Why Marketing Campaigns are a lot like Weddings
I was driving to a meeting earlier today to brain-storm a marketing campaign with a customer and got stuck behind a wedding car. ‘Who gets married on a Wednesday? What were they thinking?’ was my immediate response. It actually got me thinking how similar weddings are to marketing campaigns. Might sound a little odd I know, but I did have almost an hour to kill waiting in Melbourne traffic.
Let me explain… You’ll soon see what I mean… I hope
Who Should We Invite?
You have a limited budget that is quickly swallowed up. If you invite her friends you will have to invite his friends. Should you stick with just family? What about your grade 6 high school teacher? It’s often an emotional issue which is why it’s one of the most difficult aspects of planning a wedding. Marketing campaigns can be similar particularly if you make emotional decisions. Usually you will have a limited budget so you will need to make some wise decisions on who you target and what experience you wish to create for them. Do you choose a cheaper option to increase the quantity of people you can reach or do you limit it to a select few and have a higher quality campaign? Do you target just your existing customers or will you approach everyone in your database? You’ll need to make sure your marketing is aimed at the right people and balance your expenses with the perceived quality to get the desired result.
Make It Memorable
Perfection shouldn’t be the goal, making it memorable is what matters. Striving for perfection can cause a lot of heartache and stress. Again, it’s that emotional decision making that can get the better of us in wedding planning. It’s true in marketing campaigns also. Often we can strive for the ‘perfect’ brochure (in our eyes) only to find it wasn’t as successful as other brochures we may have produced in the past. The ultimate goal should be, when a campaign is launched, people remember it fondly.
Commitment
Weddings are all about expressing commitment. As a business, it should be your goal to express your commitment to your customers. Maybe you are committed to superior quality products or services. Maybe your commitment is to provide the best price in town. Whatever it is, be consistent and communicate your commitment throughout all your marketing campaigns.
Have Fun
Aunt Polly doesn’t get along with Uncle Joe and if the beer is flowing freely how will you keep Grandpa away from the young ladies? Of course there could be potential problems in a wedding, just like there could be in any marketing campaign. Maybe a few people will feel your campaign is an unwanted interruption. Maybe they simply will not like your message. So what… Weddings shouldn’t be just serious, it should be fun. Maybe the ceremony could be quite formal but the reception is generally a place you can let your hair down a little and have some fun. It’s a time to express your personality and interact with the people around you who are sharing the experience. How can you introduce some fun to your next marketing campaign? What parts of your personality could you express through your campaign?
Much like a wedding, when a marketing campaign is done well, its a fantastic experience for everyone involved.
