How to Create a Campaign in Salesforce: A Comprehensive Guide

Your marketing team just spent weeks planning the perfect product launch. The messaging is crisp, the assets look great, and everyone’s excited about the potential impact. But when it’s time to track results, chaos erupts. Some leads are tracked in spreadsheets, others in your email platform, and no one can tell which opportunities actually came from the launch activities. When the VP of Marketing asks for ROI numbers, your team scrambles to piece together fragments of data that never quite tell the complete story.

This scenario plays out in companies every day. Marketing teams invest significant resources in campaigns but struggle to connect those efforts to actual business outcomes. The disconnect isn’t just frustrating—it’s expensive. Without proper campaign tracking, marketing budgets get allocated based on gut feelings rather than data, sales teams miss critical context about prospect engagement, and executives make decisions without understanding which marketing investments actually drive revenue.

Salesforce campaigns solve this problem by creating a structured framework for planning, executing, and measuring marketing initiatives. When implemented correctly, campaigns become the connective tissue between marketing activities and sales outcomes, enabling true ROI measurement and data-driven decision making.

This guide walks you through the complete process of creating campaigns in Salesforce—from initial setup and permissions to advanced hierarchy strategies and performance measurement. Whether you’re just getting started with Salesforce or looking to optimize your existing campaign structure, you’ll find actionable steps to transform how your organization tracks and measures marketing impact.

Before diving into the technical aspects of campaign creation, let’s understand what’s really at stake. Campaigns aren’t just administrative records—they’re strategic assets that solve specific business problems:

• Marketing Attribution: Without campaigns, marketing teams can’t prove which activities influenced deals. With proper campaign structure, you can show exactly which marketing efforts contributed to each closed opportunity.
• Budget Justification: Marketing leaders defend budgets based on results. Campaigns provide the hard numbers that demonstrate marketing’s contribution to revenue.
• Sales-Marketing Alignment: Sales reps who can see a prospect’s campaign history understand the context of each conversation. Campaigns bridge the information gap between teams.
• Performance Optimization: When you can measure which campaigns generate the most opportunities at the lowest cost, you can shift resources toward what works.

Organizations that implement campaigns effectively see measurable improvements in marketing ROI, sales cycle length, and cross-team collaboration. The technical setup we’ll cover next enables these business outcomes.

Setting Up Permissions: The Foundation of Campaign Management

The most common roadblock to effective campaign management happens before you create your first campaign—inadequate permissions. Let’s solve this upfront.

The Critical Marketing User Checkbox

Here’s a scenario that happens constantly: A marketing manager tries to create a campaign, clicks around the Salesforce interface looking for the right button, and eventually calls IT in frustration because the option simply isn’t there. The culprit? A single checkbox.

Unlike most Salesforce permissions that are managed through profiles, the ability to create campaigns requires a special setting called the “Marketing User” checkbox. Without this enabled, users simply cannot create or edit campaigns—regardless of their other permissions.

To enable this setting:

1. Navigate to Setup
2. In the Quick Find box, type “Users”
3. Click on the user who needs campaign creation access
4. Click “Edit”
5. Check the “Marketing User” checkbox
6. Save the changes

This single setting is the gatekeeper to campaign creation. If your team members can’t create campaigns, this is almost always the reason.

Additional Required Permissions

Beyond the Marketing User checkbox, users also need:

• Read/Create/Edit access to Campaigns (through their profile or permission sets)
• Edit access to Leads and Contacts (to add them as campaign members)
• Delete access to Campaigns (if they’ll need to merge campaigns)

Rather than giving full admin access to marketing users, create a focused permission set that grants only what’s needed for campaign management. This balances security with functionality.

Creating Your First Campaign in Salesforce Lightning

With permissions in place, let’s create your first campaign. The process is straightforward but requires attention to detail for maximum value.

Step 1: Navigate to the Campaigns Tab

Start by clicking the App Launcher (the nine dots in the upper left corner), then select “Marketing” or search for “Campaigns.” Once on the Campaigns page, click the “New” button in the upper right corner.

Step 2: Enter Basic Campaign Information

The campaign creation form requires several key pieces of information:

• Campaign Name: Create a descriptive name that clearly identifies the campaign purpose. Follow a consistent naming convention like “2023-Q2-Product Launch-Email Series” rather than vague names like “April Marketing.”
• Active: Check this box if the campaign is currently running. This controls whether the campaign appears in certain selection lists and influences opportunities.
• Type: Select the campaign type from options like Email, Webinar, Trade Show, or others. Your admin may have customized these options for your business.
• Status: Indicate whether the campaign is Planned, In Progress, Completed, or Aborted.
• Start Date and End Date: Define when the campaign begins and ends. These dates enable time-based reporting and can trigger automated workflows.

Step 3: Add Financial Information

Don’t skip the financial fields—they’re critical for ROI calculation:

• Budgeted Cost: Enter the planned spending for this campaign.
• Actual Cost: Update this after the campaign with what you actually spent.
• Expected Revenue: Estimate the revenue you expect this campaign to generate.

Organizations that diligently track campaign costs can calculate true ROI, while those that skip these fields are left guessing about campaign performance.

Step 4: Complete Additional Details and Save

Fill in any custom fields your organization has added, then click “Save.” Congratulations—you’ve created your first campaign! But an empty campaign provides little value. Next, we’ll populate it with members and configure how you’ll track engagement.

Adding Campaign Members: Connecting People to Your Campaign

A campaign without members is like a party without guests—it exists, but it’s not accomplishing much. Let’s add people to your campaign.

Understanding Campaign Members

Campaign members are the leads, contacts, or person accounts that participate in your campaign. Each person can only appear once in a specific campaign (no duplicates), but can be in multiple different campaigns. When you add someone to a campaign, you’re creating a relationship that lets you track their engagement with that marketing initiative.

Methods for Adding Campaign Members

Salesforce offers multiple ways to add campaign members, depending on your needs:

Method 1: Add Individual Members

From a lead or contact record, scroll to the Campaign History related list and click “Add to Campaign.” Select your campaign and the member status, then save. This works well for adding specific people one at a time.

Method 2: Add Members from a Report

For adding larger groups based on specific criteria:

1. Run a report of leads or contacts that match your target criteria
2. Click the checkbox at the top to select all records (or select specific ones)
3. Click the “Add to Campaign” button
4. Select your campaign and member status, then save

This method is perfect for targeting segments like “All contacts in the healthcare industry” or “Leads created in the last 30 days.”

Method 3: Use the Manage Members Function

From your campaign record, click the “Manage Members” button and select “Add Members.” You can add members using a campaign, report, or list view. This centralized function gives you multiple options in one place.

Method 4: Import from External Files

If you have member data in a CSV file (like an event attendee list from a third-party platform), use the import wizard to add them to your campaign. This method works well for integrating external marketing data with Salesforce.

Configuring Campaign Member Statuses

Member statuses are how you track engagement levels within your campaign. By default, Salesforce provides two statuses: “Sent” and “Responded.” For most campaigns, you’ll want to create additional statuses that match your specific campaign journey.

To configure campaign member statuses:

1. From your campaign record, scroll to the Campaign Member Statuses related list
2. Click “Advanced Setup” (or “Edit” in some versions)
3. Add new statuses that reflect your campaign stages
4. Set a default status (typically “Sent”)
5. Mark which statuses count as “Responded” (for tracking response rates)
6. Save your changes

For example, an event campaign might use statuses like:

• Invited (default)
• Registered (responded = yes)
• Attended (responded = yes)
• No-Show (responded = no)
• Followed Up (responded = yes)

These statuses should follow a logical progression that matches how people engage with your campaign. Planning your statuses before launching your campaign prevents headaches later.

Building Campaign Hierarchies for Complex Marketing Programs

Individual campaigns work well for simple marketing initiatives, but most organizations run complex, multi-channel programs that are better managed as related campaigns. This is where campaign hierarchies become essential.

Parent and Child Campaign Relationships

A campaign hierarchy creates parent-child relationships between campaigns. The parent campaign represents the overall marketing initiative, while child campaigns represent specific tactics or channels within that initiative.

For example, a product launch might include:

• Parent Campaign: Q2 2023 Product Launch
• Child Campaigns:
  • Q2 2023 Product Launch – Email Series
  • Q2 2023 Product Launch – Webinar
  • Q2 2023 Product Launch – Social Media
  • Q2 2023 Product Launch – Industry Event

This structure allows you to measure both the performance of individual tactics (child campaigns) and the overall initiative (parent campaign).

Creating a Parent Campaign

To create a parent campaign, simply follow the standard campaign creation process we covered earlier. There’s no special “parent” designation during creation—any campaign can become a parent when child campaigns are linked to it.

Creating Child Campaigns

To create a child campaign:

1. Start the normal campaign creation process
2. In the “Parent Campaign” field, use the lookup to select the appropriate parent
3. Complete the rest of the campaign information
4. Save the campaign

The child campaign now appears in the “Child Campaigns” related list on the parent campaign record, creating a visual hierarchy.

Leveraging Hierarchy Metrics

One of the most powerful features of campaign hierarchies is automatic rollup of key metrics. Fields that end with “in Hierarchy” (like “Total Responses in Hierarchy”) automatically sum the values from all child campaigns.

For example, if your three child campaigns have 10, 15, and 25 responses respectively, the parent campaign will show 50 “Total Responses in Hierarchy” without any manual calculation. This rollup provides instant visibility into the overall performance of your marketing program.

Campaign hierarchies should reflect how your organization actually thinks about marketing initiatives. If you organize by quarter, then by product line, then by channel, your hierarchy should follow that same structure.

Tracking Campaign Influence and ROI

The ultimate goal of campaign management is connecting marketing efforts to revenue outcomes. Salesforce’s pipeline tracking capabilities combined with campaign influence features make this possible.

Understanding Campaign Influence Models

Campaign influence creates the connection between campaigns and opportunities (deals). Salesforce offers several influence models:

• Primary Campaign Source: Attributes 100% of the opportunity value to a single campaign
• First Touch: Credits the first campaign that engaged the contact
• Last Touch: Credits the most recent campaign before opportunity creation
• Even Distribution: Splits credit equally among all influential campaigns
• Custom Model: Allows custom attribution percentages based on your business rules

Many organizations start with Primary Campaign Source for simplicity, then evolve to more sophisticated models as their campaign management matures.

Calculating Campaign ROI

With campaign costs tracked and influence connecting campaigns to opportunities, you can calculate true ROI:

ROI = ((Campaign Revenue – Campaign Cost) / Campaign Cost) × 100%

For example, a campaign that cost $10,000 and generated $50,000 in revenue has an ROI of 400%:

ROI = (($50,000 – $10,000) / $10,000) × 100% = 400%

This calculation provides concrete evidence of marketing’s contribution to the business and helps prioritize future investments toward high-performing campaign types.

Creating Campaign Influence Reports

To visualize campaign influence, create reports that show which campaigns are driving the most revenue. Salesforce reports can be configured to show:

• Campaigns with the highest ROI
• Campaigns influencing the most opportunities
• Opportunity revenue by campaign type
• Campaign influence across different sales stages

These reports transform campaign data from record-keeping to strategic insight, enabling data-driven marketing decisions.

Integrating Campaigns with Marketing Automation

Salesforce campaigns become even more powerful when integrated with marketing automation platforms. These integrations automate campaign member updates based on prospect behavior, creating a seamless flow of engagement data.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration

Salesforce integration between Marketing Cloud and campaigns allows for sophisticated journey tracking. When prospects engage with emails, forms, or landing pages in Marketing Cloud, their campaign member status updates automatically in Salesforce. This integration provides real-time visibility into campaign performance without manual data entry.

Third-Party Marketing Automation Integration

If you use platforms like Marketo, HubSpot, or Pardot (Account Engagement), similar integrations can be established. These integrations typically use Salesforce integration tools to sync campaign members and their engagement status between systems.

The key to successful integration is mapping engagement actions in your marketing platform to appropriate campaign member statuses in Salesforce. For example, when someone opens an email in your marketing platform, their status might update to “Email Opened” in the Salesforce campaign.

Advanced Campaign Strategies and Best Practices

As your campaign management matures, consider these advanced strategies to maximize value:

Establish Consistent Naming Conventions

Create and enforce campaign naming conventions that make campaigns easily identifiable and sortable. A good convention might include:

• Year/Quarter
• Business Unit or Product Line
• Campaign Type
• Channel or Tactic

Example: “2023-Q2-Enterprise-ProductLaunch-Webinar”

Consistent naming makes campaigns easier to find, report on, and understand at a glance.

Standardize Campaign Member Statuses by Type

Create standard sets of campaign member statuses for each campaign type. For example, all webinar campaigns should use the same status progression, and all email campaigns should use their own consistent set of statuses. This standardization improves reporting consistency and user adoption.

Implement Approval Processes

For organizations with significant marketing budgets, implement approval processes for campaigns. Salesforce workflow automation can route campaigns for approval based on budget thresholds, ensuring proper oversight of marketing investments.

Leverage Campaign Automation

Use Salesforce automation to reduce manual work:

• Automatically update campaign statuses based on dates
• Create child campaigns from templates when a parent campaign is approved
• Update campaign member statuses based on opportunity stages
• Send alerts when campaign metrics fall below targets

These automations ensure consistent campaign management while reducing administrative burden.

Integrate with Salesforce Products

Connect campaigns to Salesforce products to track which products are promoted by which campaigns. This connection enables product-specific campaign ROI analysis and helps product managers understand which marketing efforts drive adoption of their products.

Creating Campaign Reports and Dashboards

Effective reporting transforms campaign data into actionable insights. Here are key reports to consider:

Campaign Performance Report

This report shows high-level metrics across all campaigns, including:

• Number of members
• Response rate
• Number of opportunities influenced
• Revenue generated
• ROI

Sort by ROI to quickly identify your highest-performing campaigns.

Campaign Influence Report

This report shows which campaigns are influencing the most opportunities and revenue. Filter by date range, campaign type, or business unit to understand which marketing efforts drive the most business value.

Campaign Trend Dashboard

Create a dashboard that shows campaign performance trends over time. Include charts for:

• Monthly campaign responses
• Response rates by campaign type
• Cost per response over time
• ROI by campaign type

This dashboard helps identify seasonal patterns and long-term trends in campaign performance.

How to Create a Campaign Report

To create a basic campaign performance report:

1. Navigate to the Reports tab
2. Click “New Report”
3. Select “Campaigns” as the report type
4. Add columns for key metrics (Name, Type, Status, Number of Responses, etc.)
5. Add filters to focus on relevant campaigns (e.g., active campaigns, specific date range)
6. Group by Type or other dimensions for easier analysis
7. Add conditional highlighting to identify high and low performers
8. Save and run the report

Regular reporting cadences help marketing teams stay accountable and continuously improve campaign performance.

Enhancing Campaigns with Revenue Grid

While Salesforce provides robust campaign functionality, organizations looking to maximize marketing and sales alignment can leverage Revenue Grid to take campaign effectiveness to the next level.

Revenue Grid enhances Salesforce campaigns in several key ways:

• Automatic Activity Capture: Every email, meeting, and call with campaign members is automatically logged, providing complete visibility into sales follow-up on marketing campaigns.
• Engagement Insights: See which campaign members are most engaged based on their interactions with your sales team, not just marketing assets.
• Revenue Intelligence: Advanced revenue analytics connect campaign influence to pipeline progression, showing which campaigns not only generate opportunities but help move them through the sales process.
• Guided Selling: Provide sales reps with next-best-actions based on campaign member engagement, ensuring consistent follow-up on marketing-generated leads.

By combining Salesforce campaigns with Revenue Grid’s capabilities, organizations create a closed loop between marketing activities and sales outcomes, maximizing the return on marketing investments and accelerating revenue growth.

Conclusion: From Campaign Creation to Revenue Impact

Creating campaigns in Salesforce is just the beginning of a journey toward data-driven marketing. When implemented effectively, campaigns transform marketing from a cost center to a revenue driver with measurable impact on business outcomes.

The process we’ve covered—from setting permissions and creating campaign records to building hierarchies and measuring influence—creates the infrastructure for marketing accountability. Each step builds on the previous one, creating increasingly sophisticated capabilities for tracking, measuring, and optimizing marketing performance.

As you implement campaigns in your organization, remember that the technical setup is only valuable if it enables better business decisions. The goal isn’t perfect campaign records—it’s understanding which marketing investments drive revenue so you can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

Start with the fundamentals, establish consistent processes, and gradually add sophistication as your team’s capabilities grow. With each campaign you create, you’ll gain insights that make the next one more effective, creating a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement.

Book a demo with Revenue Grid to see how our platform can enhance your Salesforce campaigns with automatic activity capture, engagement insights, and revenue intelligence that connects marketing efforts directly to sales outcomes.