Running Fewer Marketing Campaigns

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Is it possible to run fewer campaigns while maintaining or even growing the number of leads and revenue generated? It’s absolutely possible if you have a system capable of collecting the right data and generating the reports you’ll need to accurately measure progress and align marketing’s efforts with sales around a single source of truth: the CRM.

In some circumstances, less is more for marketing. It’s a best practice for marketing leaders to maintain a healthy balance of campaigns that are proven lead/revenue generators vs. experimental campaigns. You need to experiment to test new messaging, platforms, or approaches, and 80/20 is the ideal balance in most situations. If you stick with proven campaigns only, you can lose your creative edge and miss emerging trends that may drive higher responses to innovative techniques.

That said, over time, marketing’s campaign ratio can get out of alignment with the marketing strategy. Campaigns that used to work can lose effectiveness over time. The marketplace evolves, and external factors can affect response rates. That’s why frequent measurement is so critical. You’ll need reliable performance measurement tools to monitor funnel metrics like volume, velocity, and conversion rates to maximize process efficiency, plus you’ll need robust marketing attribution to allocate spend efficiently.

In a “less is more” scenario, where your priority is greater efficiency across your marketing operation, you can use these tools to ensure you’re maximizing your resources.

When MORE Is More

“Less is more” isn’t the right framing for every situation. It all depends on your marketing strategy, which should be aligned with overall business goals. For example, if your company is in growth mode and the pressure is on marketing to increase lead volume, you’ll have to run more campaigns to generate more leads, but that can cause a drop in conversion rates.

In this scenario, frequent measurement is still absolutely critical to success. Marketers who are running more campaigns to generate a higher lead volume typically cast a wider net, reaching out to a broader spectrum of potential customers. Funnel metrics can help them monitor lead progression through the sales funnel. Marketing attribution can shed light on which campaigns are driving the most revenue.

If the funnel metrics indicate that there are sticking points that need to be addressed with the sales team, marketing needs to know that right away so they can meet with sales and align activities around the shared goal of driving revenue. If there is a precipitous drop in conversion rates, marketing can fine-tune campaigns to target prospects more efficiently.

Less or More? It Depends on What’s Important

Marketers are often asked to do more with less, and maximizing efficiency is a best practice in any scenario. But keep in mind that while you can achieve “less is more” marketing nirvana in some situations by using funnel metrics to improve process efficiency and marketing attribution to invest more efficiently, in other scenarios, more really is more.

Focusing on what’s important to further the company’s broader strategy is key, and the best way to do that is to work closely with your colleagues on the revenue/sales side to understand exactly what marketing is responsible for in terms of leads and revenue. Whatever the objective, funnel metrics and marketing attribution can keep you on track every step of the way.

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