15 Simple Ways to Refresh a Marketing Campaign

refreshing lemonade
Has your marketing become old, boring, or dull? Is it no longer the powerhouse force that it used to be?

If that’s the case, this article might be just the thing for you. Read more for some simple ways to breathe some new life into your marketing efforts.

Give your campaign a new look

One of the easiest ways to refresh your marketing is to take an old campaign that worked well and give it a slick new look. Good graphic design isn’t very expensive these days, so you should be able to rev-up without breaking the bank.

Same look, new message

Do you have an awesome looking marketing campaign that’s worked well before? One way you might boost sagging results is by tweaking the message a bit—you could make it more specific, change the target a little, or maybe refine it based on new information.

Add a new incentive

A decent or good campaign can often be turned into an extraordinary one by offering the right type of incentive. Free information and trinkets seem to be all the rage, but you need to make sure your offer is relevant and valuable to your target audience in order for it to actually work well.

Personalize it

Some campaigns can work really well by adding a little personalization into the mix. Email marketing and direct mail are two that can be dramatically improved by a few personal words.

Turn one campaign into several

Often times results will dwindle and disappear because a marketing campaign is too general. One way to refresh a good general campaign is to segment it into several campaigns targeted at very specific markets. Results from doing this can be truly phenomenal.

Combine several marketing campaigns

Sometimes marketing that works well on its own can work even better when combined with another type of campaign. A great example of this is the mail-then-call combination, which is several times more effective than either of them alone.

Change the format

A number of campaigns, such as direct mail, can loose their effect after being run a few times (usually after you’ve exhausted quality contact lists). In these cases it can often times be a huge refresher to run roughly the same campaign in a different format. For example, if a print advertisement is no longer bringing in a lot of new business, perhaps you could try changing the publication or putting it online instead.

Focus on existing customers

Marketing campaigns that work well at bringing in new clients usually work well at getting new business out of older clients. These campaigns are also great for generating a lot of new referrals too.

Change the desired action

Most powerful marketing campaigns have a very specific desired action (like a phone call or email sign-up), and sometimes you can reinvigorate the campaign by changing that action. Easier actions get better response rates, whereas harder actions are usually more valuable. It’s up to you to determine what will work best for your small business.

Make your campaign seasonal

Given the large number of holidays, and the changing seasons, you can almost always find some way to put a seasonal spin on a campaign. A campaign that matches up with the current season or holiday shows people that it’s relevant and new, and can be considerably more effective.

Tie your marketing to a current event

In marketing, relevance and newness are very important. By tying your marketing to a current event you can clearly show that your are up with the times, and your marketing will benefit greatly from it.

Sensationalize your marketing campaign

Though I wouldn’t recommend trying this on all of your marketing at the same time, it can be a fun experiment on a single campaign. Often times, completely exaggerating your message will significantly improve results.

Make it a 2-stage campaign

Many small business marketing campaigns involve only one step from first-contact to desired action (for example, a postcard that has a phone number to call). Sometimes these campaigns can work significantly better if there is an intermediate step added. One example for that is a Pay-Per-Click ad that directs a customer to a website that directs a customer to a phone call.

Lower the word count

It’s been shown over and over again that having a shorter message works better than having a long one. Try editing an old campaign and deleting anything not strictly part of your core message—run the campaign again and you’ll be sure to notice an improvement.

Increase the imagery

Powerful images that correspond to your message can do wonders for refreshing a marketing campaign. Think about some previous campaigns that might benefit from some big pretty pictures, and then go ahead and try them out again. A good image can be worth a whole lot more than a thousand words.

That’s all for this list :) I know there are a lot of other good ways to refresh a marketing campaign, so feel free to add anything you think of to the comments.

Reader Comments

Shama Hyder
Feb. 22. 2008 10:35 PM
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I would also add-give it time. If you don’t see instant results, don’t be disheartened.


Mason Hipp
Feb. 23. 2008 1:24 AM
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Hey Shama,

Definitely a good point—some campaigns take time to get into the swing of things, and others need to be measured and tweaked. It’s important not to bail out too soon.


Geld Lenen
Feb. 25. 2008 7:27 PM
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Shama, I totaly agree with you. A week or two ago I suddenly received several emails from an affiliate program with notifications of some leads. They came from a site I completely forgot about.

Now I increased the promotion, leads keep coming in! :)


Internet Marketing Joy
Feb. 25. 2008 8:23 PM
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These are great ways to refresh our marketing campaign!...Thanks a bunch for sharing this one!


Terra Andersen
Feb. 25. 2008 8:41 PM
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These are all great tips. I think with the economy it’s current state, many marketers have been feeling a lot of pressure to squeeze more results out of their current campaigns. Sometimes the answer is simply going back to square one and re-evaluating it. Great post!


Mason
Feb. 27. 2008 1:15 AM
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@Geld - congratulations on the new leads from the old program! It’s a good lesson to everyone not to throw out campaigns that can keep running on their own.

@Internet Joy - You’re very welcome, glad you enjoyed them.

@Terra - The economy is definitely putting a squeeze on all of us, and sometimes the answer can lie with refreshing an old campaign. Thanks for commenting!


Cath Lawson
Mar. 5. 2008 7:40 PM
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These are great tips.  I love the idea of the two step campaign.  I think that when people have invested more time, they might be more inclined to make a purchase.  Now - that has just given me an idea to try - thank you.


7leads
Mar. 9. 2008 12:02 PM
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Very good ideas and thanks for sharing. Never enough great ideas !


Kelly
Jan. 24. 2011 10:55 PM
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Brilliant tips!! There’s several here I never would have thought of. Glad I stumbled across this today. SEO and marketing and keeping all that fresh is such a challenge!!


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Mar. 24. 2012 4:00 AM
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I’ll keep your advice in minds. Thanks for this marketing post.


Raquel


TN Pas Cher
Apr. 23. 2012 3:52 AM
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r advice in minds. Thanks for this marketin


dred
Apr. 19. 2013 1:23 PM
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great info :)


Jackob Hopper
Jun. 13. 2014 6:08 AM
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Great job Mason Hipp, all these tips are really interactive ways to build & maintain a marketing campaigns and to raise its marketplace awareness. Thanks for sharing these tips.


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Jun. 18. 2014 4:05 AM
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http://www.virginperuvianhair.co.uk/ impressive post i like it


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