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Why do some marketing campaigns deliver impressive results, while others fail to yield even a positive ROI? Although several factors contribute to the success of a cross-media marketing campaign, lack of a clear strategy is often the root problem. Here are the top three mistakes that cause cross-media marketing campaigns to fail and how you can avoid them.

Mistake #1: Not setting the (right) expectations

Your client, the marketer, usually has specific marketing objectives: to grow market share by x% by the end of the year, to increase brand awareness by y% three months after a launch, etc. Before deciding these objectives, however, you and your clients should agree on how to define and measure success for each campaign. Connecting the marketing and campaign objectives will help you and your client set a reasonable target.

For example, if you are building a demand generation campaign with a B2B client, discuss what defines a quality lead for the sales team, review your client’s previous campaign results, and consider the factors that may affect the results. Then agree on a reasonable number of leads within a certain period of time, determine the quantity and quality of the required list(s), and identify the expected response rates for the campaign.

Without setting the right expectations, neither you nor your client will be able to assess whether a campaign has been a success.

Mistake #2: Focusing on tactics before developing strategies

When creating (or pitching) a cross-media marketing campaign, many print and marketing service providers start with the tactics: “Let’s send a postcard with a personalized URL, follow up with an e-mail in two weeks, and add a couple of QR codes.” There’s nothing wrong with mentioning new technology, of course; technology drives success. The problem is that while your client may get excited about the cool features, using tactics before forming a strategy often leads to failed campaigns.

A campaign with no strategy but the best tactics almost never succeeds; a well-defined strategy will even save a campaign with poor tactics from failure. Before proposing different media channels, make sure a definite strategy supports each of your campaign’s objectives.

Mistake #3: Not knowing the Target Audience properly

For most campaigns, your client will provide a house list or a purchased list. Avoid the temptation to use the basic demographics (gender, age, title, income level, etc.) in the list to segment your target before knowing the target audience. While using demographics is necessary to personalize the message, you must first understand what influences your target audience’s behavior. What do they care about? What message will click with them? How can your client’s offering speak to their wants, needs, and desires? This analysis and customer insight enables you to choose a campaign strategy that will resonate with your target.

For example, at MindFireInc’s webinar promotion campaigns, we ask our registrants about their biggest challenges, future campaign plans, and level of experience with cross-media marketing. We use this information to better understand our target and refine our strategy.

Strategic planning is a process

Other key considerations in strategic planning include the creative idea, media mix, budgeting, timing, scheduling, tracking and adjustments. Whether you are launching a campaign for yourself or for your clients, you need a reliable and repeatable process to develop your strategy. In MindFireInc’s FastLaunch® Program, we have developed a simple and effective process for creating cross-media marketing plans. If you are interested to learn more about this process, simply fill out the form in the contact us page. We are happy to help.