10 marketing campaign planning mistakes

Our free guide to help you plan better campaigns

How will this guide help me and my business?

Sometimes things go wrong and it’s often for the same reasons; lack of planning, preparation and understanding.

Over the last 20 years as we have consulted and trained with many businesses and we have seen many different mistakes which result in disastrous campaigns. Yet there are some common mistakes we see that are often repeated. Some examples are summarised here so you can avoid history repeating itself in your organisation.

This practical guide doesn't just detail the mistakes, it also provides solutions, strategy recommendations and recommended resources to help you avoid these mistakes. With clear indication of what to do instead, the guide explores common marketing campaign planning errors in social media, traditional media and integration.

Our practical and actionable guide will help you plan your marketing campaigns better, the guide aims to help you plan better, integrate more and use digital media effectively.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is for anyone who is involved with planning and implementing marketing campaigns. It will give you practical ideas useful at all levels whether you are designing the campaign or implementing or reviewing it.

How is the guide structured?

This guide discusses ten of the most common campaign planning mistakes we’ve seen and what you can do to avoid them. These mistakes are:

• Unclear campaign goals
• Failing to plan for change
• Lack of brand integration
• Failing to understand the international audience
• Failing to be aware of data use awareness
• Not understanding social media
• Over-protecting a brand
• Using digital media like traditional media
• Lack of online and offline integration
• Not completing a post-campaign review

Latest updates

• New section about defining campaign goals
• New section about post-campaign reviews
• Updates recommended resources
• Updated case studies and examples

Resource Details

About the author

Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon is the Smart Insights expert commentator on online and offline marketing strategies for business. Annmarie is the MD of Evonomie and author of Quick Win Marketing, and co-author of Quick Win Digital Marketing. She runs social media workshops in the UK and Ireland and shares marketing tips and news in her blog, B2B Marketing. You can follow Annmarie on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.