How to plan a corporate marketing campaign

Campaigns rarely fail because the idea was weak. They fail because the decisions were taken in the wrong order: media booked before the message was settled, artwork designed after the printing deadline, or four departments each understanding the objective differently.

Start with one objective

Write down the single thing this campaign must achieve, precisely enough that you would recognise it if it happened. "Raise awareness" is not a measure. "Bring 300 enquiries for the new service line from distributors" is. Everything else becomes secondary and is ranked below it.

Decide who it is for

A campaign aimed at everyone is priced like one aimed at everyone and performs like one aimed at nobody. Name the audience, say where they currently get their information, and state what they believe today that you need them to believe afterwards.

Write one message, then the proof points

The main message should be short enough for a customer to repeat to somebody else. Underneath it sit two or three proof points that make the claim believable. If a channel cannot carry the main message, the problem is usually the message rather than the channel.

Choose channels, then split the budget

• Pick the fewest channels that genuinely reach this audience, and give each one enough weight to be noticed.
• Decide what each channel is responsible for: reach, enquiries, footfall or applications.
• Reserve part of the budget for production, which is easy to forget while the media plan looks full.

Put production on the timeline first

Printing, embroidery, fabrication and installation are the slowest steps in almost every campaign, and they are scheduled last in almost every plan. Work backwards from the launch date: artwork approval, materials, production, delivery, installation. If the dates do not fit, the launch date moves, not the quality.

Agree how success will be judged

Before anything goes live, write down what will be counted, who will count it, and when the review happens. A campaign with no agreed measure can only be repeated or abandoned, never improved.

None of this is complicated, and the planning takes less time than the production it protects. The discipline is in the sequence.