CAMPAIGN PLANNING

---
name: campaign-planning
description: Plan marketing campaigns with objectives, audience segmentation, channel strategy, content calendars, and success metrics. Use when launching a campaign, planning a product launch, building a content calendar, allocating budget across channels, or defining campaign KPIs.
---

# 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 |