Best Practices for Creating a Campaign Hierarchy in Salesforce
A three-level Salesforce campaign hierarchy — Grandparent, Parent, and Child mapped to Solution, Asset, and Channel — with naming conventions for accurate reporting.
A well-structured campaign hierarchy in Salesforce is the foundation for accurate marketing reporting and performance analysis. These best practices outline a simple but powerful three-level structure and the naming conventions that make it work.
The Three Levels of Your Salesforce Campaign Hierarchy
SaaScend recommends a three-level structure: Grandparent, Parent, and Child, organized as Solution/Product, Asset, and Promotional Channel. This approach maintains simplicity while providing the granular data marketers need.
Solution / Product Level
Answers: “Which product or solution led to pipeline influence and closed won deals?”
Asset Level
Answers: “Which campaign types (webinars, eBooks, paid media, events) were most successful?”
Promotional Level
Answers: “Which promotional channels (paid media, organic, content syndication) drove the most conversions?”
How To Build the Three-Level Campaign Hierarchy
-
Identify different products or services your company offers—these become Grandparent campaigns.
-
Consider campaign types executed: webinars, events, eBooks, search, website, free trials. These become Parent Campaigns.
-
Determine promotional efforts driving traffic to Asset-level campaigns: paid media, organic social, blog articles, content syndication, email nurtures. These become Child campaigns.
The Power of Naming Conventions
SaaScend employs a structured naming format: TYPE – SUBTYPE – DATE (YYMMDD) – Asset Name
Type: Marketing asset category (Content, Webinar, Event)
Subtype: Specific format descriptor (blog, eBook, one-pager for Content; hosted, on-demand, sponsored for Webinars)
Date: Campaign launch date
Asset Name: Descriptive campaign identifier
The Salesforce Campaign Name field allows only 80 characters, making abbreviations essential for consistency across teams.
Acting Now to Establish Your Campaign Hierarchy
Without established architecture, campaigns proliferate without proper parent relationships or consistent naming, hindering reporting and performance analysis. The three-level hierarchy with proper nomenclature enables quick, accurate reporting.