Marketing campaign planning 7 steps to success guide

A 7-steps to success guide teaching you how to run effective integrated marketing campaigns

How will this marketing campaign planning guide help me and my business?

Effective campaign planning can make the difference between achieving a strong ROI and wasting time and budget on disconnected activities. Our 7 steps guide gives you a structured, repeatable approach for developing successful, integrated marketing campaigns.

We made sure this guide is comprehensive to help you define clear goals, identify your audience, select the right media mix, and measure results using a consistent process. Whether you already have a campaign planning approach that needs updating or you’re starting from scratch, this guide will help you refine your method using the latest digital marketing techniques.

By following the 7-step structure, you’ll gain clarity on what drives success, ensure your activities are measurable, and create a campaign process that aligns your strategy, creative, and media to deliver tangible outcomes.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is designed for marketers, agencies, and business owners who want a clear, repeatable process for campaign planning. It’s ideal for anyone managing multi-channel activity or looking to improve consistency, accountability, and performance in their marketing campaigns.

How is the guide structured?

The Marketing Campaign Planning guide  is built around Smart Insights’ RACE Growth System, offering a practical step-by-step process that takes you from strategy to execution and optimization. Each stage includes examples, templates, and recommended tools to help you apply the framework directly to your campaigns.

You’ll work through seven core steps:

• Plan: Set campaign goals and tracking methods

• Insights: Define your target audience and customer motivations

• Offer: Develop key campaign messages, offers, and creative ideas

• Reach: Build an integrated media plan and allocate budget

• Act: Encourage engagement and participation across channels

• Convert: Optimize for conversion and test campaign performance

• Engage: Review success, encourage advocacy, and refine for future campaigns

The guide also includes links to templates, such as our campaign planning worksheet, timeline and project plan, and editorial calendar, so you can apply the process directly for your own business activities.

Resource Details

• • Authors: Annmarie Hanlon & Amelia Cooper
  • Format: Downloadable PDF guide, 34 pages

Annmarie Hanlon

Dr Annmarie Hanlon is a Chartered Marketer and an Associate Professor in Digital and AI Marketing at UCL within the Global Business School for Health. Previously she was the Course Director of MSc Marketing and Leadership at Cranfield University. She is an experienced academic with a strong teaching portfolio in digital marketing. Before joining academia, she worked in consultancy for 25 years. As an early adopter of technology and ‘online marketing’ she has led digital strategy and planning projects across Europe, in sectors including healthcare and IT, legal and financial, software and manufacturing. Annmarie has written several SAGE textbooks including Digital Marketing, Digital Business and The Digital Marketing Planner. She is co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of Digital Marketing, and The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Marketing. Her textbooks are adopted in nearly 30 countries by over 100 universities and are the leading textbooks in SAGE’s digital topic collections.

Amelia Cooper

Amelia Cooper is Head of Content at Smart Insights. She is responsible for managing the paid member content library and e-learning resources, as well as strategic planning to ensure customers get the most from their memberships. She is a University of Southampton and the Chartered Institute of Marketing graduate with over 10 years’ experience in digital marketing, specializing in content marketing.