What defines a successful marketing campaign?  Beyond the obvious (ROI), it is the momentum that each campaign can build.

Consider that a single marketing campaign is little different from driving a car up a hill. The largest SUV or the fastest luxury sports car have the same battle: gravity – let off the gas, and they will both eventually slow down, stop, and then start rolling backward, downhill.  Likewise, the inertia of the market – competitive noise, client disinterest, and short-term memories – can only be overcome with more actions than a single marketing campaign.

What does this look like?

• Social Media:  Scheduled posts, interactions, and connections.  Evidence that the community is alive – not a ghost town or a repository of narcissistic postings.
• Content Marketing:  Continuous creation of target-audience-relevant content, across a number of target-relevant channels.  Stopping content development means that you were more relevant in the past.  Today, you are yesterday’s news.
• Advertising:  This can provide exposure to audiences that earned media cannot.  Stop advertising, and that exposure goes away.
• PR and Media Relations:  Being asked for your perspective by the media is key evidence of your thought leadership, and is a powerful positioning and awareness tool.  Stop your efforts in this area, and you quickly become invisible.

If Brand can be defined as what you represent, then the momentum from these activities creates a seamless gap between what you promise and what you deliver.  While the mix of these four strategies will be different for every organization, momentum builds Brand.

This week’s action plan:  Which of last year’s marketing activities are no longer active? Take a good look. Start to make changes in your marketing momentum for tomorrow, today. Restart the marketing activities that create and build value to your end client – in doing so you will discover both a competitive advantage and that ROI. Marketing requires momentum to be successful.

Marketing Insight:  Traditional marketing teaches about the Four Ps:  Price, Product, Place, and Promotion.  While momentum might not start with a “P”, it has a more powerful, and enduring impact on your marketing success.