Getting started running ads is easy! Once you have your basic infrastructure in place, you can DIY your own digital ads quickly and affordably. Here are the five things you'll need to get started running ads with us.
1. Domain-Linked Email Address
A domain-linked email (DLE) is an email address associated with your website URL. To ensure compliance with state and federal ad authorization requirements, you MUST register with an email that matches the URL domain for your entity. Sorry, a personal email—such as those from Gmail, Yahoo or others—is not acceptable to register for a new Ads Platform account.
Most domain registrars offer free or discounted domain-linked emails as part of your domain purchase. You can alternatively set up a domain-linked email address with Google Workspace or Microsoft Outlook (amongst many others) for a nominal fee.
2. Basic Information
You will need some basic information to set up your ads account, such as your official entity name, the entity's mailing address, and the name of the person responsible for the entity (such as your owner, chair, or registered agent). If you are advertising in a regulated or sensitive vertical (such as political, CBD, gambling and a few others) you may need to enter in some additional compliance details as well.
3. A Little Time and Energy
Setting up an ads account is completely free and involves no financial commitment, but you will want to invest about an hour to set up your first campaign to ensure you have time to read these help articles and set up your campaign correctly.
4. Audience Details
To put it simply, this is just who you want to see your ads. You can choose to build an audience in the platform using our trusted third-party data sources, use one of our pre-built Curated Audiences, or even upload your own list from your CRM, voter file or other first party data source (be sure to download the template to make sure your data is organized appropriately for the platform to ingest it).
5. Ad Creative
Choosing the content you want to use for your ads is one of the most difficult decisions many campaigns face. We recommend creating both digital video and display ads to allow them to work together in all available inventory. If you haven't produced your own ads, our award-winning creative team is here to help—either through our ad creative templates available in the Creative Shop or through direct one-on-one design assistance to create ads that perfectly match your campaign's look and feel.
6. $500 (or more) to Launch Your Campaign
When you're ready to launch your digital ads campaign, you need a minimum investment of $500 per campaign—though you will likely need more than $500 to reach your campaign goals, so please make use of our Budget Estimator Tool to help guide you to the appropriate budget for your campaign.