A guide to planning a marketing campaign!

Many people always feel like they don’t know where to start when doing marketing activities . They have read a lot of books by big names and participated in many activities. They are inspired every time, but they still have no idea when it comes to marketing planning.

Today, let’s talk about how to plan marketing activities in a simple way!

1. Clarify the industry level and find the key tasks of marketing activities

After some observations, the author found that marketing activities are also subject to the influence of the current level of your product in the industry. The activities that can be applied in each field also have hierarchical restrictions. The industry level determines what you are in the minds of consumers and whether they need you.

For example: In an ordinary restaurant, in order to attract customers, if you want to hold a VIP high-end banquet event, few people will buy it. The reason is that, in the minds of consumers, you are just a place to solve the problem of eating, which cannot match the high-end feast in their minds.

Therefore, when you understand the level of your product in the same industry, you should know which activities are suitable for your product, and you can create a consumption scenario for your users that they want.

Example:

P&G and Vipshop have teamed up to create a "light and shadow art experience marketing", using the popular "light and shadow art" as a breakthrough point for communication with young people. In the Guangzhou CBD business district, they set up a large light and shadow pop-up store, allowing young people to take blockbuster photos during the experience. If they want to show off, they have to show off their style.

As soon as the pop-up store was launched, it immediately became the trendiest and newest check-in spot in the city. The romantic projection wall and the flirting words of the young star Sheng Yilun instantly ignited the hearts of the young girls in the audience. When you walk into the pop-up store, you will find that it is a natural "big show".

2. What does event planning include?

1. Purpose and objectives of the activity.

2. Activity time and theme.

3. The form and logic of the activity (you can draw a rough flowchart)

4. Promotion plan of the activity.

5. Activity content and process planning

6. Activity costs and outputs

The above is a typical list in a plan. It is also something that must be included. For how to set the purpose and goals of the activity, please refer to another article by the author, so I will not repeat it here.

Here I would like to focus on how to set the theme of an event, because the theme is the first point that triggers consumers’ emotions. If the theme is too ordinary, users will find the event unattractive and will not pay attention to you.

How to set the theme to attract consumers?

This is a triangular framework for taking themes. The core is that themes should be generated based on purposes and serve both enterprises and users. The specific applications are as follows:

1. The company or brand is already well-known and consumers are aware of the brand.

In this case, the topic can be named directly from the perspective of the enterprise, and the subtitle can reflect the user's interests.

Example:

Main title: Highlight the Double 11 Global Carnival

Subtitle: Highlight the activity type or consumer interest

Content: Promotion, lowest price of the year

Main title: Highlight JD 618

Subtitle: National Mid-Year Shopping Festival

2. The brand is not well-known and consumers have no knowledge of the brand

Main title: Crazy 50% discount

Subtitle: All VIPs in the store can enjoy a 50% discount

When consumers are unclear about a brand, discounts are usually the first attraction.

3. The brand has a specific audience and requires a high-end tone

Example: Vanke new product launch

Highlight the role of consumers, who have dreams and high demands for quality of life, so the theme of the event must also be consistent with the values ​​of consumers.

4. The brand has a wide audience, and the tone of the event should be more approachable

Linking the World Cup carnival with beer and creating a carnival festival like the Meijiang Beer Festival is easy to gain recognition from consumers.

Tip: The theme can generally be set as a main title and a subtitle, one is the main theme, and the other is an auxiliary description of the activity type to let consumers know what kind of activity it is.

The above are some ideas when designing a theme. Of course, another key point is creativity, which requires the planner's long-term accumulation of knowledge and insight into life and human nature.

3. Grasp the key points and make good matches

After discussing the topic, let’s talk about how to set the content of the marketing campaign. The importance of activity content involves whether users will take action on this activity or place an order to purchase your product. Generally speaking, content should be set according to the activity type and matched according to key tasks.

for example:

The focus of a new product launch conference is to promote new products, so the content should be more attractive in terms of how to promote the new products, how to present them, and what kind of effect to show.

What benefits can promotional activities bring to users, and how can we make them let down their defenses and consume emotionally.

Let's take a promotion as an example to see how to set up the content.

1. Package Sales - Diderot Effect

200 years later, Juliet Schroer, an economist at Harvard University in the United States, proposed a new concept - the "Diderot effect", also known as the matching effect, which refers to the phenomenon that after people own a favorite item, they will configure corresponding items to achieve psychological balance.

When you recommend a product to consumers, they will inevitably feel that it is unreasonable and they need to buy a complete package to achieve the ideal state. This means that your package is not just about products, but is service-oriented, providing consumers with more choices.

2. Collecting benefits – mental accounting

Psychological cost

"200 off for purchases over 1,000" instead of "80% off after purchases over 1,000"? Which of these two statements do you think is better?

The first statement makes people feel that the money I originally spent will be returned to me by 200 yuan, which is a pleasant surprise.

The second statement is that I must spend 1,000 yuan to get a discount. My first instinct is that a discount is only available if the purchase is over 1,000 yuan. If I don’t want to buy that much, I will feel like I’m being cheated.

Emotional Benefits

For example, if you buy a piece of clothing priced at 2,000 yuan for yourself, you may feel it is expensive and reluctant to buy it, but if it is a birthday gift for a loved one, you may buy it without hesitation.

This is because users classify these two types of expenditure into different "psychological accounts". Clothes bought for themselves are "daily clothing expenses", but clothes bought for loved ones are classified as "favors or emotional maintenance expenses". Obviously, most users are more willing to spend money on the latter.

3. Reference selection – the decoy effect

There is such an example in "Freakonomics": Rapp was a consultant for a restaurant. The restaurant paid him to plan the menu and pricing of the restaurant. Rapp later learned a phenomenon: the high price of the main courses on the menu can increase the restaurant's profits even if no one orders them.

Example of an ad for The Economist magazine subscription:

① Electronic subscription: US$59.

②Paper subscription: US$125.

③ Electronic and paper subscription: $125.

Why would they offer a digital and print subscription when the price is the same as a print-only subscription?

The experimenters gave 100 MIT students the above price list and asked them about their purchasing choices. When all three options were available, the student chose the hybrid subscription; when the $125 print subscription option was removed, the student chose the cheapest option.

How can you use this for promotion? Find expensive products among your products to use as inducements. Even if they cannot be sold, you can still set up a bait. The purpose is to make your other products appear to be of good quality and low price in the minds of the customers.

There are two similar wardrobes. One originally cost 1800 and now costs 1500; the other originally cost 1600 and now costs 1500. Which one would you choose?

So, if you want your target option to stand out more, you might as well add a decoy item to it.

There are many other strategies, such as loss aversion psychology, reciprocity principle, reference psychology, and social identity principle, which are all set based on consumer psychology. It is recommended that you read some books on social psychology that influence consumer decision-making.

Summarize

This article briefly introduces some reference ideas from the aspects of industry perspective, event theme, marketing activity (promotion) content, etc. I hope it will be inspiring to you.

Before launching a marketing campaign, think about the level of your industry and the dimension from which you need to conduct the campaign.

The setting of the activity theme should be based on the purpose of the activity, the enterprise, the users, and the relationship between them.

According to the activity type and purpose, grasp the key points, match the content well, and encourage consumers to take action.

Author: Houchang Education

Source: Houchang Education