Strategic Marketing and Communications
Growth Hacking: Setting objectives for your campaigning and activism
Before we get lost in the world of the digital too much, we need to understand the importance of strategic planning. We may have a map and tools to get somewhere but if we do not know where we are going or the route we are taking it can waste a lot of time and money.
Throughout the remainder of this book, we will look at strategic planning, turning that operational with the occasional break out to look at the ethics, theory, or interesting dimensions around the thing we are discussing at that time.
Two key components of strategic planning are understanding the situation and the objectives for your marketing and communications campaign. Once you understand that you can focus your activities on getting your cause noticed and your activism having a deeper longer lasting effect.
From here on in then I will attempt to demonstrate this in real form/time by looking at my own strategic planning around what I am trying to do with SleeplessDystopian.com and the various social channels I use to promote it.
The reason I am doing this is threefold. One, it helps to show you what you need to do to be more effective with your campaigning. Two, it helps me to focus my own activities in a more structured way to ensure I get what I want out of this book and my platforms. And Three, it helps me create a marketable product, a book, that from this can in turn help promote and market me as a writer in these areas of interest.
As you can see this is not a selfless act. Two out of three of the objectives of writing this sub stack newsletter which will eventually become a book are related to my goals. But here we need to be careful. I am at this point talking about the objectives of this very writing and these very words I type now. We are talking about my overall objectives for the site, its channels, and my long-term future as, hopefully, a fiction and non-fiction writer dealing with the many complex issues I am trying to tackle.
The way I approach looking at the situation and objectives is not strictly textbook, but it is not reinventing the wheel either. It is close enough to be useful whilst not boring and stuffy and taking the fun out of something that, let’s face it, I do in my spare time.
It is also important to note that whilst the majority of this book is looking at the digital world it will go beyond that into data-driven marketing, direct marketing, behavioural communication and more areas so as to give a more rounded view of what we can do to make sure our messages land where we want them and get some kind of result.
I start with my objectives first. Here I want to understand where I am going. Although many marketing formulas say to start with the situation of where you are and move out from there. I prefer to start with my objectives because it is then by reverse-engineering these to where I am today, and my situation, that I am able to get an idea of the map that may lay ahead of me.
Setting Objectives
How do we go about setting and even understanding our objectives? After all, we don’t always know how or why we fell into the activism, artistry, creative process, or the cause that we are trying to promote. It can kind of just happen. We often don’t know where we are going with it and so we can, at best, sometimes bumble around not really sure what we are doing and just kind of doing it because it feels right, it feels good and occasionally we get some success online and this emboldens us to keep going, but often that success is sporadic and we can’t really track or understand why or how it has happened.
To start with I try just brainstorming and bullet-pointing my objectives. For this you may need to dig deep, I certainly do, in getting real with why you are doing the very thing you are doing and what you really want to get out of it.
I could fool myself and say that the only reason I am doing what I am doing is that I want to educate the world, pass on my knowledge and make a difference. These are all true, but it is also because I want to make a living as a writer, be known for the very thing I love to do, and have independence so as to not have to step to the beat of someone else’s drum. If I can do that and find meaning and purpose along the way doing something I love then I am on to a winning formula. And if I can do that and make a real difference to society, to even one person’s life, all the better. But I have to get real with myself, my primary goals are selfish but that does not mean they are not worthwhile.
The first step, therefore, is to bullet point by objectives and then rank them in order of importance. Such as follows.
Objectives, what do I want to get out of a campaign to promote SleeplessDystopian.com and its corresponding social presence?
· Get more followers online
· To gain an income from my online presence
· To make a difference
· To sell books, become a successful author
· To gain true independence
Ok, so that is a few objectives. But now it is important to ask ourselves why. Once we start doing this we start to understand our own drivers more and understand what is really important to us. This can be very therapeutic if nothing else and can give us a greater understanding of who we are and what it all means to us.
So, let’s step through each one to see how this process works, for me at least.
· Get more followers online; why?
Well, more followers mean that my message gets seen by more people. Which means? This means that I have a greater chance of influencing the lives of people around the world. Which is important because? It is important because it gives me a sense of meaning and purpose to know that people are engaging with my work. Bingo we have the potential for a real objective that can shape how we approach our marketing planning.
To give me a sense of meaning and purpose in my creative work and that it is resonating with my audience.
· To gain an income from my online presence, why is this important to me?
Apart from the additional income being of benefit to my standard of living for both myself and my family, it is also a validation that what I am doing is worth doing. Meaning? Meaning that I am not just wasting my time in cloud cuckoo land but am doing something with my skill set that is worthwhile and rewarding. And that is important because? It is important because it is a validation of my worth and my journey to this point which, at times, has felt as though I am in the business of making rich people richer and not improving my and my family’s standard of living to the same level.
Potential objective: financial security and independence.
Some of this may sound somewhat narcissistic, I don’t know. But often we find when we delve deep into what drives us, and where our objectives sit they are based around ourselves, our own drives, needs, and wants. And there is nothing wrong with that. It would be far worse to set objectives that do not have real core drivers and beliefs and to run off with a plan half-hearted.
I am of course in this book talking about the drivers of individuals, but it could also be done on an organisational level by looking at its core values and how they relate to what you are planning to do and why.
· To make a difference: to what? To whom? And why?
This could be both vague and specific depending on where I go with it cognitively. Yes, I want to make a difference to and in the world, who doesn’t, but what does making a difference mean to me? Well, it is impacting people in a way, even if only slightly, that their lives and the lives of people they interact with are improved in some way. But it is bigger than that. The sheer deluge of information that is coming at people on a daily basis in this digital age is confusing, overwhelming, and stress-inducing. On top of this, it drowns out or deflects and distracts from some of the most critical issues of our time from climate changes to pandemics, from wars to equality. All are being drowned out, misdirected, or have been unable to make any real progress because of the bombardment of misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and the way the digital ecosystems are incentivised.
So, what is my true objective here? To break down the barriers to true debate and communication by exposing the nefarious tropes of coercion used by bad actors around the world.
· To sell books, become a successful author: why?
I want my writing to stand the test of time. I want it to have an impact and move people to action. To hit home. To touch the heart and to take people away in their own imaginations where the reader becomes part of the story as they start to picture what it looks like to them in their own minds. And I want to earn, if not a living, security for my retirement and my family that does not come with working a 9 to 5 alone for someone else.
Objective: to earn money from selling books for financial security
· To gain true independence: what does that mean?
This one has been covered twice above in other objectives and so it would appear it may be a core driver. I would say that true independence to me is financial, creative, and a feeling of autonomy in my existence on this planet.
Financial should be somewhat obvious but whilst it might not mean being able to work full time on this it could be a least setting up a nest egg, a safety blanket, and being secure in my and my family’s future.
Creative should be somewhat self-explanatory also but as a writer, an occasional artist, and a marketing and communications professional having the freedom to follow the directions in which the thread of life is pulling me without any obstacles is important. Creative freedom is the chance to get to a place where I might create something truly unique and profound in the world. But it is also much more than that. For me, the creative process is also akin to entering what some have called the ‘flow state’ this sense of connection to something where time stands still and you became enveloped by the very thing you are creating because you are somehow connected to something real, something higher than just yourself. It’s almost spiritual.
The feeling of autonomy is really about ownership of the direction of one’s own life. One’s own direction and feeling of freedom and whilst, for now, we have to operate in this capitalist system to survive we don’t need its trapping of debt, of working to make ends meet and doing what ‘the man’ says in order to just survive with the hope of retiring early enough that we might be able to enjoy what is left of life as it comes to its very end. I want to enjoy what I am doing now and have full autonomy, or as close to it as I can get, over its direction and how I go about doing it. I have gained some of this whilst working a 9 to 5 job by changing my mindset to it and I am sure at some point I will write either a post or two or even a book about it, especially as I have found it in a none bullshit, none faking it and not self-help guru overload kind of way. But more of this would be truly awesome.
To me therefore independence means the freedom to direct my own life and creativity to follow those threads that destiny is pulling me towards in order to give my life purpose and meaning.
Okay so at this point some die-hard, seasoned marketers are no doubt pulling their hair out and saying what is this guy wittering on about. These are not campaign objectives. These are personal and core objectives of why you do what you do but they are not real tangible objectives to work with. And I hear you. I just don’t agree.
You see we have all been taught the theory. We have all read the academic studies and heard about SOSTAC, SWOT and PESTLE until we are blue in the face, and let’s face it, we all plow through those things begrudgingly as it is something we need to do. But if we can tap into, especially if we are creating something for ourselves from scratch, our core objectives, our core drivers, and beliefs then we will be more engaged in the process as it goes beyond making money or creating awareness into giving what we are doing meaning and purpose.
As this book is aimed at activists, campaigners, creative types, writers, and people wanting to make a positive difference and impact on the world understanding the personal core drivers of our side hustle or enterprise is key to its success. In a normal business this would be its core values if we are working on our own projects these core values tend to be our own.
So, let’s engineer these definitions back to more realistic, tangible objectives that we can work with from a marketing strategy point of view. Here is the list to recap.
· Get more followers online; why?
o To give me a sense of meaning and purpose in my creative work and that it is resonating with my audience.
· To gain an income from my online presence, why is this important to me?
o Potential objective: financial security and independence.
· To make a difference: to what? To whom? And why?
o To break down the barriers to true debate and communicating by exposing the nefarious tropes of coercion used by bad actors around the world.
· To sell books, become a successful author: why?
o Objective: to earn money from selling books for financial security
· To gain true independence: what does that mean?
o To me therefore independence means the freedom to direct my own life and creativity to follow those threads that destiny is pulling me towards in order to give my life purpose and meaning.
Can I work with these to create a shortlist of objectives? If I can this will help me both assess the situation of where I am today in comparison with these and also set up some KPIs so that I can know I am heading in the right direction.
We have a sense of meaning in creative work, but as an objective or a goal how do we track that? Well, one way may be in creating some goals/targets or objectives around engagement by followers. Which may look something like this:
· Get more followers online; why?
o To give me a sense of meaning and purpose in my creative work and that it is resonating with my audience.
Objective: increase engagement of followers/supporters and readers.
Goal: sell books, gain revenue from online revenue sources and grow readership
KPI: set targets on increase in followers, increases in engagement with posts and articles and ultimately book sales or sales of related products that support this initiative.
· To gain an income from my online presence, why is this important to me?
o Potential objective: financial security and independence.
Objective: financial security and independence
Goal: increase revenue from book sales and online sources
KPI: set financial targets on book sales and income on other sources to track the success
· To make a difference: to what? To whom? And why?
o To break down the barriers to true debate and communicating by exposing the nefarious tropes of coercion used by bad actors around the world.
Objective: increase reader engagement and debate
Goal: increase likes, shares, counter-arguments, and debate across my channels
KPI: set numerical targets on user engagement, similar to point one but to increase by x% month on month, for example.
· To sell books, become a successful author: why?
o Objective: to earn money from selling books for financial security
The objective of financial security and independence above kind of covers this one so this one could be removed, which is good less is more in objective settings as it provides better focus.
· To gain true independence: what does that mean?
o To me therefore independence means the freedom to direct my own life and creativity to follow those threads that destiny is pulling me towards in order to give my life purpose and meaning.
This one is an offshoot of the result of all of the above and I would find it very hard to set a tangible and measurable objective on this. It may be a long-term personal goal that would make up part of my strategy in life but I would set leave it out of my goals for my marketing and campaigning.
So now I have three objectives, with corresponding goals and KPIs to work with.
1. Objective: increase engagement of followers/supporters and readers.
a. Goal: sell books, gain revenue from online revenue sources and grow readership.
b. KPI: set targets on increase in followers, increases in engagement with posts and articles and ultimately book sales or sales of related products that support this initiative.
2. Objective: financial security and independence
a. Goal: increase revenue from book sales and online sources
b. KPI: set financial targets on book sales and income on other sources to track success
3. Objective: increase reader engagement and debate
a. Goal: increase likes, shares, counter arguments and debate across my channels
b. KPI: set numerical targets on user engagement, similar to point one but to increase by x% month on month, for example.
We could even say that one and three are almost identical and could be merged to leave us with two.
Hopefully, you will see the purpose of this and not just think ‘well we could have got there a lot quicker if you just stated those objectives and goals from the start. If not, I will try and spell it out some more.
The reason I have taken this approach is to embed in me a deeper understanding of why these objectives are important and what sits behind them. Doing this psychologically embeds them within me to keep myself focus on them without fear of questioning why I am doing what I am doing or where it is all going.
By making them more personal I have made them more real. I am sure lots of marketers reading this may roll their eyes or berate this kind of thinking but then I would ask them ‘do you know why you do what you do?’ and I mean truly. Does what you do for a living right now sit comfortably with you and your life’s plan? And if you have a side project going to make a difference do you really want to make it feel just like more work? Or would you prefer something you are engaged and passionate about working towards?
In my next post, I am going to delve into Situational Analysis. But don’t worry I won’t bang on about SWOT Analysis and PESTLE. You can research those easily enough online and whilst they are useful tools, I don’t want to bog this book down with content that is basically reproducing other people’s work. I will point to them and why they may be important to consider and explain what they are. But I will not make you read through my own versions of these.
This is a live book writing project. Copyright is protected. It is a first rough draft so I would love to hear any feedback from readers. When the book is launched all that are signed up for this substack project will be sent a free Kindle copy of the book as a thank you for subscribing.
This project is part of the SleeplessDystopian.com writing projects.
Visit us at Sleepless Dystopian dot Com our Social sensemaking blogging site; Disruptive Techniques & Technologies. Digital Activism, Creative Pursuits and mentalism, for social change
Photo by Bich Tran: used under free license from Pexels.com
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