Ilkley in West Yorkshire is a thriving hub of activity. After living and working here for over 4 years I have seen businesses grow and really make an impact here.
There are so many great examples of marketing campaigns here in Ilkley it was hard to choose just 2. But what makes a great marketing campaign?
A great marketing campaign has it's audience in mind and because of this has a long-lasting impact on the growth of the brand. The marketing campaign might come from a small business or a start-up but if that business has a lasting impact then that is the sign of a great marketing strategy to me. Using social media, email marketing, website marketing and all other marketing channels are vital parts of a successful marketing campaign.
To understand what makes a marketing campaign great, we must first understand how one is defined.
What is a marketing campaign?
A Marketing Campaign is an organised, strategic effort to promote a specific company goal. This could be increasing awareness of a brand or product or engaging with a local community to boost newsletter sign ups.
However a Marketing Campaign does not include all marketing efforts for that brand, but is a connected series of efforts designed to achieve a particular goal.
Great marketing campaigns follow a consistent theme and promote a single idea or objective.
When looking at any marketing campaign, you can start to break it down into the components of which it has been crafted. For that to happen it is useful to look at how marketing campaigns are made.
How to plan a marketing campaign.
I have broken the planning of a marketing campaign down into 8 simple steps. These steps help you build your marketing strategy in a measured and calculated way to get the best results.
Step 1. Set Effective Goals
Ensure that the goals and objectives of your marketing campaign are powerful enough for you to measure against them and keep them at the forefront of your campaign at all times.
Step 2. Outline Your Audience
Your marketing campaigns will be more effective if you have your audience in mind. Craft a persona of your audience, their likes, dislikes, where they consume their media and how they engage with businesses they like and build your campaign around them.
Step 3. Build Your Platforms
Whether it is digital or not, build your platforms to accommodate for your marketing campaign. If this is a social media campaign, make sure you have the digital assets like cover images, landing pages, profile photos etc to accommodate your campaign.
Step 4. Create Content
Now its time to create the content that will resonate for your audience using your different platforms. This means writing a blog, posting on social media, creating a flyer or distributing a press release.
The biggest difference with a marketing campaign than your regular marketing communications is that all your content is branded the same, with similar messages and is recognisably part of this campaign.
Step 5. Engage With Your Audience
With you content that you're producing make sure you engage with your audience and that they engage with you. This can be likes on social media, clicks on a link on your blog, to have a sample in your store and more.
Step 6. Convert That Engagement
As your audience engages with your content, the ideal scenario is that they go straight through and buy your products (or convert) but that doesn't always happen. You need to serve different content for customers who are on different stages in their buyers journey in order for them to convert.
Step 7. Re-Convert
Customers who are willing to re-purchase are the best customers to have. Re-converting them requires a lot less marketing efforts so re-converting customers is a great cost effective way of growing.
Step 8. Analyse, Adapt and Grow
Now your campaign is over, take a look back, see what worked and what didn't and how you could do better next time.
If you liked these tips and want to read more you can download the full ultimate guide to marketing strategy for small businesses which I co-wrote!
Now you know what goes into a successful marketing campaign here are my 4 great examples of marketing campaigns in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
Ilkley Manor House Trust - #ilkleymanorhouseathome
Ilkley Manor House is an iconic heritage building and museum in the heart of Ilkley with a vision of creating an ambitious heritage, learning, creative and leisure quarter for Ilkley centred on the Manor House.
Unfortunately, the Manor House had to close their doors due to the recent COVID-19 lockdown which would see donations which they so heavily rely on drop dramatically.
To combat this and to engage with their audience, they ran a marketing campaign called Ilkley Manor House At Home which highlighted an activity or theme for everyday of the week, aimed at their family audience through their social media channels.
Not only did the campaign boost their digital engagement, but the Ilkley Manor House Trust saw a rise in reach, newsletter sign ups and online traffic.
Copper Spoon Cakery - Self Isolation Cake
Copper Spoon Cakery is a wedding cake supplier based in Ilkley who during lockdown and as a result of weddings being postponed or re-arranged due to COVID-19 social distancing rules, boosted sales through online orders.
With many wedding suppliers in Ilkley struggling through this difficult time, Alice from Copper Spoon Cakery adapted and grew through the lockdown by offering the Self Isolation Cake and bespoke brownie boxes using her webshop.
The Self Isolation Cake (now named the Mini Celebration Cake ) is a unique mini 4 inch cake that serves 6-10 people, perfect for families to celebrate birthdays or occasions during lockdown. In addition to this she also offered postal order brownie and blondie boxes to satisfy the sweet cravings of customers up and down the country.
Using social media, Copper Spoon Cakery has managed to thrive during the uncertain period growing website sales and social media conversions.
To grow your marketing or create an amazing campaign like the Ilkley Manor House Trust or Copper Spoon Cakery get in touch today.