The first two weeks of an ad management engagement set the tone for the whole relationship. When onboarding is rushed, campaigns launch on weak tracking and unclear goals, and the first monthly review turns into an argument about numbers. This checklist is what we walk through with new clients before any budget is spent.
Business context
- Products or services to promote, with margins and priorities
- Target markets and languages
- Current customers and best-performing segments
- Seasonal patterns and upcoming launches
Goals and constraints
- Primary goal: sales, leads, installs or awareness
- Target cost per result or ROAS, and how it was calculated
- Monthly budget per platform and market
- Claims and topics that legal or compliance must approve
Access and ownership
- Ad accounts, business managers and pixels: who owns them
- Analytics, tag manager and search console access
- Product feeds and catalogues
- Agreement on asset ownership if the engagement ends
Tracking
- Conversion events defined and tested
- Server-side events or offline conversions where relevant
- UTM naming convention
- CRM fields for lead source and quality
Creative
- Brand guidelines, existing assets, and approval process
- Who produces new creatives and how fast
Reporting
- Weekly update format and monthly review agenda
- Single source of truth for revenue or lead numbers
Billing
- Top-up process, service fee basis and invoicing entity
The first two weeks, in order
Week one is for access, tracking and goals. Do not launch campaigns until conversion events are verified with test conversions, because every decision later depends on that data. Week two is for the first campaigns: a small number of tests with clear hypotheses, budgets that can produce enough data, and a written note of what each test is meant to answer.
Common onboarding failures
The most frequent problems are predictable: tracking that double counts, ad accounts owned by a former agency, unclear approval for creatives, and goals that change in the first month. Each one can be caught with this checklist.
Kick-off meeting agenda
Introductions and roles, review of the checklist, agreement on goals and budget, creative plan, reporting cadence, and a list of open items with owners and dates. Send minutes the same day.
Thirty-day review
At the end of the first month, review what was learned, not just results: which tests answered their question, what changed in tracking, and what the next month's priorities are. Clients who see a clear learning process stay patient through the slower early weeks.
For how a structured management service runs and what it costs, see our overseas ad management service guide.
Published by PandaWM, an overseas marketing team based in Hong Kong.