How to Create a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

• Amol Ghemud
• How to Create a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign
• Published: August 14, 2018

Contributors: Amol Ghemud
Published: August 14, 2018

Digital marketing is now the biggest growth sector in the 21st century. Businesses and brands are now able to utilize this incredibly versatile technology to communicate with their customers.
Digital marketing can take many forms and can be used across a plethora of platforms; from SEO (Search Engine Optimization), content marketing, social media marketing to B2C email and newsletters.
A successful digital marketing campaign takes a lot of planning, research, money, and patience.
The large brands we know and love today have refocused their marketing strategies, employed brand managers, and digital marketers to handle their communication and ensure they are utilizing communication within digital marketing.
2016 saw the growth of smaller brands and charities grabbing the limelight and coming up with some impressively creative campaigns.
From the rejuvenation of the Girl Scouts across twitter to the ice bucket challenge. We have been spoilt for choice in choosing our line up.
First, let’s start with what makes a successful digital marketing campaign. 

Prove the ROI of your marketing efforts by presenting these seven metrics

There are a number of measurable factors and many of them will be the same no matter the business or brand.
According to lighthouseinsights.com a successful campaign could be determined by the brand’s global reach, the engagement and reaction from their audience or simply by the creativity involved in the digital marketing campaign.
The Digital Marketing Institute highlight the most important steps brands should follow to ensure they are successful. Internally success for individual brands will be related to what their overall goal for the campaign is.
Outlining goals and objectives, forming a strategy, reaching the audience and finally measuring the outcome are all steps brands will follow to ensure their chances of a successful campaign.
Once the initial planning steps have been followed and a clear digital marketing strategy has been implemented, the campaign can be easily measured.
Success will look very different for each brand or company, it could be they are looking to engage with a new audience and raise further awareness of their brand or they may simply want to increase their revenue with the products they already offer.
We have researched, reviewed and dissected the most successful digital marketing campaigns of 2016, finally narrowing down to our Top 3.
Our chosen three digital marketing campaigns have been based on particular but diverse criteria.

1. Has their campaign made a difference to others?
2. Was the campaign creative?
3. Who has been the most effective in terms of the brand message and authenticity?

1. Penny the Pirate. Interactive books for children.

Hitting our screens over two years ago, it was only in 2016 the campaign really hit the world of digital marketing. The campaign is based on a storybook created specifically to test children’s eyes whilst they read.
According to digitalagencynetwork.com the campaign, which was developed by marketing leaders, Saatchi & Saatchi has been a success due to the numerous platforms it utilized.
The campaign included traditional print media, as well as digital marketing. An app was also developed to reach the target audience and engage the next generation.

Our conclusion

We could not fail to be impressed by the brand’s ability to reach it’s target audience across so many different levels.
Engaging children and parents across digital media is a challenge marketers are always looking overcome and Penny the Pirate certainly achieved this.
An impressive digital marketing campaign, perfectly executed.

2. Always – #Likeagirl

The campaign hit the digital world in 2015, but it’s true force and communication really hit the marketing mainstream and obtained success in 2016.
A brand with a need to communicate with the next generation and especially with female millennials, the #likeagirl campaign started an empowering and powerful message.
A case study of the campaign by dandad.org highlighted the success factors involved. The brand took a usually negative expression ‘like a girl’ often used in the school playground and turned it into a positive.
An expression already known and used globally, they were able to use positivity and girl power to rejuvenate three simple words.

Our conclusion

The brand’s ability to create an encouraging, positive and empowering message for girls certainly left us impressed.
Through research, planning, and creativity the brand has elevated themselves and have been accepted by the next generation of Always consumers.

3. Disney #shareyourears 

Using the strong and influential arm of social media Disney launched their share your ears campaign and reached their fundraising goal almost immediately after launch.
Digitalpulp.com highlight the importance of what made the campaign such a success. They determined that the fact Disney built a kid-friendly, easy to use website was key to the success.
Kids are able to snap and share pictures of themselves with mickey mouse ears and post it online, Disney donated $5 for each share. #shareyourears raises money for ill children and is a refreshed version of ‘make a wish’ charity.

Our conclusion

The creativity, engagement coupled with the fact the campaign is for a good cause made this a clear winner for us and worthy of our Top 3.
Disney has shown through social media, they can not only create engagement, encourage fun participation and get all the family involved they can also raise an impressive amount of dollars for charity.
The world of digital marketing will only continue to impress and elevate large and small brands to a global audience.

Brands will have to

1. Stay fresh, feel current and ‘on trend’
2. Continue to be different and original
3. Step up and be able to communicate and engage the next generation
4. Stay accessible and ensure their message covers a range of media platforms
5. Get creative
6. Involve the whole family, be fun and educational
7. Feel transparent and authentic

Digital marketing is exciting and open to whoever wants to take it on.
Big or small, brands and companies all have the opportunity to speak to their audience all over the world.
If you’re just starting out or you need to overhaul your existing marketing strategy, make sure to familiarize yourself with these 7 important marketing metrics
Digital marketing remains accessible and can often be a free marketing tool which gives everyone a chance to share their message.
It’s not just companies and brands who benefit from digital media, bloggers, school kids with a business idea and entrepreneurs can all utilize it’s power.
As social media platforms continue to diversify and grow we can only look to the future of digital marketing and wonder whats yet to come? We cannot wait to see.

About the Author

Amol Ghemud

Optimizer in Chief

Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.