A marketing campaign involves considerable thought and planning. Depending on the size of the business, the campaign may involve several people at different levels within the organisation apart from those who may be employed in dedicated marketing or advertising roles. Advertising is just one means of marketing although the term "advertising" can be interpreted as any activity which promotes a product or service.

The purpose of a marketing campaign is to increase the business' positioning in the marketplace. That means to increase its market share and become a recognisable brand. Familiar, recognisable brands are identified by straplines or slogans, logo and images.

A winning strapline or recognisable image turns a business into a household name. It also needs to say something about the product or service offered. The AO.com strapline "we deliver when you're in, not when you're out" reacts to a common consumer complaint about businesses delivering packages when it suits them and not the customer. The ongoing saga of the meerkats is a clever play on words for promoting the comparison website comparethemarket.com and when baby Oleg entered the scene, it became a series in its own right for that and subsequent episodes.

A slogan is a short punchy phrase which conveys a memorable message, often used by companies to market their products or services. For example "Red Bull gives you wings".

A marketing campaign can be planned by startimng with a thought shower to capture ideas around the product or service to be promoted. The key features need to be explicit, such as value, price, USP, who you are intending to target where and why they should buy it. The campaign is aimed increasing sales. How, when and where the message is communicated will impact on the outcome.

Central to the marketing campaign are the aims and objectives appropriate to the overall business goals. To avoid the scatter gun approach referred to a little earlier, the marketing aims are selected in response to the business goals set out in the business plan. Imagine that one of Apple's goals was to increase the sales of their Apple watches by 75% compared to last year's sales. Their marketing aims and objectives would focus on the watch rather than promoting all Apple products together.

When developing a marketing plan this is a good structure to follow. A table is often used with the aim in the first row and the following in the columns below.

Aim:

Objectives

Promotional Method 

People Involved

Lead Person

Resources 

Milestones 

Deadline 

Budget 

Success Factors

A marketing plan can be devised in many different formats, for example as a Gantt chart and supporting documents, so long as it has the key components. The column titles may vary, along with their order and some might include more detail than others. Where the plan involves more than one aim then a separate plan may be used, each one linking to the other. Plans might also be broken down into more detail against each resource perhaps in order to monitor and measure progress. An example of a marketing campaign is shown opposite.

In the 1980's, NIKE, Inc's goal was to gain a larger share of the sports shoe market. To accomplish this it needed a campaign which would take it from selling almost exclusively to marathon runners to becoming a household name. As a result of its 1980 campaign "Just Do It" it increased it's market share from $877 million to more than $9.2 billion in just 10 years.

The table opposite shows the next stage of the marketing campaign and how they will be implemented. The key performance indicators (KPIs) are necessary to provide a measure of progress made since they represent the success criteria for each stage.

Undertaking a situational analysis requires investigating the state of the internal and external factors affecting a business. This allows marketers to formulate strategies relating to business goals. The business environment is assessed using various methods as described next.

A SWOT analysis helps to examine the internal and external elements in a business. It is a useful approach to undertake alongside a PESTLE analysis. The two can then be compared and challenged. SWOT analysis is like making a list of a business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's similar to a sports team understanding their skills and the challenges they face.

Strengths: These are the things a business is good at. A strong brand and efficient production process are strengths. Such as employees, products etc.?

Weaknesses: These are areas where a business might struggle. Limited marketing budget or outdated technology could be weaknesses.

Opportunities: These are external factors a business can use to its advantage. A growing market or a new trend are opportunities.

Threats: These are external factors that can harm a business. Competition or economic downturns are threats.

As part of the marketing planning process a business has to analyse its external environment, one way of doing this is the PESTLE analysis tool. This is described in more detail here. Essentially it involves looking at the Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental influences on a business. You can use real world information for the time period in which you sit the exam alongside anything of relevance from your case study.

A marketing campaign will be more successful if you have determined which market to target, as the same marketing approach may not attract or be suitable for everyone. This does not mean excluding anyone by making assumptions but does mean relying  on primary or secondary data from market research to justify the target market. For example, it would not be the best plan for a manufacturer of the Rolls Royce to target young male drivers.

A marketing campaign needs to have focus. Therefore the manufacturer of high-end prams and pushchairs might target all adults over the age of 16 who could be expected to afford their products. They could find out about the suitable demographic using secondary data sources such as those from the census statistics produced by ONS. These can be filtered by, for example people and society, income and lifestyles then by adults and income levels.

The usefulness of this and other data reports depends on then range of the market to be targeted, for example local, regional, national or global. Multi-national businesses are likely to employ people to examine economic, financial and forecast data, such as those produced by:

The usefulness of this and other data reports depends on the range of the market to be targeted, for example local, regional, national or global. Multi-national businesses are likely to employ people to examine economic, financial and forecast data, such as those produced by:

• The National Bureau of Economic Research in the USA

• Global Economic Data and Forecasts

• Global Financial Data

• Global Economic Prospects

• National Statistics

The table opposite shows an extract from the UK government's website in which "Her Majesty's Treasury publishes monthly statistical data containing major economic indicators.

Smaller businesses also rely on data relating to the economy from new reports, financial articles or periodicals. This is so they can anticipate what the market can sustain. For example, an architect producing plans for large scale building projects may have decided to diversify during the recession to promote regeneration projects, plans for building extensions or commercial property conversions.

Many businesses use the information extracted from analyses of primary data collected by:

• Customer Feedback

• Mystery Shoppers

• Surveys and Questionnaires

• Businesses such as Nielsen and TTMC.co.uk, which undertake research on behalf of other organisations.

Businesses need to be aware of what their competitors are doing, as well as technological giants such as Apple, Samsung, Sony and Microsoft.

Depending on the nature and size of the organisation, business intelligence databases can be purchased from companies such as Hoovers while a business with a niche market such as Nuclear Energy, will rely on numerous sources for intelligence to provide a comprehensive overview.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) provides reports on business growth and performance such as how the UK performs as a competitor international as a research nation.

Other sources of business performance information are through organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce and Employer Business Partnership where employers network with competitors, suppliers and other businesses to develop contacts and promote their services. Local authorities use data gathered by the ONS, OECD and market needs in relation to the local demographic. A construction business might extract useful information to establish their medium and long term aims to market residential or commercial development projects.

A UK umbrella manufacturer might use data from the Met Office to predict sales relating to long term weather forecasts.

Competitor analysis data are used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors as well as your own. Rigorous analysis and evaluation can help businesses to make informed decisions about product development and marketing strategies.