How to run a successful marketing campaign by Lisa Mayoh

Category: Marketing

Published in Herald Sun and on www.news.com.au on June 12, 2013 and written by LIsa Mayoh.

WITH videos going viral every day and more products to be sold than ever before, marketing has never been more important. But how do you create and execute a marketing or advertising campaign destined to meet the masses?

Well for starters, if everyone is walking in one direction, turn around and run in the other.

That's according to experts, who admit that yes - creatines often do their best work over a game of ping pong.

Mark Held from www.thinksalot.com.au says the key to good advertising is keeping the message simple.

"You're essentially telling a story," the award-winning creative director tells news.com.au.

"So the story should always appeal to its audience, and be delivered in the right tone of voice.

"It's about finding something interesting and truthful about the product or service, then giving it a pinch of wit and charm so it becomes more easily palatable to the people you are talking to.

"Turning the page, minimising a window or changing the channel is instant, so you have to make sure whatever you're preaching is worth listening to."

Held, 35, says coming up with the big ideas takes a huge amount of forward planning.

"You need to be armed with great information and a good strategic plan - then plenty of time to think," he says.

"To find a new way to get people excited about 'the same old' thing means you usually have to try and approach it from a different angle.

"But you really need a solid group of smart people surrounding you that are incredibly persistent and have a high standard for quality.

"Great ideas don't usually come easily, so when you and your team collectively find an 'angle in' that feels fresh, it usually leads to the consumer feeling the same way."

Held says that over the last five years technology has changed the way everyone communicates, which of course has changed the way advertisers communicate too.

"Social media is still very young in the scheme of things so as it matures, so will the way brands use it to interact with consumers," he says.

"The use of digital imagery, both moving and stills, is getting more amazing by the second.

"It also gives anyone with a smart phone the ability to create content, which can be awesome - and not so awesome. But the digital space is fast becoming the centre of all advertising.

"It is pretty exciting as there are so many ways to interact with people, and also the reverse, so many ways for people to interact with brands.

Held, who has devised successful campaigns for high-end clients including Emirates and Mercedes great collaboration is key to success and a dynamic, engaged and inspired team will only go from strength to strength.

"And yes, creatines do play ping pong," he laughs.

"They also often get away with sporting non conforming hairstyles, trainers and transportation devices.

"I am not personally the type that wears a sports coat with old sneakers while holding the single kick skateboard in the boardroom, but hey, if you come up with the goods, wear a onsie for all I care. Just be real."

Founder and Managing Director of Marketing Eye, Mellissah Smith, has been in the industry for more than 20 years and says the most important thing for any marketer is education.

"If marketers fail to keep informed on the latest in marketing techniques, chances are that their future marketing campaigns will not be as successful as they once were," she says.

"Big ideas usually come from empowering people within creative teams to look outside the square, spend time out of the office exploring the world around them and giving them free rein to spend as much time as needed to surf the net and be inspired by other creatives around the globe.

"And if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

"Having a strategic plan in place is paramount and is the only way in which to ensure that your marketing campaign is measurable, has purpose and will help deliver on your overall business goals."

She says having a US operation has been paramount to sharing new technology as it launches with their marketers in Australia.

"This has been incredibly important to staying ahead of the curve and ensuring that we not only adopt the latest marketing technologies but we pioneer it in Australia and understand it in a way that makes the use of newer technologies meaningful for customer engagement," she says.

"If you are starting out in the marketing industry, then there are a few things you need to know.

"If everyone is walking one way, walk the other - it's the only way you will stand out from what is becoming a very hot career.

"Sometimes you have to fail to succeed in the future - just like in any area of business. "Social media is the least expensive way to get a brand evaluated at a rate that is not possible with traditional media. Invest early, adopt new platforms if they fit your customer profile and dare to be different."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/how-to-run-a-successful-marketing-campaign/story-e6frfm9r-1226662277666#ixzz2W0ZCRHG6