Plan a campaign with Media Plans

Use the Media Plan wizard to lay out a new campaign — flight dates, channels, budget split, and KPI targets — in about 8 minutes.

Media plans in SMAQ aren't just spreadsheets. Once a plan is in flight, SMAQ tracks actual spend and performance against your plan, snapshots it on a schedule, and can run an AI agent to recommend reallocations.

What you'll end up with

A media plan for a hypothetical "Summer Launch" campaign:

• Flight: 4 weeks

• Budget: $20,000 total

• Channels: Google Ads, Meta Ads

• Goal: maximize ROAS

• KPI targets: ROAS ≥ 3.0, CPA ≤ $40

Prerequisites

• A project with Google Ads and Meta Ads connected.

• Editor or Owner role.

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Step 1 — Start the wizard

1. In the side menu, click Media Plans.

2. Click Create new plan.

3. The wizard opens. (You can click Skip to advanced form anytime to switch to the full form.)

[Screenshot needed] Media plan wizard step 1 — Goal & Flight — with all fields empty.

Step 2 — Goal & Flight (wizard step 1)

Fill in:

• Goal template: pick Maximize ROAS. The wizard offers other templates (Target CPA, Brand reach, etc.) — picking one preloads the right KPI targets in step 3.

• Plan name: "Summer Launch."

• Flight dates: today + 4 weeks.

• Total budget: $20,000.

• Currency: USD.

Click Next.

[Screenshot needed] Step 1 with all fields filled in as above.

Step 3 — Channels (wizard step 2)

Add your first channel:

1. Click Add channel.

2. Label: "Google Ads — Brand."

3. Channel type: Google Ads.

4. Source: pick the Google Ads connection in this project.

5. Allocated budget: $12,000 (60% of the total).

6. Optional: Pick specific campaigns — choose only the brand campaigns if you want SMAQ to track this allocation against a subset.

Add a second channel for Meta:

1. Add channel.

2. Label: "Meta — Prospecting."

3. Channel type: Meta Ads.

4. Source: pick the Meta connection.

5. Allocated budget: $8,000 (40%).

Click Next.

[Screenshot needed] Step 2 with the two channels added, totals adding up to $20,000.

Step 4 — Review (wizard step 3)

• Snapshot frequency: Weekly. SMAQ will save a snapshot of plan vs actuals once a week.

• Notes: free-text for context (e.g. "Targeting the East Coast for the first 2 weeks").

• KPI targets: pre-filled from your goal template — ROAS ≥ 3.0, CPA ≤ $40, etc. Edit if needed.

Click Create plan.

[Screenshot needed] Step 3 review screen with snapshot frequency and KPI targets visible.

Step 5 — Verify the plan

You'll land on the plan detail page showing:

• The plan header (name, flight, total budget, days remaining).

• A spend trend chart (empty for now — fills in as data lands).

• The channel breakdown table with budgets and any actuals from your connections.

[Screenshot needed] New media plan detail page with the empty spend trend chart and the channel table.

Step 6 — Enable Media Plan Intelligence (optional)

For Scale-tier and above:

1. From the plan detail page, click Add automation → Media Plan Intelligence.

2. Pick recipients and a weekly schedule.

3. SMAQ will analyze plan progress weekly and recommend reallocations — e.g. "Meta is underpacing at 60% of plan with ROAS at 4.5 — consider shifting $1,500 from Google Ads brand."

See Media Plan Intelligence for the full breakdown.

What's next

• Media Plans overview — the full feature reference.

• Budget Pacing Alert — automation that pings you when any channel is overpacing or underpacing.

• Command Center — see all in-flight plans alongside live campaign data in one screen.