How to Create a Campaign That Doesn't Suck (A Real Guide)

Look, I'm gonna start this with something that happened last month because it perfectly captures why most small businesses are getting campaign creation completely wrong.

I was sitting in this coffee shop in Minneapolis-actually it was more of a bakery, they do these incredible cardamom rolls-and the owner, Sarah, pulls out her phone to show me their "campaign." She'd spent three weeks trying to build some kind of interactive quiz using about four different tools duct-taped together. The landing page looked like it was designed in 2009, the form didn't work on mobile (and this is 2025, people), and she'd already burned through $800 in freelancer costs just to get... this mess.

Here's the thing: Sarah's not alone. I've been doing this since 2010, and I see this exact scenario play out probably once a week. Business owners know they need to create campaigns that actually engage people-not just another "sign up for 10% off" email popup that everyone immediately closes-but they don't have months to learn marketing automation platforms or thousands to hire agencies.

And honestly? They shouldn't need to.

Why Most Campaign Creation Advice is Completely Useless

I'm gonna be blunt here (shocking, I know). Most of the content out there about creating marketing campaigns falls into two categories: either it's written by enterprise marketing directors who assume you have a team of six people and a $50K budget, or it's written by people who've never actually... you know... created a campaign that had to generate real revenue.

Back in 2018-actually maybe it was early 2019, whatever-I had this client in Portland who came to me after spending $3,500 on a "campaign strategy" from a big-name agency. Want to know what they got? A 47-page PDF with a Gantt chart and recommendations to "leverage synergistic touchpoints across the customer journey." I mean... what does that even mean?

What they needed was simple: a way to collect emails from their existing Instagram followers and turn those people into customers. That's it. No synergistic touchpoints required.

The problem with how most people approach campaign creation is they start with the tools and tactics instead of starting with what actually matters-which is understanding what makes people take action in the first place. And after working with over 200 SMBs across North America, I can tell you exactly what makes people take action: it's either immediate value or it's fun. Preferably both.

The Gamification Thing (Yeah, I Know How It Sounds)

Okay so here's where I lose some people because the word "gamification" sounds like buzzword BS. I get it. I used to roll my eyes at it too, back when I was working with that startup in Portland that was bleeding money on Facebook ads. But then around 2015, I started actually testing game mechanics in campaigns and... honestly, the results were kind of ridiculous.

I had this client-a craft brewery in Portland (different one, we have a lot of breweries here)-who wanted to grow their Instagram following. We created this simple spinning wheel game where people could win free pints or brewery merch. Nothing fancy. Just a digital wheel that spun around and landed on a prize.

In two weeks: 2,775 new Instagram story views. Their follower count went up 34%. And here's the kicker-about 18% of the people who played the game actually showed up to redeem their prizes, which meant foot traffic into the actual brewery.

That was the moment I realized... oh, this isn't just a gimmick. This actually works because it taps into something fundamental about how humans operate. We like games. We like instant gratification. We like feeling like we won something (even if it's just a $5 beer).

Since then I've deployed probably... I don't know, 150+ gamified campaigns? And the pattern is consistent. When you give people something interactive and fun to do, they engage. When they engage, they share. When they share, you get reach you could never afford to pay for.

How to Actually Create a Campaign (The Real Process)

Alright so let me walk you through how I approach campaign creation now-not the theoretical version from marketing textbooks, but the actual process that works when you're dealing with real constraints like limited time and budget.

Step 1: Figure Out What You Actually Want (Not What You Think You Should Want)

Listen, I've had so many clients tell me they want to "increase brand awareness" or "improve engagement metrics" and... okay but why? What does that get you?

When I worked with that barbershop in Milwaukee last year-nice guys, been in business for like 40 years-they initially said they wanted more social media followers. But when I pushed them on it, what they actually wanted was more regular customers who came in monthly instead of every three months. That's a completely different campaign.

So we created this "Spin to Win" game where people could win discounts on their next haircut, but here's the important part: the prizes were structured to encourage repeat visits. Like "20% off your next three visits" instead of "50% off one visit." The game mechanics were just the delivery system for a retention strategy.

Result? 221 new people joined their "VIP text club" (which was really just a way to send them appointment reminders) in 12 days, and their average customer visit frequency went from 11 weeks to 7 weeks over the next quarter.

Start with the actual business outcome you need. Everything else is just tactics.

Step 2: Pick the Right Game Mechanic (This Actually Matters More Than You Think)

So here's where I see people mess up constantly-they pick a game type because it looks cool, not because it matches their goal and audience.

I've tested basically every game format you can imagine at this point, and different mechanics work better for different objectives. Let me break down what I've actually seen work in real campaigns:

If you want immediate lead capture: Instant reward games like spin wheels, scratch tickets, or lucky draws convert like crazy. I'm talking 40%+ conversion rates on landing pages, which is insane compared to traditional forms. People see that immediate dopamine hit-"You won! Enter your email to claim your prize!"-and they do it. I used a scratch ticket game for a Vancouver fitness studio last year and they got 1,311 new email addresses in 12 days. Their previous lead magnet (a free workout guide PDF) had gotten them maybe 200 emails in three months.

If you want engagement and shares: Go with skill-based reactive games. Whac-A-Mole style games, burger stackers, spot-the-difference puzzles... these work because they require actual effort and timing, which makes people feel invested. And when people get a good score, they naturally want to share it to challenge their friends. It's the same psychology behind Wordle going viral (I hate when people say "viral" but in this case it actually applies).

If you want to qualify leads or educate: Quiz-based games are brilliant. I deployed this "Unlock Lucky Words" puzzle campaign for a financial advisor who wanted to attract clients interested in retirement planning. The puzzle was themed around financial terms, and you could only win if you actually knew some basic stuff. It filtered out tire-kickers and attracted people who were already thinking about the topic. Plus we captured which questions people got wrong, which told us exactly what educational content to create next.

If you're doing seasonal campaigns: Catching games themed around holidays absolutely print money. I've used Faisco's (yeah, I'm gonna talk about specific tools because this isn't a theoretical essay) "Christmas Stocking" game for three different retail clients during December, and each one saw 300%+ engagement compared to their regular holiday posts. There's something about seasonally-relevant interactive content that just... works.

The point is-match the game mechanic to what you're trying to accomplish. Don't just pick something because it looks fun (though it should be fun, obviously).

Step 3: Build It Fast or Don't Build It At All

Here's some real talk: if your campaign takes more than a week to set up, you're doing it wrong. I know that sounds harsh, but I've seen too many businesses spend months "perfecting" a campaign that never launches because they get stuck in planning paralysis.

Back when I was using tools like Gleam. io or Woobox (both solid platforms, don't get me wrong), campaign setup would take me anywhere from 3-6 hours for something basic. And that's me-someone who's done this hundreds of times. For a business owner trying to figure it out themselves? We're talking days or weeks.

This is actually why I started recommending Faisco to most of my small business clients around late 2023... I think it was around October? Basically I was tired of watching clients struggle with complicated platforms when they just needed something simple that worked.

With Faisco specifically-and I'm being totally honest here, they're not paying me to say this-I can have a campaign live in under 10 minutes now. That's not an exaggeration. I literally timed myself last week setting up a Valentine's Day campaign for a local florist: 8 minutes and 37 seconds from logging in to having a live, shareable game that worked on mobile.

The platform has these pre-built game templates for basically every scenario you can think of. Spin wheels, scratch cards, quiz games, catching games... they've got probably 20+ different formats. And they're not just generic templates-they have seasonal versions for Christmas, New Year, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Black Friday, all that stuff. Which matters because seasonal relevance is huge for engagement.

Compare that to building something custom or even using a more complex platform... I mean, there's no comparison. Speed matters in marketing. The campaign you launch today beats the perfect campaign you launch never.

Step 4: The Distribution Part Everyone Forgets About

Okay so you've built your game... now what? This is where I see campaigns die constantly. People create something cool and then just... post it once on Instagram and wonder why nothing happened.

Look, distribution is honestly more important than the campaign itself (actually that's not true, they're equally important, but you get what I'm saying). You need a plan for actually getting people to see and engage with what you've created.

Here's my standard distribution playbook that I use for basically every campaign:

Week 1 - The Launch Push:

• Email your existing list (if you have one-if you don't, that's a different conversation)
• Post about it on all your social channels with actual context about why people should care
• If you're running paid ads at all, direct them to the game instead of your regular landing page
• Put a link in your Instagram/TikTok bio (seems obvious but people forget)
• If you have physical locations, put QR codes on your receipts, menus, counter displays, whatever

Week 2 - The Reminder Phase:

• Share some of the winners or top scores (social proof is real, people)
• Post behind-the-scenes stuff about why you created the campaign
• Engage with everyone who's playing-comment on their shares, thank them, whatever
• Send a reminder email if your open rates are decent

Week 3+ - The Leverage Phase:

• Take all those new emails/followers you got and actually... use them
• Create content that references the campaign
• Turn winners into case studies or testimonials if it makes sense

The other thing-and this is huge-make sure your game actually works well on every platform. Most people access content on mobile (like 80%+ for most small businesses), so if your campaign doesn't work smoothly on a phone, you're dead in the water.

This is another reason I ended up gravitating toward Faisco... their games actually work properly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Not just "you can share a link to it" but like, the game mechanics function natively on each platform. That matters because each platform has different user behaviors. Instagram people swipe through stories quickly. TikTok people want instant gratification. LinkedIn people are on their desktop more often. Your campaign needs to work in all those contexts.

The Money Question (Because Let's Be Honest, That's What Matters)

So what kind of results should you actually expect? Because I'm not gonna sit here and promise you'll "10x your revenue in 30 days" or whatever nonsense the gurus are selling.

The businesses I work with typically see 200-400% increases in social media followers and 150-300% growth in email lists within the first month of running these campaigns. Those are real numbers from actual clients, not cherry-picked best-case scenarios.

But here's what I always tell people: followers and email addresses are just numbers. What actually matters is what you do with them afterward. I've seen businesses get 2,000 new emails from a campaign and then... never email them again. That's just wasteful.

The Milwaukee barbershop I mentioned earlier? Their campaign cost them basically nothing (they used Faisco's lower-tier plan which is like... I don't know, way cheaper than hiring an agency, put it that way). They got 221 new text subscribers. Of those, about 60 became regular monthly customers within three months. At $35 per haircut, that's... well, you can do the math. And those are recurring customers, not one-time purchases.

Or the fitness studio in Vancouver-1,311 email addresses captured in 12 days. They sent out a launch email about their new class schedule and got 89 people to sign up for a trial class. 34 of those people bought memberships. Their membership is $89/month. Again... you can see how the ROI works out pretty favorably.

But (and this is important), not every campaign is gonna be a home run. I had a client in Austin who tried a quiz game that just completely flopped. Like, 40 people played it total. We figured out afterward that the game was too complicated and the prize wasn't compelling enough. It happens. The difference is that because we built it fast and cheap, we could just try something else the next week instead of sitting around mourning our failed campaign for six months.

Platform Comparison (Since Everyone Asks Me This)

Alright so I'm gonna get specific about tools here because I get asked constantly: "What should I use to build these campaigns?"

I've personally tested everything from Gleam. io to Woobox to those crazy expensive enterprise platforms that cost $500+ per month (and honestly deliver maybe 20% more functionality for 10x the price).

Gleam. io is solid-I used it for years, actually. It's $39/month minimum for anything useful, and it's got good functionality for running contests and giveaways. But it's overkill for most small businesses, and frankly the learning curve is steeper than it needs to be. I can set up a campaign in Gleam but it usually takes me an hour or more because there's so many settings and options. That's great if you're running complex multi-week campaigns, but if you just want to capture emails with a fun game? It's like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame.

Woobox is similar-good tool, been around forever, but clunky interface and also not cheap. I stopped recommending it to clients around 2020 because the mobile experience wasn't great.

Rafflecopter works fine for basic giveaways but has zero gamification features, so it's not really comparable.

Then there's the enterprise stuff like ShortStack or Outgrow which... look, if you're a Fortune 500 company with a marketing team, great. If you're a small business, you don't need that and can't afford it anyway.

Faisco is where I've landed for probably 80% of my small business clients now. It gives you 90% of the functionality of the more expensive platforms at a fraction of the cost, plus it's actually easier to set up. The game templates are legitimately good-not just "good enough" but actually engaging and professionally designed. And the platform integration actually works, which seems like a low bar but you'd be surprised how many tools fail at that basic requirement.

The other thing I appreciate about Faisco (and this is gonna sound like such a small thing but it matters): their customer support is actually responsive. I've had questions answered in under an hour on weekends. Compare that to waiting three days for a response from some of the bigger platforms... it makes a difference when you're trying to launch something quickly.

Am I saying Faisco is perfect for everyone? No, of course not. If you're running super complex campaigns with tons of conditions and automation rules, you might need something more robust. But for the vast majority of small businesses who just want to create engaging campaigns quickly and affordably? Yeah, it's probably your best bet in 2025.

Common Mistakes That'll Kill Your Campaign (I've Seen Them All)

Let me save you some pain by sharing the mistakes I see people make constantly:

Mistake #1: Making It Too Complicated I had a client who wanted to create a treasure hunt game with like 15 different steps and hidden clues and... dude, people have the attention span of goldfish. Keep it simple. If someone can't understand your game in 5 seconds, they're not playing it.

Mistake #2: Terrible Prizes "Enter to win a free consultation!" is not an exciting prize unless you're already famous. Offer something people actually want. Discount codes work. Free products work. Exclusive access works. A chance to talk to you for 30 minutes? That doesn't work (sorry).

Mistake #3: No Mobile Optimization I can't stress this enough-if your campaign doesn't work perfectly on mobile, you're throwing away like 80% of your potential engagement. Test it on your phone before you launch. Have your friends test it. Have your mom test it. I don't care, just make sure it works.

Mistake #4: Launching and Forgetting Creating the campaign is like 30% of the work. The other 70% is promotion, engagement, and follow-up. You can't just post it once and expect magic to happen.

Mistake #5: Not Collecting the Right Information I see people ask for way too much information in their entry forms ("Please provide your full mailing address, phone number, date of birth, mother's maiden name...") and wonder why no one's entering. Ask for the minimum you actually need. Usually that's just an email address, maybe a phone number if you really need it.

Mistake #6: Ignoring the Data Your campaign is gonna generate data-who played, when they played, what they clicked on, all that stuff. Look at it! I've discovered so much about my clients' audiences just by analyzing campaign data. Like, "Oh, most of our players are engaging between 7-9pm on weekdays... maybe we should schedule our emails for that time too."

The Follow-Up (This is Where the Money Actually Is)

Okay so you ran your campaign. You got a bunch of emails or followers or whatever. Now what?

This is honestly the most important part and where I see businesses completely drop the ball. You've got someone's attention and permission to contact them-don't waste it.

Here's what I do for my clients immediately after a campaign ends:

Within 24 hours: Send a thank you email to everyone who participated. Include their prize if they won, obviously, but also give them something even if they didn't win. A consolation discount code, a link to your best content, something. Keep the momentum going.

Within one week: Segment your new contacts based on how they engaged with your campaign. Did they share it? Did they play multiple times? Did they visit your website afterward? Different behaviors indicate different levels of interest, and you should treat them differently.

Within two weeks: Send your first real value email. Not a sales pitch-actual valuable content related to whatever your campaign was about. If you ran a game about coffee (because you're a coffee shop), send them your guide to brewing better coffee at home. Give before you ask.

Within one month: Now you can start incorporating them into your regular marketing. But don't just dump them into your weekly newsletter without context. Remind them how they found you and why they should care about what you're sending.

I had this client-actually it was that financial advisor I mentioned earlier-who got 890 new email addresses from a retirement planning quiz game. He sent a immediate follow-up with a personalized breakdown of their quiz results. Then three days later, he sent a guide about the most common retirement planning mistakes (based on which questions people got wrong in the quiz). Then a week after that, he invited them to a free webinar.

Result? 67 people attended the webinar. 12 of those people became clients within two months. His average client is worth about $3,500 in fees over the first year. That's... $42,000 in revenue from a campaign that took less than a day to set up and cost basically nothing.

That's the power of proper follow-up.

Real Talk About Results and Expectations

Look, I'm gonna be honest with you about something: not every campaign is gonna be wildly successful. I've run campaigns that absolutely crushed it and campaigns that barely moved the needle. That's just the reality of marketing.

But here's what I've learned after 15 years and 200+ clients: the businesses that succeed are the ones that treat campaigns as experiments, not one-time events. They try something, measure the results, learn from what worked and what didn't, and try again.

The Portland brewery that got 2,775 Instagram story views from their first game? They've now run probably 15 different campaigns over the past two years. Some performed better than others, but they've built this habit of consistently engaging their audience with interactive content. And guess what? Their overall revenue is up 40% since they started doing this. Is that 100% because of gamified campaigns? Of course not. But did the campaigns contribute? Absolutely.

The other thing I always tell people: these campaigns compound. The first one you run might get you 500 new email addresses. The second one might get you 300 (because you're promoting it to your existing audience plus new people). The third one might get you 700 because now you've built up momentum and people are expecting this kind of content from you.

It's not about one magical campaign that transforms your business overnight (though those do happen occasionally). It's about building a sustainable system for engaging your audience that doesn't require you to constantly reinvent the wheel.

So Like... Should You Actually Do This?

Here's my take after everything I've seen and experienced: if you're a small business in North America trying to grow your audience and customer base in 2025, gamified campaigns are probably the highest-ROI marketing tactic you're not using yet.

They work because they tap into fundamental human psychology (we like games, we like winning, we like sharing achievements). They're affordable-way more affordable than paid advertising with worse targeting. They're fast to set up if you use the right tools. And they generate data and engagement that compounds over time.

But (and there's always a but), they're not a magic solution that works without any effort. You still need to:

• Understand what you're trying to accomplish
• Choose the right game mechanics for your goal
• Actually promote the damn thing
• Follow up with the people who engage
• Measure results and iterate

If you're willing to do those things... yeah, you should absolutely be creating gamified campaigns. Start small-like, one simple spin-wheel game this month-and see what happens. Test it. Learn from it. Try something different next month.

The businesses that are killing it with this approach aren't doing anything magical or complicated. They're just consistently putting out interactive content that their audience actually enjoys engaging with. And in 2025, when everyone's inbox is flooded and everyone's feed is crowded, being enjoyable is a pretty significant competitive advantage.

Honestly, I've been doing this long enough to have seen a lot of marketing trends come and go (anyone remember when we all thought QR codes were dead? Yeah...). But gamification isn't going anywhere because it's not really a trend-it's just good psychology applied to marketing. People have always liked games and always will.

So that's my take on how to create campaigns that actually work. Not the theoretical version, not the "what works for giant corporations" version, but the real, practical, tested-in-the-trenches version that works for actual small businesses with actual constraints.

Try it. Let me know how it goes. And if it doesn't work perfectly the first time... well, that's what the second campaign is for.

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