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Pareto’s Principle states that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Otherwise known as the 80:20 rule, the principle applies to marketing as much as sociology and economics.

Essentially, for every ten campaigns you put into the world, two will generate 80% of the results. Of course, this is an average or a rule of thumb rather than an exact figure.

The 80:20 rule might sound like bad news because it implies you won’t get the desired result every time. But understanding the 80:20 can also be empowering; if you’ve tried a few Facebook ads and nothing’s worked, the chances are you could still be successful if you test another handful of ads.

Once you identify the highest-performing ads within a group, you can pause the rest. This allows you to plough your resources into the ads that work, potentially snowballing your return.

Does this mean you should stop creating new ads once you’ve found a few successful ones? No. Now is the perfect time to begin tweaking your existing ads to create new campaigns alongside your current ones. If you’re paying attention to the data, you’ll soon find even better ways to engage your ideal customers.

Over time, this should help you create ads highly attuned to your audience that continue to generate solid profits for your business. New ads also prevent your target demographic from growing blind to your messaging from overexposure.

To get started, plan at least ten ads, all with a single goal, such as generating sign-ups or sales. Divide your budget into ten, so you can afford to run them all while comparing the data. Follow the plan above as soon as a couple prove their worth. Good luck!

Marketers are forever coming up with novel ways to sell more products or attract new customers, but it’s easy to forget the basic principles that every campaign should focus on at its core. Let’s have a look at these now.

Choose your market or niche

It sounds obvious, but often business owners are so enthusiastic about what they’re offering that they assume it will appeal to everyone. But unless you’re drawing from a bottomless pit of money, you can’t afford to tailor your campaigns to every demographic going. And frankly, you don’t need to.

For many businesses, targeting a niche in the market is more effective and easier on the budget. To do this, think hard about the type of people who actually need your product or service. Pitch your campaigns to appeal to this specific demographic, and you’re more likely to generate better returns.

Focus on fulfilling a need

Say your niche audience is busy working mums struggling to balance all their responsibilities. How does your product or service help them overcome their biggest fears or the practical problems they face every day? Once you’ve established the pain point, draw your audience’s attention to it and show them the solution.

Of course, priorities change over time, so you should constantly research trends in customer behaviour to help you redevelop your offering and remarket accordingly.  

Go where your audience is

Now you know your audience like the back of your hand, focus on the distribution channels they’re most likely to interact with. For example, younger folk spend much more time on TikTok and Instagram than older generations, who may still prefer browsing a magazine or brochure over whipping out a phone.

Likewise, a keen home cook or baker might spend more time reading long-form blog posts and watching demonstration videos on YouTube than scrolling Facebook. The only way to know for sure is by doing your homework and monitoring the data.

Choose and schedule content with care

Once you’ve decided how to reach your audience, it’s time to create content that means something to them. Before you hit publish, though, consider how each piece fits into your overall marketing plan, its relevance, and the value it provides. Aim for quality and a predictable schedule that doesn’t overwhelm your audience.

Create a plan – and review it regularly

Even the best-laid plans need the occasional tweaking, so it’s essential to hold onto all the data generated by your marketing efforts – whether they were successful or not. By regularly examining the figures, you’ll start to identify important trends and insights that will help you progress your business in the future.

After assessing the data, use it to create a refreshed content marketing strategy you can share with your team so everyone is on the same page.

Why not get started right now?

Fact: video is the fourth-most popular type of online content – and its appeal to time-pressed consumers is growing. But how people engage with video content is ever-evolving.

Over the last few years, the trend has moved from longer to shorter videos as audiences become increasingly bombarded with information. If most of your videos are the corporate kind – that is, talking about you or your business – then it’s best to adhere to this rule of thumb and keep your videos under two minutes.

On the other hand, content marketing, which focuses on sharing valuable information with your customers and building a relationship with them, can be much longer. For example, if you’re showing sellers practical ways to style their home for a quick sale, they’ll stick around longer than if you’re listing your business’ achievements.

Overall, relevance is more important than length, but if your video is highly relevant to your audience’s needs and also a quick watch, that’s a bonus. For this reason, we recommend front-loading your videos so the most important information is right at the beginning. In other words, don’t bury the lead; few people will stick around to find it.

Bear in mind that every social media platform has different constraints and audiences, so you’ll have to tailor your videos accordingly. For example, while Facebook prefers videos less than 60 seconds long, three minutes upwards is good for live streaming and developing stories.

In summary, staying informed about viewing trends will help you decide on your online marketing strategy, which will determine the length and style of your videos. By following the metrics to see when people stop watching, you can continue to tweak your approach until you find a happy medium for your business.