5 steps to a successful campaign
How to create an effective communication concept
In this blog post, we will introduce you to the creation of your own communication concept. Our collaboration with the Saxon State Ministry of Culture (SMK) serves as a practical example. Learn how to successfully implement a campaign in five steps.
Step 1: Analysis of the initial situation and target groups
Where do we start and who is affected?
At the beginning, it is important to gain a comprehensive understanding of the challenge you are facing. Initially, you are mainly observing and not yet thinking in terms of solutions. You do your research, interview the relevant target groups, look at their life situation and try to empathize with your subject matter as best you can. The analysis methods you use in this step depend heavily on your problem, but also on your company or organization. Standard analyses in this phase are a SWOT analysis (SWOT = strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) on the market and performance of the product or organization, an analysis of the brand personality and positioning, the design parameters, the existing content and communication measures and channels, the competitors and, of course, the target groups and their needs. During this phase, we always hold an initial strategy workshop with the client to jointly define the results of the analysis, the strategic direction, the objectives, target groups and key messages.
The result: a shared understanding of the initial situation and the fundamental direction of your communication campaign.
In our case, the analysis clearly identified the shortage of teachers in Saxony as a long-term trend. It revealed a clear image problem for the profession, especially among the target group of Gen Z students. On this basis, a sustainably effective communication strategy was decided: “We want to inspire more Saxon high school graduates to become teachers in Saxony in the long term and sustainably improve the image of the teaching profession as a whole.”
Step 2: Developing the communication strategy
What goals are we setting ourselves? What is our focus and how do we proceed tactically? How do we want to measure our success?
Once you have a clear understanding of the problem area, you can make your strategic decisions on this basis. The result of the analysis often shows different directions you could take in terms of communication. In our case, we could have agreed on different target groups, each with different goals. Here is a selection of possible tactical variants:
Option 1: Our communication is intended to help alleviate the acute shortage of teachers as quickly as possible. We focus on lateral entrants and acquire them for immediate lateral entry into the teaching profession in Saxony.
Option 2: We reduce the drop-out rate in teacher training and teacher traineeships and provide communicative support, particularly in terms of student counseling and onboarding new teachers.
Option 3 (our selection): We pursue a long-term strategy and fundamentally inspire more Saxon high school graduates to become teachers in Saxony. In addition, we increase the overall image and popularity of the teaching profession.
With your tactical decision for a specific direction of your communication campaign, you prioritize target groups and determine what you want to achieve and with whom.
Focus target group of our campaign: pupils in the career search phase at grammar schools and secondary schools in Saxony.
Secondary and tertiary target groups: Student teachers, trainee teachers, teachers, campaign partners and fellow campaigners.
Based on the target group analysis from step 1, we already know the basic needs of our focus target group, their attitude towards the teaching profession and, based on this knowledge, we finally develop our communicative central idea.
Step 3: Developing the central communicative idea
What story are we telling?
Once you have defined the strategic guidelines for your communication, the next step is to develop a content idea and story for your campaign. We bring in PIOs from the creative department and present them with our analysis results and preliminary strategic considerations. The basic story and design of our campaign are created in several design and content sprints.
Our idea:
We show what the profession does. We prove that the teaching profession in Saxony is a job for life - in all its ambiguity:
Nowhere else can you give others so much for life as in the teaching profession.
No other occupation promotes and shapes a person's life more.
Hardly any other profession requires such a vocation as this one.
This is what makes teaching a unique profession.
The claim: “Eine Klasse für sich. LEHRERIN SACHSEN.“
The implementation:
We bring former students and teachers together - like a very personal class reunion. Our motifs show testimonials holding photos of their former teachers up to the camera.
Short statements explain the significance of the teachers for the lives of the former students. We ask our community: What did you learn from your teachers?
The result is a “wall of fame” that proves that teachers in Saxony teach for life, not for school.
Step 4: Selecting the communication channels and communication measures
Wo sind unsere Zielgruppen unterwegs und mit welchen Maßnahmen erreichen wir sie? Mit welcher Road Map gehen wir in die Umsetzung? Was können wir mit den vorhandenen Mitteln realisieren?
Where are our target groups and what measures can we use to reach them? What road map will we use for implementation? What can we achieve with the available resources?
Most of the mental work is now done. Now it's time to get specific and think about your communication tools and how you will use them in terms of time and budget. You also decide on a specific dramaturgy. You think about whether you want to set highlights in the course of the campaign, whether you want to create a “constant buzz” or certain peaks with your communication. To do this, you return to the story you want to tell and your target groups and define what you want to communicate when, where and with what intensity.
Here at PIO, we also hold several brainstorming and selection rounds with our experts from the communications departments. In our case, these were: social media, events, public relations, content and performance marketing. We select the measures on the basis of these criteria:
Is the measure suitable for our target group(s)?
Does it support our communication objective?
Does the measure fit our positioning?
Is the measure suitable for conveying our story?
Does it fit with other measures?
Is it cost-efficient and can it be implemented in time?
In the end, we consolidated the ideas we had collected and decided on these four pillars for the first year of the campaign:
A campaign platform as a central source of information with applicant portal, school profiles, community content.
Out of home through the presence of branded buses, a bus tour and posters for more attention.
Community management through social media, live experiences, trade fairs, school boot camps for authentic interactions.
Partner management through mentoring programs, tool kits for teachers and regular partner communication for a strong network.
We also opted for the mechanics of placing the new information portal for teacher recruitment at the center of our measures:
We sorted the measures according to our target groups (see step 2) and their annual plans by topic and time and allocated the campaign budget.
The result: an annual overview of the campaign measures, which serves as a road map for the activities. This gives all project employees a complete overview. This helps you to plan, adhere to and, if necessary, adjust internal and external to-dos. The annual overview should be included in your regular meetings and always kept up to date. It must never be lost sight of and also forms the basis for the final reporting.
Step 5: Evaluation and further development of the campaign
Now the campaign planning is almost complete. You have defined the strategy, know your goals and target groups and know when and how you want to implement the campaign. There's just one step left: determining how to measure success. How do you want to measure whether your campaign is effective and contributes to your goals? To do this, look back at your goals and planned measures and think about suitable key figures that you can measure well. These can be, for example, follower numbers on your social media channels, your brand awareness, the media coverage in which your campaign is picked up or the conversion rate. Using the key figures, you can not only evaluate the success of your campaign, but also gain concrete recommendations for its further continuation.
If you follow our step-by-step guide, nothing will hold back the success of your communication campaign. Have fun!