The Deciding Factors for Successful Campaigns

I’m getting married in November. In an attempt to plan a relatively inexpensive wedding (less expenses and fewer people), my fiancée and decided to get married in Atlanta – a city we like a lot, though neither one of us could move there permanently. Getting married there has required that we head down there every couple of months or so to get things in order for the wedding. This time we drove, so there I was on the way back just thinking. One of the many things that came into my mind was “the deciding factor.” What I mean by that is the factors that have been key to the success of campaigns I’ve worked on. I started thinking about a recent project we worked on for MetLife and I came up with four – only a few, and none rocket science, but they are critical to getting a return on your investment:

• Team– I’m sure it seems obvious, but little is more important than the people sitting at the table. Too few and not enough perspectives are offered up. Too many and it’s very tough to get things done. Additionally, competitive drivers necessitate that individuals at the table have a variety of skills – vertical experience, marketing, e-biz, technology. The members of the team have to understand the power of interactive technologies or they have to understand what they don’t know and have resources on which to draw to find out. It sounds simple enough, but I think we’ve all been a part of teams where people didn’t say enough or said too much or the person driving the bus thought they knew more than they actually did but no one was knowledgeable enough to steer them otherwise.
• Measurability and Trackability – Trackability. I guess it goes right along with Marketnology as a word that Microsoft Word thinks is hooey. Just like Marketnology, though, trackability is crucial. The days of not knowing which 50% of your marketing is working are over. Marketing dollars are hard to come by and being able analyze the who, what, when, where and why of your advertising is the only sure fire way to get the CFO to sign off on more. Whether you’re using the web, DM, direct response, print, TV or outdoor, there are creative ways to use technology to measure and track consumers’ interactions with your marketing. FYI, to me, measurability is knowing that people were exposed to your advertising. Trackability is knowing their behavior during that exposure.
• Strategy – Putting it frankly, why the hell are you doing it? Think about it. Someone in the business thinks they might want a mobile campaign for the brand new Cogswell Cog they’re launching in a couple of months. Sounds good. Mobile is the new social networking, so let’s get it on it now. But… Who’s the audience? Are they active users of mobile devices? Does such a campaign align well with the existing marketing strategy? Are there realistic expectations about the reach of such a campaign? Do you know enough to create real KPIs and to measure against them? Those questions have to be answered. Too often we get caught up in doing campaigns that are cool without really considering the overall strategy. That’s not to say that’s wrong, but there has to be an upside – R&D, testing the water, etc. Doing it “just because” is money wasted.
• User Experience – I’ve saved the best for last. Nothing is more important. Nothing! I emphasize it because it’s overlooked so much. Even in 2008, people treat the user experience as secondary. If consumers can’t understand the secret code of your campaign or navigate your web site or figure out where to click in your ad, they won’t use it. If your team is great, your project beyond measurable, your campaign completely aligned with your strategy … and your user experience sucks, your campaign, 99% of the time, will die. If people can’t use it, they won’t trouble themselves to figure it out. Take the time to test. If it’s important enough to spend money on, it’s important enough to test.

Okay, okay… I’m being long-winded again. I have to stop that. This is important stuff, though. The deciding factors of campaigns are frequently ignored by well-meaning people like you and me who just want to get the job done. The times dictate that we not only get the job done, but that we do it better than everyone else. Paying attention to the deciding factors gives us a great head start.

Got something you think is a deciding factor? Let me know in the comments.