Campaign Planning Skill

Frameworks and guidance for planning, structuring, and executing marketing campaigns.

Campaign Framework: Objective, Audience, Message, Channel, Measure

Every campaign should be built on this five-part framework:

1. Objective

Define what success looks like before planning anything else.

• Awareness: increase brand or product visibility (measured by reach, impressions, share of voice)
• Consideration: drive engagement and education (measured by content engagement, email signups, webinar attendance)
• Conversion: generate leads or sales (measured by signups, demos, purchases, pipeline)
• Retention: re-engage existing customers (measured by churn reduction, upsell, NPS)
• Advocacy: turn customers into promoters (measured by referrals, reviews, UGC)

Good objectives are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

Example: "Generate 200 marketing qualified leads from mid-market SaaS companies in North America within 6 weeks of campaign launch."

2. Audience

Define who you are trying to reach with enough specificity to guide messaging and channel decisions.

• Demographics: role/title, seniority, company size, industry
• Psychographics: motivations, pain points, goals, objections
• Behavioral: where they consume content, how they buy, what they have engaged with before
• Buying stage: are they unaware of the problem, researching solutions, or ready to buy?

Create a brief audience profile (not a full persona) for campaign planning:

"[Role] at [company type] who is struggling with [pain point] and looking for [desired outcome]. They typically discover solutions through [channels] and care most about [priorities]."

3. Message

Craft the core message and supporting points that will resonate with the audience.

• Core message: one sentence that captures what you want the audience to think, feel, or do
• Supporting messages: 3-4 points that provide evidence, address objections, or elaborate on benefits
• Proof points: data, case studies, testimonials, or third-party validation for each supporting message
• Differentiation: what makes your offering different from alternatives (including doing nothing)

Message hierarchy:

1. Why should I care? (addresses the pain point or opportunity)
2. What is the solution? (positions your offering)
3. Why you? (differentiates from alternatives)
4. What should I do? (call to action)

4. Channel

Select channels based on where your audience is, not where you are most comfortable.

See the Channel Selection Guide below for detailed guidance.

5. Measure

Define how you will know the campaign worked. See Success Metrics by Campaign Type below.

Channel Selection Guide

Owned Channels

Channel	Best For	Typical Metrics	Effort
Blog/Website	SEO, thought leadership, education	Traffic, time on page, conversions	Medium
Email	Nurture, retention, announcements	Open rate, CTR, conversions	Low-Medium
Social (organic)	Awareness, community, brand building	Engagement, reach, follower growth	Medium
Webinars	Education, lead gen, product demos	Registrations, attendance, pipeline	High
Podcast	Thought leadership, brand awareness	Downloads, subscriber growth	High

Earned Channels

Channel	Best For	Typical Metrics	Effort
PR/Media	Awareness, credibility, launches	Coverage, share of voice, referral traffic	High
Guest content	Audience expansion, SEO, credibility	Referral traffic, backlinks	Medium
Influencer/Partner	Audience expansion, trust	Reach, engagement, referral conversions	Medium-High
Community	Awareness, trust, feedback	Mentions, engagement, referral traffic	Medium
Reviews/Ratings	Credibility, SEO, consideration	Review volume, rating, conversion lift	Low-Medium

Paid Channels

Channel	Best For	Typical Metrics	Effort
Search ads (SEM)	High-intent lead capture	CPC, CTR, conversion rate, CPA	Medium
Social ads	Awareness, retargeting, lead gen	CPM, CPC, CTR, CPA, ROAS	Medium
Display/Programmatic	Awareness, retargeting	Impressions, CPM, view-through conversions	Low-Medium
Sponsored content	Thought leadership, lead gen	Engagement, leads, cost per lead	Medium
Events/Sponsorships	Relationship building, brand	Leads, meetings, pipeline influenced	High

Channel Selection Criteria

When choosing channels, consider:

• Where does your target audience spend time?
• What is the buying stage you are targeting? (awareness channels vs. conversion channels)
• What is your budget? (paid channels require spend; owned/earned require time)
• What content assets do you already have or can you produce?
• What has worked in the past? (reference historical data if available)

Content Calendar Creation

Calendar Structure

A content calendar should answer: what, where, when, who, and why for every piece of content.

Date	Content Piece	Channel	Audience Segment	Campaign/Theme	Owner	Status

Calendar Planning Process

1. Start with milestones: campaign launch, event dates, product releases, seasonal moments
2. Work backward: what needs to be live and when? What is the production lead time?
3. Map content to funnel stages: ensure coverage across awareness, consideration, and conversion
4. Batch by theme: group related content pieces into weekly or bi-weekly themes
5. Balance channels: do not over-index on one channel; ensure the audience sees the campaign across touchpoints
6. Build in flexibility: leave 20% of calendar slots open for reactive or opportunistic content

Content Cadence Guidelines

• Blog: 1-4 posts per week depending on team size and goals
• Email newsletter: weekly or bi-weekly for most audiences
• Social media: 3-7 posts per week per platform (varies by platform)
• Paid campaigns: continuous during campaign window with creative refreshes every 2-4 weeks
• Webinars: monthly or quarterly depending on resources

Production Timeline Benchmarks

• Blog post: 3-5 business days (research, draft, review, publish)
• Email campaign: 2-3 business days (copy, design, test, send)
• Social media posts: 1-2 business days (draft, design, schedule)
• Landing page: 5-7 business days (copy, design, development, QA)
• Video content: 2-4 weeks (script, production, editing)
• Ebook/whitepaper: 2-4 weeks (outline, draft, design, review)

Budget Allocation Approaches

Percentage of Revenue Method

• Industry benchmark: 5-15% of revenue for marketing, with B2B typically at 5-10% and B2C at 10-15%
• Startups and growth-stage companies often invest 15-25% of revenue in marketing
• Within the marketing budget, allocate across brand (long-term) and performance (short-term)

Channel Allocation Framework

A common starting framework (adjust based on goals and historical data):

Category	Percentage of Budget	Examples
Paid acquisition	30-40%	Search ads, social ads, display
Content production	20-30%	Blog, video, design, ebooks
Events and sponsorships	10-20%	Conferences, webinars, meetups
Tools and technology	10-15%	Analytics, automation, CRM
Testing and experimentation	5-10%	New channels, A/B tests, pilots

Budget Optimization Principles

• Start with your highest-confidence channel and allocate 60-70% of paid budget there
• Reserve 15-20% for testing new channels or tactics
• Shift budget monthly based on performance data (do not set and forget)
• Account for production costs, not just media spend
• Include a 10-15% contingency for unexpected opportunities or overruns

Success Metrics by Campaign Type

Awareness Campaign

Metric	What It Measures
Reach/Impressions	How many people saw the campaign
Brand mention volume	Increase in brand conversations
Share of voice	Your mentions vs. competitors
Direct traffic	People coming to your site unprompted
Social follower growth	Audience building

Lead Generation Campaign

Metric	What It Measures
Total leads	Volume of new contacts
Marketing qualified leads (MQLs)	Leads meeting quality threshold
Cost per lead (CPL)	Efficiency of spend
Lead-to-MQL conversion rate	Quality of leads generated
Pipeline influenced	Revenue opportunity created

Product Launch Campaign

Metric	What It Measures
Signups or trials	Adoption of new product
Activation rate	Users who complete key first action
Media coverage	Earned media hits
Social buzz	Mentions, shares, engagement spike
Feature adoption	Usage of specific launched features

Retention/Engagement Campaign

Metric	What It Measures
Churn rate change	Customer retention improvement
Engagement rate	Interactions with campaign content
NPS or CSAT change	Satisfaction improvement
Upsell/cross-sell revenue	Expansion revenue
Feature adoption	Usage of promoted features

Event/Webinar Campaign

Metric	What It Measures
Registrations	Interest generated
Attendance rate	Conversion from registration
Engagement during event	Questions, polls, chat activity
Post-event conversions	Leads or pipeline from attendees
Content repurposing reach	Downstream audience from recordings