Beyond the Brief – How to Build Marketing Campaigns That Actually Work

Strategy, creativity, and a few things we’ve learned from doing this every day at Blumilk.

What is a Marketing Campaign?

A marketing campaign is a structured, goal-driven initiative designed to influence behaviour, shift perception, and promote a product, service, or idea to a specific audience. It can use a range of creative tools, from video to print, social media to stakeholder engagement, to create consistent, compelling communications.

At Blumilk, we work with clients to build campaigns that do more than look good. Our focus is always on impact. Whether it’s raising safety awareness in high-risk industries, educating customers about sustainability, or encouraging people to take their next step in life, we design campaigns aligned with a bigger purpose.

Here’s how we do it:

1. Start With a Clear Purpose

Campaigns should always be designed to do something, not just say something. That starts with a specific goal and a clear understanding of how success will be measured. Marketing campaigns without a defined outcome are just noise. We help clients ask the right questions first: What are we trying to achieve? Who do we want to act? How will we know if it’s working?

For example, working with Access Training, we launched their new Level 7 Accountancy Apprenticeship – aimed at finance professionals looking to gain chartered status via apprenticeship levy funding. Awareness was low, so we created a multi-channel campaign including:

• A digital audio ad on Spotify and podcast platforms 
• Geo-targeted Blis advertising 
• The launch of the Access All Areas podcast 
• Supporting assets like landing pages, social content, explainer videos, and emails 

This integrated approach helped Access Training reach new audiences and build learner interest with measurable results.

2. Know the Audience Inside-Out

Understanding your audience’s motivations is crucial –  no assumptions. Research, testing, and adaptation guide everything we do. From creating buyer personas reflecting your audience’s pain points, to using social listening tools to deeply understand their needs, challenges and aspirations. 

That’s how we helped Cadent land some of their most successful public-facing campaigns to date. Their challenge? Deliver life-saving information clearly and memorably to a broad and diverse audience.

We created two standout campaigns:

• Make The Right Call: A digital-first animation to teach viewers when and how to report gas leaks. With nearly 200,000 YouTube views, it became one of Cadent’s most viewed safety resources. 
• Smell, Act, Call: This simplified key emergency messaging, supported by translated postcards in six languages. The animation has reached over 500,000 views – showing how clear, accessible comms can have a powerful real-world impact.

These marketing campaigns worked because they didn’t just explain safety protocols; they made them easy to remember, quick to understand, and relatable to all.

3. Use Budget Intelligently

Budgets can be tight, but with smart targeting and focused messaging, even modest marketing campaigns can go beyond expectations. 

Working with Yorkshire Water, we supported the rollout of smart water meters. Rather than leaning on technical features, we focused on benefits that mattered to customers – control, savings, and sustainability.

The marketing campaign blended paid social media, print inserts, and direct-to-door communications to reach priority postcodes effectively, improving engagement in rollout zones and proving that results don’t need blockbuster budgets.

4. Choose the Right Channels

A strong campaign meets people where they are. That means choosing the right channels for each audience.

For CCW’s Gen Z-focused water-saving marketing campaign, we needed to make everyday behaviour change feel cool, not preachy. Our “Refresh Your Routine” campaign encouraged Gen Z to make small, impactful changes, including shorter showers or turning off the tap while brushing, as part of their daily habits.

To deliver it:

• We launched the #TapIntoThat hashtag to fuel peer-to-peer sharing 
• Ran social-first video content across TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Spotify 
• Focused on real voices, not corporate tones, to ensure authenticity 
• Piloted in Birmingham before national rollout

The results? Over 1 million impressions, 16,500+ click-throughs from Snapchat alone, and real proof that relatable, values-driven content can drive behavioural change among younger audiences.

5. Develop Clear, Compelling Messaging

Messaging should be immediate, meaningful, and consistent – not buried in jargon or fluff. If a customer doesn’t know what to do after seeing your campaign, it hasn’t worked.

When Northern Powergrid needed to communicate safety advice to farmers about the dangers of overhead power lines, we knew posters in a village hall wouldn’t cut it. The message had to be in the field – literally!

So we printed it on air fresheners designed to hang in tractor cabs, backed it up with leaflets, cab stickers, and folders, and made sure the visuals were clear, calm and authoritative. By embedding the message into their everyday environment, we turned awareness into action.

6. Measure and Adapt

Campaigns aren’t static. Real-time tracking allows us to adapt and continuously optimise.

From social engagement to click-through rates, we work with clients to define success upfront, then report against those metrics. After a campaign ends, we analyse what worked and what can be improved next time. That insight feeds into smarter campaigns, not guesswork.

At Blumilk, we believe the best marketing campaigns are built on purpose, not just polish. They don’t just “raise awareness” – they spark action.

Want to talk about your next marketing campaign? Get in touch and let’s build something that works.