A free, open book · 12 chapters and 9 appendix pages · 13 videos, about 63 min
The Marketing Taxonomy
Guide
How a marketing team keeps its campaign data trustworthy as it grows, from the first UTM parameter to one taxonomy across agencies and regions. One running case from start to finish, figures built from real values, a self-check in every chapter. No email gate.
The system
five parts
- 1DimensionsDecide what to measure, from the report backwards.Ch 1
- 2RulesApproved values and naming conventions that encode the dimensions.Ch 2, 3, 4, 6
- 3WorkflowLinks made in one place, from the approved lists.Ch 5, 9, 10
- 4AuditingCatch drift before it reaches a decision.Ch 8
- 5AutomationCarry the same values into the CRM and the warehouse.Ch 7, 11
Contents
IntroStart here: The Marketing Taxonomy GuideThe question you came with, the one idea the book rests on (UTMs are one envelope; the taxonomy is the asset), a map of the book, and one way to start this week.~8 min· ▶ 4 min video
Part I
The letter and the link
What you want to see in your reports, how analytics reads a visit, how a value behaves, and the ways to structure a name.
- 1What Do You Want to See?The reports you need decide which facts your links must record, because nothing can be added to a click after it's made.~8 min· ▶ 4 min video
- 2How Analytics Reads a VisitWhy the browser can say where a click came from but not why, how the link carries the why in five fixed slots, and how analytics turns them into channels.~10 min· ▶ 4 min video
- 3How a Value BehavesAnalytics reads every value literally: by the exact string, sorted as text, split where you put separators. What that means for case, dates, delimiters and the lists you allow.~11 min· ▶ 5 min video
- 4Taxonomy TypesFlat, Structured, Key-Value and Opaque ID: what each packs into one slot, what it takes to read it back, what each survives, and what each asks of your team.~11 min· ▶ 5 min video
Part II
The letter's journey
The same letter as it travels through channels, ad platforms, the CRM and the warehouse.
- 5Who Writes the LinkEvery channel runs on the same rules. What differs is who writes the final link (you, a platform, a redirect, a printer) and what can change it on the way to the address bar.~10 min· ▶ 4 min video
- 6Ad Platform NamesSpend leaves the ad platform with its names and without its UTMs, so the campaign name is the key that joins spend to revenue: how the join works, where it runs, what each level of a name carries, and how far to trust the platform's own numbers.~10 min· ▶ 5 min video
- 7The CRM and the WarehouseAnalytics stops at the visit. How your values reach the lead, the deal and the revenue: hidden form fields, first, last or every touch, and the join that puts spend and revenue on one row.~10 min· ▶ 5 min video
Part III
Keeping it true
How mistakes get in and get seen, where links get made, and who owns the rules as they change.
- 8Mistakes and AuditsNo tool stops every mistake. What validation can and can't stop, why consistent values make a wrong row stand out, and how an audit makes sure someone looks.~11 min· ▶ 6 min video
- 9Where Links Get MadeA tool is worth what it refuses at the moment a link is made. The tool ladder, five ways to break your own rules on every rung, and the workflow around the tool: one stage, or two where several teams share a campaign.~12 min· ▶ 7 min video
- 10Ownership and ChangeEvery taxonomy changes. Who owns it, how each change goes on the record (a version, a date, a mapping), and how to run a change as a period: before, cutover, overlap and close.~12 min· ▶ 6 min video
Part IV
Reading it
What a report can credit, and the whole map.
- 11AttributionA model decides who wins the credit for a sale; the taxonomy decides who is in the race. Five models on one $140 order, three taxonomy what-ifs, and what clicks can't see.~12 min· ▶ 6 min video
- 12Where You StandThe first question, answered: either spelling, as long as it's the only one on the list. Then the index card read against the tool map, and how to find where you stand on both.~6 min· ▶ 4 min video
Appendix
Reference
Look-up material: terms, values, where to click.
- Glossary~12 minEvery term the book teaches, in one line each, as the chapter that teaches it uses it, with a link to that chapter.
- UTM Cheat Sheet: Values and Where to Click~24 minValues for every channel, the field to put them in on Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta and LinkedIn, what each email platform writes, and the lookups for links on the way: anatomy, redirects, lead forms, test clicks and changing your taxonomy. Every vendor fact sourced and dated.
- When You Inherit a Mess~3 minYears of links tagged with no list, and now they're yours. The order of work: catalog every value, map it to a target taxonomy, stop new mess at the source, then read the history through the map.
- UTM Tracking in Google Analytics 4~11 minHow GA4 reads a tagged link: the dimension each parameter fills, the three scopes, the channel rules, attribution defaults, auto-tagging, report limits and the BigQuery fields, each from Google's own documentation.
- The Tool Landscape~7 minNamed examples for each of the tool map's six stages, from making links to reading reports, with the vendor specifics the chapters moved out: which UTM values each product reads, where it keeps them, and the date each line was checked.
Appendix
Field guides
The guide retold for one role or one business.
- Executive Summary: Marketing Taxonomy Governance~5 minThe five-minute business case for marketing leaders: what fragmented campaign data costs, what fixes it, and the five questions to put to your team.
- For Data Teams: UTM Data in the Warehouse~6 minThe chapters' rules as the warehouse model every report reads: the campaign dimension, cleaning, the mapping table, channel grouping, parsing and versions, the spend join, touch history and the checks.
- E-Commerce Playbook~5 minWhere an online store's extras land on the book's mechanisms: product lines on the link, feed ads where the platform writes the link, affiliates, seasonal flights dated by launch month, and orders joined to spend.
- Agency Playbook~7 minOnboarding a client, one master list or a copy per client, making links across clients, reading clients side by side, and the hybrid splits between agency and client.