campaign-strategy

What this skill does

## Five-Part Campaign Architecture

Every campaign rests on five pillars: Goal, Audience, Narrative, Distribution, and Measurement.

### 1. Goal

Clarify the desired outcome before any other planning begins.

- **Visibility**: grow brand or product awareness (tracked via reach, impressions, share of voice)
- **Engagement**: stimulate interest and education (tracked via content interaction, newsletter signups, webinar attendance)
- **Acquisition**: produce leads or revenue (tracked via registrations, demo requests, purchases, pipeline)
- **Loyalty**: strengthen relationships with current customers (tracked via churn reduction, expansion revenue, NPS)
- **Amplification**: convert satisfied customers into advocates (tracked via referrals, reviews, user-generated content)

Effective goals follow the SMART pattern: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

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

### 2. Audience

Characterize your target with enough precision to inform both messaging and channel decisions.

- **Firmographics and demographics**: job title, seniority level, organization size, industry vertical
- **Motivations and obstacles**: goals, frustrations, objections, aspirations
- **Behavioral signals**: content consumption habits, purchasing process, prior engagement history
- **Purchase readiness**: unaware of the problem, actively researching, or ready to commit?

Summarize the target in a single sentence:
> "[Title] at [organization type] dealing with [core challenge] and seeking [desired result]. They typically find solutions via [channels] and prioritize [key concerns]."

### 3. Narrative

Develop the central message and its supporting structure.

- **Primary message**: a single sentence capturing what you want the audience to think, feel, or do
- **Supporting arguments**: 3-4 statements that provide evidence, counter objections, or deepen the benefit
- **Validation points**: statistics, customer stories, testimonials, or analyst endorsements for each argument
- **Competitive distinction**: what separates your offering from alternatives, including inaction

Messaging hierarchy:
1. Why should this matter to me? (connects to the pain or opportunity)
2. What is being offered? (positions your solution)
3. Why choose you? (differentiates from competitors)
4. What is the next step? (clear call to action)

### 4. Distribution

Pick channels based on where the audience already pays attention, not on team familiarity.

Refer to the Channel Evaluation Guide below for detailed breakdowns.

### 5. Measurement

Establish how you will determine whether the campaign succeeded. Refer to Performance Indicators by Campaign Type below.

## Channel Evaluation Guide

### Owned Media

| Channel | Ideal Use Case | Key Indicators | Resource Demand |
|---------|---------------|----------------|-----------------|
| Blog / Website | Search visibility, thought leadership, education | Traffic, dwell time, conversions | Moderate |
| Email | Nurture sequences, retention, announcements | Open rate, CTR, conversions | Low to moderate |
| Organic social | Brand building, community engagement, awareness | Engagement, reach, follower growth | Moderate |
| Webinars | Education, lead capture, product walkthroughs | Registrations, attendance, pipeline | High |
| Podcast | Thought leadership, brand familiarity | Downloads, subscriber trajectory | High |

### Earned Media

| Channel | Ideal Use Case | Key Indicators | Resource Demand |
|---------|---------------|----------------|-----------------|
| Press / Media relations | Credibility, launches, broad awareness | Coverage volume, share of voice, referral visits | High |
| Guest contributions | Audience expansion, SEO, credibility | Referral traffic, backlink acquisition | Moderate |
| Influencer / Partner | Trust transfer, new audience reach | Reach, engagement, referral conversions | Moderate to high |
| Community participation | Trust building, awareness, feedback loops | Mentions, engagement, referral visits | Moderate |
| Review platforms | Credibility, SEO, purchase consideration | Review count, average rating, conversion impact | Low to moderate |

### Paid Media

| Channel | Ideal Use Case | Key Indicators | Resource Demand |
|---------|---------------|----------------|-----------------|
| Search advertising | Capturing high-intent demand | CPC, CTR, conversion rate, CPA | Moderate |
| Paid social | Awareness, retargeting, lead generation | CPM, CPC, CTR, CPA, ROAS | Moderate |
| Display / Programmatic | Awareness, retargeting at scale | Impressions, CPM, view-through conversions | Low to moderate |
| Sponsored content | Thought leadership, lead generation | Engagement, leads, cost per lead | Moderate |
| Events / Sponsorships | Relationship development, brand presence | Leads, meetings booked, influenced pipeline | High |

### Deciding Between Channels
Evaluate based on:
- Where the intended audience actively spends time
- The purchase stage you are targeting (top-of-funnel awareness vs. bottom-of-funnel conversion)
- Available budget (paid channels need spend; owned and earned channels need time)
- Existing content assets you can deploy or repurpose
- Historical performance data from prior campaigns

## Content Calendar Design

### Calendar Fields

Each entry should capture: what is being published, on which platform, the publication date, the intended audience segment, the thematic tie-in, the responsible owner, and the current production status.

| Date | Asset | Platform | Segment | Theme/Campaign | Owner | Status |
|------|-------|----------|---------|----------------|-------|--------|

### Planning Sequence
1. **Anchor on milestones**: product releases, event dates, seasonal moments, campaign launch windows
2. **Reverse-engineer timelines**: determine what must be live by when and calculate production lead times
3. **Map assets to funnel stages**: ensure the calendar covers awareness, consideration, and conversion
4. **Cluster around themes**: organize related pieces into weekly or biweekly thematic groupings
5. **Diversify across channels**: avoid over-investing in a single platform; ensure multi-touchpoint coverage
6. **Preserve flexibility**: hold 20% of calendar slots open for reactive or opportunistic publishing

### Recommended Publishing Cadence
- **Blog**: 1-4 articles per week, scaled to team capacity
- **Email newsletter**: weekly or biweekly for most subscriber bases
- **Social media**: 3-7 posts per week per platform (varies by network)
- **Paid campaigns**: continuous throughout the campaign window, refreshing creative every 2-4 weeks
- **Webinars**: monthly or quarterly based on available resources

### Typical Production Timelines
- Blog article: 3-5 working days (research, drafting, review, publication)
- Email campaign: 2-3 working days (copywriting, design, testing, deployment)
- Social media posts: 1-2 working days (drafting, design, scheduling)
- Landing page: 5-7 working days (copy, design, development, QA)
- Video content: 2-4 weeks (scripting, filming, editing)
- Long-form asset (ebook/whitepaper): 2-4 weeks (outline, draft, design, review cycle)

## Budget Planning Approaches

### Revenue-Percentage Method
- Cross-industry benchmark: 5-15% of revenue goes to marketing; B2B companies typically land at 5-10%, B2C at 10-15%
- Early-stage and high-growth organizations often allocate 15-25% of revenue
- Within the overall marketing budget, balance long-term brand investment against short-term performance spend

### Allocation by Category

A starting-point framework, to be refined with historical performance data:

| Category | Share of Budget | Typical Channels |
|----------|----------------|------------------|
| Paid acquisition | 30-40% | Search ads, social ads, display |
| Content production | 20-30% | Blog, video, design, downloadable assets |
| Events and sponsorships | 10-20% | Conferences, webina