Free Paid Media Checklist
Find out where your paid media is leaking budget — in under 60 minutes.
How to Use This Page
Open Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, and your analytics platform before you start. For each question mark your answer: Yes · Partially · No / Not sure.
Count your Yes answers at the end.
Section 1 — Tracking & Measurement
Without accurate tracking, every other decision is built on guesswork.
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1. Is conversion tracking firing correctly on all key actions — purchase, lead, sign-up — across every platform
(Check: GA4 and your platform pixel are both recording the same events)
2. Do you have a defined attribution model — and does your whole team agree on it?
(Check: alignment between marketing and finance on what counts as a conversion)
3. Can you report on Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by channel — not just platform ROAS?
(Check: blended CAC includes all media spend, not just cost inside a single platform)
4. Do you track new customer revenue separately from returning customer revenue?
(Check: paid media should optimise for new customers — mixing the two distorts the picture)
5. Is your payback period defined — and are campaigns structured to optimise toward it?
(Check: a 90-day vs 12-month payback target changes bidding strategy significantly)
Section 2 — Audience & Targeting
Reaching the wrong people costs just as much as reaching the right people at the wrong time.
6. Is your Ideal Customer Profile documented and actively reflected in your targeting setup?
(Check: demographics, interests, and lookalikes should match your real best buyers — not all buyers)
7. Are existing customers excluded from acquisition campaigns?
(Check: suppress current customer lists from top-of-funnel to avoid wasting acquisition budget)
8. Do you have a functioning retargeting strategy — with frequency caps in place?
(Check: retargeting should be segmented by funnel stage; frequency above 3 in 7 days is a warning)
9. Are your lookalike audiences seeded from high-LTV customers — not your full customer database?
(Check: seed list should be your top 10–20% of customers by lifetime value)
10. Are you actively testing new audience segments at least monthly?
(Check: stale audiences lead to stale performance — new segments should enter testing regularly)
Section 3 — Creative & Messaging
Creative is the variable with the highest impact on paid media performance — and the one most often left to chance.
11. Do you have a structured creative testing process — not just ad boosting or gut-feel decisions?
(Check: hypothesis > test > measure > scale framework should be in place before budget is committed)
12. Are you monitoring creative fatigue — and rotating ads before performance visibly drops?
(Check: frequency above 3 in 7 days is a warning sign; don't wait for CTR to fall before rotating)
13. Do your ads lead with the customer outcome rather than the product feature?
(Check: "Save 3 hours a week" outperforms "Automated reporting tool" — outcomes sell, features inform)
14. Are you testing different creative formats across platforms — video, static, carousel?
(Check: creative that performs on Meta rarely translates directly to LinkedIn or Google Display)
15. Is creative production keeping pace with your testing cadence?
(Check: a bottleneck in creative production is a bottleneck in growth)
Section 4 — Budget & Bidding
Budget allocation is where most businesses silently bleed money.
16. Is your budget allocated across channels based on actual performance data — not historical habit?
(Check: the last time budget was reallocated should be based on CAC data, not a gut call)
17. Are you using the right bidding strategy for each campaign objective?
(Check: awareness and conversion campaigns require fundamentally different bidding logic)
18. Do you have defined kill criteria for underperforming campaigns — agreed before launch?
(Check: kill thresholds set in advance remove emotion from the decision to pause spend)
19. Are you aware of your budget concentration risk — more than 70% in a single channel?
(Check: over-reliance on one platform creates fragility; algorithm changes can be devastating)
20. Is your overall media mix reviewed quarterly against actual business outcomes — not just platform data?
(Check: platform dashboards always show the platform in the best light; external review is essential)
Your Score
17 - 20: Strong Foundation
Your fundamentals are solid. Focus on testing and scaling what's working.
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11 - 16: Room to Improve
Meaningful gaps exist. Prioritise the areas where you scored No or Partial — these are likely costing you now.
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0 - 10: Significant Leakage
Structural issues in measurement, targeting, or budget allocation are almost certainly present. Start with Section 1 before anything else.
What to Do With Your Results
If your score reveals issues you want expert help fixing, there are two ways to go further:
Paid Media Strategy Review — a full expert analysis of your setup, a written report, and a 90-minute debrief. Designed for businesses spending €50K+/month who want to know exactly what to fix and in what order.
Fractional Performance Marketing Lead — ongoing senior marketing leadership embedded in your business. Strategy, oversight, and accountability on a monthly retainer.
Let’s Start With a Conversation
Every engagement begins the same way:
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Understanding your current situation
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Identifying where growth is blocked
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Deciding whether working together makes sense
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If there’s a fit, we define the scope together.
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If you’re looking for clarity, direction, and scalable digital growth — let’s connect.