The campaign launch and monitoring checklist for communications leaders

A campaign report that leadership remembers is planned before launch. This checklist covers the four phases of a communications campaign, the indicators to watch in each channel, and how to compare channels whose results arrive at different speeds.

Before launch

• Write one objective leadership already cares about, with a number and a date.

• Name the audiences, in order of priority.

• Confirm the budget, split by channel and by agency.

• Assign one owner per channel and one owner for the overall report.

• Record baseline numbers for every indicator, so you can show change.

• Agree with every agency and contributor on what they report, in what format, and when.

Choose indicators per channel, with their time horizon

Each channel shows results at its own speed. Planning for that upfront avoids judging a press campaign after three days, or a social campaign after three months.

Launch week

• Check daily that every piece went live as planned, in every channel.

• Watch early social media and advertising signals, and adjust targeting or timing fast.

• Log every press mention and every incident as it happens.

• Send leadership a short note at the end of the week: what launched, early signals, any risk.

While the campaign runs

• Review indicators weekly against their baseline.

• Read trends over several weeks before drawing conclusions.

• Note what changed each week (a new message, an event, a news story) so trends can be explained later.

• Shift budget toward what is working, and record why.

Comparing channels fairly

Results from different channels can't be added together. A thousand social media reactions and one article in a national newspaper measure different things. Compare each channel against its own baseline and its own objective, then show leadership the overall direction: which channels moved the objective, and which did not.

Avoid claiming that one action caused one number. Leadership trusts a clear trend, with honest context, far more than a single figure stretched too far.

After the campaign

• Collect final results from every channel and every agency.

• Wait for slower channels before the final verdict, and say when each one will be complete.

• Build the debrief in five parts: objective, investment, actions, learnings, recommendation.

• Present one decision to leadership: what to repeat, stop or scale next time.

• Store the debrief where the next campaign team will find it.

Turn the checklist into a routine with kààt

kààt is an all-in-one dashboard suite for communications leaders, with monitoring, decision-making and reporting in one place. We simply pull all the data from the tools your teams use daily. In real time. It turns this checklist into a routine you can run for every campaign, with each channel's results in one view.

Frequently asked questions

What should a communications campaign plan include? One objective with a number and a date, priority audiences, budget by channel, an owner per channel, baseline numbers and a reporting agreement with every contributor.

How do I measure a communications campaign across channels? Track each channel against its own baseline and objective, then report the overall trend toward the campaign objective.

When should I report final results? Once the slowest channels have delivered. Share an interim report earlier, and say when each channel will be complete.

Run every campaign from one view

The first round of kààt demos ships in mid-October. Join the waitlist for the next round at getkaat.com.