Campaign governance

Campaign Governance

Overview

Campaign governance is the unsexy foundation of marketing measurement. Without enforced naming conventions and UTM parameters, your attribution data is garbage, your ROI reports are fiction, and you can't answer "which campaigns actually work." This skill builds the governance framework. Marketing budget caps and Ramp card policy → gtm-spend-management.

Authoritative Foundations

• Marketing Ops Governance Framework — Named methodology governing recommendations in this skill's process.
• SiriusDecisions Campaign Hierarchy — Named methodology governing recommendations in this skill's process.
• Winning by Design — Revenue Architecture — Bowtie lifecycle model — align sales, marketing, and CS on stage-based outcomes.
• Atlassian Team Playbook — RACI chart — RACI chart
• PMI — RACI matrix responsibility assignment — RACI matrix responsibility assignment
• Aneesh Lal (Wishly Group) — Influencer UTM & landing-page attribution — Influencer UTM & landing-page attribution

When to Use

• "Set up campaign naming conventions"
• "UTM governance"
• "Campaign hierarchy"
• "Marketing operations governance"
• "RACI for campaign launch"
• "Who owns UTM vs CRM on a launch"

Step-by-Step Process

Load references/campaign-naming-conventions.md and references/utm-governance.md.

Phase 1: Campaign Hierarchy

Standardize the parent-child relationship:

• Program: Top level. Annual or quarterly initiative. "2026 Enterprise ABM"
• Campaign: Mid level. Specific channel play. "2026-06-Enterprise-Webinar-Series"
• Tactic: Bottom level. Individual asset or touch. "2026-06-Enterprise-Webinar-01-LinkedIn-Ad"

Rule: Every tactic belongs to exactly one campaign. Every campaign belongs to exactly one program. No orphan campaigns.

Phase 2: Naming Convention

Standard format: [Date]-[Segment]-[Channel]-[Content]-[Version]

Examples:

• 2026-Q3-Enterprise-LinkedIn-CaseStudy-A
• 2026-06-MM-Email-ProductLaunch-B
• 2026-H2-SMB-Webinar-Demo-v2

Enforce via CRM validation rules. No free-text campaign names after go-live.

Phase 3: UTM Governance

Required UTMs for every outbound link:

• utm_source: Platform (linkedin, email, google, partner_name)
• utm_medium: Channel type (paid_social, email, cpc, organic_social, referral)
• utm_campaign: Campaign name (from naming convention above)
• utm_content: Ad/asset variant (for A/B testing)
• utm_term: Keyword (for paid search only)

Hard rules:

• All lowercase. Underscores not hyphens for multi-word values.
• No random values. utm_source must come from the approved source list.
• Every paid link MUST have UTMs. Organic links should have UTMs.
• UTM builder tool required for all marketers. No manual URL construction.

Phase 4: Enforcement

• CRM validation: Campaign name must match naming convention pattern. UTMs required on all campaign records.
• Weekly audit: Pull all campaigns created this week. Flag malformed names and missing UTMs. Fix within 24 hours.
• Dashboard: Campaign name compliance %, UTM coverage %, orphan campaigns. Visible to the whole marketing team.
• Consequences: Campaigns with non-compliant naming don't appear in ROI reports. This self-corrects within one reporting cycle.

Phase 5: Campaign Launch RACI

Campaign governance fails when naming and UTMs are "everyone's job." Before launch, load gtm-operations → skills/gtm-ops/gtm-operations/templates/raci-matrix-template.md (Example 1: Campaign Launch).

Workstream	Typical Accountable (A)	Why
Naming + hierarchy	Marketing ops	Owns brief and segment
UTM dictionary + QA	RevOps	SSOT for attribution joins
CRM campaign record	RevOps	Validation rules live in CRM
Paid spend	Marketing ops	gtm-spend-management caps
Sales enablement	Enablement lead	Not PMM by default

GTM rule: Exactly one A per row (Atlassian RACI). RevOps must be A or R on CRM/UTM rows — not I.

Charter template: gtm-operations → skills/gtm-ops/gtm-operations/templates/gtm-project-charter.md. Full launch PM cadence: gtm-operations → gtm-project-management-playbook.md.

Phase 6: Review and Maintenance

• Monthly: Cleanup — merge duplicate campaigns, archive completed programs
• Quarterly: Audit UTMs on all active landing pages and ad accounts
• Annually: Review naming convention — does it still fit? If the business has changed (new channels, new segments), update the convention.

Output Format

Campaign governance document with: hierarchy definition, naming convention reference, UTM parameter dictionary, enforcement rules, and audit calendar.

Quality Check

Before delivering, verify:

• All required sections are complete
• Output matches the user's stated need
• Named frameworks are cited for key recommendations
• No vague claims — every recommendation has a specific action
• Deliverable is ready for operational use, not just conceptual

Common Pitfalls

1. No naming conventions. Campaign names like webinar_final_v2 make attribution impossible. Fix: enforce [Date]-[Segment]-[Channel]-[Content]-[Version] via CRM validation.
2. UTM chaos. Mixed case, hyphens, and one-off sources break warehouse joins. Fix: approved source list + UTM builder only (references/utm-governance.md).
3. Governance without consequences. Marketers ignore rules if bad data still appears in reports. Fix: exclude non-compliant campaigns from ROI dashboards.
4. Marketing spend invisible to finance. Paid campaigns on personal cards. Fix: Ramp caps per program (gtm-spend-management).
5. Everyone Responsible, nobody Accountable on launch. UTMs ship wrong; CRM empty. Fix: RACI before assets (skills/gtm-ops/gtm-operations/templates/raci-matrix-template.md).

Implementation Depth

Use this section when the user asks for a finished asset, not a high-level explanation.

Diagnostic Questions

1. What is the primary motion: founder-led, sales-led, product-led, partner-led, or lifecycle-led?
2. Which ICP tier is the output for: small business, mid-market, enterprise, or mixed?
3. What proof is available today: customer stories, usage data, third-party validation, screenshots, or none?
4. What system will execute the work: CRM, sequencer, warehouse, support desk, product analytics, or manual workflow?
5. What decision will the user make from this output: launch, prioritize, route, rewrite, score, coach, or measure?

Framework Application

Map the recommendation explicitly to the named frameworks in this skill:

• Marketing Ops Governance Framework: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
• SiriusDecisions Campaign Hierarchy: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
• Winning by Design — Revenue Architecture: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.

Deliverable Standard

A strong output from this skill includes:

• A crisp diagnosis of the current situation
• A recommended path with tradeoffs, not a generic list
• A concrete artifact the user can use immediately: table, script, checklist, scorecard, sequence, dashboard spec, or implementation plan
• A measurement plan with leading and lagging indicators
• Risks and edge cases called out before execution

Adaptation Rules

• For small business: reduce complexity, shorten time-to-value, and prioritize owner/operator clarity.
• For mid-market: include workflow ownership, handoffs, integrations, and enablement assets.
• For enterprise: include governance, risk, procurement, stakeholder mapping, and proof requirements.

Execution Artifacts

• references/framework-notes.md — SiriusDecisions + ops controls
• templates/output-template.md
• scripts/check-output.py
• references/campaign-naming-conventions.md — Hierarchy + naming pattern
• references/utm-governance.md — UTM dictionary and audit
• references/b2b-influencer-measurement.md — Influencer UTM limits, landing pages, dark social
• skills/growth/customer-marketing/templates/b2b-influencer-program-brief.md — Per-creator UTM + landing page spec
• gtm-operations/templates/raci-matrix-template.md — Campaign launch RACI (Example 1)
• gtm-operations/templates/gtm-project-charter.md — Launch charter
• templates/campaign-hierarchy-register.md — Program/campaign/tactic register
• templates/utm-parameter-sheet.md — Per-launch UTM QA

Related Skills

• gtm-operations, gtm-spend-management, campaign-analytics, attribution, crm-integration, gtm-metrics, revops-tech-stack
• revops-tech-stack — prospect/customer data boundaries in the GTM stack (gtm-data-exchange-playbook.md)
• gtm-role-descriptions — GTM Engineer owns UTM/campaign ID compliance in CRM pushes (gtm-engineer-hiring.md)