Campaign strategy document

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What this deliverable is

A campaign strategy document is the bridge between your research and your creative output. It answers the question: given everything you learned in the research dossier and your personas, what are you going to do?

It forces you to make decisions before you start producing content — which platforms, which audiences, what goals, how you’ll know if it worked. The goal is clarity, not length. This should be a tight, specific 1–2 page document, not a sprawling report.

Your personas are the foundation for every section. The goal should name the audience your persona represents. The strategies should flow from where that person spends time and what they care about. If the strategy doesn’t connect to a real person you built, it’s guesswork.

The structure

Use this framework: Goal → Strategies → Tactics → KPIs → CTAs

Goal

One sentence. What does this campaign accomplish? Make it specific enough that you can later evaluate whether you achieved it.

Start with a high-level aim, then drill down to the core business objective. “Increase foot traffic” is too vague — why does foot traffic matter? What does it actually accomplish for the business? Keep asking until you hit the real answer: “increase weekday lunch sales from remote workers.” That’s your goal.

Weak goal:

Grow our Instagram following.

Strong goal:

Increase awareness of Grounds for Change among MSU graduate students (ages 22–30) in Montclair, driving 40 new in-store visits from that segment by April 30.

The strong version names the audience (from your persona), specifies the outcome (visits, not followers), includes a number, and sets a timeframe.

Strategies

Strategies are the general approaches you’ll use to reach your goal. They’re directional, not specific. You’ll have 2–4 strategies for a typical campaign.

Example:

Strategy 1: Build visibility on platforms where the target audience discovers new local places (Instagram, TikTok).

Strategy 2: Create content that communicates our work-friendliness and coffee quality — the two things our audience cares about most and can’t tell from our current presence.

Strategy 3: Partner with MSU-adjacent accounts to reach students who aren’t already following us.

Tactics

Tactics are the specific, actionable things you’ll do to execute each strategy. Each tactic maps to a strategy.

Example (mapped to Strategy 1 and 2 above):

• Post 4x/week on Instagram: Tuesdays and Thursdays (high-intent weekday traffic), Saturday (community/weekend), and one “behind the scenes” post per week showing the sourcing or preparation process
• Produce 2 TikToks per month: one educational (coffee technique or origin) and one showing the work environment
• Create a “regulars highlight” story series featuring real customers (with permission) who work from the shop
• Run one 2-week paid Instagram promotion targeting Montclair + MSU zip codes, 22–30 demographic

KPIs (key performance indicators)

How will you measure success? These should be specific numbers tied to your goal — not vanity metrics like follower counts, but outcomes that reflect real business progress.

Check your analytics before you write these. You need a baseline — where you’re starting from — or the targets you set are made up. Open your organization’s Instagram, Google Business profile, or whatever platform you’re working with, and note your current numbers first.

Example:

Pick 3–5 KPIs max. More than that and you stop tracking all of them.

CTAs (calls to action)

Every piece of content needs a CTA — a specific action you’re asking the audience to take. Define the CTAs for your campaign so they’re consistent across all content.

Example:

• Primary CTA: “Stop by this week” — we want people to come in, not just follow
• Secondary CTA: “Tag us when you’re working from here” — builds UGC (user-generated content) and social proof
• Story CTA: “Drop a reply — what do you usually order?” — drives the algorithm and gives us data on preferences

Content calendar

Include a two-week sample calendar showing when and where each piece of content would be posted. Each post should map to a strategy and include a CTA.

Be realistic about frequency. Three posts a week you can sustain beats daily posts you’ll abandon by week two. And vary the content types — don’t post the same format every day.

Example:

What a finished strategy looks like

A strong campaign strategy document:

• Is 1–2 pages (3 max)
• Has specific numbers everywhere — not “more engagement” but “3.5% engagement rate”
• Shows you understand your audience from the persona and dossier work
• Makes decisions — it doesn’t hedge with “we might also try…”
• Connects every tactic back to a strategy and a goal

A weak one:

• Says “post consistently on social media” without defining consistently
• Lists platforms without explaining why those platforms for that audience
• Has KPIs like “grow brand awareness” that can’t be measured

Common mistakes

• Tactics labeled as strategies. “Post on Instagram three times a week” is a tactic, not a strategy. The strategy is why you’re on Instagram, what you’re communicating, and to whom.
• Too many goals. One campaign, one primary goal. You can have secondary goals, but make them secondary.
• Ignoring platform behavior. A content calendar that posts the exact same thing to Instagram and TikTok on the same day isn’t a strategy — it’s copy-paste. Each platform has different native formats, posting rhythms, and audience expectations.
• No baseline. If you don’t know your starting numbers, you can’t measure progress. Check your analytics before you write the KPIs.