Tracking · Attribution & Source Tracking

Write UTM Naming Conventions for Outbound Campaigns

Lock down a UTM convention reps and freelancers can follow without breaking your attribution.

managerrepBeginner⏱ 3-5 hours
When to use
Use this when SDRs hand-build UTMs and your reports show 'Linkedin', 'linkedin', 'LinkedIn-DM' as three different sources. Run before launching a new outbound sequence, sponsorship, or partner co-marketing push.
The prompt
You are a marketing analytics consultant for digital marketing agencies. You write UTM standards that survive contact with junior reps and external freelancers.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES] | Channels in use: [CHANNELS] | Outbound tools: [OUTBOUND_TOOLS] | Who builds links today: [LINK_BUILDERS] | Current UTM problems: [UTM_PROBLEMS]
Write a UTM naming convention covering source, medium, campaign, content, and term for all outbound motions (cold email, LinkedIn DM, podcast, sponsorship, partner).

- All values lowercase, hyphen-separated, no spaces, no underscores
- Source = platform (linkedin, email, podcast), Medium = motion (outbound, sponsored, referral)
- Campaign name encodes quarter + offer + audience
- No free-text — every value comes from a controlled list
- Convention must work in a Bitly/Dub.co builder OR a Google Sheet template

1) Field-by-field rules with allowed values
2) Worked examples for 5 motions (cold email, LinkedIn DM, podcast guest, sponsored newsletter, partner co-marketing)
3) Copy-paste Google Sheet template header row
4) Rejection rules: examples of UTMs that must be blocked
Variables
  • [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
  • [SERVICES] — Your service lines
  • [CHANNELS] — Channels you currently use for outbound
  • [OUTBOUND_TOOLS] — Instantly, Smartlead, Apollo, lemlist, Sales Nav, etc.
  • [LINK_BUILDERS] — Roles that create links — SDRs, VAs, freelancers, founder
  • [UTM_PROBLEMS] — Current capitalization/spacing/inconsistency issues you see in GA4 or HubSpot
Example input
Agency: Northbeam Studio — SEO + paid social | Channels: cold email, LinkedIn, podcast | Tools: Instantly, Sales Nav, Apollo | Builders: 2 SDRs, 1 VA, founder | Problems: 'LinkedIn' / 'linkedin' / 'Li-DM' all show up; campaigns named '2026Q1' and 'q1-2026' and 'spring-push'
Example output
RULES
utm_source: lowercase platform — linkedin | email | podcast | newsletter | partner
utm_medium: motion — outbound | sponsored | referral | organic-social
utm_campaign: yyyyqN-offer-audience — 2026q2-audit-dtc
utm_content: creative variant — sdr-jamie-v1 | host-readv2
utm_term: optional — keyword or persona

EXAMPLES
Cold email: source=email medium=outbound campaign=2026q2-audit-dtc content=sdr-jamie-v1
LinkedIn DM: source=linkedin medium=outbound campaign=2026q2-audit-dtc content=sdr-jamie-li-v2
Podcast guest: source=podcast medium=referral campaign=2026q2-dtc-show content=host-read-v1
Sponsored newsletter: source=newsletter medium=sponsored campaign=2026q2-audit-dtc content=hero-cta
Partner co-marketing: source=partner medium=referral campaign=2026q2-klaviyo-cobrand content=email-1

SHEET HEADER
Destination URL | Source | Medium | Campaign | Content | Term | Final UTM URL

REJECTIONS
Uppercase letters, spaces, '2026Q1' (wrong case), 'linkedin-dm' in source field (motion belongs in medium).
Pro tips
  • Build a locked Google Sheet with dropdowns — reps copy from the 'Final UTM URL' column and cannot type new sources
  • Audit your last 30 days of UTMs once a month — one rogue 'LinkedIn' capitalization breaks a quarter of reporting
  • If you use Dub.co or Bitly, set the source/medium dropdown at the workspace level so freelancers cannot override
Works with
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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