Google AdsWhat each row holds
- Name, start and end date, and the channels it runs in, including email, site banners and partner codes.
- Discount depth and rule, such as percent off, a fixed amount or a bundle, and the codes that go with it.
- Products or categories in scope, and the margin floor the team agreed for them.
- Planned or unplanned, the owner, and the one result you expect to see, such as more new customers or a lift in one category.
- Anything else that changes in the same window: price changes, stock moves, shipping rules, new ad creative.
Keep it current
- Add a row before the promotion starts. A row added after the results are in is a note, not a plan.
- Change dates in the calendar when the promotion changes, and write why. Do not overwrite the old dates.
- Review the calendar at the weekly review, so the team sees the next four weeks of events together.
Read results against it
- Put the promotion rows on the same timeline as the daily or weekly numbers, so a spike sits next to its cause.
- Compare a promotion with the same period last year, or with the weeks before, using the same comparison as the seasonality note.
Made-up scenario: a store runs 15 percent off in the second week of March, with a banner and one code. It also raises the price of a best-selling product two days after the sale ends. Without that row in the calendar, the drop in the following weeks looks like an ad problem.
What to write in the client report
- The calendar rows for the period, with planned or unplanned marked and the owner named.
- Each promotion's result against its expected effect, and the events that overlapped it.
