How To Create and Execute a Digital Advertising Plan

Outlining an advertising campaign is like drawing a map to a major event. You want to make it easy for everyone to get there with you. In this case, the big event is driving successful leads through digital advertising campaigns.

So, how do you create an advertising plan? There is a method to the madness—getting stakeholders on board, securing budgets, and defining execution details. We’ve compiled key planning and execution strategies to help advertisers build a foolproof map.

What Is An Advertising Plan?

Marketers have long debated the foundation of a well-executed advertising plan ever since the first entrepreneur said, “Maybe someone might want to buy this.” At its core, an advertising plan outlines big-picture objectives, ongoing strategies, tactical actions, and messaging for reaching a target audience. It establishes goals, communication channels, and budget allocations to implement creative, paid advertising, or site optimization across apps, social platforms, websites, or search engines.

A carefully crafted structured advertising plan can help any business effectively allocate resources, both staff and monetary, to achieve its product or service revenue goals.

A well-structured advertising plan helps businesses effectively allocate resources—both staff and monetary—to achieve their revenue goals.

What Methods Can Be Used in Creating an Advertising Plan?

A strong advertising plan starts with market research to understand the target audience’s size, needs, and behaviors. Research methods include focus groups, surveys, interviews, and demos. Here are a few other key methodologies: 

• Competitor Analysis: Side-by-side comparison of competitive offerings to identify differentiators.
• Audience Segmentation: Dividing audiences into specific groups based on demographics or behaviors aligned with aspects of the offering.
• SWOT Analysis: Evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to define priority actions.

Advertising Strategy Examples

The next step is developing advertising strategies—the “how” part of the plan—to meet business goals like customer engagement or sales growth. Some key examples include:

• Lead Generation: Capturing leads through content, ads, and gated offers to cultivate potential customers.
• Brand Awareness: Identifies how well a target audience recognizes a brand and which strategies impact it. Note: 96% of companies say video marketing aids in creating brand awareness (WiserNotify).
• Remarketing: Re-engaging past visitors with targeted ad opportunities to drive conversions.

How To Create an Ad Plan

A clear, structured advertising plan increases stakeholder buy-in and ensures all elements contribute to overall goals. The more specific the plan is in setting objectives and determining the proper channels and budget, among other aspects, the easier it will be to get stakeholder buy-in. Establishing a clear structure helps ensure every element of the plan contributes to achieving the overall goal. Weed out the nice-to-haves for the need-to-haves so that other parts of the greater team can execute it with confidence. Here’s a step-by-step approach:

Define Advertising Goals And Audiences

First, define goals like brand awareness or lead generation, then align them with audience demographics, interests, and behaviors. For example, a weather-tech hoodie brand targeting men would consider where potential buyers spend time online and what influences their purchasing decisions. This understanding helps develop creative and ensures relevant ad placements.

Create An Advertising Campaign Timeline

It’s critical to create an advertising campaign timeline. Mapping out each phase of the advertising process keeps the campaign organized and on track. Plans should align with peak buying seasons or time-sensitive launches. Include key milestones, check-in points, and quality checks to ensure smooth execution across internal teams, agencies, and partners.

The plan should include before-and-after actions around the key milestones and deadlines in the planning and execution phases. Include check-in points, repeat review meetings, quality checks, creative deadlines, and test timelines for internal teams, external agencies, and partners.

Set an Ad Budget

Budgets must align with campaign goals. Will the creative be managed in-house or through an agency? Will advertising be handled by the brand or an ad network? How big are the returns expectations? What does it cost to get top search words? A realistic plan considers maximizing impact within budget constraints and helps management understand the importance of proper budget allocations. Marketers know small ad budgets yield small results, and more than likely, another brand will be cleaning up in the market share stakes—a well-funded campaign can drive market share gains over competitors.   

Choose Your Advertising Platforms

Selecting the right advertising platforms is crucial. Consider ad platforms using programmatic advertising for maximum effectiveness on any campaign based on audience habits and goals. Full-service ad networks like Next Millennium offer clients sophisticated programmatic advertising solutions, with high-impact ads, and a strategic mix of monetization techniques. Programmatic advertising targets audiences efficiently and fully leverages each visitor interaction.

Execute A SWOT Analysis

Advertisers may use a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to assess a product, brand, or advertising strategy. The goal is to review each section thoroughly in conjunction with external market opportunities and threats. This evaluation ensures strategic alignment, corrects messaging, and uncovers risks like emerging competitors or market fluctuations. SWOT analysis can uncover and mitigate potential risks, like startup competitors or adverse market conditions. The effectiveness of SWOT lies in fueling more data-driven and successful campaigns. Strengthen weak areas and maximize the positive.

Establish KPIs

Strong key performance indicators (KPIs) help businesses measure campaign success. Companies use metrics like clickthrough rates (CTR), conversions, and engagement rates to track progress. This data helps answer questions like, are ads converting, are consumers engaging, and where is adjustment required? Data-driven insights help optimize campaigns and confirm that advertising investments are delivering ROI. Essentially, all the data helps confirm that a campaign is working.