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Advertising Checklist

4.8/5 with 151 votes
Table of Contents

Introduction

Our Advertising Checklist provides a thorough guide to crafting effective advertising campaigns. From defining your goals and understanding your competition to creating impactful ad copy, this template covers all critical aspects of successful advertising. Use our Checklist App to save and customize the template to fit your unique needs. Collaborate with team members to ensure every detail is addressed, and stay organized as you execute your strategy. With features like syncing across devices, you can keep everyone informed and on track throughout the campaign process.
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Toggle Know Your Goals status

Know Your Goals

Toggle Why are you running this campaign? Are you advertising to increase your immediate cash flow or to increase exposure for you company? In other words, do you need to make money now with this campaign or are you advertising to expand your customer base for future promotions? status

Why are you running this campaign? Are you advertising to increase your immediate cash flow or to increase exposure for you company? In other words, do you need to make money now with this campaign or are you advertising to expand your customer base for future promotions?

Toggle Who is your target audience? Who do you hope to attract with your advertising? Are you trying to tell current clients about a new service or are you trying to attract new clients with an already existing service? status

Who is your target audience? Who do you hope to attract with your advertising? Are you trying to tell current clients about a new service or are you trying to attract new clients with an already existing service?

Toggle How much money do you need to make with this promotion? It's not unheard of for companies to run what they call a Loss Leader ad status

How much money do you need to make with this promotion? It's not unheard of for companies to run what they call a Loss Leader ad

With this type of advertising, you don't expect to make a profit off of the specific item you're advertising, in fact you may even show a loss. However, you gain it back and then some on the backend sales or future sales that you'll make as a result of the new clients you've attracted with your campaign.
Toggle What is your advertising budget? Keeping in mind whether you plan to make a profit off of your promotion or use it as a loss leader, and your overall business budget, how much money can you afford to spend specifically on advertising? status

What is your advertising budget? Keeping in mind whether you plan to make a profit off of your promotion or use it as a loss leader, and your overall business budget, how much money can you afford to spend specifically on advertising?

Toggle Know Your Competition status

Know Your Competition

Toggle What types of promotions are your competitors running? Are they promoting a specific product or service or have they put together an attractive package of products or services? status

What types of promotions are your competitors running? Are they promoting a specific product or service or have they put together an attractive package of products or services?

Toggle Who is their target audience? If you know your competition you should be able to tell from their ad what type of business they're trying to attract. status

Who is their target audience? If you know your competition you should be able to tell from their ad what type of business they're trying to attract.

Are they looking for new customers? Are they trying to attract seasonal business? Are they trying to lock in long term clients with a contract or membership fee?
Toggle What is their regular price on this product or service? Knowing your competition's regular price versus their sale price will give you an indication of their advertising goals status

What is their regular price on this product or service? Knowing your competition's regular price versus their sale price will give you an indication of their advertising goals

You'll be able to tell if they're using this promotion as a loss leader to attract future business and backend sales or if they're just trying to generate additional sales. If your goals differ from theirs, for example if they're willing to take a loss and you're not, then you may not want to try to compete with them on price alone.
Toggle Know Your Own Business status

Know Your Own Business

Toggle What types of promotions have been successful in the past? Always build on past successes and keep in mind what doesn't work, too. status

What types of promotions have been successful in the past? Always build on past successes and keep in mind what doesn't work, too.

Toggle How can you make your product more attractive? It's not always necessary to compete on price alone status

How can you make your product more attractive? It's not always necessary to compete on price alone

People are also interested in value. Compare your promotion to your competitor's and see what you can do to make your promotion more attractive without necessarily lowering the price.
Toggle Are you prepared for an increase in sales? Do you have enough product on hand to cover the expected increase in sales? Will you be able to meet the demand for increased services if you're a service provider? Nothing looks worse to potential new customers than for you to run out of your sale item on the first day of the sale. status

Are you prepared for an increase in sales? Do you have enough product on hand to cover the expected increase in sales? Will you be able to meet the demand for increased services if you're a service provider? Nothing looks worse to potential new customers than for you to run out of your sale item on the first day of the sale.

Toggle Are you prepared for future/backend sales? Especially if you're running some type of loss leader ad, are you prepared with additional related profit building items to promote to generate even more sales? For example, if you're having a sale on paint do you have extra paint brushes and painting supplies available at the regular price to help you make up the profits you're losing on the paint itself? status

Are you prepared for future/backend sales? Especially if you're running some type of loss leader ad, are you prepared with additional related profit building items to promote to generate even more sales? For example, if you're having a sale on paint do you have extra paint brushes and painting supplies available at the regular price to help you make up the profits you're losing on the paint itself?

Toggle Running Your Ad status

Running Your Ad

Toggle What type of advertising should you run? This is why you'll need to know who your target audience is and where you can find them. status

What type of advertising should you run? This is why you'll need to know who your target audience is and where you can find them.

Do they read the newspaper or get all of their information from the internet? Do they hang out in restaurants or bars or should you promote to them on campus? Do they read magazines and periodicals or do they hang out at the online social networks like Twitter and Facebook? Do you already have a list that you can promote to via email or would it be better if you made sales calls and presented your promotion face to face or over the phone?
Toggle The Ad Copy status

The Ad Copy

Toggle Does you ad copy get their attention? Effective sales copy starts off by creating a need in the reader's mind for you product or service. status

Does you ad copy get their attention? Effective sales copy starts off by creating a need in the reader's mind for you product or service.

For example Are You Suffering From Severe Back Pain? or Is The Bank About To Foreclose And Kick You Out Of Your Home?
Toggle Is your product or service clearly defined? The next step of your sales copy should tell your reader that your product will solve their problem status

Is your product or service clearly defined? The next step of your sales copy should tell your reader that your product will solve their problem

Our ABC Widget Instantly Relieves And Eliminates Back Pain or Our Expert Negotiators Can Save Your Home And Lower Your Payment.
Toggle Have you shown the features and benefits of your offer? Now you need to tell them how you product works and how that benefits them status

Have you shown the features and benefits of your offer? Now you need to tell them how you product works and how that benefits them

By Relieving The Pressure On Your Vertebrae, Our ABC Widget Instantly And Permanently Reduces Pain Causing Inflammation.
Toggle Have you clearly stated the price? Make sure your reader clearly understands the price of your offer and the value he's going to receive by showing your regular price versus you sales price and the amount of the savings. status

Have you clearly stated the price? Make sure your reader clearly understands the price of your offer and the value he's going to receive by showing your regular price versus you sales price and the amount of the savings.

Toggle Have you created a sense of urgency? Don't let your readers think that you're going to extend this price indefinitely or they'll never take action and buy status

Have you created a sense of urgency? Don't let your readers think that you're going to extend this price indefinitely or they'll never take action and buy

Let them know that this is a limited time offer or that supplies or limited.
Toggle Have you given a call to action? Tell your readers exactly what you want them to do status

Have you given a call to action? Tell your readers exactly what you want them to do

If you're advertising online then you want them to Click Here And Buy Now. If you're advertising in print then you want them to Pick Up That Phone Right Now And Call 123-4567.
Toggle Have you included contact information? Make sure they know how to contact you for more information or how to find your location status

Have you included contact information? Make sure they know how to contact you for more information or how to find your location

Give a clear address with easy to understand directions or a small map when using print advertising.
Toggle Increase The Effectiveness Of Your Ad status

Increase The Effectiveness Of Your Ad

Toggle Consult A Professional Copywriter status

Consult A Professional Copywriter

Regardless of how large or how small your business is or how much profit you hope to gain from your promotion, you goal is to increase exposure for your company and your sales copy is your one chance at making a good first impression. There are all sorts of psychological factors to take into consideration when writing sales copy, the font size, font face, font color, the words you use to create the need for your product and the words you use to create a sense of urgency. A professional copywriter has been trained to write sales copy that takes all of this into consideration and generates sales. Every penny you spend on advertising is important and you don't want to waste a single cent. Consult a professional copywriter before you run your next ad.

Download or Print this Advertising Checklist

Get a printable version of this checklist in your preferred format: PDF, Word, Excel, or print directly from your browser.

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Presented by:

Jake R Brady

Jake R Brady
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Tags

BusinessMarketingSmall Businesses

Details

This checklist can help you get the best return on your investment of advertising dollars possible. Creating an effective ad campaign, whether it's for your child's lemonade stand or your own Fortune 500 corporation, is a process that requires a certain amount of research and creativity. Follow our advertising checklist to get more out of your company's advertising budget.

Tips

  • Before you can run an ad you need to know what product or service you're going to advertise, and what price you're going to charge for it. You need to know what your competitors are charging for a similar product and how they're promoting it.
  • You need to know who they're promoting that product to and what benefits and features they're focusing on to make that product attractive to their target audience.  Once you've analyzed your competitors' ads the most important thing you need to do is compare that information to your own ad plan.
  • If you offer a similar item or service at the same price, will you be able to make a profit? Because you certainly don't want to lower your price just to make sales if you're going to be losing money in the process.
  • Is there something you can do to make your ad more attractive than your competitors' – perhaps a similar package of products but with a slightly different configuration?
  • You also need to consider your advertising medium. Where will your ad be seen by as many members of your targeted audience as possible and how much will that advertising cost you? And when you figure in the cost of advertising, along with the reduction in the price of your product, will you still be making a profit in some way?
  • One of the most important questions is how will this advertising expense affect your future sales?Are you using you ad campaign to attract new customers and future, more profitable business?  And the most crucial thing you need to learn is how to write effective sales copy.

Who it's for

This Advertising Checklist is for teams that want consistent execution, less rework, and clear ownership.

  • Standardize quality - run the same Advertising steps every time, regardless of who executes
  • Save time - reuse a proven Advertising workflow instead of rebuilding processes from scratch
  • Improve accountability - assign owners and see what's done vs. what's pending
  • Onboard faster - use the Advertising checklist as the SOP and training guide
  • Coordinate across roles - handoffs are clear and everyone works from the same source of truth

How to use it

How to use this Advertising Checklist:

  1. Start by saving it - save as a Template if you'll reuse it, or as a Checklist if it's a one-off project.
  2. Customize it once for your workflow - remove what doesn't apply and add your team-specific steps.
  3. Assign ownership and execute - set owners/due dates where needed and track completion as work happens.
  4. Reuse without rebuilding - when Advertising comes up again, start from your saved version and run it with clear ownership.

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