Ten Points for Creating and Monitoring a Mar-Com Campaign

1. Clear goal setting: Clear goals are a prerequisite to doing effective research, and we all know that research is the life blood of creating any mar-com campaign.

2. Research media channels and vehicles: Finding the proper media placements and making pre-production choices for your campaign require careful consideration and involve all stakeholders. A major decision is needed choosing between in-house talent, or a contract (agency) company to produce your mar-com vehicles.

3. Devise a preliminary budget: Now that you've decided on your media channels and gotten some pre-production estimates for your vehicles (they may be TV commercials, radio spots or print/web advertising, etc...) you can begin constructing the budget for the campaign.

4. Clarify budgeting constraints and codify the budget: Taking the preliminary budget through corporate channels (if you're a large company) or deciding how much of your marketing budget you want to commit to this campaign.

5. Begin production of media vehicles: In step 2 your research helped you decide who you wanted to produce your ads and commercials (in-house or contract company). With the budgetary limits clearly set and contracts agreed upon, production can begin.

6. Pre-testing of vehicles: This should be done by a contract testing firm. Focus groups, online testing, customer test sampling, etc...pre-rollout this is the last chance to tweak your message into alignment with your mar-com goals.

7. Campaign roll out & early monitoring: Whenever a new movie hits the theaters the opening weekend becomes a target in and of itself, your marketing campaign should do the same, remember the rule: if it works it works NOW! You need to know ASAP whether you're getting the attention of your customers and target consumers. If not you have to activate the planned changes to your campaign, the quicker the better.

8. Monitoring: Monitoring has to be continual, follow through at predetermined intervals to determine if your still having positive effects on the designated metrics (remember, the clear goals you set in step one?....If not review step one!)

9. Make Mar-com adaptations: If your no longer getting marketing 'bang' then go back to step two (research again) to determine where and why your falling short. Changes to the media mix or the message itself may be needed to continue successfully reaching your goals. Continue monitoring results and be open to re-thinking your parameters, are you still asking the right questions? Discussing research questions with a research manager may point out ways to get a clearer picture of the campaign's effects now that the campaign is in full swing.

10. Campaign Post Mortem: Determining the overall effect the campaign had on brand recognition and customer attitude should be saved for the end of the campaign and afterwards. Effects on branding should continue to be measured for a period of time after the close out. Remember that branding isn't a one-time fling, it's a continuum of positive communication between your company and your target market.

REFERENCES:

Quantum Group Media, 2007, Campaign Metrics: Measuring Marketing Campaign Success Through Metrics- Retrieved from the QG Partnership Consulting website, on 7/5/2007, located at, http://www.qgpartnership.com/campaignmetrics.php

Shimp, Terrance A., Advertising, Promotion and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, 7^th Ed. Thomson Higher Education, 5191 Nathorp Blvd., Mason, Ohio 45040

Kotler, Philip and Keller, Kevin Lane, 2006, Marketing Management 12e, Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458