Marketing Campaign Planning

---
name: marketing-campaign-planning
description: Legacy fallback for high-level campaign PM structure. Prefer launch-strategy for launch execution and canonical Core 9 skills for channel work. Use this template when a generic campaign framework is explicitly needed.
---

# Campaign Planning Skill

Frameworks and methodologies for planning, executing, and measuring effective marketing campaigns.

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

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

1.  **Objective**: What are you trying to achieve? (SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
2.  **Audience**: Who are you trying to reach? (Demographics, psychographics, behavioral data)
3.  **Message**: What is the core message and supporting points?
4.  **Channel**: Where will you reach them? (Owned, earned, and paid channels)
5.  **Measure**: How will you know if you succeeded? (Primary and secondary KPIs)

## Objective Setting

### Common Campaign Objectives

- **Brand Awareness**: Increasing recognition and reach
- **Demand Generation**: Generating interest and leads
- **Customer Acquisition**: Converting leads into customers
- **Product Launch**: Introducing a new product or feature
- **Customer Retention**: Increasing loyalty and reducing churn
- **Event Promotion**: Driving registrations and attendance

### SMART Goal Examples

- "Generate 500 qualified leads from mid-market SaaS companies by the end of Q3."
- "Increase brand awareness by 15% among target accounts in the UK market within six months."
- "Achieve 1,000 webinar registrations for the October product launch event."

## Audience Targeting

### Audience Definition Levels

1.  **Total Addressable Market (TAM)**: Everyone who could potentially use your product
2.  **Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM)**: The portion of TAM you can actually reach
3.  **Target Segment**: The specific group this campaign is designed for
4.  **Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)**: The characteristics of the companies you want to target
5.  **Buyer Personas**: The individuals within those companies you need to influence

### Persona Framework

For each target persona, define:

- **Role/Title**: Their position in the organization
- **Goals**: What they are trying to achieve
- **Challenges**: What is standing in their way
- **Information Sources**: Where they go for information
- **Buying Influence**: Their role in the purchase decision

## Channel Selection Guide

### Owned, Earned, and Paid Channels

| Category   | Channel Type                         | Examples                                                       |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Owned**  | Channels you control                 | Website, blog, email list, social profiles, app                |
| **Earned** | Channels where others talk about you | PR, guest posts, social shares, reviews, word-of-mouth         |
| **Paid**   | Channels you pay to access           | Search ads, social ads, display ads, sponsorships, influencers |

### Selection Criteria

Choose channels based on:

- **Audience fit**: Where does your target audience spend time?
- **Objective fit**: Which channels are best for awareness vs. conversion?
- **Budget**: What can you afford?
- **Internal capability**: Do you have the skills to execute on this channel?

## Campaign Timeline and Workback

### Planning Phases

1.  **Strategy and Planning**: Objectives, audience, messaging, channel selection
2.  **Creative and Content Production**: Copywriting, design, video, landing pages
3.  **Setup and Launch**: Channel configuration, tracking setup, final QA, launch
4.  **Optimization**: Monitoring performance, A/B testing, making adjustments
5.  **Reporting and Analysis**: Final results, learnings, recommendations

### Workback Schedule Template

| Milestone                | Responsible   | Deadline         | Status |
| ------------------------ | ------------- | ---------------- | ------ |
| Strategy finalized       | Campaign Lead | Launch - 4 weeks |        |
| Content briefs complete  | Content Lead  | Launch - 3 weeks |        |
| Creative assets complete | Design Lead   | Launch - 2 weeks |        |
| Channel setup complete   | Ops Lead      | Launch - 1 week  |        |
| **Launch Date**          | Team          | Day 0            |        |

## Budget Allocation Approaches

### Common Budget Models

- **Percentage of Revenue**: Allocating a fixed percentage of projected revenue
- **Objective-Based**: Calculating the cost to achieve specific goals (e.g., cost per lead)
- **Competitive Parity**: Matching what competitors are spending
- **Historical Basis**: Adjusting last year's budget based on performance

### Allocation by Channel Category

A typical balanced allocation might look like:

- **60% Performance/Demand**: Paid search, social ads, retargeting (measurable ROI)
- **30% Brand/Awareness**: Content, PR, events, social media (long-term growth)
- **10% Experimental**: New channels, innovative formats, emerging platforms