Create and test a marketing campaign

Unit 2, Task 8

Your goal

Create promotional materials that explain your product's value to your target customer. Test a hypothesis about at least one digital marketing tool and use the findings to improve a decision.

A campaign should help customers understand what the product is, who it is for, and why it could matter. Attractive design alone does not show that a message works.

What to produce

Prepare a marketing campaign that includes digital marketing tools. Keep a record of the hypothesis tested, method, genuine findings, and decision about a digital tool.

Follow your teacher's instructions for storing and submitting the materials. The planning prompts below are support, not extra official requirements. You do not need to buy advertising, open a public account, or publish student information.

Key terms

• Marketing campaign: connected promotional activities designed to achieve a goal.
• Digital marketing tool: a digital format or method used to reach or communicate with customers, such as a webpage, email, or social media post.
• Call to action: a clear invitation to take a next step.
• A/B test: a comparison of two versions while keeping other important conditions similar.
• Measure: information you collect to judge progress towards a goal.

A click can show that someone selected a link. It does not prove a purchase, profit, or satisfaction. Choose measures that match the question you want to answer.

Step 1: Set a customer and goal

Use your customer profile and value proposition. Decide what the campaign should help the customer understand or do.

For example, you may want potential customers to understand a benefit, request more information, or choose an ordering option. State a goal that can be checked rather than “make the product popular.”

Step 2: Create the materials

Choose appropriate formats, including a digital tool. You might create a draft webpage, email, short demonstration video, or social media post. A private draft or mock-up can be tested without public publication.

Use consistent branding and plain, readable text. Show the benefit clearly. Add an honest call to action, such as “See the pouch's size.” Only include a price, delivery promise, or product claim that you can support.

If you use images, use your own or permitted material. Do not include identifiable people without the required permission. Keep the campaign suitable for the audience and school rules.

Step 3: Form a digital-tool hypothesis

Predict a response to one specific choice. For example: “A short product demonstration will help target customers explain the pouch's main benefit more clearly than a still image.”

Before testing, decide how you will check the response and what result would support or challenge the prediction. Keep the comparison fair: changing the price, slogan, and format at once makes it difficult to know what caused a difference.

Step 4: Test with permission

The CED allows campaign testing with peers or actual customers. Record whether your testers match the target group. Ask permission and let people stop. Do not collect names or private contact details.

You can privately show materials and ask what people understand before explaining your message. If you compare versions, keep the product information and viewing conditions similar. Avoid testing every version in the same order if that could affect responses.

Choose a safe method with your teacher. You do not need tracking software to test whether a person understands a draft. A paper representation of a planned digital tool has limits: it cannot establish real clicks or viewing behaviour.

Step 5: Revise and record

Compare findings with the prediction. Explain what you changed or kept and why. Keep both the original and revised materials so you can explain the decision later.

State limits, including sample size, peer familiarity, and whether the tool was published or only simulated. Do not report hypothetical orders as actual sales.

Your turn

1. State the target customer and campaign goal.
2. Create suitable materials, including a digital tool.
3. Write and test a hypothesis about that tool.
4. Record genuine responses and test limits.
5. Explain a change or decision using the findings.

Next: Estimate startup costs

In Unit 3, Task 1, investigate what money and resources the business would need to start.

Independent guidance based on the AP Business with Personal Finance CED, printed page 167. This is not an official College Board resource.