Read left to right, it says who the work is for, where it sits in the manuscript, and which stage of your buyer’s journey it serves.
The first part is a short code for your company. The middle part is the location—chapter, then section, then the specific piece. So § 1.1.1 is Chapter 1, section 1, first piece: the messaging document. The last part is the funnel stage.
This helps us keep track of what we’re producing and how it serves the overall story, business, and performance data, particularly when it comes to the monthly audit. Creating a systematic way to track and report on our work also allows AI agents to better analyze the data and provide strategic insights.
The four stages
The stage is a separate axis from the location. A piece always has both, which is what lets us answer a question most marketing reporting cannot: not just what did we make, but which part of the buying journey did we actually serve.
It is also how imbalance becomes visible. A quarter that produced eleven A1 pieces and nothing at A3 is a quarter that filled the top of the funnel and left the bottom alone. That is sometimes the right call. It should never be an accident.