Marketing campaign planning guide

Campaign plans sit within your overall marketing strategy to promote specific products, performances, exhibitions or services.

The process of campaign planning helps you organise your thoughts, identify appropriate target markets and craft effective messages to reach them. In short, campaign plans keep you on track and help ward off panic when a show isn’t selling. They provide a clear set of actions and targets to monitor progress against.

They’re also a useful way of coordinating strategies between artists/touring companies and presenting venues/galleries.

The campaign: what does it include?

Campaign plans provide a simple summary of product information, targets and communications strategies. They also include a detailed action plan, giving dates and costs for activities.

Your campaign plan might include:

• Product/Show title
• Dates
• Income target
• Attendance target
• Summary about the product/show (including age guidance or other restrictions)
• Ticket prices
• Discounts
• Target audiences
• Key messages for target audiences
• An action plan with details of dates and costs

(Download the guide for more details)

Case study: Northern Ballet's Cleopatra

Northern Ballet’s Cleopatra campaign aimed to sell £832,000 of tickets (gross) to traditional ballet audiences and Arts Audiences Insights ‘Fun, Fashion and Friends’ and ‘Dinner and a Show’ segments.

They approached Cleopatra as a comprehensive integrated communications campaign featuring online, print and press advertising, outdoor advertising and media and PR. As well as traditional promotional activity, they focused on partnerships.

The campaign included a London launch, a Cleopatra themed event in partnership with Harvey Nichols and a dinner and a show package in partnership with Gaucho Restaurants. It generated national press coverage in newspapers and women’s glossy magazines, as well as radio and TV coverage.

By investing in photography and film, partnering with big brands and constantly monitoring and evaluating the campaign, Northern Ballet smashed its ticket target and sold £867,000 of tickets.

Download the guide for more tools and templates:
Marketing campaign planning guide (PDF)