one of these groups, you will have to do your homework very well, starting with some informal research and then getting a proper one done. You might want to create a persona as well, an imaginary person with a strong profile, who will be your focus of attention while hypothetically testing your campaign.

Through your research, some questions will need to be answered so you can build your persona:

• How old is your target audience?
• Where do they live?
• What is their educational level?
• What is their job?
• What is their gender?
• What they are looking for in your product or service?

The last question is the trickiest one to answer, and it might take a bit more than research, maybe even a consultation with a consumer behavior specialist, to identify it correctly. But we all know that when someone decides to buy something that they want to take home, it is not your product or service, but the promise behind it. And it takes us to our next block, your unique voice.

Block #2: Your Unique Voice

Your unique voice is your promise, it is what makes your customer buy your product, talk about it and come back for more. We are talking here about what makes your product or service special, and what makes your client go with your company and not another. If you don’t have it clear in your mind, your client won’t have it either.

The best way to find your unique voice is to ask your previous or current clients why they decided to buy your product. You can also use one of the many marketing tools available, or look for insights in any reviews your customers might have left about your company.

Here are some possibilities that you might found out regarding your unique voice:

• Your exclusive suppliers.
• Your high-standard quality.
• Your prime loyalty program.
• Your excellent customer service.
• Your fast and trustworthy delivery process.
• Your expertise (and your staff’s).

Noteworthy: If, at this stage, you still have no idea of what makes your product unique, stop everything and go back to the basics. You might need to re-analyse, or even restructure your product from head to toes. But do it if you need it, and think about your added value, so you can make sure that you are not selling just one more of the same.

Block #3: Your Competitors

And what are your competitors doing out there? Are they selling more than you? Why? You should always follow your competitor’s marketing strategies, even if they fail. You will learn what you should or shouldn’t do, and how to improve your own campaigns. And the best thing is that information is there for you to see, no espionage required. You will only need to:

• Make a list with their details.
• Check and follow their websites.
• Sign up for their newsletters.
• Watch their video ads.
• Like and follow their social media networks.
• Among other options.

It should give you enough information regarding what you need to know about your competitors – and rest assured that they are doing exactly the same with you.

Block #4: Your Message

Now that you know who you are talking to, what you are selling and what your competitors are doing, you should be ready to define your message. At this stage, what you want to do is to decide how you are going to say what you want to say. And as this is a delicate matter, it is important that you take your time on it.

Each campaign should have one and only one message. Yes, you can add a few extra bits here and there, but your goal should never be more than one, or people just get confused or overwhelmed.

You might be thinking now about all those supermarkets and department stores ads showing a dozen of products on TV. But you have to understand that their goal is to make you get out of your couch and leave your place to their next shop – what you were going to buy there isn’t the most important thing.

So the best way to define your message is by finding the best way to achieve your goal. Invite that persona you created to a conversation and ask them what they need to hear or see so they will do what you want. And this is all that you need to know.

Block #5: Your Keywords

If your content is the king, your keywords are your royal army. No matter what you are trying to sell or which channel you are using, you will need to know your most searched keywords by heart. They are one of the key elements that Google Search uses to index your website, image, video or app, so they know if they are the best answer to some kind of query.

What you need to know here is how your (potential) client searches for your business, your product or service — meaning, what are the exact words that they type into the search bar. It is very likely that you can have your own ideas about what these keywords or key phrases are, but if you don’t want to be wasting time making adjustments that you could have got right since the very start, you should check these keywords tools:

• Keyword Tool.io
• Google Keyword Planner
• Ubersuggest
• SEMrush
• Buzzsumo
• Long Tail Pro

Some of these options are free, others are paid, but they will all give you what you are looking for – the most searched keywords related to your industry. Don’t underestimate the importance of getting the best tool if you can afford it. Just remember that there is no point in creating the perfect campaign if it won’t reach your target audience when they are looking for you or your product.

Block #6: Your Balance

Let’s face it – the number of people that will turn on their computers, and look for your product online specifically is much smaller compared to those who will be looking for pure and simple information. Plus, how many times have you shared advertising with your family and friends?

The truth is that advertising is usually seen as something really annoying when it comes to the Internet. Many people have already mastered tricks and hacks created only with the purpose of disabling or blocking online ads. Others will pay for upgraded apps or subscriptions just to ensure that they won’t have to see any advertising. So do you make make them pay attention to your campaign?

Here you will have to lock your ego somewhere it can’t run away from, and think about something that can be considered as useful, unbiased and trustworthy. Forget about the best, the most beautiful, the latest feature, the trend, etc. Again, call that persona for a coffee and test some different options with them, so you can have a better idea of what might or might not work beforehand.

Block #7: Your Social Media

Nowadays, it is almost impossible to think about any online campaign without considering how it will be published and shared on social media. Which platforms you will choose to use and prioritize will depend on where your client is. But your campaign is very likely to be published on those with the largest number of users: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

All these three major players come with their own advertising services if you want to opt for paid ads. Or you can try to reach your audience using your profile, page or channel, depending on the platform. Still, don’t ignore other platforms, such as:

• Google+ – as in nobody knows for sure what is the weight of Google’s social media network when indexing websites.
• Pinterest – excellent option for products and services with visual appeal.
• LinkedIn – if your target audience are professionals.
• Reddit – where news goes viral in the blink of an eye.
• Instagram – great for quickly sharing images.

The important thing here is to understand that you might need to create ads for each one of your chosen social media platforms, as they have their own particularities. So you might ensure that you pick them wisely to avoid spending money and getting very little in return.

Block #8: Your Call-To-Action

Okay, now that you got their attention, you have to make them buy your product. This is the point where many marketers lose it all together, creating campaigns that are very beautiful and shareable but which won’t bring one cent to the company.

So, except if your campaign’s goal is only to bring awareness to your brand, you will have to spend some time getting your call-to-action right. It can be a catchy phrase to be said or a button to be clicked, depending on your message and channel.

But it does have to be created in a way, so it persuades your client to do something urgently, such as buy your product, sign up for your newsletter, or enroll in your course. Here you will want to invest in the most effective:

• Language.
• Color.
• Size.
• Tone.

One more time, you should check what your competitors are doing and getting right or wrong. Or you should try some A/B testing or even look for templates. But always remember to put yourself in your target audience’s shoes, so you know what you should go for or, at least, what to try first.

Wrapping It Up

Now, you probably have accepted the fact that a successful digital marketing campaign requires lots of work, expertise, research, tests, and adjustments. But it still is something that you can do if you take the task seriously enough. So get to know your target audience, what your competitors are doing, what is your added value, your message, the best keywords and how to make the most of your social media platforms. And make sure that they will buy your product with a well-shaped call-to-action.

Also, ensure that you take your time perfecting your campaign, and don’t let go of any of these critical blocks without the proper attention they deserve. What you will get from it will be there for you to see very soon – happier clients, more conversions, increased profits, more traffic. And all these can be achieved only by getting just one single campaign right, nothing more.