Campaign Design 101: How to Create Effective Marketing Campaigns

Marketing campaigns, be it online or offline, make a brand memorable. Their primary goal is usually to drive sales, but sometimes, they do more than that. 

For example, Snickers' "You're Not You When You're Hungry" is still talked about today. The same is true for Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, which sparked conversations about beauty standards. 

What makes a campaign truly effective and memorable is its design. According to Ty Wilson, a growth marketing executive, 

“marketing and design go together like Tom and Jerry; milk and cookies; thunder and lightning; peanut butter and jelly." 

In this guide, we discuss the components of campaign design. We also explain—with examples—how you can design your marketing campaigns. 

What Is a Campaign?

In the business context, a campaign is a set of activities and strategies designed to achieve specific business goals. It can be as short as a week or as long as a year, depending on the objectives. 

Campaigns are usually of two types: marketing and advertising. 

A marketing campaign helps promote the brand itself or its products or services. The campaign may have other goals, such as raising brand awareness or introducing the business in a new country. 

Marketing campaigns comprise several media types, including: 

• Email 

• Print 

• TV commercials 

• Billboards, posters, and other out-of-home (OOH) ads 

• Pay-per-click (PPC)

• Social media

• SEO/SEM 

• Content marketing 

Advertising campaigns have a narrower goal: to create demand for a product or service. 

While marketing campaigns may use advertising media, the latter only focuses on paid media (e.g., TV ads, PPC, or banner ads) to drive sales. 

For example, Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign is a marketing campaign. It aims to promote Dove as a brand that celebrates and embraces real beauty in all forms. 

But if Dove came out with a new product collection, such as a body wash range, a campaign designed to advertise and sell this specific product would be an advertising campaign. 

What Is Campaign Design?

Campaign design is the process of creating and planning the various components that make up a campaign. Some steps of campaign design include:

• Setting goals and objectives

• Identifying target audience

• Creating a budget and timeline

• Developing messaging and creative elements

• Selecting appropriate media channels

• Measuring and analyzing success metrics 

For a campaign to be a hit, its design has to be top-notch. 

Think of the design process as planning for a trip. If you check the weather forecast, research the best places to stay and visit, and make a detailed itinerary, you'll have a blast. 

Components of Campaign Design 

The individual components of every campaign can differ. For example, a social media marketing campaign will have different components than a traditional print ad campaign. 

But here are some common elements you can find in all campaigns. 

Budget 

The budget is usually the first thing marketers determine when designing a campaign. You have to factor in a ton of costs like: 

• Freelance or agency fees

• Media placements 

• Production costs 

• Campaign management software fees (if applicable)

• Contingency budget (for unexpected expenses)

A campaign's budget is designed at the beginning. But it's not super rigid. If circumstances require, the budget can be re-evaluated and changed. 

Team 

Your entire marketing team won't be working on every campaign. While some projects may need the whole squad, other campaigns require a smaller team. 

The team is usually supervised by a project manager. 

Channels

If you're running a TV advertising campaign, your campaign's channel will be television. 

But if you're running a content marketing campaign, you might have multiple channels, such as social media and a blog. 

The "channel" is where the audience will interact with your campaign. 

You can further diversify your reach within a channel. For example, if you’re using social media, instead of sticking to one platform, you can market on multiple social media sites. 

Keegan Edwards, the brain behind Mighty Sites USA, says, ‘’I’ve always recommended picking two that make sense for your type of local business. Two is feasible to keep up with and do well.” 

But if your campaign requires more exposure, you can always use more channels. 

Content Formats 

Video, print, blog articles, and social media posts are all content formats. 

Each campaign usually has a primary format. Then, there are supplementary formats that help the message reach a wider audience. 

For example, a YouTube advertisement campaign's primary format will be video. However, you can repurpose the ad's script by creating short snippets to post as Tweets or LinkedIn posts to generate traction and drive viewers to the original video. 

Mattel and Warner Bros campaign for the Barbie movie is a good example in this regard. The movie’s video trailer was one of the many content formats the campaign used. 

The film’s marketing team also used images as a content format. In fact, the campaign started with a picture of Margot Robbie as Barbie. 

Web copy was also used as a content format. For example, the campaign involved a stay for two lucky draw winners in Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse in collaboration with Airbnb.  

Campaign Design: A Step-by-Step Guide

Let's look at each step of campaign design individually. Of course, you'll have to go in and adjust or refine the steps to meet your brand's unique needs.

But use these steps as the starting point. They'll keep you on track. 

Step 1: Identify the Purpose of Your Campaign 

The goal or purpose of your campaign will set the tone for everything that comes later. 

Here's a simple question to ask yourself: why are you running this campaign? 

The answer will be the foundation of your campaign design. Is it to drive sales? Promote your new product? Celebrate a milestone? 

If you're unsure of the purpose, take a step back and review your brand's overall objectives. Consider how this campaign aligns with those objectives. 

Let's take General Motors as an example. The brand's vision is "A world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion." 

GM exhibited this vision in its 2023 Super Bowl commercial in collaboration with Netflix. The commercial showed Will Ferrel driving GM's electric truck through popular shows on Netflix. 

At the start of the ad, the comedian says," "General Motors is going electric, and Netflix is joining in by including more EVs (electric vehicles)."

Since GM's vision is innovation and sustainability, the company translated it into a campaign with the purpose of promoting its electric vehicles. 

Why the Netflix partnership, though? 

Because Netflix is also committed to sustainability and is seen as the flagbearer of storytelling. 

GM's campaign combined its purpose with the support of another brand that believes in a similar ideology. As a result, GM's stock rose by 5% the very next day. 

Look for something similar in your campaigns. 

Step 2: Set Measurable Campaign Objectives and KPIs 

We've all heard about the good old SMART goals framework. The reason it's still relevant is that it works. 

As a quick recap, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. 

To set campaign objectives, you must focus on the specific and measurable parts. Basically, assign a quantitative value to your goals. 

For example, if you're launching a new product, your goal may be to get more eyes on it. But there's no quantitative way to measure that. 

Instead, your goal should be something like: "Generate 1,000 sales in the first month of launch." 

Or, you could go for a specific number of leads, website visits, social media followers or any other metric that aligns with your overall marketing objective. 

The objectives will ultimately help you decide which key performance indicators (KPIs) to track during the campaign. For example, if you're running a TikTok marketing campaign, some metrics to measure are: 

• Views on your videos 

• Likes and comments on your videos 

• Click-through rates to your website from the app

• Number of followers gained

Similarly, measure leads, upsells, and sales for revenue-generating campaigns. If your campaign is meant to increase brand awareness, measure press mentions, social mentions, customer sentiment, and brand sentiment. 

Some campaigns are also specifically designed for upcoming events. For example, Coachella creates a lot of buzz before the event with its marketing campaigns. 

Some metrics to measure for such campaigns are social shares, social mentions, ticket sales, vendor bookings, and overall event attendance. 

Select your KPIs at the beginning of the campaign. Also, decide how often you'll track them and how much progress you expect to see at each interval. 

If your goal is to get 1,000 sales in the first month, track your progress weekly and aim for 250 sales each week. 

Step 3: Determine Your Target Audience 

The campaign components you use differ based on your target audience. Let's take channels, for example. 

If your target audience is the general public, you don't want to limit yourself to social media. You'll also create TV and radio commercials, print ads, and billboards. 

However, if your target audience is mostly young adults, social media would be a more effective channel. 

Taking Coachella's example forward, Skywire reported that "Social media giants like Instagram, TikTok, and X are a crucial part of Coachella's 2024 marketing strategy, particularly for influencer collaborations." 

However, in GM and Netflix's example, their audience is more diverse. So, they opted for the Super Bowl as their main channel of campaign distribution. 

Another example that better explains this step is Coca-Cola's Create Real Magic campaign. The company invited fans to create ads using DALL-E and OpenAI's GPT-4. 

The target audience of this campaign was young adults who were tech-savvy and creative. 

So, Coca-Cola took to YouTube to connect with them and promote the campaign. The company also used X since most of the AI-related content is discussed here. 

Take a journey to something new with #CocaColaCreations. Ready for a new type of #RealMagic? pic.twitter.com/66smkHIvZS

— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) May 22, 2023

Besides platform selection, the target audience also determined the language Coca-Cola used for its campaign. For example, the company used hashtags and lingo that young adults are familiar with, making the campaign more relatable. 

Step 4: Specify Your Campaign Message and Visuals 

The ''message'' of your campaign is the core idea or theme that you want to convey to your audience. 

So, for social media or websites, it will be the copy. For a TV commercial, it will be the script. The same goes for YouTube ads. 

Besides the actual words in the message, other elements like visuals and music also contribute to the overall impact of the campaign. 

Ideally, you want to use your brand's colors in your campaign. In all the examples we've seen earlier, all brands have stuck to the colors they're known for. 

Coca-Cola's red is hard to miss, really. 

Spotify's Wrapped campaign is another good example of this. The company uses its signature bright and bold colors to create a visually appealing campaign. 

The messaging is also specific to the theme of self-expression, which is what the music streaming platform is all about. 

Instead of saying something like ''this year, you listened to music from X places,'' Spotify uses phrases like ''This year, your listening took you places.'' 

It's this attention to detail and playful tone that resonates with the audience and makes the campaign so successful that it has a hashtag dedicated to it on Instagram. 

When it comes to visuals, you don’t necessarily have to stick to your trademark branding. Just make sure your campaign is still somehow relevant to your brand. 

For example, Later organized LaterCon, a digital conference in 2020. Chin Tan, Later’s Creative Design Lead, explained that the campaign did not use the company’s trademark colors, but it wasn’t totally unrelated. 

He said, ‘’We did this by keeping the colors in the gradient of our usual Later palette, as well as adding visual elements that tie back to the core brand.”

The company also maintained coherence by using the same creative across all digital touch points. It created a consistent visual experience for the conference attendees across all mediums. 

One way to decide the visuals for your campaign is by creating a moodboard. Pinterest is a great resource. Simply search for the aesthetic you’re going for, and you’ll find a lot of inspirational results. 

Let’s say you want to create a campaign paying an ode to your brand’s 100-year history. You need some inspiration to create a 1960s-esque set with era-specific styling. Pinterest to the rescue! 

Step 5: Select the Distribution Channels

It's time to decide where you will distribute your campaign. 

Social media is an obvious choice for most campaigns, given its reach and popularity. 

However, depending on your target audience and the type of campaign you're running, other channels may be just as, if not more, relevant. 

Gini Dietrich, a digital marketing expert, introduced the PESO model, which stands for Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media. These are the categories where you can select your distribution channels from. 

According to Dietrich, paid media "for a communications program is social media advertising, sponsored content, and email marketing." In digital campaigns, this includes search engine advertising, display advertising, and influencer marketing. 

Earned media is the coverage or attention that your campaign receives from media outlets, influencers, or other third-party sources. Dietrich defines it as "the link, the SEO juice, the credibility, and the brand awareness." 

As for shared media, "It includes social networking, community, partnerships, distribution, and promotion. It's on Discord and Slack, on Reddit and TikTok, and on Instagram and LinkedIn." 

Owned media is your own content. It's what you have created and what is displayed on your blog or website. For example, on Influencer Marketing Hub, the resource library is our owned media. 

Interestingly, you can display shared media on your owned media, too. Microsites are the perfect example here. 

For example, Apple’s Shot on iPhone campaign invited iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max users to submit their entries for the company’s Macro Challenge. Users submitted their entries on social media sites, such as Instagram. 

However, Apple displayed these results and announced the winners on its own website. You can also pull something off like this with your campaign. 

The table below covers the platforms for each of these media types. You can select one or more of these channels, keeping your target audience and campaign goals in mind. 

Step 6: Create a Campaign Timeline 

Every campaign needs a timeline. It's the schedule that keeps the campaign on track. 

The timeline of your campaign will depend on your goals and the type of campaign you are running. For example, a social media campaign may have a shorter timeline compared to an event launch campaign. 

Your timeline should include the dates for each step. Let's say you're creating a social media marketing campaign. 

Your timeline will look something like this: 

• Campaign Planning (Date range): Here, you're in the planning phase. You're completing all the steps we've discussed in the previous sections. 

• Campaign Creation (Date range): You start creating the creative assets in this step. These may be videos, images, infographics, etc. 

• Launch Date: It's the date when you go live with your campaign. 

• Campaign Execution: Now, you start posting content according to your content calendar. 

• Campaign Evaluation: Select a date range to evaluate the success of your campaign. 

Again, let's go back to the Barbie movie as an example. The first marketing material from its campaign surfaced at the CinemaCon in 2022. 

An image of Barbie in her car in Barbie land was released. The movie was still in the process of being shot at this time. 

Why did the marketing team release the first image at such an early stage? 

They knew the cast would shoot in Santa Monica the following month. People would be able to spot them and take pictures, which would later end up on social media. 

That's exactly what happened. 

Then followed the trailer release, teaser clips before the "Avatar: The Way of Water" cinema screenings, cast interviews, brand partnerships, and so on. 

Each marketing step followed a set timeline to ensure maximum impact and engagement. 

Step 7: Monitor the Campaign 

If you've already set the campaign in motion, you can now start monitoring its progress. 

Don't limit yourself to one data source. Try to collect as much relevant data as possible from different sources such as social media platforms, website analytics, email engagement, etc. 

Use this data to measure the success of your campaign based on the KPIs you selected in the earlier steps. 

If things are not going as planned, make adjustments. Make sure you've created some room in your timeline to accommodate these tweaks. 

Step 8: Use Campaign Data 

Even after it's over, every campaign tells you a lot about your audience and their behavior. 

Analyze the data you've collected and use it to improve your future campaigns. 

Look for patterns and identify what worked and what didn't. Suppose you ran a paid advertising campaign on social media and Google Ads. 

The data shows that your social media campaign had a wider reach, but Google Ads generated more revenue. 

These insights can guide your future campaigns. 

For example, in the future, if you create a campaign for mere brand awareness, you can focus more on social media platforms. However, if your goal is to generate revenue, such as in a product launch, you can invest more in Google Ads. 

Conclusion

As you’ve learned by now, campaign design is a meticulous process that requires a lot of research and planning. You can't copy and paste someone else's campaign and expect the same results. 

Each audience is unique, and each campaign should be tailored to them. 

The more effort and attention you put into designing your campaign, the better results you will achieve. Also, learn from your previous campaigns to make the future ones more impactful.