Your Paid Advertising Checklist: What Every Local Business Should Prepare Before Spending a Penny

For many local business owners, diving into paid advertising is the go-to move when they want leads — fast. Whether you’re launching Google Ads, Meta campaigns, or dipping into Performance Max, the temptation to “just get it live” can be strong.

But the truth is, paid advertising is not a magic tap. If your account, creative, tracking and customer journey aren’t properly set up beforehand, you’ll either waste budget or feed the platforms bad data — sometimes both.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to prepare before running paid ads, especially if you're a local business owner or working with a newly created ad account.

1. Get Clear on Your Offer and Ideal Customer

Before you even log into an ad platform, get absolutely clear on:

What you’re offering

Who it’s for

Why they should care right now

Vague campaigns like “See what we do” or “Learn more about our services” rarely perform.

Ad platforms are powerful but they are not mind readers. They need specificity to optimise correctly.

Example: “Book a free roof inspection in Bournemouth this week” is far more effective than “We’re local roofing specialists.”

Ask yourself: Is your offer time-sensitive or evergreen?

Are you solving a clear problem or offering something desirable?

Can your target customer understand your value in 3 seconds or less?

2. Create or Audit Your Landing Page

Sending traffic to your homepage rarely works well. Every paid campaign should point to a dedicated landing page that matches the message of your ad. That landing page should:

Load fast on mobile

Repeat the value proposition from the ad

Include one clear call to action (book, call, enquire)

Display social proof (reviews, testimonials, logos)

Avoid distractions like unnecessary menu links

Why this matters:

The ad platforms optimise for conversion. If your page confuses users or doesn’t clearly show them what to do next, your cost per lead will go up and the algorithm won’t have enough data to work with.

Pro tip: Use tools like Hotjar or Clarity to track behaviour on your landing page — you’ll often find small tweaks make big differences.

3. Set Up Tracking Properly From Day One

No conversion tracking = no learning = wasted budget.

You need to ensure:

Google Ads has conversion actions set up correctly (form fills, calls, purchases)

Meta Pixel or Conversion API is installed and tracking real actions

Consent mechanisms (like cookie banners) aren’t blocking tracking

Google Tag Manager is used for easier management if possible

Why this matters:

Platforms like Google and Meta use machine learning to optimise based on conversions. If conversions are not being tracked accurately, they will optimise for the wrong things — like link clicks or time on site — which are poor indicators of intent.

Example: A business targeting phone enquiries forgot to set up call tracking. The platform thought ‘viewing the contact page’ was a conversion, and spent thousands optimising for that, not actual leads.

4. Consider Legacy or Fresh Ad Accounts Carefully

If your business has run ads before, especially on Google or Meta, your account has a history — and that history affects performance. A brand new account has no conversion data, meaning the learning phase will be longer and your results may take time to stabilise.

An old account might have outdated or irrelevant data, such as past audiences, keywords or conversions that no longer reflect your target market.

What to do:

Audit legacy accounts: Remove outdated campaigns, clean up conversion actions, refresh your audiences

Use first-party data where possible: Upload CRM lists, segment customers by value or behaviour If needed, start fresh with a new account — but know the learning curve will start from zero

Pro insight: Some agencies keep old campaigns paused but active, to preserve account credibility, while launching new campaigns in a clean structure.

5. Prepare Your Creative Assets in Multiple Formats

One of the biggest time drains (and blockers) when launching ads is not having enough creative assets ready to go. Whether you’re using Meta, Google Display, YouTube, or Performance Max, you’ll need a range of:

Images in multiple sizes (square, landscape, portrait)

Short videos (15–30 seconds)

Headlines and descriptions

Logos and brand colours

For Google Performance Max in particular, you’ll need:

Up to 15 headlines

Up to 5 long headlines

Up to 5 descriptions

High-resolution images in at least 3 aspect ratios

At least 1 short video (if not provided, Google auto-generates poor ones)

Why this matters:

The platforms use creative variety to test and optimise. If you provide only one or two options, you’re limiting their ability to improve performance.

Also, assets that don’t fit the right size or ratio will be rejected or auto-cropped, which affects brand quality and CTR.

Example: A local gym supplied one banner image for their Meta campaign. After expanding to six ad variations with different formats, engagement increased by 220 percent.

6. Have a Solid Lead Handling Process in Place

Running ads without a follow-up system is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Before you go live:

Know who is responsible for replying to leads (and when)

Set up automated email or SMS follow-ups if possible

Have a CRM or lead tracker ready

Test your form submissions and booking system

Why this matters:

Speed to lead is everything. Most leads expect a response within 10 minutes. If they don’t hear back, they’re off to your competitor. If your follow-up is delayed or inconsistent, you’ll waste ad spend even if the ads themselves are working.

Pro tip: Use Calendly or similar tools to let prospects book directly into your diary, removing friction and reducing drop-offs.

7. Decide on Budget and Duration for Learning Phase

Every campaign needs a learning phase, where the platform gathers data to understand what works. During this time, performance can be unpredictable — which is normal.

A few things to keep in mind:

For Meta: Budget should allow at least 50 conversions per week for full optimisation

For Google: PMax and Search campaigns need a few weeks of steady data to adjust

Changing ads or budgets too frequently resets the learning phase Recommendation:

Commit to a minimum 2 to 4 weeks of consistent budget before making major judgments

Have realistic expectations: it’s about long-term growth, not instant wins

Monitor daily, optimise weekly, review monthly

Example: A Bournemouth removals company nearly paused their campaign after 5 days of slow leads. They stuck it out through the learning phase and are now generating £5 leads consistently.

Your Final Paid Ads Prep Checklist

Clear and specific offer

Dedicated landing page with one call to action

Accurate conversion tracking

Clean ad account setup

Multiple creative assets in all formats

Lead follow-up system ready to go

Minimum budget and time commitment defined

For Local Business Owners Running paid ads in 2025 can be a game changer for local businesses, but only if the foundation is solid. The platforms are smart, but they rely on your data, your creative, and your strategy to do their job. Before you spend a penny, make sure everything is in place.

That preparation is what separates businesses that waste money from those that turn ads into predictable growth.