Often there can seem to be very little difference between two marketing campaigns. However the difference between average marketing and profitable marketing is immense. Here are my 7 tips for ensuring success from your marketing campaign.

Promote to the right audience.

If your campaign is to succeed it must be aimed at the right people. That is people that are willing and able to respond. In other words they have a need/want for your product/service and the money and authority to buy it. You need to know exactly who you are after and make sure the promotional medium you use is correct. So if you're selling something to Accountants then you need a list of Accountants to make your offer to. Makes sense right.

Minimize risk for the customer.

A potential customer will not buy from you if they believe the risk of doing so outweighs the return they will get. Or if they are unsure that you will deliver what you have promised. So ask yourself what can you do to let the customer know that the risk is firmly stacked on your side and they really have nothing to lose? Answer this question and do it to maximise results from your campaign.

Set up a follow-up system.

Rarely will you make a sale the first time you come into contact with a potential customer. Stats show you may need up to 7 contacts before they buy. So you must have a follow-up system in place for your campaign. Get their email address and permission to stay in touch and make sure you do. Follow-up with useful information for them and you will increase your sales.

Make an irresistible offer. You want people to buy right? To make sure they do your offer has to be great, in fact it should be irresistible. As a guide it should sound almost too good to be true but not too good, people are sceptical. More than likely each customer you get will buy again from you in the future so make their first purchase a small step and stack the deal in their favour. For example 'get your first bag of Jim's Choice Coffee for just $1 (normally $8.50) if you buy today'.

Know the lifetime value of a customer.

Acquiring a customer can seem expensive but it's not if you consider what a customer is worth over their lifetime with your business. Let's say Jim's Choice Coffee keeps a customer for 3 years and the customer buys one bag of coffee a month from him. That's 36 months times $8.50 a bag - $306 over their lifetime with his business. See how it makes sense for him to offer a bag for $1 to start that $306 relationship.

Track your progress.

You have to know the numbers on your campaign. How many enquiries? How many sales? What was the value of each sale? Did you make a profit on the campaign? Will you make a profit over the lifetime of the customers? You need this information to know whether the campaign was successful. Also if it's a long term campaign these figures can tell you if you need to make changes along the way.

Analyse and repeat or improve.

Once you have your figures you must analyse the campaign. If it's profitable you should keep running it. If it's not you need to find out why. Was it the offer? Was there too much risk for the customer? Was the advertising medium wrong? Didn't you follow-up properly? What went wrong and how can you fix it to make the campaign work. Make changes and try again. Keep trying till you find the winning formula. Marketing is trial and error but making sure you analyse and learn as you go.

So what's your next marketing campaign going to be? Apply these 7 tips and reap the rewards. Good luck.