You sold the campaign. You executed the campaign. Now get the credit you deserve! 

Creating a successful digital campaign designed to deliver desired business results takes time and expertise—not to mention a great deal of work! It makes sense to present a recap during the campaign—to make sure it is on track—and after the campaign, to get credit for a job well done.

The best way to do this is to create a campaign recap and present this to the customer. This process allows sellers to get the credit they deserve for a job well done as well as open the door to the next sales opportunity with a satisfied customer.

Deliver the Best Campaign Recap

Some organizations struggle with developing effective campaign recaps because of the following:

• Trouble accessing the right data.
• Little understanding of the data that leads to the reluctance of developing campaigns and presenting them.
• A tendency to be to data-focused—data is an important part of an effective recap, but it should not be the only component. The best recaps have a nice blend of what and why.

As you create a recap, look for ways to translate the data into plain English. Simply sending along a bunch of data is not the most effective way to communicate all the important information to prove the successes seen from your direction.

A campaign recap should provide the play-by-play portion (all the numbers, or the what), but also add the color commentary, so clients understand why the numbers are important. 

5-Step Campaign Recap Template

Here’s a template to use to communicate all the critical information related to campaign execution and delivering desired business results. 

1. Campaign Overview (what we set out to achieve)
   • Campaign dates
   • Report dates
   • Today’s date
   • Desired business results
   • Measures of success 

2. Executive Summary (what is happening so far)

• 3 to 4 bullet points that give an overview of results
• What is on track and is delivered
• What type of responses delivered
• What type of testing or changes have occurred

3. Campaign Performance (results, analytics, and insights)
   • Where it applies, present the results in the context of the consumer journey (attract, engage, convert, advocate).
   • Cover all the basic campaign components and analytics. Provide them as a story, not a list of numbers.

4. Creative Execution (sample creative in the context of the campaign)

• Screenshots
• Banner ads
• Links to landing pages

5. Recommendations (how to optimize going forward)

• What to keep doing and why
• What to stop, start, or change and why
• What to watch and why

If your organization already has a format in place for recaps, it’s a good idea to confirm that you are addressing all of these areas. Feel free to tweak your format accordingly to get the credit you deserve for selling successful digital campaigns.

*Editor's Note: Ths blog was originally published in 2020 and has since been updated.