Strategy
Part of Local Advertising: What to Keep and What to Drop
Working Through the Local Advertising Checklist in Order
Use this local advertising checklist in order, with pass criteria, evidence files, platform settings, legal checks, and sign-off steps before launch.
What to take away
- Work eight gates in order, from Gate 0, economics, through Gate 7, privacy and law.
- Every gate needs a pass criterion and a file behind it. Screenshots, settings exports, claim files and test records count. Verbal assurance does not.
- Launch only when all eight gates pass. A failed gate holds the campaign or narrows its scope.
- Run the full sequence again after a material change to the market, offer, platform, staff or governing rules.
The eight gates in launch order
Each gate feeds the next. Gate 0 fixes what you can spend and what a customer must be worth. Gate 1 fixes who is reachable inside that limit.
If you are still choosing tactics, the local advertising plan on this site can help you decide what to keep or drop. The gates below test the campaign before launch.
- Economics. Name one qualified outcome and the customer action that produces it. Pass criterion: gross profit, repeat value, close rate, fulfillment cost, payback limit and stop-loss budget are written down. File the unit-economics worksheet and supporting finance records.
Unit Economics Inputs
- 1primary qualified outcome
- 1customer action producing it
- 8cost categories to include
- 1stop-loss budget
- Geography and audience.Build the service area from customer origin and delivery routes. For Google Ads and Meta Ads, document location targeting and exclusions; check the service-area details on Google Business Profile, Yelp and Nextdoor. Pass criterion: presence, radius, city, postal, route and exclusion settings are documented. File a map and screenshots or settings exports.
- Offer and claims.Verify service, price, availability, eligibility, quantity, expiry and limits. Check advertising claims against the FTC Act; for endorsements, check the FTC Endorsement Guides. Check the policies of the platform used, including Google Ads Policies or Meta Advertising Standards. Pass criterion: every express or implied claim has evidence filed, and required disclosures are visible in the live ad. File the claim support and approved disclosure copy.
- Creative and destination.Align the ad, profile, page, voicemail, booking and staff script. Keep name, address and phone number (NAP) consistent across listings; plan review management and local citations. Use WCAG 2.2 Level AA as an accessibility test benchmark for the live ad and page. Pass criterion: the ad and landing experience match on price, place and promise, and the accessibility tests below have documented results. File live screenshots and test records.
W3C's web accessibility evaluation overview advises testing early and notes that no automated tool alone can confirm a site meets accessibility standards. Test keyboard access, zoom, contrast, forms and confirmation on the live ad and page against WCAG 2.2 Level AA. WCAG is a technical standard, not itself a statute; consider potential obligations under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and seek legal review where needed.
- Response capacity.Set staffing, hours, overflow, language, escalation, follow-up and inventory controls. Pass criterion: a test lead gets answered inside the promised window. File the staffing and escalation plan plus the test-lead record.
- Accounts and access.Keep business control of the domain, profiles, phone, analytics, billing and exports. Pass criterion: minimum roles, agency access dates and recovery contacts are on file. File a current access list, settings export and recovery-contact record.
Account control and disclosure practice is the same work covered in the social media best practices guide, which is worth reading before you hand agency access to anyone. CISA's guidance on requiring multifactor authentication sets out factor types and implementation, and phishing-resistant methods are the stronger option.
- Measurement.Define impression, click, call, lead, booking, visit, sale, revenue and new customer. Set up call tracking and UTM tagging where used. Pass criterion: platform, call, form, booking, point-of-sale and finance records reconcile. File a tracking test and reconciliation report.
- Privacy and law.Check the FTC Act, the CAN-SPAM Act for commercial email, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and applicable FCC rules for calls and texts, and the National Do Not Call Registry where applicable. For covered California businesses, check the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and California Privacy Protection Agency guidance. Pass criterion: data source, consent, sharing, retention, deletion, applicable rules and opt-out procedures are documented. File the data inventory, consent records, suppression-list procedures and dated policy review.
Example: gates 0 to 2 for a two-van mobile groomer
Picture a mobile pet groomer running two vans on a $1,800 monthly local ad budget. Gate 0 names the packaged grooming visit as the single qualified outcome. Gross profit per visit, repeat rate and payback limit come from last quarter's invoices; the finance sheet records the calculations.
Gate 1 draws the service area from the addresses of the last 200 customers, giving roughly a 12-mile radius. Gate 2 states the introductory price, appointment length, dog size limits and an expiry date, with the claim support filed.
Gate 3 then fails: the ad shows $49 for a first visit while the page shows $59. The fix is a page edit and a re-test; file the corrected page screenshot and test result. Price mismatches like that are among the local advertising mistakes to check before launch.
Evidence and the sign-off template
A gate closes when a named person attaches proof and signs. Copy the template into a shared document at the start of planning. The blank Owner and Date cells are prompts: enter a real accountable person's name and sign-off date only after the proof is attached.
A gate is closed only when the proof is attached and a person's name sits beside it.
| Gate | Pass criterion | Acceptable evidence | Owner | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 Economics | Unit economics recorded | Finance sheet, margin figures | ||
| 1 Geography | Settings documented | Platform screenshots, route counts | ||
| 2 Offer and claims | Claims supported | Claim file, price screenshots | ||
| 3 Creative | Ad matches page | Live screenshots, test records | ||
| 4 Response | Test lead answered | Call logs, staffing plan | ||
| 5 Accounts | Business control held | Role list, MFA export | ||
| 6 Measurement | Records reconcile | Platform and till exports | ||
| 7 Privacy and law | Data terms written | Consent record, rule citations |
Privacy, consent and disclosure
One concrete step before any audience upload goes live: list every data field you will send to the platform, such as email address, phone number, postal code and purchase history. Record where each field came from, why it is being used, who receives it and how long it will be kept.
Record applicable consent and opt-out requirements beside each field, including the email unsubscribe method and the call or text opt-out process. Keep consent records and a suppression list, and delete source files from local machines when they are no longer needed. W3C's Privacy Principles warn against pushing privacy decisions back onto individuals, so the configuration is your job.
For a small budget, limit targeting to places the business can serve, keep the offer and disclosures consistent across the ad and destination, and track calls and forms through to sales. The common local advertising questions page covers additional cases.
Common questions
Who owns the checklist?
One accountable business owner coordinates media, sales, service, finance, privacy and vendors, and signs each gate. Every gate needs a single name against it.
How long does the sequence take?
A single-location business with an existing landing page often spends about a week of part-time work on gates 0 to 4. Gates 5 to 7 depend on how many accounts and vendors are involved.
What happens when a gate fails?
Record the missing evidence, apply an interim control, set a due date, and hold high-risk delivery. Do not launch the failing element and promise to repair it later.
Do all eight gates apply to a small budget?
Yes, though the depth changes. A $300 test still needs unit economics, a pass criterion and a named owner. It does not need a multi-window attribution model.
