The ad running checklist for pro’s

Ad running is all about precise optimization and making sure that the goals align well with the product at hand.

For beginners this article may feel a bit overwhelming but for those of you who are pros this can serve as an excellent checklist that you can keep on referring back to and forth.

What is your main goal?

When moving ahead with your ad campaigns the very first thing you need to understand what your brand's specific goal oriented KPIs are.

This can be very difficult to decide since all businesses and business needs differ from industry to Industry, but I good starting ground will be as follows;

• Consideration : The main point is to be able to drive engagement and traffic?
• Awareness : Expand brand the idea and the nature of your brand?
• Conversion : Basic lead generation and sales?

Once you narrow down these objectives as proper needs, half the work is done!

Dissect your audience graph?

This is where most of the deep level micro thinking takes place. Finding and narrowing down the audience is never going to be easy and for good reason. Finding your ideal audience is almost always hard but the better way to approach it is through the below three way;

• Analytical tools: The data tools are non-negotiable for laying a foundation because the insights are the most important part which is the most relevant use made from analyzing data.
• Define target persona: These can be found by understanding demographics, age, location etc.
• Define Look alike persona: Look alike audience are basically people who are most likely to check and engage rather than convert. These can be leveraged to keep the brand momentum relevant.

Which ad platform to choose??

Again to pass a verdict on this you need to sort out the above two sections. Audience behaviour differs extremely from person to person so choose your platforms wisely according to your calculated outcome.

Start with these pointers;

• Facebook/instagram ads : B2C outreach?
• Google ads : Based on intentional search?
• LinkedIn ads : Better B2B targeting?
• Titok/Snapchat ads : younger audience?

Choosing among these platforms depends upon your clear vision of your product and goals.

Now decide the budget

This is where the burn is really felt and most probably where it will really make a visible difference.?

This can be further simplified seeing it this way;

• Test budget : Always run a trial test on selected campaigns with moderate budget?
• Automated bidding : This refers to properly optimizing for ROAS and cost per acquisition?
• Selective running : spend most on highly content driven campaigns

These together ensure that your effort is foolproof at best!

Optimize your ads?

This is where your creative side must shine through at its best, for this you need to keep these criteria in mind.

• Content : consider the visual appeal, Copywriting hooks and clear CTA’s.?
• Format : try a mix of reels, carousals and statics to see which does better.
• User intent : Understand content expectations of your user and decide on favouring content that they most relate to.

Creative optimization is a very subjective and trial and error process so it’s important to keep in mind that there should be clear distinction regarding what’s really important at the moment.

Strategies for advanced targeting?

This is where you learn the best part of your Ad running efforts, there are plenty of strategies to choose from but the ones you can count on the most are listed below.

• Custom Audience : using CRM driven data to make use of fine tuning audience?
• Re-targeting : Re-engage those who have interacted with your touch-points like your website or handles in social media.
• Geo-targeting : target audiences in precise geographic locations.

These are very basic but have a worthy credibility on them!?

Some extra measures?

After all these extra steps there are few final touches that will perfectly finalize your efforts and help you reach maximum potential at best in terms of conversion and reach.

Structuring campaigns?

These will require few adjustments and some extra strategy structuring like the SKAG for google ads [single keyword ad group]. Social campaigns are better structured through audience struggles or funnels and at last a local naming convention for easy tracking and reporting.

Reporting and Analytics?

This is basically keeping in mind metrics like CTR, CPC, CPM, ROAS to track ROI. along with having third party dashboards and even the obvious google analytics, Meta Ads manager is of best use. Always give thought to cohort analysis and lifetime value tracking which can have massive insights on your next campaign.

Final tips?

• For the case of underperforming ads consider to keep them paused and reallocate budget based off of the output
• The main thing to adjust first hand is to keep an eye on creatives and the performance of it each time.
• Give automation tools a try as it can really change the game on how you can effortlessly streamline your ad campaign efforts.

Conclusion?

This whole article is meant to help you set up the best ad campaigns every single time without having to think twice. Since this whole article is in a checklist format you can easily take note or use it as a guide while you’re in the process.

Remember at the crux of running a successful campaign is your ability to draw insights from your underperforming ads and even the nearest trends at hand.