You stay in charge of the accounts and the budget

Launch sequence

Nothing goes live until tracking is in place and you have signed off.

1. Tracking first: conversion tags, GA4 events and form routing are set up and tested.
2. Pages next: landing pages and forms are built or fixed, then checked on phones and desktops.
3. Campaigns after that: ads, keywords or audiences, budgets and schedules are built in your accounts.
4. Launch last: you approve, campaigns go live and the partner confirms conversions are recording.

Scoping checklist

Having these ready makes the first conversation shorter and the quote more accurate.

• What you sell, and which products or services you want to advertise first
• The areas you serve or ship to
• Your monthly ad budget, or a range you are comfortable with
• A list of ad accounts you already own on Google, Microsoft, Meta or LinkedIn
• Who has admin access to GA4, Google Tag Manager and your website
• The CRM or inbox where inquiries should land
• Who answers new inquiries, and how quickly they usually do
• How often you want reports, and who should receive them

Offboarding, done cleanly

Plan the exit at the start. Ask the partner to agree in writing that, when the work ends:

• you remove their user access from each ad, analytics and tag account;
• campaigns, audiences, conversion actions and history stay in your accounts;
• landing pages and their source files stay with you or are handed over;
• any tools they pay for, such as call tracking or a page builder, are listed so you can replace them;
• a short handover note explains how everything is set up.

Because the accounts were yours from the start, very little has to move.

The first few weeks after go-live

Early spend tells you more about the setup than about the market. In the first weeks, the partner watches for search terms that do not fit, audiences that spend without converting, forms that fail on some devices and conversions that record twice. Expect a few rounds of adjustment. Ad platforms also need some data before their automated bidding settles, so snap judgments in this period are usually premature. After that, management moves to the regular cadence in your agreement, with reports and check-ins on a set schedule.