Setup stages 1 to 3 in get started have to be done first. Without naming conventions and a brand system, you’ll be inventing both while under deadline.
Before you start
The path
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1. Fill in the campaign brief
Copy the marketing campaign brief and fill it in. Pull the customer profile from the library by name, and pull the message pillar from messaging. Don’t rewrite either.Full detail: campaign brief process.
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2. Name the campaign
Build the campaign name from campaign naming conventions before you build anything in a platform. Renaming later breaks the join between platform data and your reporting.Then name the ad sets or ad groups from ad set, ad group and variant naming conventions, and the ads from ad name conventions.
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3. Build the tracking
Tag every destination link using UTM standards. The UTM values have to match the campaign name values, or platform spend and analytics conversions cannot be joined.If the campaign fires new events, add them to the event tracking plan first.
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4. Check what already exists
Before briefing anything new, check the asset directory. An approved asset that already exists, or crops to fit, is faster than a brief and has cleared review. Same for words: search the copy drive before writing fresh.
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5. Brief the creative and copy
Creative concept goes in a creative brief, following the creative brief process. The words go in a copy brief. Both link back to the campaign brief rather than restating the strategy.Walkthroughs: brief creative and write copy.If the campaign needs a destination page, check the landing page library first, then see build a landing page.
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6. Get approvals
Brand sign-off runs through the brand approval process. Anything with a claim, a price, or a comparison also goes through legal review.
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7. Build it in the platform
Hand off to the process for your platform. Each one covers the platform brief, the build levels, the specs, and the pre-launch checklist.
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8. QA and launch
Run the campaign QA checklist and the campaign launch checklist across the whole campaign, alongside the platform’s own pre-launch pass.
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9. File everything
Save the campaign brief to the campaigns library. Save the creative brief to the creative brief library and the copy brief to the copy brief library. A brief nobody filed is a campaign nobody can learn from.
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10. Report and close out
The campaign’s rows flow into the flat file and appear in weekly reports automatically if the naming and UTMs are right.When the campaign ends, run the campaign retrospective and link the outcome back to the brief in the library.
What you should have at the end
- A campaign brief in the campaigns library, with the outcome linked to it.
- A platform brief filed alongside it.
- Platform names that match your conventions exactly, unedited since build.
- UTMs that join cleanly to those names in the flat file.
- Creative and copy briefs in their libraries, with the finished assets linked from them.
Related resources
- Marketing campaign brief The workbook this task centers on.
- Campaign brief process The detailed process behind step 1.
- Asset directory Where existing assets live, before you brief new ones.
- Name something If you’re unsure which convention applies.
- Report on results What happens after the campaign runs.
- Campaign structure best practices What to get right at build time.