---
title: Campaign Planning — Audience Segmentation, Channel Strategy, Budget Allocation, Success Metrics, Timeline Planning
domain: marketing
level: 3
skill: marketing
---

# Campaign Planning Reference

> **Scope**: Complete campaign planning methodology covering audience segmentation, channel strategy, budget allocation, success metrics, and execution timelines. Also serves as the metrics reference for PERFORMANCE mode.
> **Generated**: 2026-05-05 — benchmark data is directional. Validate against your industry and historical performance.

---

## Campaign Framework: Objective -> Audience -> Message -> Channel -> Measure

Every campaign is built on this five-part chain. Skip a link, and the campaign drifts.

### Objective Classification

| Type | Goal | Primary Metrics | Example |
|------|------|----------------|---------|
| **Awareness** | Increase visibility | Reach, impressions, share of voice, direct traffic | Brand launch, category creation |
| **Consideration** | Drive engagement and education | Content engagement, email signups, webinar attendance | Thought leadership push |
| **Conversion** | Generate leads or sales | Signups, demos, purchases, pipeline | Product launch, lead gen |
| **Retention** | Re-engage existing customers | Churn reduction, upsell rate, NPS | Win-back, expansion |
| **Advocacy** | Turn customers into promoters | Referrals, reviews, UGC volume | Community building |

**SMART objective template**: "[Verb] [specific metric] from [current state] to [target] within [timeframe] by [mechanism]."

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

---

## Audience Segmentation

### Audience Profile Template

```
[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]. Currently at [buying stage].
```

### Segmentation Dimensions

| Dimension | What to Define | Why It Matters |
|-----------|---------------|----------------|
| **Demographics** | Role, title, seniority, company size, industry | Determines messaging register and proof points |
| **Psychographics** | Motivations, pain points, goals, objections | Drives message content and emotional hooks |
| **Behavioral** | Content consumption habits, buying process, prior engagement | Informs channel selection and content format |
| **Buying stage** | Unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, most-aware | Determines content type and CTA intensity |

### Buying Stage to Content Mapping

| Stage | Content Purpose | Content Types | CTA Intensity |
|-------|----------------|--------------|---------------|
| **Unaware** | Create problem awareness | Thought leadership, trend reports, provocative posts | Soft: subscribe, follow |
| **Problem-aware** | Validate the pain | Blog posts, webinars, guides | Soft: download, learn more |
| **Solution-aware** | Position your approach | Comparison pages, case studies, solution briefs | Medium: demo, trial |
| **Product-aware** | Differentiate your product | Feature comparisons, ROI calculators, customer stories | Direct: buy, sign up, talk to sales |
| **Most-aware** | Remove final friction | Pricing, testimonials, guarantees, limited offers | Direct: buy now, start today |

---

## Channel Strategy

### Channel Selection Matrix

Score each channel on five dimensions (1-5 scale):

| Channel | Audience Fit | Goal Alignment | Budget Fit | Content Capability | Historical Performance | Total |
|---------|-------------|---------------|-----------|-------------------|----------------------|-------|
| Blog/SEO | | | | | | |
| Email | | | | | | |
| LinkedIn (organic) | | | | | | |
| LinkedIn (paid) | | | | | | |
| Google Ads | | | | | | |
| Webinars | | | | | | |

Pick top 3 channels. Do 3 channels well rather than 7 channels poorly.

### Channel Reference Tables

#### Owned Channels

| Channel | Best For | Metrics | Effort | Timeline to Results |
|---------|----------|---------|--------|-------------------|
| Blog/Website | SEO, thought leadership, education | Traffic, time on page, conversions | Medium | 3-6 months (SEO); immediate (paid distribution) |
| Email | Nurture, retention, announcements | Open rate, CTR, conversions | Low-Medium | Immediate to 2 weeks |
| Social (organic) | Awareness, community, brand | Engagement, reach, follower growth | Medium | 1-3 months |
| Webinars | Education, lead gen, demos | Registrations, attendance, pipeline | High | 4-6 weeks lead time |
| Podcast | Thought leadership, brand | Downloads, subscriber growth | High | 3-6 months |

#### Earned Channels

| Channel | Best For | Metrics | Effort | Timeline to Results |
|---------|----------|---------|--------|-------------------|
| PR/Media | Awareness, credibility, launches | Coverage, share of voice, referral traffic | High | 2-8 weeks |
| Guest content | Audience expansion, SEO, credibility | Referral traffic, backlinks | Medium | 2-4 weeks |
| Influencer/Partner | Trust, audience expansion | Reach, engagement, referral conversions | Medium-High | 2-6 weeks |
| Community | Awareness, trust, feedback | Mentions, engagement, referrals | Medium | 1-3 months |
| Reviews/Ratings | Credibility, SEO, consideration | Review volume, rating, conversion lift | Low-Medium | Ongoing |

#### Paid Channels

| Channel | Best For | Metrics | Effort | Timeline to Results |
|---------|----------|---------|--------|-------------------|
| Search ads (SEM) | High-intent lead capture | CPC, CTR, conversion rate, CPA | Medium | 1-2 weeks |
| Social ads | Awareness, retargeting, lead gen | CPM, CPC, CTR, CPA, ROAS | Medium | 1-2 weeks |
| Display/Programmatic | Awareness, retargeting | Impressions, CPM, view-through | Low-Medium | 1-2 weeks |
| Sponsored content | Thought leadership, lead gen | Engagement, leads, cost per lead | Medium | 2-4 weeks |
| Events/Sponsorships | Relationship building, brand | Leads, meetings, pipeline influenced | High | 4-12 weeks |

### Channel Selection Rules

1. Start with where the audience already is, not where you're comfortable
2. Match channel to buying stage: awareness channels for top-funnel, conversion channels for bottom-funnel
3. Budget constraint? Prioritize owned/earned over paid
4. Solo operator? Max 2 active channels. Small team? Max 3.
5. Historical data trumps best practices -- if email works for you, lean into it

---

## Budget Allocation

### Allocation Frameworks

#### By Channel Category

| Category | % 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 |

#### By Campaign Phase

| Phase | Allocation | Purpose |
|-------|-----------|---------|
| Pre-launch (weeks -4 to -1) | 15-20% | Content production, landing pages, creative |
| Launch (weeks 1-2) | 30-40% | Paid distribution, PR, email blast |
| Sustain (weeks 3-6) | 25-30% | Ongoing paid, nurture sequences, content |
| Optimize (weeks 7+) | 10-15% | Scale winners, cut losers, retargeting |

### Budget Optimization Principles

- Allocate 60-70% of paid budget to highest-confidence channel
- Reserve 15-20% for testing new channels or tactics
- Shift budget monthly based on performance -- never set-and-forget
- Account for production costs, not just media spend
- 10-15% contingency for unexpected opportunities or overruns
- Track blended CAC and channel-specific CAC separately

---

## Content Calendar Creation

### Calendar Planning Process

1. **Milestones first**: campaign launch, event dates, product releases, seasonal moments
2. **Work backward**: production lead times dictate start dates
3. **Map to funnel**: ensure coverage across awareness, consideration, conversion
4. **Batch by theme**: group related content into weekly/bi-weekly themes
5. **Balance channels**: avoid over-indexing on one channel
6. **Flexibility buffer**: 20% of calendar slots open for reactive/opportunistic content

### Production Timeline Benchmarks

| Asset Type | Lead Time | Includes |
|-----------|-----------|----------|
| 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, dev, QA |
| Video content | 2-4 weeks | Script, production, editing |
| Ebook/whitepaper | 2-4 weeks | Outline, draft, design, review |
| Webinar | 3-5 weeks | Topic, speakers, promotion, rehearsal |

### Content Cadence Guidelines

- Blog: 1-4 posts/week (capacity-dependent)
- Email newsletter: weekly or bi-weekly
- Social: 3-7 posts/week per platform
- Paid: continuous with creative refresh every 2-4 weeks
- Webinars: monthly or quarterly

### Calendar Template

| Week | Content Piece | Channel | Funnel Stage | Dependencies | Owner | Status |
|------|--------------|---------|-------------|-------------|-------|--------|
| W1 | Landing page | Web | Conversion | — | | Not started |
| W1 | Teaser social posts | LinkedIn, X | Awareness | Landing page live | | Not started |
| W2 | Launch email | Email | Awareness | Landing page, email list | | Not started |
| W2 | Launch blog post | Blog | Consideration | — | | Not started |
| W3 | Case study | Blog/email | Consideration | Customer approval | | Not started |

---

## Success Metrics by Campaign Type

### Awareness Campaign

| Metric | What It Measures | Target-Setting Guide |
|--------|-----------------|---------------------|
| Reach/Impressions | How many people saw it | Set based on total addressable audience size |
| Brand mention volume | Increase in brand conversations | Baseline from pre-campaign period |
| Share of voice | Your mentions vs. competitors | Measure against top 3 competitors |
| Direct traffic | People coming unprompted | Compare week-over-week during campaign |
| Social follower growth | Audience building | Set % growth target vs. pre-campaign rate |

### Lead Generation Campaign

| Metric | What It Measures | Target-Setting Guide |
|--------|-----------------|---------------------|
| Total leads | Volume of new contacts | Historical lead gen rate + campaign investment |
| MQLs | Leads meeting quality threshold | MQL rate from historical data (typically 15-30% of leads) |
| Cost per lead (CPL) | Efficiency of spend | Industry benchmarks: B2B SaaS $30-150, B2B services $50-200 |
| Lead-to-MQL rate | Quality of leads | Historical conversion rate as baseline |
| Pipeline influenced | Revenue opportunity created | Track leads through to opportunity stage |

### Product Launch Campaign

| Metric | What It Measures | Target-Setting Guide |
|--------|-----------------|---------------------|
| Signups/trials | Adoption of new product | Set based on launch goals and historical launch performance |
| Activation rate | Users who complete key first action | Product benchmark: 20-40% for SaaS |
| Media coverage | Earned media hits | Target based on PR effort and media list size |
| Social buzz | Mentions, shares, engagement spike | Baseline from typical content engagement |
| Feature adoption | Usage of launched features | Product analytics: target >30% of active users within 30 days |

### Retention/Engagement Campaign

| Metric | What It Measures | Target-Setting Guide |
|--------|-----------------|---------------------|
| Churn rate change | Retention improvement | Current churn rate as baseline; target 10-20% reduction |
| Engagement rate | Campaign content interaction | Historical email/content engagement rates |
| NPS/CSAT change | Satisfaction improvement | Current scores as baseline; target 5-10 point improvement |
| Upsell revenue | Expansion revenue | Historical upsell rate + campaign incentive |
| Feature adoption | Usage of promoted features | Current adoption % as baseline |

---

## Metric Definitions and Benchmarks

### Email Marketing

| Metric | Definition | Benchmark Range |
|--------|-----------|----------------|
| Delivery rate | Delivered / sent | 95-99% |
| Open rate | Unique opens / delivered | 15-30% (industry-dependent) |
| Click-through rate | Unique clicks / delivered | 2-5% |
| Click-to-open rate | Unique clicks / unique opens | 10-20% |
| Unsubscribe rate | Unsubscribes / delivered | <0.5% |
| Conversion rate | Conversions / delivered | 1-5% |
| List growth rate | (New - unsubscribes) / total list | 2-5% monthly |

### Social Media

| Metric | Definition | Benchmark Varies By |
|--------|-----------|-------------------|
| Engagement rate | (Likes + comments + shares) / reach | Platform: LinkedIn 2-4%, X 0.5-1.5%, Instagram 1-3% |
| Click-through rate | Link clicks / impressions | Content type and platform |
| Follower growth rate | Net new / total per period | Industry and content quality |
| Share of voice | Your mentions / category mentions | Competitor set |

### Paid Advertising

| Metric | Definition | B2B SaaS Benchmarks |
|--------|-----------|-------------------|
| CTR (search) | Clicks / impressions | 3-6% |
| CTR (social) | Clicks / impressions | 0.5-1.5% |
| CPC (search) | Spend / clicks | $2-8 |
| CPC (social) | Spend / clicks | $3-12 |
| Conversion rate | Conversions / clicks | 2-5% (search), 1-3% (social) |
| CPA | Spend / conversions | $50-200 |
| ROAS | Revenue / spend | 3:1 to 5:1 target |

### SEO / Organic

| Metric | Definition | Health Indicators |
|--------|-----------|------------------|
| Organic sessions | Visits from organic search | Growing month-over-month |
| Keyword rankings | Position for target keywords | Top 10 positions increasing |
| Organic CTR | Clicks / impressions in SERP | 2-5% average; varies by position |
| Domain authority | Third-party score (Moz, Ahrefs) | Increasing quarter-over-quarter |
| Backlinks | External sites linking | Growing, high-quality sources |

---

## Attribution Models

| Model | Credit Distribution | Best For | Limitation |
|-------|-------------------|----------|------------|
| **Last touch** | 100% to final touchpoint | Understanding conversion triggers | Ignores awareness/nurture |
| **First touch** | 100% to first touchpoint | Understanding top-of-funnel | Ignores nurture/conversion |
| **Linear** | Equal across all touchpoints | Fair multi-channel view | Doesn't reflect relative impact |
| **Time decay** | More credit to recent touches | Balanced with recency bias | May undervalue awareness |
| **U-shaped** | 40% first, 40% last, 20% middle | Valuing discovery + conversion | Arbitrary weighting |
| **Data-driven** | Algorithmic based on patterns | Most accurate | Requires high conversion volume |

**Practical guidance**: Start with last-touch if no model exists. Compare first-touch vs last-touch to understand channel roles. U-shaped is a reasonable default for B2B. No model is perfect -- use directionally, not as absolute truth.

---

## Reporting Templates

### Weekly Report (Team Standup)

- Top 3 metrics with week-over-week change
- What worked (1-2 bullets with data)
- What needs attention (1-2 bullets with data)
- This week's priorities (3-5 action items)

### Monthly Report (Stakeholder)

1. Executive summary (3-5 sentences)
2. Key metrics dashboard (table with MoM and target comparison)
3. Channel-by-channel summary
4. Campaign highlights and results
5. What worked / what didn't (with hypotheses)
6. Recommendations and next month priorities
7. Budget spend vs. plan

### Quarterly Business Review (Leadership)

1. Quarter performance vs. goals
2. Year-to-date trajectory
3. Channel ROI analysis
4. Campaign performance summary
5. Competitive and market observations
6. Strategic recommendations for next quarter
7. Budget request and allocation plan
8. Key experiments and learnings

### Dashboard Design Rules

- Lead with metrics that map to business objectives, not vanity metrics
- Show trends over time, not just point-in-time snapshots
- Include comparison context: prior period, target, benchmark
- Consistent color coding: green (on track), yellow (at risk), red (off track)
- One page/screen -- detail goes in appendix
- Update cadence matches decision cadence (real-time for paid, weekly for content)

---

## Optimization Framework

### Diagnosis by Funnel Stage

| Stage | Problem Signal | Levers |
|-------|---------------|--------|
| Awareness | Low impressions, low reach | Budget, targeting, channel mix, creative format |
| Interest | Low CTR, low engagement | Ad creative, headlines, hooks, audience targeting |
| Consideration | High bounce, low time-on-page | Landing page, page speed, content relevance, UX |
| Conversion | Low conversion rate | Offer, CTA, form length, trust signals, layout |
| Retention | High churn, low repeat | Onboarding, nurture, product experience, support |

### Impact/Effort Prioritization

| | Low Effort | High Effort |
|---|---|---|
| **High Impact** | Do first | Plan next sprint |
| **Low Impact** | Do if time | Deprioritize |

### Testing Rules

- One variable at a time
- Define success metric before launch
- Calculate sample size before starting -- don't end early
- Minimum one full business cycle (typically one week for B2B)
- Document all tests regardless of outcome
- Failed tests are valuable -- share learnings

### Optimization Cadence

| Cadence | Actions |
|---------|---------|
| Daily | Paid campaign monitoring: pacing, anomalies, disapprovals |
| Weekly | Channel review: pause underperformers, scale winners |
| Bi-weekly | Creative refresh, new test variants |
| Monthly | Full review, new optimization opportunities, forecast updates |
| Quarterly | Strategic review: channel mix, budget allocation, targeting |
