The Only Goal Of Every Marketing Campaign And Why You’re Probably Doing It Wrong

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve created a number of marketing campaigns to reach out to potential customers.

Why did you create them?

If you thought, “to bring in customers” you’re only half right.

Ultimately all marketing is created to bring in new customers. But if you don’t consider the “how” within the campaign itself, you’ll never have the results you’re looking for. Let me explain.

I recently went through a wedding magazine here in my local community. Chances are its not a whole lot different from the one’s in your community. And as I browsed through them one thing clearly jumped out at me.

All of the ads are virtually the same.

Sure, the photo, logo and phone number changed. But the structure of the ads themselves was all the same.

So what makes someone choose one over the other?

An Ad Needs To Say More

As a photographer, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the emotion of your own work. You loved the client, you loved the atmosphere, and the particular image you’ve chosen for your ad really “speaks” to you.

The problem is the potential client doesn’t have that same vantage point. They don’t know the client, they don’t know the details of the image, and they don’t know how well you’ve connected with the image. They just see the one photo in the ad, and base their entire first impression from it.

The problem is their first impression becomes muddled when they see photo after photo, page after page, and they all pretty much begin to look alike. And that’s because business owners don’t take it to the next level, and put into a marketing campaign what truly needs to be there.

The goal of every marketing campaign is to create a new belief, or change an old one.

We buy because somewhere deep inside of us we know we have a “problem”. And the person that comes closest to helping us solve our “problem” is the company that we ultimately will do business with.

Don’t believe me? Think about any product you’ve recently purchased.

Let’s use household cleaners. If you go up and down the aisle at your local store, you know there are dozens of different options. Some are “extra strength”, some are “gentle”, some are “safe for the environment”. When you approach the cleaning aisle, you have a “problem”. You want to buy a cleaning product to use within your home. So you go shopping with a few ideas in mind, and possibly some preferences. Yet just by looking through the available products, you can quickly be swayed to other options. Maybe you’ve never thought about the harmful affects of cleaning products before. Would one that promised to “be safe in the environment your kids live in” make you think twice before you buy? Of course. Their marketing campaign – in this case the title and tag lines on the product itself – is enough to win you over and make you buy. And if you add in a television commercial or magazine ad that explains the same things in more detail, you may bypass looking at the products on the shelves, and go straight into the store with the sole intension of buying the “safe” product.

Okay, that’s cleaners. But does it really work for photography? Of course.

Since I began with an “ad” of a wedding photographer above, lets continue on with that example.

What is a bride looking for when she’s hunting for a wedding photographer?

Some brides may be looking for the perfect photographer because she doesn’t want to relive the horror of having “uncle Bob” shoot her wedding and lose everything like her best friend went through.

Or maybe she’s looking for a great photographer that will fit in with her personality, offer her a high level of customer service, and provide the perfect memories of her very special day.

Brides all have different visions and different wants from their photography. But if they have to choose based on dozens of ads that all look the same, it comes down to a coin toss.

Start the process by making them think. Even a simple question can set you a part from your competitors.

Then go into more detail. You may not be able to get a ton of information into an ad, but why not continue the story on your website? If you’re mailing a postcard, continue the story on the back, and explain why the average photographer doesn’t give you 100 percent of the service they deserve.

The goal is to get them to start questioning how all other photographers do things, and why you’re a little different. Once you get that question into their minds, you’ll quickly move apart from your competition. And book more.

Creating a 12 Month Marketing Calendar

This post is Day 13 of 30 Ways In 30 Days To Redesign Your Life With Photography. This series seeks to provide you with practical steps to get you from wherever you are today, to exactly where you want to be – this year! If your goal has always been to take your photography to a whole new level, hang on and start enjoying a new lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of.

In Day 12 of this series, we talked about finding different types of promotions to use during the year to promote your photography. Special promotions allow you to find new clientele in a out of the ordinary way. But special promotions are designed to be above and beyond your normal marketing. They are designed to work in conjunction with your normal marketing routine.

On Wikipedia, one of the definitions for marketing is:

the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising

I like that definition because it stresses two things.

1. The word action. Marketing isn’t about creating a few marketing materials and expecting clients to flow through your door. It’s about taking action. As long as you are in business, it takes work – action – to continually bring in new prospects, and convert them to paying customers.

2. It separates out the concepts of market research and advertising. In order to market your products and services, you have to know who your market is. It’s not “every female between the ages of 18 and 80”. The more you define it, the better you will be at marketing. And only when you know whom your market is can you reach out with various types of advertising – free or fee based – and reach them effectively.

Once you have these two pieces down, then its time to create a plan.

Start With A Plan

Think of your marketing plan as your guide to success. It’s what will guide you along month after month, dictating what should be done, and more importantly, what shouldn’t.

With a plan in place, you’ll have the foundation laid down for what you want to accomplish. You’ll quickly know if something fits into your plan and what doesn’t.

You already have a budget in place from Day 9. So you know how much funding you have to work with each month.

You already have your special events lined up from Day 12. How can you accomplish tasks every month that fit within your budget, and help you accomplish your special event goals?

And now you need to know how to market your business overall day after day, month after month, to bring in a steady flow of customers that meet your basic requirements. These aren’t the people that will find you through your special events. These are the people that love what you do, and hire you based on your standard packages and offerings.

Continuity

The key to any good marketing plan is continuity. Just because you are tired or bored with something doesn’t mean your clients and prospects are. They may just be recognizing you, just have you on their radar, and if you pull your marketing, you’ll disappear forever.

If you are just starting out in a photography business, choose a few forms of marketing, then dedicate the time to stick with it.

Grow on Facebook

Post twice per day
Add two friends per day
Build one connection to my page per day

Grow with a Blog

Blog once per day
Comment on one other blog per day
Grow with a Networking Group

Join BNI

Attend every weekly meeting
Join a committee
Do one 1 to 1 every week

That’s your base plan. Take your calendar, and add these tasks to your work schedule.

Then add in your special events that you planned from Day 12. If you have three events, circle the three dates in red on your calendar. Then work backwards with tasks to complete before the big day. Add dates for meetings, planning sessions, design days for brochures or other marketing materials, and days for shopping for props or other necessities.

And there you have it – a complete 12 month marketing plan, ready to put to work to help you grow your business.

What’s Possible?

Marketing tools and advertising methods can take on any shape or form. I have a list here on this site – 25 Ways To Get Clients – to provide you with some out of the box ideas. Or read through the hundreds of posts I have on this site, and you’ll undoubtedly pick up many more ideas. Or head to Google and do a quick search. You’ll quickly receive hundreds of different methods to advertise your business.

Don’t be overwhelmed by ideas. You don’t have to try everything you read about. Instead, choose your favorite strategies, strategies that you can do over and over again, can easily afford, and can dedicate to your monthly marketing plan.

It isn’t what you choose; it’s how you put it into action. Even a bad plan acted upon day in and day out can achieve great results because it has follow through.

While I’ve listed out a few methods here, its important that you select ideas you can personally commit to and are willing to do every day, week and month from here on out. Don’t be sidetracked by the “latest and greatest” idea. Stick with your personal choices, and make them work for you.

Rinse and Repeat

At the end of the year, sit down with your calendar and decide what worked and what didn’t.

If a special event didn’t work, change it out and try something else. It may not be the event itself – maybe it’s the way you promoted it. Take what you learned from the year, and build a new plan around it.

Never stop your daily marketing methods cold. Instead, phase in an additional task, and fade out an old one.