Design, Promote, Repeat: How Long-Term Marketing Strategies Lead to Success

1
INTRODUCTION
In an era in which consumers are inundated with information from new brands on a daily basis, marketers need to try all
they can to stand out. This means marketers should employ ongoing marketing strategies, including running creative, well-
designed campaigns throughout the year. When campaigns are ongoing, marketers see increased engagement and lead
generation. Our three-step approach, as outlined in this white paper, is intended to help marketers conceptualize and plan
out a series of ongoing campaigns. First, let’s cover why this strategy works.
Brand awareness is key. One goal of any business should be to be the first one that comes to mind when people are in
need of a particular product or service. Brand recognition has a direct impact
on the success of all businesses. Researchers refer to this concept as “brand
equity,” which gauges how consumers react to a brand’s name1
. Brand equity
and awareness aren’t automatic; companies must employ frequent attempts to
introduce their brand and services to their target audience.
This philosophy should apply to a company’s whole marketing strategy, from
brand awareness to campaigns. Marketing campaigns are “activities designed
to promote a product, service or business.” Companies that limit their marketing
campaigns to one event, or even one season, find it difficult to achieve
meaningful results. The old adage is especially true in this context: “If at first you
don’t succeed, try, try again.”
1 | The mediating effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand image and perceived quality on brand equity. 28 Feb 2013
Brand equity and
awareness aren’t
automatic; companies
must employ frequent
attempts to introduce
their brand and services
to their target audience.

2
THE SCIENCE OF REPETITION
For decades, researchers have been preaching the
power of repetition in nearly all aspects of humanity; it
strengthens language, learning, developing new skills and
yes, making consumer decisions. Marketing expert Tim
Brown says, “Repetitive marketing is effective marketing.”
Repetitive marketing means ongoing marketing, and
having a long-term strategy enacted over the course of
a designated time span. Ongoing strategy, in conjunction
with long-term goals, is an ideal way to track the progress
of marketing efforts over time. The power of repetition
has been heralded by psychologists, and the same
concepts apply to market research, too. Marketers employ
“observational research,” which refers to how people
respond to the systematic process of action, behavior and
exposure2
. Repetition must occur frequently to have an
effect.
To put it simply: human beings are creatures of habit. So,
marketers need to appeal to that. A single campaign is just
a first step. If you’ve run an unsuccessful campaign, do not
give up. Instead, treat the experience as research, and try
again. On the contrary, a successful one-time campaign
means that you’re on to something big, so why stop there?
2 | Essentials of Marketing Research: Putting Research Into Practice. 9 Jan 2013
Repetitive marketing means ongoing
marketing, and having a long-term
strategy enacted over the course of a
designated time span.

3
HARNESSING THE POWER OF REPETITION
It’s important to understand how repetitive marketing is defined.
Repetitive marketing means being frequently present in the lives of
existing and target users. It doesn’t mean running the same campaign,
or kind of campaign, over and over again. Communication expert Andy
Horner puts it succinctly: Be consistent in your presence, but varied
in your strategy. “If attention can be triggered by repetition, breaking
the pattern can heighten it even more. Picture an ad with a lineup of
vacuums that all appear similar, except for the distinctive design of the
yellow Dyson. Disruption can draw focus. Use it to distinguish yourself
from your competitors in a series of product images, testimonials, or
result statistics.” The key word here is “series”—sequential events that
are part of a larger goal.
Running campaigns regularly gives your team the chance to take risks
and try out new ideas. Essentially, this is active data in motion. What
better way to learn about your users than to try a new approach? Email
marketing, giveaways, contests, engagement campaigns and landing
pages are all varied ways to reach out to leads. Each campaign you
create is another step closer to developing meaningful relationships with
your target audience.
Repetitive marketing means
being frequently present
in the lives of existing and
target users.

4
ABOUT THE STUDY
ShortStack (ShortStack.com) is a marketing campaign-
building tool used by small businesses and large agencies.
Founded in 2010, ShortStack is a software as a service
(Saas) platform, and also offers custom design services.
ShortStack was recently named an Inc. 500 company.
ShortStack was one of the first companies to see potential
in Facebook as a place to host tabs (which Facebook also
refers to as “apps”), contests and landing pages. Since
2010, ShortStack has expanded its features and services
to be a one-stop-shop for marketers and social media
managers who need a multipurpose social media hub.
With ShortStack’s Campaign Builder, contests and landing
pages — which are all known as “Campaigns” — can be
designed and then promoted from any social network, and
can also be embedded on existing websites.
The purpose of this study was to determine if users
creating Campaigns regularly throughout the year saw
growth over time. Growth was defined by an increase
in engagement — views and entries received for each
Campaign.
To determine the effect of running frequent Campaigns,
more than 25,000 Campaigns created by ShortStack
“annual plan” subscribers were studied. Annual users are
ShortStack users who subscribe to an annual plan and
create multiple Campaigns of various types throughout
the year. The engagement their Campaigns received over
time was a key source of information for this study. Using
this detailed information, we determined a three-step
approach to Campaigns to ensure that our users create
the kinds of Campaigns that will bring them maximum
engagement and leads.

5
THE THREE-STEP APPROACH
1. ALTERNATE BETWEEN LONG-TERM AND
SHORT-TERM CAMPAIGNS
Not all Campaigns have the same goal, but they can each
be a part of a bigger picture. If you’re creating a year-
long strategy, create Campaigns that can help you build
a growing database of leads. For example, launching a
January newsletter signup can provide contact information
for people you want to share an event landing page with
in July. While a contest might be run for a short period of
time, a contact form can be hosted on a Facebook Page
or website indefinitely. Meanwhile, a time-limited photo
contest or giveaway can help spur some excitement for
your brand, draw new users to your service and, with the
right incentive, motivate them to share the link to your
Campaigns with their community.
KEY FINDING:
The types of Campaigns created by ShortStack annual
users varied throughout the year. Contests and giveaways
were popular during the beginning of the year, and landing
pages to promote new products or events were developed
subsequently. Users in the hospitality industry specifically
saw high engagement with long-term Campaigns centered
around booking or contact. These types of Campaigns
can be created once and used throughout the year, while
continuously collecting leads. These leads can then be
used for follow-up promotions — with the intent to turn new
clients into loyal users of your brand.
Users in the hospitality industry specifically saw high engagement with long-term
Campaigns centered around booking or contact.

6
2. LAUNCH AT LEAST ONE CAMPAIGN
A MONTH
ShortStack users saw consistent growth when they ran Campaigns at least once a month. Users who ran 12 Campaigns, one
per month, received an average of 4 times more entries overall than users who ran 6 Campaigns per year, and an astounding
12 times more than users who ran 3 Campaigns per year. Running Campaigns once a month gives you, the brand manager,
the opportunity to conceive of a minimum of 12 Campaign ideas to roll out throughout the year. One Campaign a month is
consistent enough to stay in front of users without burning them out with constant promotions. Some of these Campaigns
might be long-term, such as a newsletter or contact form, but you can also host frequent giveaways or contests to keep users
engaged and excited about what’s coming next.
KEY FINDING:
ShortStack annual users create an average of seven Campaigns in a given year. Long-term annual users, who have been with
ShortStack for more than a year (more specifically, an average of three years), create an average of 10 Campaigns a year. And
the most successful annual users, whose Campaigns received consistently high engagement, created at least 12 Campaigns
a year.

7
2800
2600
2400
2200
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
AMOUNTOFENTRIES(AVERAGE)
12 6 3
AMOUNT OF CAMPAIGNS PER YEAR
AVERAGE ENTRIES FOR 12 CAMPAIGNS
PER YEAR: 2430.6
PER YEAR: 542.1
PER YEAR: 125.7

8
3. ANALYZE RESULTS AFTER EACH
CAMPAIGN
Running Campaigns on a consistent basis results in a trove
of original data. Understanding how to analyze this data
is a vital business practice. The data most important to
analyze includes the following:
ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is both quantitative and qualitative. This
means engagement is about the “what” and the “how.”
Some researchers differentiate this between the numbers
and the words. For instance, quantitative would be
how many photos were submitted into a photo contest.
Qualitative would be evaluating the quality of those photos
submitted. Evaluating your engagement requires taking all
of these steps.
For example, some questions to ask yourself about the
data you collect from your Campaigns should include:
How many people viewed the Campaign vs. who
entered it?
If voting was a feature, how many people voted?
Where did these views and entries come from?
What was the quality of the submissions?
How did people find and access your Campaign?
DEMOGRAPHICS
The information you collect from people who have entered
into your Campaign will tell you if you’re on the right
track to reach your target audience. Depending on what
you inquire of users — which is an important question to
assess as you’re conceptualizing your Campaign — this
information should reveal who you’re attracting to your
brand.

9
KEY FINDING:
ShortStack annual users saw an average of 70%
engagement growth — meaning, more views and entries —
while running consistent Campaigns (at least 10 per year).
Annual users received an average of 931.3 views and
1157.43
entries per Campaign. Our predictive analysis finds
that implementing 12 Campaigns throughout the course of
a year can result in more than 10,000 new leads.
70%ENGAGEMENT
GROWTH
AT LEAST 10 CAMPAIGNS
RAN A YEAR
3 | Those values are relative to separate groups of Campaigns,
since not all Campaigns require entries for participation

10
BEST PRACTICES
Within this three-step approach, employ the following best
practices to increase Campaign potential.
BEST PRACTICE #1:
All Campaigns, regardless of goal or theme, should
include consistent branding.
Part of the power of repetition is creating brand familiarity
for target users. All social media profiles should feature
your company logo. Websites like Facebook and Twitter
allow for custom cover and header images, so consider
using the same graphic across all platforms but sized
appropriately for the platform.
You can certainly include variations in color, typography
and graphics, but use design elements that are consistent.
This is vital especially if you’re a new brand, as you’re
still building that rapport with your audience. Don’t
underestimate the impact of visual recognition.
BEST PRACTICE #2
Tap into all social media platforms — and think beyond
Facebook.
The more Campaigns you plan for, the more flexibility you
have to expand your efforts and even experiment with
platforms that may offer a totally untapped lead base for
your brand. Campaign services like ShortStack develop
new features based on new technology and trends in
social media, so using a one-stop-shop marketing hub
means that you can use existing tools that are backed by
real trending data.
While Facebook was once the reigning platform for
marketing Campaigns, that’s no longer the case. Marketers
will see success — and gain some fascinating data — by
incorporating Campaigns for other social networks into
an annual Campaign strategy. With a tool like ShortStack,
Campaigns can be simultaneously published to Facebook,
posted on social networks like Twitter and Pinterest, and
embedded directly into existing websites.

11
For example, a few years ago, Pinterest was still new
to marketers and consumers alike. In 2015, it became
one of the most powerful networks for online marketing.
Instagram is currently on the same trajectory.
BEST PRACTICE #3
Promote every Campaign.
Once you get into the habit of running Campaigns
regularly, you must also implement a consistent promotion
strategy. With ShortStack, Campaigns can be published
to multiple places at once — as an independent landing
page, embedded to your website or as a Facebook app.
Expanding your Campaign reach beyond Facebook
ensures that you’re promoting to more than one target
audience.
Part of ensuring Campaign success is making sure people
see it. This can mean investing in promotion efforts, such
as Facebook ads, posting announcements frequently
on your social platforms, and employing an email
marketing service to send it out to subscribers. Utilizing
a combination of free and paid efforts will give your
Campaign maximum visibility. If you’re new to promotion,
check out our resource, 46 ways to promote your
Campaign.
This also means making your Campaign mobile-
responsive; don’t miss out on engagement available on all
devices.
BEST PRACTICE #4
Employ maximum analytics.
Tracking your Campaign results is vital to capturing all
aspects of data associated with your Campaign. Only with
the right data can you make educated decisions going
forward. Employ all analytics at your disposal. Google
Analytics can give you detailed findings for each individual
Campaign. ShortStack’s Advanced Analytics provide
specific data about how participants interact and share a
Campaign. Remember: your data is directly linked to your
success. Harness it to improve and evaluate your strategy.

12
CONCLUSION
It’s important for marketers to take a step back and think
like consumers. Consider the variety and quantity of
brands, products and services a person encounters on a
daily basis. People with technology access are exposed
to an average of 362 advertisements per day4
. To break
through all of that and draw customers to your brand,
marketers need to be creative and willing to try new things.
The good news is that trying new approaches and
diversifying marketing Campaigns tends to pay off. Based
on analysis of data collected from our users, the more
frequently brands run Campaigns, the more leads are
collected over time. This results in quality engagement
and, ultimately, a return on your investment. The bottom
line is that marketing is an ever-changing art (and science).
Mitigate risk by trying new Campaigns on a consistent
basis and developing relationships with your target users,
who will learn more about your brand the more you work
to draw them in.
If you have additional questions about this study, email ashley@shortstacklab.com
4 | SJ Insights: New Research Sheds Light on Daily Ad Exposures.
29 Sept. 2014
BUILD MARKETING CAMPAIGNS,
PROMOTIONS AND LANDING PAGES FOR FREE
GET STARTED WITH SHORTSTACK 

Design, Promote, Repeat: How Long-Term Marketing Strategies Lead to Success

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Design, Promote, Repeat: How Long-Term Marketing Strategies Lead to Success