What is a marketing campaign?

A marketing campaign is a well-planned and executed strategy for increasing brand recognition, engagement, sales, and/or customer loyalty. 

There are many different types of marketing approaches that can be incorporated into a marketing campaign. Examples include: 

  • Search engine marketing where you strategically position your content at the top of search engine results. 
  • Digital marketing, which relies on channels such as websites, social media platforms, and email. 
  • Affiliate marketing, where you partner with another brand to market your products.

It’s important not to conflate marketing campaigns with advertising campaigns. 

Advertising campaigns typically focus on promoting specific products or services on paid channels, while marketing campaigns address customer needs more broadly through a variety of organic, paid, and earned channels.

What is a campaign in marketing? 

A campaign is a strategic effort that is used to promote a specific business goal or objective, such as driving more sign-ups for your product or service, or capturing customer feedback in the form of a survey. 

“Campaigns are meant to reach specific audiences and can be orchestrated via different marketing tactics and media types”

In marketing, campaigns are meant to reach specific audiences and can be orchestrated via different marketing tactics and media types such as email, social media, print, and other channels. 

What is an integrated marketing campaign?

An integrated marketing campaign has a clearly defined goal and message, which is communicated cohesively across a number of marketing channels.

Using consistent messaging, an integrated marketing campaign may rely on a variety of channels, from print to social media to digital websites, to appeal to customers using the same language and imagery. Integrated marketing campaigns are typically memorable, using a common message across all marketing channels to resonate with customers no matter where they encounter the brand. 

What is a digital marketing campaign? 

Digital marketing refers to marketing initiatives that rely on digital channels such as social media platforms, mobile apps, and websites.

A digital marketing campaign starts just like any other type of campaign – by setting specific goals. 

“Earned media is often the result of a public relations campaign”

Next comes identifying the target audience, developing initiatives, selecting channels, and tailoring marketing messages to the audience based on the selected channels.

When planning a digital marketing campaign, brands also look at the state of their owned, earned, and paid media.

  • Owned media includes channels like websites, social media profiles, and web content that a brand already owns. These channels can quickly and easily be used as conduits for marketing content. 
  • Earned media refers to media such as newspaper articles, online reviews, or external social media profiles that mention a brand. Earned media is often the result of a public relations campaign. 
  • Paid media is marketing media that is bought and paid for by a brand. Examples include paid ads and paid or sponsored social media and articles.

What is an email marketing campaign?

Email marketing refers to the use of email to communicate marketing messages to customers. These messages might seek to:

  • Promote brand awareness.
  • Inform customers about new products or services.
  • Re-engage customers who haven’t used a product or made a purchase in a while.
  • Convert sales leads.  
  • Solidify customer loyalty.

What is an influencer marketing campaign?

Influencer marketing refers to the use of influencers to market a product or service. 

What is an influencer? It’s any well-known person who appeals to a brand’s customer base. A celebrity whose social media following consists of the ideal target market for a particular brand would be a good influencer for that brand. 

Depending on the type of product and the target market, influencers can be globally recognized stars, or they might be people known primarily to a niche group of product users.