12 Tips To Create A Great Marketing Campaign

I was recently invited to speak about my career in marketing and offer some marketing advice to a room full of business owners.

I knew I didn’t want to just share theories. I wanted to give insight into what makes a marketing campaign actually work - from lived experience as a Marketing Strategist and Entrepreneur and results from my time in large corporations too.

So, I thought it would be handy to share that knowledge on the Six Figure Niche blog too.

Learning Through Practice: What Real Marketing Campaigns Teach You

Much of what I know about impactful marketing has come from the practice of marketing since 1999, learning on the job, in real campaigns, with real results. You can read about how marketing has changed in 25 years on this blog or read on for a wider viewpoint and 12 tips for your own marketing campaigns.

Marketing Campaigns in a Corporate Setting

It wasn’t until 2005 that I developed a deeper understanding of the full digital marketing cycle, whilst working in the marketing department at Thorntons Chocolates in Derbyshire.

I was presented with new chocolate products that were to be launched. I’d shape campaign concepts, align messaging to the market with the Copywriter, arrange photography shoots and brief the Creative Agency to design 8 brochures a year. 240,000 brochures would land on customer doormats, and customers rang into the call centre to place their orders – web sales were scarce back then.

Five years later, in my role inside the Loyalty Marketing department at BMI Airline, I refined this understanding further, operating on a much larger scale, with highly regulated and commercially driven campaigns. The stakes were higher, the database bigger, the strategies sharper, and the results more significant.

To give you a sense of scale: at Thorntons, a well-planned marketing email would regularly drive £10,000 in chocolate sales. At BMI, a single marketing email delivered £100,000 in flights. The tools were similar. The scale and precision made the difference. We used a Recency, Frequency, Value model, and I loved learning about the segmentation of the database to drive stronger results.

These experiences taught me how to bring ideas to life through digital platforms, build trust with audiences, and deliver commercial impact—skills I’ve taken into every campaign and business since.

The 6 Businesses That Shaped Me

As my career zig-zagged between corporate life and being an Entrepreneur. Three of my businesses have generated six-figures in turnover.

My first six figure business was Seasons Coffee Shop & Deli, which I launched aged 30 when I moved from London to Surrey. That experience gave me hands-on insight into every element of marketing—from creating a brand to designing coffee shop interiors, running social media accounts, email marketing (of course!), writing press releases and entering awards.

The other two six figure businesses began in my mid 30s, when I moved back to Midlands, I launched Touchpoints Marketing as a Freelancer initially; that became a Marketing Agency and is now a Marketing Academy. I also developed the initial concept of a gaming app called Low6 which has gone on to attract £8 million in investment.

Another business I’m proud of is the healthy snack kit, which I took from Crowdfunder (Kickstarter) to 4 listings with Selfridges in just 12 months. Along the way, I’ve won national awards, taught over 400 marketing students how to go freelance, and co-hosted the Scale Up Your Sales & Marketing podcast.

In a nutshell, I’ve witnessed how marketing has developed with each experience, and how impactful and measurable it can be, when used strategically.

12 Things That Make a Campaign Great

Here are my tips from 25 years of marketing to help you with your own marketing campaigns.

1. Set the target – What is the goal? “What gets measured gets results.”

2. Plan well – Don’t rush straight to the tactics. Make time for campaign preparation.

3. Know your strengths – Outsource the rest. Build a team that you trust. Who Not How.

4. Create your avatar – Picture your customer and put their photos into your marketing.

5. Add human impact – Real stories beat generic features every time.

6. Use the right touchpoints – Email, social, print… where do people look for your ‘thing’?

7. Show behind the scenes – People want to see the real you and be on the journey too.

8. Don’t underestimate copywriting – Words sell. Invest in people who can write magic.

9. Repeat the message – Different channels - consistent and persistent wins.

10. Encourage user-generated content – Let your customers be your ambassadors.

11. Test and learn – A/B test when you can: Email subject lines and CTAs (Call To Action)

12. Review and reflect – Did you hit goal? What improvements for next time?

Ready to Put This Into Practice?

If these 12 tips have sparked ideas for your own marketing, don’t let them sit in a notebook—take action. The Six Figure Niche 12 month programme is designed to help business owners like you implement this kind of strategic marketing to grow with confidence.

Whether you’re:

Looking to build your first six-figure business,

Wanting to refine your campaigns for better results, or

Needing expert support and structure around your next launch…

👉 Explore our free resources here today.