20 Different Types of Marketing Campaigns With Examples & Ideas
Marketing campaigns are essential for businesses to establish their presence, attract customers, and drive conversions. In today's highly competitive market, it's crucial to employ different types of marketing campaigns to stand out from the crowd.
This article explores 20 of these methods, as well as giving successful marketing campaign examples, each with its own unique approach and purpose.
Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just starting out, this comprehensive guide will provide valuable insights and inspiration to craft successful marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
So, let's dive in!
What is a marketing campaign?
A marketing campaign is a series of strategic and coordinated activities that promote a product, service, company, or brand. The ultimate goal of a marketing campaign is to build brand awareness, generate interest, and drive desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.
Marketing campaigns utilize various channels, such as traditional advertising, digital platforms, social media, email marketing, events, and more, to deliver consistent and persuasive messages. Successful marketing campaigns leverage creative storytelling, compelling visuals, and effective communication to connect with consumers, build brand reputation, and achieve measurable results.
The components of effective marketing campaigns usually include, but are not limited to:
Campaign objective: A clear and specific goal that outlines what the campaign aims to achieve is your marketing objective. This can be increasing brand awareness, generating leads, boosting website visitors, etc.
Key Progress Indicators (KPIs): The end goal of the campaign shouldn't be abstract. It should be measurable, and you should define the metrics (KPIs) that will be used to track progress. For example, if your objective is to raise a brand's awareness, then you can measure organic traffic on your website.
Target audience: Once you define your objective and how you plan to measure it, it's time to focus on your audience. You need to understand and identify the specific group of people you plan to reach or engage with. To make your campaign successful, you need to understand the demographic, behavior, needs, and preferences of your target audience.
Channels and platforms: Do you plan to use social media to run your campaign or Google? You should prioritize the channels that seem to be the most relevant to your audience. For example, if your target audience consists of tech-savvy millennials, prioritizing channels like social media platforms, YouTube, and online influencers could effectively reach and engage them.
Content format: Seasoned marketers often use various formats in one campaign. For example, they won't limit their brand awareness campaign to social media only, but their marketing strategy will also include email marketing, videos, blog posts, and even user-generated content.
Creative Assets: Once you know what kind of content you want, you'll need to develop visual and textual materials (aka creative assets) that convey the campaign's messages. This includes designing eye-catching graphics, creating engaging videos, and writing captivating copy.
Budget: Even though you can achieve good results with organic marketing, many companies still opt for paid advertising. So, you'll need to allocate financial resources for your marketing efforts.
Team: In order to get any of these previously mentioned steps done, you need to designate people to work on different aspects of your campaign. You should know in advance who creates content, who does the reporting, and who will take care of the design.
High level campaign marketing ideas
Now, let's start with what you came for - different types of campaigns and marketing campaign ideas. In general, marketing campaigns can be divided into three categories:
Channel-specific campaigns
Tactic-led campaigns
Objective-defined campaigns
Let's explain each category in more detail.
Channel-specific campaigns
Channel-specific campaigns are marketing campaigns that focus on utilizing a specific marketing channel or platform to reach people and promote your products or brand. These campaigns are often tailored to the characteristics and behaviors of the audience present on that specific channel.
Here are marketing campaign examples for this specific category:
Social media campaigns
PR campaigns
Email marketing campaigns
Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns
Video campaigns
Offline marketing campaigns
Tactic-Led Marketing Campaigns
As you can guess from the name, tactic-led marketing campaigns revolve around a specific tactic or approach. A marketing agency or a marketing expert will choose a tactic and build the entire campaign around it - the messaging, creative elements, and channels.
This type of campaign model can be further divided into:
Collaboration marketing campaigns
Influencer marketing campaigns
User-generated content campaigns
Anti-marketing campaigns
Content marketing campaigns
Gamification campaigns
Contest marketing campaigns
Guerilla marketing campaigns
Seasonal push campaigns
Objective-defined campaigns
Objective-defined campaigns are marketing campaign types that are driven by a specific objective. When running this type of campaign, all marketing activities, strategies, and tactics are aligned to achieve the main objective.
Here are several examples of objective-defined campaigns:
Brand awareness campaign
Lead generation campaign
Product campaigns
Sales campaigns
Rebranding campaign
What are the different types of marketing campaigns?
As you can see from our list above, there are various types of campaigns in marketing that businesses can deploy to achieve their marketing goals. These campaigns encompass diverse strategies, channels, and creative approaches, allowing companies to connect with their target audience in unique ways. In this section, we'll explain each type of campaign in detail and provide examples of successful marketing campaigns.
1. Social media campaigns
Social media marketing campaigns are used to reach people on various channels, including Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and even LinkedIn. These types of marketing campaign can be published organically (for free - you just post the content on your social media channels), or you can run a paid ad campaign.
These campaigns can have various objectives, such as raising brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or encouraging specific actions. Social media campaigns often involve creating and sharing compelling content that resonates with your audience, including images, videos, and posts.
Additionally, you can track your investment in your social media presence with tools like Social Status.
Social media marketing campaign example
Planet Fitness is an excellent example of a company that effectively capitalized on the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and social media campaigns. As a popular gym chain in the United States, Planet Fitness had to adapt its approach when faced with pandemic-induced closures.
They started offering daily classes on Facebook Livestream, keeping their members motivated and attracting new ones. This successful campaign garnered thousands of views per video and received rave reviews. Planet Fitness retained their existing customer base and gained new customers.
2. PR campaigns
PR campaigns are marketing efforts that shape how people see a company, brand, or person. This is one of those types of campaigns that aims to build a good reputation, create positive connections with the target audience, and influence public opinion.
PR campaigns utilize various communication channels, such as media outlets, press releases, social media, events, and community engagement.
PR marketing campaign example
Image Source: Spotify
Spotify's Wrapped campaign is one of the most famous PR campaigns. At the end of the year, it gives users a personalized summary of their listening habits, including top artists, songs, genres, and total listening minutes on the platform. The campaign presents the data in visually appealing graphics that users can easily share on social media.
Spotify's outstanding PR campaign generates excitement and anticipation each year. By encouraging users to share their results on social media, it amplifies awareness and fosters a sense of community.
3. Email marketing campaigns
Email campaigns are one of the most effective marketing tools, as more than 4 billion people use emails daily, according to Hubspot. This type of campaign allows brands to stay in contact with current customers and prospects through targeted and personalized communication.
Email marketing campaigns can effectively capture recipients' attention and drive desired actions by utilizing compelling subject lines, engaging content, and clear call-to-action buttons.
Email marketing campaign example
Image Source: Pinterest
Netflix is well-known for its mail marketing that drives engagement. They often provide personalized recommendations for new shows based on the customer's viewing history. The email features visuals, a trailer prompt, and enticing CTAs to motivate recipients to visit Netflix and take action.
4. Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns advertising campaigns
PPC campaigns are paid ads where advertisers pay every time there is a click on their ad. Pay-per-click campaigns are commonly used on search engines like Google, where an ad pops up when a person types a relevant query. These ads can also run on social media platforms.
The main objective of these campaigns is to drive targeted website traffic. Pay-per-click campaigns are an effective way to increase visibility, generate leads, and drive conversions by reaching the right audience at the right time with targeted ads.
PPC advertising campaign example
Kleenex does a great job with paid advertisements in general. The company developed a tool that predicts cold and flu outbreaks. Once they have the data, they make the most of their social media and pay-per-click ads in areas with active outbreaks. This boosted the company's sales by 40%.
5. Video advertising and promotional campaigns
Videos capture attention, evoke emotions, and deliver information in a visually appealing and engaging way. Whether it's a product demo, a customer testimonial, or a brand story, videos can leave a lasting impact on viewers.
In addition, 68% of marketers claim that the ROI of video marketing is better, especially on YouTube.
Video promotional campaign example
One brand is likely to stand out when the holiday season comes around - Coca-Cola. The company always surprises its customers with uplifting and emotional video content. Coca-Cola won people's attention with their commitment during the season of giving, appearing more generous and human to their customers.
6. Offline advertising campaigns
Offline campaigns are executed through traditional offline channels rather than online platforms. These campaigns aim to reach and engage the target audience through print advertisements, billboards, television commercials, radio spots, direct mail, and in-person events.
Offline ad campaign example
To generate buzz for the new series, The F Word, Fox TV's marketing team placed interactive posters throughout Los Angeles. These posters featured a live video feed and microphones, enabling unsuspecting pedestrians to engage in real-time conversations with the show's host, Gordon Ramsay. This unique integration of digital and offline strategies showcases the power of engaging the audience through novel experiences.
Now, let's explore tactic-led marketing campaigns.
7. Collaboration marketing and branding campaigns
Collaboration marketing campaigns involve partnering with other businesses or brands to create joint marketing initiatives. Collaboration campaigns aim to expand reach, increase brand visibility, and drive mutual benefits for all parties involved by combining resources, expertise, and audiences. These campaigns can take various forms, such as co-branded content, joint events, or cross-promotions.
Collaboration branding campaign example
One of the best-known examples of collaboration marketing is the Spotify-Uber partnership. Uber started offering its users the ability to enhance their riding experience by streaming personalized Spotify music during their rides. Meanwhile, Spotify gained a new distribution channel.
8. Influencer marketing campaigns
An influencer marketing campaign refers to a brand or company partnering with an influential individual to promote products or services. This allows businesses to reach a larger audience, but also build credibility.
This type of campaign also allows brands to tap into an influencer's follower base and engage with that audience in a more personal and relatable way.