# How to Build a Campaign Launch Checklist That Prevents Disasters
Launching a digital marketing campaign without a checklist is like flying a plane without a pre-flight inspection—you might get off the ground, but you probably won't land where you intended. A robust checklist ensures that every dollar of your Australian marketing budget is tracked, every link works, and your data remains clean from day one.
In the world of analytics, a single missing UTM parameter or a broken conversion tag can render an entire month's worth of data useless. This guide will help you build a repeatable system to catch these errors before they cost you money.
Prerequisites
Before you start building your checklist, ensure you have:- Access to your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property.
- Access to Google Tag Manager (GTM).
- A spreadsheet tool (Google Sheets is perfect for team collaboration).
- Your campaign creative (ads, landing pages, and emails) ready for review.
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Step 1: Audit Your Tracking Foundation
Before you even think about the 'Live' button, you must ensure your foundation is solid. In Australia, we deal with specific privacy considerations, so ensure your GA4 is configured correctly. What you should see: Log into your GA4 account and navigate to Admin > Data Streams. Click on your web stream and ensure the "Enhanced Measurement" toggle is on. This ensures basic events like scrolls and outbound clicks are being captured automatically.Step 2: Define Your Conversion Events
A campaign is only successful if it drives action. You need to define what a "win" looks like. Is it an ABN-verified lead form submission, a phone call, or an e-commerce transaction? Pro Tip: Don't track everything as a primary conversion. Stick to 1-3 key actions that actually impact your bottom line. Over-tagging leads to "noisy" data that makes decision-making harder.Step 3: Create a Standardised UTM Naming Convention
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are tags added to the end of a URL to tell Google Analytics where your traffic came from. Without them, your Facebook Ads traffic might show up as "Direct" or "Referral," ruining your ROI reports.Create a template in your spreadsheet with these columns:
- Source: (e.g., google, facebook, linkedin)
- Medium: (e.g., cpc, paid_social, email)
- Campaign: (e.g., summer_sale_2024_brisbane)
Step 4: Verify Landing Page Load Speeds
With Australia’s varying internet speeds (the NBN can be temperamental!), a heavy landing page will kill your conversion rate before the page even loads. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your URL. What you should see: A score of 90+ on mobile is the goal. If your images are too large or you have too many third-party scripts, your bounce rate will skyrocket, wasting your ad spend.Step 5: Test Lead Forms and Redirects
Never assume a form works. Fill it out yourself.- Does the "Thank You" page load?
- Does the lead notification email arrive in your inbox?
- Does the tracking tag fire when the button is clicked?
Step 6: Set Up GTM Preview Mode
Open Google Tag Manager and click the Preview button in the top right. Enter your landing page URL. This opens a new window with the "Tag Assistant" debugger. What you should see: As you click through your site, you should see tags like "Google Ads Conversion Tracking" or "GA4 Event - Lead Form" move from the "Tags Not Fired" section to the "Tags Fired" section.Step 7: Check Mobile Responsiveness
Over 60% of Australian web traffic happens on mobile. Open your landing page on your iPhone or Android device. Check if the "Call to Action" (CTA) button is easily clickable with a thumb and that no text is cut off.Step 8: Validate Budget and Schedule Settings
In your ad platform (Google Ads or Meta Business Suite), double-check your daily budget. It is a classic disaster to accidentally set a $500 daily budget when you meant $500 for the month. Australian Context: Ensure your timezone is set to (GMT+10:00) Brisbane or your local equivalent. If you accidentally set it to US Pacific Time, your ads will be running while your customers are asleep!Step 9: Review Ad Copy and Creative
Check for typos, especially in your contact details. Ensure your "Call Now" buttons feature the correct Australian area code (e.g., 07 for Queensland) or the +61 international prefix if targeting overseas.Step 10: The "Final Eyes" Peer Review
If you’ve been staring at a campaign for three days, you are "content blind." Have a colleague or a friend click every link and read every headline. They will find the mistake you missed.---
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- The Redirect Loop: Using a URL shortener that strips away your UTM parameters.
- Internal Traffic Pollution: Forgetting to filter out your own office IP address in GA4, meaning your own testing looks like 50 conversions.
- Broken Privacy Links: Not having a link to your Privacy Policy on your lead forms—this can lead to your ads being disapproved by Google and Meta.
Troubleshooting
Problem: My UTM data isn't showing up in GA4. Solution:* GA4 can take 24-48 hours to fully process data in standard reports. Check the "Real-time" report instead. If it's not there, ensure your GTM container is actually Published, not just saved in preview mode. Problem: The landing page looks weird on some browsers. Solution:* Use a tool like BrowserStack or simply ask friends to open the link on different devices (Mac, PC, Tablet). Often, a "sticky header" might cover your main headline on smaller screens. Problem: My Google Ads say "Eligible" but I'm getting no impressions. Solution:* Check your keyword bid or audience size. If your targeting is too narrow (e.g., only targeting a single street in Brisbane), the algorithm won't have enough data to serve the ads.---
Next Steps
Once your checklist is built and your campaign is live, your job isn't over.- Monitor for 48 hours: Check your analytics daily for the first two days to ensure data is flowing correctly.
- Optimise: After 7 days, look for the lowest-performing ads and swap them out.
- Refine your checklist: Every time a mistake happens, add a new step to your checklist so it never happens again.
Need a hand getting your tracking set up correctly? Our team at Local Marketing Group specialises in ensuring Brisbane businesses get the data they need to grow. Contact us today for a comprehensive analytics audit.