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In this article, Martin Wiens from NeueNarrative.org shows you what types of campaigns there are and what makes a good campaign.
For a long time, I wasn't a big fan of orchestrated marketing campaigns. But the simple reality is that such campaigns work. By campaign, I don't mean a single social post, but a time-limited bundle of communication activities across different channels (e.g. social media, emails) with the aim of increasing sales or strengthening the brand. In this post, I'll introduce you to 6 types of campaigns and share what makes a powerful campaign.
These campaign hooks exist
Below you will find 6 campaign hooks that are particularly common in the media sector. Perhaps they will help you develop ideas for your own next campaign.
- Drop campaign
You may be familiar with this from sneaker sites that don't just offer individual shoes, but release a bundled drop every now and then. At Neue Narrative, we publish three magazines a year and try to accompany these releases with campaigns.
- Support campaign
Support campaigns are very common, especially in the indie media sector. The mechanism is simple: you ask your users for support, for example to reach a subscription target. In difficult times (and there are often such times for media), the purpose of support campaigns is often to ensure the survival of the offering.
- Distinction campaign
Distinction campaigns are usually mixed in with other campaign hangers, but are so important that they get their own entry here. By this I mean a campaign that is used to differentiate oneself from others - for example from another media offering. These campaigns polarize and sharpen your own profile.
- Calendar day campaign
Some marketing people regularly scan holiday calendars to find events that could be the hook for a campaign. I'm not a big fan of this approach, but I'd like to mention it here anyway. An example of a calendar day campaign is a special offer on Black Friday.
- Anniversary campaign
A really obvious but rather nice hook for recurring campaigns is your own birthday. Is your medium turning 5 years old? Celebrate this with your users and build an anniversary campaign around it.
- Update campaign
This category is easy to explain: You share product updates with your customers and potential new customers. Or there is something new to report from your project. This can also be the starting point for a campaign.
Checklist: What makes a good campaign
Brand fit
A good campaign should fit your brand and be credible. At Neue Narrative, we have already had many differentiation campaigns against other media offerings half-finished. And we've always decided against it because we prefer cooperation to competition. That simply suits us and our understanding of a better economy better.
Common goal
Crowdfunding campaigns are so powerful because the participants can work together to make something possible that would not exist without them. A good campaign has a clearly communicated goal that can be tracked over the campaign period.
Example: We currently have 19,287 subscriptions. We want to reach 20,000 subscriptions by X. We use the money to do Y.
Shortage
Scarcity works. Two forms of scarcity are particularly suitable:
- Temporal limitation (e.g. an offer that is only valid for 7 days)
- Limited quantity (e.g. an offer that only the first 200 people get)
Channel mix
A good campaign should be played out via the appropriate channels. For example, if a campaign has viral potential, social channels are a good place for it.
Upgrade campaigns to existing users, on the other hand, are better placed in emails.
(Emotional) drop height
A good campaign has an impact and ideally involves the recipient on an emotional level.
Example: If we don't reach X subscriptions by Y, we may soon no longer exist.
Real added value
A good campaign has real added value for your target group. You can achieve this above all with added-value campaign content. There are also two main mechanisms:
- Discount: You offer your product at a discount of, for example, 20 percent.
- Bundle: In addition to the actual offer, the user receives one or more add-ons.
Reusability
Ideally, a good campaign can be used several times. Sure, sometimes there is a one-off campaign opportunity that you simply have to take advantage of. However, it is much more important to identify recurring campaigns that work multiple times.
Example: Our kiosk campaign never gets old. We've been telling the story for two years now - and we're still proud of it.
However, my observation is that teams in the early stages in particular give a lot of theoretical thought to the right time for a campaign - and end up waiting far too long. My rule of thumb is: go live tomorrow! 🤡
Our campaign learning path will help you with this.
About the author
Martin Wiens is co-founder of Neue Narrative. His goal is to build a prototype for the publishing house of the future. He prefers to develop processes in which people can develop content collaboratively and efficiently.
