A client called me one day and asked if I had a moment to hear the marketing idea that had crossed his mind the night before. He was convinced his Big, Hairy, Audacious, Marketing Idea (BHAMI) was a nothing short of genius. As he explained it to me, he talked faster and faster, with ever increasing volume. He really had fallen in love with his idea and wanted me to tell him how electric it really was. However, I could not help but think that it might have been caused not by his highly intuitive and creative brain, but by whatever he ate before he went to bed the night before.

Is this the way you come up with your marketing campaigns? The boss gets a BHAMI and won’t let anyone rest until they agree it’s a fabulous concept. Creative ideas are key to successful marketing campaigns. Creativity captures the attention of your audience, which is half the battle in marketing. The BHAMI concept can work. However, too often rolling from one creative idea to the next has no cohesiveness. That leads to a lot of brand confusion with your target market. They cannot distinguish what message you want them to catch because your marketing is scattered in a dozen different creative directions. If this is your situation and you are in charge of marketing for your company, let me suggest that you take a different approach before you ever come up with the BHAMI and layout a strategic marketing plan that channels creativity in the same direction as your customers’ needs.

Creating a campaign

Creating a successful marketing campaign begins with understanding your customers. What do they want from you? What do they need from you? These are not the same question. What they want is what they perceive you can supply to them. What they need is outside of their understanding at the moment and you must make them aware of it before they will purchase from you. A marketing campaign has to look at both the wants and needs of a customer and build around them.

Next, we would create a brand positioning statement. This is a simple statement that outlines the following:

• Identifies the target market
• Identifies your brand
• States what your brand does to help the customers’ needs and wants
• Explains the process you take to accomplish this

Brand positioning, USP and a campaign slogan

A brand positioning statement will help you keep from getting off track in your marketing because it focuses on the solutions to customer problems. This is your launching pad.

The next step would be to create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) from the brand positioning statement. The USP is simply a list of services you provide that differentiates you from your competition. Think of them as game changers when comparing your service offerings against your competition. These should be used as the main points on your marketing materials.