Every day there is a plethora of information released regarding the latest marketing challenges, newest marketing technologies, the importance of content marketing and digital marketing optimization, and much more. Research, articles, reports, studies, and blogs all advise on the top things marketers need to plan for in 2015 to be successful. Rarely can the individual marketer actually read it all and still keep up on their day job (unless that is your day job). After all the information is digested, after all the technical decisions have been made and solutions implemented, you are then tasked with executing marketing campaigns – the messages must be delivered. While it may not be the trendiest topic, execution is where the rubber meets the road. If campaign execution is poor, then time, investment, and overall energy is for naught. It’s critical to ensure that execution is a central tenet in your marketing group.
Merkle executes literally thousands of campaigns each month for our clients. We work with them to ensure that the strategies, the selections, the application of privacy/preference, the offers, the treatments, and the content all come together correctly to get the marketing message to the right person via the right channel at the right time. With so much experience to draw upon, I’d like to share some of our key learnings on the top five things to do to execute campaigns effectively.
- Planning Sessions – hold regularly scheduled planning meetings to review and discuss upcoming campaigns. This is the time to review the campaign schedule – to understand what is to be executed when and ensure your entire team understands the schedule and what’s expected of them.
- Campaign Requirements Documentation – ensure that these are living, breathing documents that are kept up to date, held in a shared repository, reviewed frequently, and are clear and concise to support the campaign process.
- Scheduling – ensure that the right resources are available with clear roles and responsibilities.
- Oversight – monitor the campaign execution process to ensure campaigns are executed on time and gain visibility into any hiccups that might have occurred, so you can immediately rectify the situation.
- Quality Assurance – validate completed campaigns by looking at the post campaign counts, data waterfall reporting, and even sample data. It is important to compare it with benchmarks from prior campaigns and to set goals for ongoing improvement.
In today’s work world, teams are often geographically dispersed across the US and even across the globe. Time zones become a factor and may actually be used to your benefit, but it requires solid coordination across the teams, both internal and external. Overall, considering these best practices will help you ensure maximum performance across your campaign execution process.
