It’s a scary time for marketing thanks to COVID-19. So many companies are facing a drop in the need for their services, an inability to service their customers or even struggling to keep their employees on the payroll. Other companies are getting creative and using the time to connect with customers in new and unusual ways.
Here at JJR, we’ve been helping our clients do this through an innovative way of communicating that minimizes expense while maximizing the visual impact of a great idea. It’s perfect for this uncertain time, where marketing dollars may be scarce but the need for inspiration and positivity is greater than ever. We call it the Micro-Campaign.
What’s a Micro-Campaign? It’s a small, very targeted marketing effort that is typically executed through one of the most affordable ways to launch a marketing campaign—social media.
The Micro-Campaign is wonderfully effective and marked by some particular elements:
- It’s Short. The entire campaign typically lasts no more than six weeks.
- It’s Easy to Implement. It takes minimal staff and can be partly or fully automated.
- It Creates Results in the Short Term. The objective of a Micro-Campaign is not to build a life-long relationship (although it could definitely be a start!) but instead to create immediate engagement with your company.
- It Requests Action of the Audience. Like most good social media posts, a Micro-Campaign requests that the audience act in some measurable way, like sending in a picture, filling out a form, etc.
- It’s Affordable. Since the Micro-Campaign will be fed to an already existing audience, the campaign costs little more than what would normally be spent in posting updates from the company.
- It gives back to the community or to others. To be effective, a Micro-Campaign should help people in a significant way. Honoring, helping, or inspiring others are fans that flame the wildfires of social media!
- It works! The success of a Micro-Campaign can be found in the engagement of the social media posts, meaning the number of views, likes, shares, etc. It can also be measured by the amount of participation from the audience.
There are many ways to run a Micro-Campaign. Take a look at some of these ones that we recently ran for your clients. Each had a slightly different objective, but all had beautifully results. Also, note that this technique works here in the U.S. as well as abroad. The Micro-Campaign is a world-traveler!
1. REACHING OUT WHEN OTHERS CAN’T
A nursing facility in Belgium recognized the pain caused by COVID-19 since residents could no longer have family visits because of safety concerns. We thought of a heartwarming way for the seniors to connect with their loved ones and at the same time, strengthen relationships with their family and extended relatives and friends. The staff helped seniors produce special messages to their loved ones which were posted for an ongoing period of time. The Micro-Campaign lifted the spirits of both the residents and their families and built goodwill between families and the nursing facility. It also produced several hundreds of likes and shares!
2. HONOR A PUBLIC SERVANT
With teachers having to make the sudden switch to online learning and approaching the end of the year without their usual appreciation celebrations, a local restaurant took the opportunity to honor the best of the best. The idea combined a goodwill gesture with a social media contest and was a huge success. The home improvement company’s unique post reached more than 6,000 people and had more than 50 shares, far above their typical post. The boost in engagement build community goodwill towards the sponsoring company and brought honor to the deserving educator.
3. COLLABORATE AND HONOR SOMEONE
Your Micro-Campaign can be a shared effort between your company and someone else’s. I partnered with a kindred culinary spirit and entrepreneur to provide an inspiring dinner experience for someone who goes above and beyond for others. Again, this contest format ended in increased engagement for both of our Facebook pages and gave a kind, wonderful person an unforgettable meal.
4. SPREAD A POSITIVE MESSAGE
While contests are great ways to promote shares and encourage engagement, Micro-Campaigns can just present ideas as well. Designing a series of smiling faces and messages from real employees in a real company led to fast and furious sharing. The audience also eagerly awaited the next post to see who it would be. In a crisis, it’s great for a company to show their human side. It inspires, puts a face on the company, and produces measurable results.
So there you have it. Four examples of great Micro-Campaigns that worked well for our clients. Have you done something similar? Tell me about it at jackie@jjrmarketing.com. Or, if this blog inspires you to launch a Micro-Campaign of your own, we’d love to hear how it turned out. Remember, we should not stop marketing during this time, just do it more thoughtfully and strategically. Good luck on your Micro-Campaign!
Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz is the CEO of JJR Marketing (www.jjrmarketing.com) and Fig Factor Media LLC international book publishing company (www.figfactormedia.com), founder of The Fig Factor Foundation (www.thefigfactor.org), creator of Today’s Inspired Latina book series and international movement (http://www.todayslatina.com), author of thirteen books (www.jackiecamacho.com), international speaker, and pilot. Jacqueline speaks to hundreds of audiences about marketing, servant leadership, finding your passion, and achieving success in business. She has addressed the United States Army, BP International, United Airlines, Allstate, and Farmers Insurance among other corporations to share her inspiration.
If you or an organization you know needs as speaker, please get in touch with us at http://www.jackiecamacho.com/contact.