Spend Authority Ladder (Onboarding)

Spend Authority Ladder (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Map every ad account the client owns before anyone gets login access

   List Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn, and any programmatic seats, then note which entity (client, prior agency, freelancer) currently holds admin. Missing an account at this stage is the most common cause of a stalled first campaign.

2. 02

   Set a written monthly spend ceiling per platform and per campaign group

   Agencies running multi-platform delivery should cap each channel independently so a runaway budget on one network cannot consume the whole retainer. Record the ceiling in the client agreement, not just in the tool.

3. 03

   Define three approval tiers: launch, in-flight adjustment, and emergency pause

   Tier one covers new campaign creation, tier two covers bid and budget shifts inside the agreed ceiling, tier three covers pausing spend entirely. Name one person per tier on both the agency and client side.

4. 04

   Assign a named human owner to every automated optimization rule

   Platforms such as Nanos and Ryze reshuffle budgets daily without a prompt, so each rule needs an accountable reviewer who checks output at least weekly. Unassigned automation is how wasted spend goes unnoticed for a full billing cycle.

5. 05

   Document the brand and creative constraints the automation cannot infer

   Write down tone limits, restricted claims, competitor exclusions, and any market where the client cannot legally advertise. Tools like Plai generate creative from a URL, and they will produce off-brand copy if these constraints are not supplied.

6. 06

   Agree the reporting cadence and the metric that defines success before launch

   Pick one primary metric (qualified lead cost, return on ad spend, or booked revenue) and one secondary guardrail metric. Confirm in writing which platform dashboards the client will see and which stay internal.

7. 07

   Run a 14-day parallel period where automation proposes and a human approves

   During the first two weeks, review every automated change before it executes. This surfaces rule logic that misreads the client's sales cycle while the spend at risk is still small.

8. 08

   Schedule a 30-day access and authority review

   Reconfirm who holds admin rights, whether the spend ceiling still matches the retainer, and whether any approval tier needs to move. Client staff turnover breaks these assumptions faster than tool changes do.