Campaigns

A Campaign is a commonly used descriptor for marketing activities. In this chapter we shall have a look at what campaigns really are and what we use them for. We will do so with an emphasis on what constitutes a good campaign.

Most people with sales experience has experienced that even expensive marketing efforts based on expensive brochures has been a waste of money and time, at least from the perspectives a) the campaign did not generate any sales or b) it was not not possible to determine whether the campaign generated any additional sales.

A campaign is a series of activities that you seek to execute towards a group of targets recepients (companies or contacts). Campaigns can be simple; send out a letter to a number of persons. Campaigns can be more complex; 1) send out a letter to a number of contacts, 2) call up all the contacts, 3) register the feedback from the respondents and the 4) group them into three groups - those to be ignored or put on hold, those to be invited to a meeting, those to recieve extra material and called up again later.

There are really no limitations to how you can design a campaign, however it is extremely important that you make sure that your campaign has a purpose that is quantifiable so that you can determine that your campaign has been a success.

A campaign can be conducted through different media. The classic direct mail letter is one, but phone canvas, e-mail, breakfast meetings are other aternatives. The different media can off course be combined in a single campaign.

Campaigns with the purpose to create "mindshare" with your target audience, so that the audience will recognize you at some point when it is close to making a buying decision or so that the target audience connects your company to certain qualities or values. Sometime this type of campaign is referred to as "Image Campaigns".

2.	Campaigns in which you seek to have the target group act actively. Active actions could be purchase, but it could also be to hand over valuable information or to engage in further dialogue (meetings). We think of this type of campaign as "Action Campaigns"

The ChannelCRM Systems main purpose is to help salespeople sell more. Therefore Action Campaigns is the main focus of the system and the Help text here. Using the campaign module is where you can create results easy and fast.

Off course you can use the system for Image Campaigns, and off course an Action Campaign will automatically work as an Image Campaign (and a positive one too as long as the targets experience a professional approach from your company.

•	Make sure that your goals are quantifiable (eg. x meetings with new prospects, or y qualified leads created and documented in the CRM system)

•	Make sure that the taregt group understands the purpose of you camapign activity

•	Follow up! Never let a prospect slip out of the campaign activities because you have something else to do.

•	Make sure you have alternative ways of connecting with your prospects; if the prospect does not want a face to face meeting, he might still be interested in attending a seminar

•	Make sure to fine tune the campaign before executing it; If you are about to send 10000 direct mail letters, it is a good idea to test out the letter and the reaction to it on a group of say 50 prospects first.

•	Make sure that the message of the camapign is clear. We have seen campaigns where the follow up routine has been like setting cold porridge on fire.

•	Make sure the timing is right; do not go for a general campaign towards accountants in January, or Banks in December.

In some organizations it is marketing and marketing only who is conducting the campaigns. Marketing sends out direct mails, marketing hosts seminars etc. Of course marketing expects sales to follow up on the campaign activities, but without involvement of sales in the campaign planning this very often ends up wrong! Sales will suddenly "have no time"to follow up or they will have other prioritized activities, and off course the target group that marketing selected is totally wrong!

But there is a simple solution to improve the situation. The solution is to involve sales and make sure that campaigns a joint effort of marketing and sales. Early on in the process you have to make sure that marketing communicates to sales what the intention of the campaign is asking for input and ideas. Sales will have valuable input with respect to most every aspect of the campaign (message, timing, target group selection etc.). The effect will be not only better campaign design but just as important that sense of common purpose and responsibility and commitment from sales.

In the ChannelCRM campaign module you will find a number of features to support the involvement of sales in the campaign planning process. The campaign Review functionallows for sales people to review a campaign before it is executed to ensure the content of the campaign and perhaps add/remove targets from the target list in the campaign.