Remembering the 4 ‘P’s of marketing – product, place, price and promotion – can help you market your business effectively and help it to grow. But what are the features of a truly great marketing campaign and how can you make yours stand out from the crowd? Here are 5 key campaign components – and to make them easy to remember, they all start with ‘F’ this time!

1. Focus. That means focusing on your target audience and understanding how best to market your brand to them. However good your product or service, not everyone will be interested. So if you don’t know exactly who you’re aiming at, you’re likely to waste a lot of money chasing after the wrong people. Ask your existing customers for constructive feedback to help you better understand what they want and don’t want. Selling a higher number of goods to existing customers is more cost-effective than constantly seeking new markets. However, with the right information to hand, you’ll also be able to target new audiences more precisely too.

2. Freshness. You don’t have to spend a fortune to develop a winning marketing campaign but you do have to provide regular, new content. Internet-based retail has leveled the playing field for small businesses so the smart use of social media and other online platforms can pay dividends for little investment. However, make sure that content you create – whether uploaded to your own business website or a guest blog, or printed on more traditional media – is genuinely useful and interesting to your customers. You don’t have to stick to written text if it’s hard to keep up with demand – uploading videos to YouTube or photos to Instagram is another great way to diversify content and keep things fresh.

3. Foresight. The best laid schemes of mice, men and marketers often go awry. Even with brilliant ideas for your campaign, things can and do go wrong so you need to have a plan B, C and D in reserve. For example, if you’re planning an outside event to launch your product, your plan B should be a backup venue indoors in case it starts pouring with rain. Plan C should be plenty of umbrellas, and so on. Begin with a thorough brainstorming to consider all the things that might go wrong. From there, perform a more in-depth risk analysis on any campaign event or idea to avoid wasting your money.

4. Findability. You may have the best product or service but your customers will never know if they can’t find you. Particularly in the world of online retail, you have to find ways to make yourself visible to customers. Unlike walking down a high street, it’s hard to stumble upon a brand online if it isn’t effectively advertised. As well as making the most of social media, consider more ‘old school’ ways to promote your website. For example, if you send out a lot of franked business mail to customers, you can add a logo with your website URL printed onto all your envelopes. As well as how easily people can arrive at your website, findability also refers to how easily things can be found once they’re there. Make sure that your website is clean, uncluttered and easy to navigate.

5. Fulfillment. In a world where we’re bombarded by advertising, the most memorable campaigns are the ones that spark people’s interest and lift their spirits. Ideally, your campaign should conjure a sense of adventure, mystery or awe – something that makes people stop and think – as well as a sense of plain fun. Today’s audiences are extremely sophisticated when it comes to advertising so don’t bludgeon them with phony hard-sell tactics. Rather, treat your customers with respect and flatter them with a clever campaign. Marketing is increasingly an interactive and user-led process these days and campaigns that go viral do so because they fulfill this need among their audience. Businesses that recognise the potential of their customers to become loyal brand advocates can make the most of a meager marketing budget.

Add the 5 ‘F’s to your 4 ‘P’s and make your next marketing campaign the best it can be!