This might seem to be a very basic question, but it’s important to examine so that you get the best results from your marketing investment.

A marketing campaign is a multi-pronged approach to reaching a marketing goal that you’ve set for your business. It’s one of the biggest differences between how small accounting firms market and how larger firms approach their marketing.  Small firms tend to solve marketing by using a very generic message such as “Hire me now.” They also market by investing in one or two marketing channels at a time such as a website, social media, or Google Ads.

It’s important to have these foundational marketing pieces in place, but an even better approach is to have them playing like an orchestra instead of as solo pieces. A campaign unifies the channels by setting a specific goal and concentrating a consistent message to be sent across all of the channels.

Let’s say you want to do more tax projection appointments in December. You can create a campaign to get the message out across all of your channels. Your to-do list for the marketing campaign might look like this:

1. Create a web page for tax projection appointments.
2. Write and send an email notifying all current clients of the benefits of this service.
3. Write and post social media content to direct traffic to the tax projection web page.
4. Create a video on tax projections to post on YouTube.
5. Add a line to your email signature file to mention tax projections.
6. Create a Facebook Story about it.
7. Add this service to your Google My Business listing.
8. Hold a free webinar and give a presentation on tax projections, then upsell it at the end.
9. Send a postcard to key clients announcing the tax projection service.
10. Run Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads to promote tax projections.

See how you have a much better chance at success when you push your message out through a campaign instead of just using one channel at a time?

So, how can you leverage marketing campaigns in your small business? Well, first you need a very specific goal. It can’t be “Hire me;” that’s too generic. Next, decide on your message. Then, choose which channels to use to get the message out.  Build a launch calendar and get your team to work developing the content you need for your campaign.

For best results, you’ll probably want to have multiple campaigns in any one year. You might do one to launch a new service, another to welcome clients from a merger/acquisition, and one more to boost a seasonal slow time.

The two big stumbling blocks for small businesses are having a campaign budget and selecting a specific goal. Once you can change your mindset to see how powerful your results can be using campaigns, you’ll probably never go back to a solo marketing approach.