On Monday 6 April 2020, CEA announced a series of interventions designed to support business survival during this period of peak disruption to the community and furthermore to support a strong economic recovery once the immediate health crisis has subsided. The package included:
A peer support network for the emotional health and self-care of leaders of Australian SMEs, in association with The Founder’s Circle;
A network, led by experienced CEOs, for the leaders of Australian SMEs making critical strategic decisions during the crisis;
A series of practical, virtual masterclasses designed to empower SMEs to increase their revenue and build the foundations for long term success – all from their home;
This is the information the Marketing team was briefed with and within a week I developed the campaign, including graphic design and copy, website landing page and Eventbrite assets to promote the initiative to an Australian SME audience:
Copy and design by Eloise Barclay
Campaign Phases
Awareness phase through the announcement of the initiative
Registration phase through individual initiative promotion and speakers/ mentors
Post-event phase through event recaps and testimonials
Phase 1: Awareness
The first phase of the campaign was to raise awareness of the initiative through the announcement of the initiative across our owned media channels, such as the CEA website, email and social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter). I then developed a media kit to send to key stakeholders, such as QUT marketing and government bodies, to increase the reach of the campaign launch. Tracking links were set up prior to campaign launch to track conversions through Eventbrite tracking and Google Analytics.
Phase 2: Registrations
The second phase involved segmented promotion of speakers and mentors and increased urgency of messaging in order to capture registrations. A campaign analysis I conducted for the Collider Accelerator Recruitment campaign in early 2019 revealed that our audience were more likely to engage with posts and ads that had a human element. Therefore, I utilised this insight throughout the campaign. Based on our own audience insights and market research I conducted, I focused the campaign on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in order to reach the target market of Australian SME's. The SME audience was further targeted through Facebook Business Manager advertising:
Facebook advertising tiles, designed by Eloise Barclay
Facebook advertising was cut short (ads were displayed for two weeks) due to COVID-19 related budget cuts, and therefore only accounted for 3% of conversions. However, the overall Cost Per Click (CPC) of the paid campaign was strong at $0.53 (versus industry average of $1.72) and reached 51,536 individuals. Therefore it can be argued that if it had continued on its trajectory conversions would have been higher.
Phase 3: Post-Event
The next phase involved recapping of events through key takeaways from masterclasses and testimonials. The idea was that this would create a sense of FOMO for those who did not attend and motivate them to purchase a ticket to the next virtual event and also encourage repeat purchases from those who did attend. This comms strategy was carried out across email marketing and social media. This was successful in achieving the objective, with 21.5% repeat purchases made for the virtual masterclasses, with common inquiries about accessing recordings:
Overall, email marketing (eDMs) drove the highest conversions (38%), most likely because emails were sent to a highly segmented email list with targeted messaging and captivating design, followed by word of mouth (WOM) (~24%) and social media (15%) (paid and organic). WOM was determined through survey/event registration responses on how they first heard about the event, of which 24% said WOM.
To ensure the longevity of the content (masterclass recordings) I suggested the creation of an online forum where people could access and purchase tickets to watch recorded masterclasses. This was well received by the team so I worked with the Events Manager to set the forum up and promote it.
Key skills utilised in campaign
Campaign strategy and planning (Microsoft Suite)
Graphic design (Adobe Spark, Indesign and Photoshop)
Copywriting
Website development and management, Wordpress (landing page for initiative)
Eventbrite asset creation
Media Kit development and stakeholder coordination (speakers, partners, i.e.)
Facebook advertising (Facebook Business Manager)
Email marketing (Mailchimp)
Social media management and scheduling via Sendible
Setup and tracking of campaign through Eventbrite tracking links and Google Analytics
Campaign analysis and reporting