The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Campaigns

Learn how to run more impactful, measurable marketing campaigns.

From P&G’s “Thank You, Mom”to Dos Equis’s “Most Interesting Man in the World,”marketing campaigns have a way of sticking with us. Why is that? Campaigns make companies memorable.

Marketing campaigns promote a focused effort that guides consumers toward the desired action. They also give brands an identity, personality, and emotion. The right campaign can do the same for your business.

That’s why we’ve compiled this guide — to provide a clear, concise approach to your next marketing campaign. Keep reading to get started, or use the links below to jump ahead.

What’s a marketing campaign?
Types of Marketing Campaigns
Marketing Campaign Components
How to Create a Marketing Campaign
Marketing Campaign Examples

Marketing Campaigns vs. Advertising Campaigns

Marketing is how a company raises awareness of its brand and convinces customers to make a purchase. Alternatively, advertisingis the process of creating persuasive messages around these broad goals.

In terms of campaigns, an advertising campaignmight be one facet of a larger marketing campaign strategy.

Say shoe brand Nike launched a campaign surrounding the release of a new product. Its advertising would only reflect one facet of its marketing strategy.

The brand might also leverage email newsletters, social media, and paid search to meet its goal.

Now that we understand the difference between advertising and marketing campaigns, here are a few more types of marketing campaigns you might run.

Marketers have a wealth of choices when deciding what kind of marketing campaign to build. So, how do you make the right choice?

In our 2023 Marketing Strategy and Trends Report, we found that data-informed marketing strategies have become the most popular type of marketing campaign. Brands also emphasize agile marketing and the ability to pivot in the types of campaigns they run.

Successful marketing campaigns continue to focus on social media marketing and brand-building. Companies have focused on online communities to drive more engagement.

Regardless of the type of campaign, the most popular marketing asset is video. This is followed by images, blog articles, infographics, podcasts, and other audio content.

Video continuously has the highest ROI of any media format — a trend that remains strong in 2023. Marketers are continuing to invest more in video elements of marketing campaigns.

Marketing Campaign Components

Multiple components go into the planning, execution, and results of a stellar marketing campaign. We’ll discuss the most important components of campaigns below.

Goals and Key Progress Indicators (KPIs)

This component defines the end goal of your campaign. You’ll develop specific, measurable goals. Then, you’ll state which metrics will be used to track progress.

For example, your content creation campaign might be measured by organic traffic. Each post may aim to drive 1,000 views per month and 10 new contacts. These categories will be measured in Google Analytics and Looker.