COMMUNICATION
5 Reasons Your Campaign Flopped !
By Katya Nyangi
To start on a severely cliché ’ note , the meaning of a campaign is a great point of reflection before we set out to launch one . It is an organized set of actions aimed at achieving a defined goal . The key words here are : organized and defined .
A background in communication and journalism is useful , where we learn the basics of what , why , who , when , how . The things a campaign should be able to define and organize to achieve its goals .
In the process , certain key points to this are either overlooked or accidentally not given adequate consideration , causing the campaign to flop , despite perhaps having allocated a significant budget to it . It disturbs me when I hear assertions such as “ campaigns don ’ t work , marketing is a waste of resources ” etc , for every professional in the field can attest that the principle is in the execution and not just the intention .
Indulge me as I share my thoughts on what I consider some of the very prime factors that would have affected the success of your campaign as enumerated here-under .
Was the timing right and relevant ?
A campaign needs to be ripe . Meaning it should be pertinent to the times we are in . You might be under pressure to launch a campaign but if the overall trends in the industry or even social and political events in the regions you are targeting are engrossing your audience , your campaign will get lost amidst other priorities .
Your audience should feel the campaign has come at a relevant time in their lives - collectively . If this is not the case , you should rather make your case for postponing the campaign or choosing other ways of directly reaching your audience outside of a campaign format .
Was the campaign peoplecentric ?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution was
A campaign needs to be ripe . Meaning it should be pertinent to the times we are in . You might be under pressure to launch a campaign but if the overall trends in the industry or even social and political events in the regions you are targeting are engrossing your audience , your campaign will get lost amidst other priorities . already at hand and with Covid-19 , the digital space has become more central to campaigns . Relationships remain important to us as humans and relationships mean connection , moreso an emotional connection . Whereas we would ask how do we connect with the people , the people are now asking how will the brand connect with us .
From a survey conducted by Sprout Social , respondents ranked social media as the number one channel to connect with them . Added to this , people reported wanting brands that would connect them to other people . This is a great aha ! moment for any campaign . Placing people at the center of the campaign , both in the campaign content and in a design that enables your audience to connect and build a larger community around their values as much as around your brand , is a win .
Was there empathy in the design ?
As a rule , designs that are too busy take one away from the importance of the messaging and cloud one in trying to figure out what they should be absorbing out of it all . Equally , design is not just about the creatives but also the design of the audience ' s journey from start to the point you would ‘ mark as closed ’ - the user experience .
The journey should make sense and resonate with a natural sequence of events and actions . Many times , we design with the end in mind versus putting ourselves in the shoes of the audience at each step of the way . Often you may realize that you yourself would not have found that journey natural to pursue .
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