Creating a custom campaign provides you with total control of all of the steps in a campaign. With a custom campaign, you decide what marketing design goes out with each step. You can setup a campaign that is email only, direct mail only, activity only or a mix of all three.

On this page you’ll learn how to:

1. Choose a custom campaign
2. Build your campaign

Choose a Custom Campaign

To start a new campaign, select Marketing Center from the Marketing menu, then select Browse All from the Campaign Templates section.

Next, click on Create Custom Campaign to see your campaign options. You can choose the delivery schedule by clicking on either Interval Campaign or Date Campaign.

• Date Campaign: Each campaign piece will be sent out on a specific date. You can add contacts to this campaign at any time, but they will not receive any campaign materials that were sent prior to them being added to the campaign. A campaign that sends out materials on a specific holiday would be an example of a date campaign.
• Interval Campaign: Campaign pieces are sent based on a specified number of days between delivery dates. When you add a new contact to the campaign, that contact will start at the beginning, receiving the first piece of the campaign and continuing through at the set intervals.

When you choose either delivery option, you will be taken to the campaign detail page, where you’ll be able to create your campaign.

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Build Your Campaign

On the campaign detail page, you’ll see the following four sections:

1. Name your campaign (current campaign name will display)
2. Review and Configure Steps
3. Add or Remove Contacts
4. Review and Activate

To edit a part of the campaign, you can click anywhere on that row to expand the section.

As you save each step, this campaign will be saved in My Saved Campaigns in an New/Paused status. The campaign will not be active until you complete Step 4 and choose to Activate the campaign.

1. Name Your Campaign

First, name your new campaign. It’s important to give your campaign a unique name, so that you can easily identify the purpose of the campaign. Simply expand the campaign name and enter the new name in the field. Then click Save & Continue.

Back to Build Your Campaign

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2. Review and Configure

Next you can add the steps to your campaign that you want your contacts to receive. Click anywhere on the row to expand the section. To setup your campaign, we’ll show you how to:

• Add a step
• Reorder your campaign steps

Add a Step

To add a step to your campaign, expand the Review and Configure Steps section, and click the Add Step button.

A step is an individual marketing email, direct mail or reminder activity that has been added to your campaign.

There are three types of campaign steps that you can add:

1. Email: An email will be sent to your contacts on the date or interval specified.
2. Direct Mail: A direct mail piece will be mailed to your contacts on the date or interval specified.
3. Activity: A reminder will be sent to you, letting you know that there is some action that you should take for this campaign.

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Re-Order Your Campaign Steps

As you are adding campaign steps, you can choose to re-order them, changing the order that they are sent out in.

• To change the order of an interval campaign, you'll use a simple drag-and-drop method.
• To change the order of a date campaign, you'll simply change the scheduled date for each campaign piece.

Interval Campaign

To change the campaign step order of an interval campaign, click and hold the cross arrow icon, and drag the step to where you'd like it to be.

Back to Review and Configure

Back to Build Your Campaign

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Date Campaign

To change the campaign step order of a date campaign, click calendar icon for the piece you wan to move, and a calendar will open up. Then just select the new date.

Back to Review and Configure

Back to Build Your Campaign

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3. Add Contacts

To add contacts to your custom campaign, click on Add or Remove Contacts. 

The default view will be groups, to add an individual contact, click the contacts tab. Otherwise you can add groups to a campaign, then whenever you add a contact to a group that was added, they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

The left column defaults to show all eligible contacts.  You can filter contacts by group, name or email, and by contact status. The right column shows contacts already added.  You can add individuals or all eligible contacts.  Be sure to click Save Changes when done.

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4. Review and Activate

If you would like contacts to automatically begin a different campaign when this one finishes, select the desired campaign from the drop-down menu. The only campaigns that will appear in the drop-down menu are ones that you have already created and saved.

Your campaign is Inactive (will not start) until you review the disclaimer and mark the check box.

If you would like Showcase Properties included on each email piece, mark that check box as well. This will pull 3 of your featured listings to include in the footer of each campaign email. Learn more.

When you mark the disclaimer check box, you’ll be able to activate the campaign immediately, by selecting the Activate Campaign button. Activating your campaign will automatically save it in My Saved Campaigns. 

To save the campaign to be started later, click the Save Campaign button.

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Additional Resources:

• Using the Marketing Editor
• Edit a Saved Campaign
• My Account Settings