I've seen way too many marketing dollars being thrown away by ineffective marketing campaigns. The ultimate goal of a marketing campaign is to generate immediate sales and/or potential leads. If you marketing campaign is not generating leads and sales, you need to reevaluate if you should even be doing it.

The sad thing is that running a successful marketing campaign is a rather simple process if you know the three most important elements of every effective campaign.

Key #1: Must Be Specific. A good campaign is targeted to a very specific potential customer. Your marketing efforts should not be directed to a broad, vague customer. Your response rate is going to be horrible because you're not able to connect deep enough with your prospects. So instead of a trying to target "people that need to refinance", you are going to target "people that need to refinance that are over 55 years of age, who own a second home and are self-employed." Being specific is powerful because you're able to tailor your marketing piece in a way that best connects with a larger percent of your target group.

Key #2: Must Be Measurable. A good campaign keeps track of all the important details, including response rate in the end expenses associated with running the campaign. You can't possibly tell how successful a marketing campaign is without going over the numbers. How much did it cost to run the ad? How much did I pay in postage to send out the 1200 mail pieces? How many people responded? Not only is being measurable going to help you in determining whether or not a campaign is successful, it also guides you in improving your future marketing campaigns. You can make adjustments in your marketing piece and see whether or not it helps or hurts your response rate. You keep what helps your response rate and drop what hurts it.

Key #3: Must Have Strong Call to Action. A good campaign tells the prospect exactly what you want him or her to do next. Not having a strong call to action can destroy what would have been an awesome campaign. You need to be blunt. And don't assume anything. Don't assume the prospect will call your number if they would like a copy of your free report. Tell them directly, "Call me today to get your copy of my free report!" You'd be absolutely amazed at how just adding that one phrase can totally change the response rate of your campaign. Make sure that every one of your marketing campaigns has a strong call to action.

Following these three keys will give you a strong foundation for your future marketing campaigns. Not only that but it also saves you thousands of dollars in marketing expenses because you will discontinue running campaigns that cost you money. To ensure that you have successful and profitable marketing campaigns, just remember to make sure that it is specific, that is measurable, and that it has a strong call to action.