This past week I interviewed for a job. They wanted to know how I plan for a campaign. I came up with a document that I am going to share here. I gave a great presentation but unfortunately didn’t get the job.

Create a Calendar

• Excel
  • Use an Excel document to keep everyone on the same timeline
  • Includes: Deadlines, publication dates, etc.
• Outlook/Calendar
  • After calendar has been set put in events/notifications to act as a follow up to get everything done on time

Planning

Strategy

• Create an overall strategy on what is needed for each month
  • Documents that need to be created
  • Creative elements that need to be produced
  • Promotion of content – Including social and paid promotion
  • Create a place to store documents and files can easily be shared by stake holders
• Update on how the plans are going each month
  • Keep everyone in the loop with the campaign
    • Delays and reason for them
    • Completed items
    • Changes in the plan for the month
• Set KPIs
  • Set what are the KPI’s to judge the success of the campaign.

Implementing

Content

• Check List
  • Create a check list every month on what is needed to make sure nothing gets missed
• Avoid issues as much as possible
  • Early is better – when possible have all content in place before publication date
• Set content in proper channels
  • Have all content set and ready to go in content systems (blog/WordPress) in advance of publication date

Promotion

• Have all creative elements ready for publication in a central location
• Get content written before hand and approve by all stake holders
• Update calendar on promotion if needed
  • Date and time of publication
  • Wording of promotion if possible (including social media posts)

Adjust

• Adjust strategy as needed through the month is something is working better or worse than expected.

Post Campaign

Analytics

• Access KPI
  • Did we reach the goal?
  • Why or why not?
  • How can the process be improved?

Recommendations

• Debrief after each campaign to point out the pros and cons of the campaign
• Compare to other campaigns and on a quarterly review and judge the overall strategy and how to adjust the remaining months.
• Compile a yearly report comparing campaigns and make recommendations

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Download the Campaigns Document.