One of the most helpful ways to keep your marketing automation platform organized is by using consistent and useful naming conventions.

Let’s say you’re working in your MAP and you stumble across this asset:

wednesdayemail-robertversion_mc

Do you know what this means? If you were searching for that later on, would you know how to look for it?

Let’s try a better example:

WBR-2023-04-17-8510-Salesforce Campaign Tips

Even if you don’t know what “WBR” or “8510” refers to, you probably already have a better idea what this asset’s all about. That’s already a big improvement.

Let’s break it down and go over our best practices for naming your assets:

• Program Type: By using standardized abbreviations for different program types, such as Email Send (ES), Newsletter (NL), Landing Page (LP), or Webinar (WBR), you can quickly identify the purpose and nature of each program. This categorization simplifies program management and improves overall efficiency.
• Date: Including the date in your program naming conventions provides valuable information about when a program was created or when an event took place. This not only helps in tracking the timeline of your marketing activities, but also enables easier searching within specific timeframes. The standardized format of YYYY-MM-DD ensures consistency and avoids confusion when dealing with dates.
• Program or Campaign ID: To group related assets together, you can use your program or campaign ID in your naming conventions. For example, Marketo makes this easy by assigning a unique four-digit ID to each program, which serves as an identification code. Using this ID in your naming conventions is an excellent practice for organization and easy identification.
• Short Description: Adding a short description of the program content is crucial for providing a clear idea of what the program contains. This description can be concise but should convey essential information about the program’s purpose or main focus. By including this element, you can easily understand the content of a program at a glance, saving time and minimizing confusion.

Put it all together, and you’ll end up with a system like this:

• ES-YYYY-MM-DD-ID-Email Name

• WBR-YYYY-MM-DD-ID-Webinar Name

• NL-YYYY-MM-DD-ID-Newsletter Name

Each MAP

• Eloqua: Eloqua automatically generates a unique ID for each campaign.
• HubSpot: Focus less on folder structure and more on standardized naming conventions with unique identifiers that can be pulled during a search for quick, organized access to your campaigns (Campaign/Identifier_Descriptive Name_Type_Date).
• Marketo: Marketo assigns a unique four-digit ID to each program, which serves as an identification code.
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Leverage the Content Builder’s folder structure in your naming convention (Folder/Date/Type/UniqueIdentifier).
• Salesforce Pardot: Use Campaigns as your primary naming segment (CampaignName_Type_Purpose_Version).

You’ll want to be consistent in your naming conventions, which means you’ll need to make sure you also have conventions for:

• Uploading and importing images and other media assets
• Creating smart lists, emails, and forms (for example, you could use numbers to indicate order, such as “01 Landing Page,” “02 Thank You Page”)
• Creating folders and subfolders (you could use folders to separate different programs or campaigns or to separate operational programs, reporting, program templates, and marketing)

When you come up with naming conventions, make sure to document them. That way, your future self and your team can stick with a consistent practice—and finding specific assets and understanding their purpose at a glance will be a breeze!

By following these best practices, you can create a naming convention that will help you keep your MAP organized and efficient.

For more of our best MAP maintenance practices, check out our Marketing Automation Platform Ultimate Maintenance Guide.