What to do when your marketing campaign isn’t really a campaign

You’re a financial adviser with a new case study or an event to promote, and you’re planning a marketing campaign. You write a killer Facebook post and shoot it out to all your followers. Now it’s time to sit and wait for the engagement, calls and emails to roll in.

Feeling proud of yourself for a campaign well done? You shouldn’t be.

Because what you’ve done so far isn’t a marketing campaign. It’s also very unlikely to produce the flood of clients you’d hoped for.

What you need is a plan. A real marketing campaign is a strategy for getting the word out about your offering or service and developing as many potential clients as you can in a manner that’s as efficient as possible.

(More: 5 pillars of marketing for advisers)​

What a campaign is

You’re likely to hear the phrase “marketing campaign” tossed about in reference to just about any marketing technique. In reality, a marketing campaign is much more than a one-off marketing tactic. A marketing campaign is, first of all, a well-planned strategy that targets your market from multiple angles.

We define a campaign as a series of actions, using a variety of marketing tactics that are aimed directly at your target. A campaign delivers the right message to the right audience at the right time to accomplish a specific goal. It’s not a simple tool; it’s a machine with many moving parts that’s designed to do a complex job.

(More: Digital is the present and future of adviser marketing)

What a campaign is not

A campaign is not a one-time sales email with no follow-up. It’s not a social media ad placed without careful thought or research preceding its placement. It’s not a landing page that sits all alone on the web where no one will ever find it.

All of these things are what we call “marketing initiatives.” They can be elements of an effective campaign, but by themselves, with no strategy to make them work together, they will not do much to draw new clients to you or please the clients you already have. Without a plan, it’s just busywork.

(More: Independent advisory firms plan to increase digital marketing budgets this year)

The right approach

A typical marketing campaign requires a strategy — one built around ads, social posts, emails and landing pages. Ideally, with the right partner, you’d be able to launch the campaign with a single click. Ads are placed, posts are posted, and an email campaign schedule gets under way. With minimal effort, you’ve got yourself a real marketing campaign.

Maybe you have the wherewithal to put together and implement an effective campaign, but is this where you should be spending your time? Your primary focus is on serving your clients and that’s a full-time job. In today’s marketing environment, there are third-party resources available to plan and execute marketing campaigns.

Just as you purchase software rather than building it in-house, outsource your investment management, and turn to trusted professionals for your clients’ estate planning needs, you can seek a digital marketing partner to ensure that you run a real, results-oriented marketing campaign.

(More: 5 easy social media resolutions for 2019)

Angel Gonzalez is a co-founder and CMO of Snappy Kraken, a digital content marketing firm.