A checklist before you launch on a new paid channel

Once you have shortlisted a channel (see how to shortlist two paid channels), settle these items before the first spend. Each is a question I would want answered in writing.

Account and ownership

1. The advertising account is created in your business name, and you are its owner or administrator.
2. Billing is set up through your business, and you know who receives the invoices.
3. If an agency or freelancer is involved, they have access you can remove, not ownership.
4. The time zone is right, because TikTok states on its page that the time zone entered at sign-up cannot be changed later^[5].

Objective

Choose the objective closest to the action you want. Meta says to pick the objective that most closely matches your overall marketing goal^[2], Snapchat lists its objectives at the start of its advertising page^[4], and LinkedIn says each campaign begins by choosing objectives^[3]. A campaign set to awareness is aimed at awareness. If you want enquiries, do not choose it because it looks cheaper to run.

Budget

Write down the monthly amount you will commit and for how long. Google’s help page says the daily cap is two times the average daily budget for most campaigns and the monthly cap is 30.4 times it, so a day can spend more than the daily figure^[1]. Check for minimums in your own account before you plan. TikTok states on the page I opened that a daily budget must be at least $50, and that a lifetime budget must exceed $50 times the delivery days^[6]. It is published by TikTok on the date I opened it and it may have changed. I did not find a stated minimum for the other platforms on the pages I opened, so I would ask in the account before assuming there is none.

Audience and creative

• The audience is written as a sentence you can read aloud, then translated into the platform’s options.
• You have the first month of creative ready, not planned. TikTok’s five steps end with choosing the video^[5].
• The landing page matches the ad and works on a phone.
• You know where each lead will land, who will reply to it, and how fast.

What counts as a result

Name the action that counts, such as a booked call or a paid order, and where it is recorded. The detail is in measuring your first paid channel and common mistakes. If you want tracking set up for you, my conversion tracking service is described on my own site, and the publisher disclosure applies: I sell it.

Terms, tax and advertising policies differ by business and by platform. Read each platform’s own rules and take professional advice where a legal or tax question arises. Back to which paid advertising channel to start with.