Video Marketing Checklist

Brief covers: business objective, target persona, primary KPI (view-through rate, conversions, brand lift), funnel stage (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU), key message, single CTA, and runtime target per platform. PMM owns; demand-gen and brand sign off before the kickoff.

The lead channel drives aspect ratio, runtime, and edit style. YouTube pre-roll, LinkedIn feed, TikTok/Reels, paid programmatic (CTV), and on-site hero each have different specs. Pick one lead; treat the rest as cutdowns.

Itemize: crew day rates, talent, location, stock/music licensing, post-production, paid distribution. Tag spend against the campaign code so finance can reconcile against ROAS at the 30-day mark.

Script in two-column AV format. Hook in the first 3 seconds (sound-off legibility matters on social). CTA on-screen at end card with UTM-tagged short URL. Storyboard every shot the editor will need; missing coverage is the most common reshoot trigger.

Legal substantiates any performance or comparative claims (Lanham Act). Brand confirms tone, logo usage, color palette per the brand book. Approvals captured here — not in Slack DMs — with timestamps.

Signed talent release for every on-camera person — employees, customers, and extras. Customer testimonials need a separate usage-rights addendum covering channels and term. Missing releases block paid distribution.

Walk director, DP, producer, and brand lead through the shot list, call sheet, and locations. Confirm wardrobe, props, and any product placement specifics. Distribute the call sheet 24 hours before shoot day.

Check cameras, lenses, lav and shotgun mics, lighting, and color chart. Shoot a slate test, confirm timecode sync across cameras, and verify card formatting. Catching a bad audio channel before the first take saves an ADR session later.

Run the shot list. For each setup capture wide, medium, and close coverage plus a safe vertical frame if a 9:16 cutdown is in scope. Script supervisor logs takes and circles selects.

Editor's safety net. Get more than you think you need: environment, hands-on-product, UI screen recordings, transition-friendly motion. Underscoring a claim with a B-roll cutaway is often what makes the edit land.

Card → on-set RAID + cloud sync (Frame.io, LucidLink, or equivalent) before cards get reformatted. One copy is no copies. Producer signs off on the backup checksum before wrap.

Editor cuts to script in Premiere, Final Cut, or DaVinci Resolve. Lock structure and pacing before color or sound design. Share via Frame.io for timestamped review comments — not email screenshots.

Use licensed tracks from Artlist, Musicbed, Epidemic, or a bespoke composer. Keep the license PDF in the project folder. Trending TikTok audio is a copyright trap on paid usage — confirm commercial rights before scheduling boost.

Brand-book colors (HEX values), approved typography, logo lockup on the end card. Captions burned in for sound-off viewing — 85% of feed viewing is muted.

VO recorded in treated booth or remotely via Source Connect. Mix to broadcast loudness target (-14 LUFS for YouTube, -16 LUFS for streaming/social). Hot mixes get auto-attenuated and sound thin.

Reframe for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and LinkedIn vertical. Hook in first 1.5 seconds, captions auto-on, runtime under 30s for organic reach. Don't just letterbox the 16:9 — reframe shot-by-shot.

Send Frame.io review link to PMM, brand, legal, and the executive sponsor. Consolidate notes into one revision pass; revision-pass-by-DM is how launches slip.

Consolidate notes, version the cut (V2, V3 — don't overwrite), and re-share. Track changes against the original brief; out-of-brief asks need scope conversation, not silent absorption.

Master: ProRes 422 HQ archive. Deliverables: H.264 MP4 per platform spec — YouTube (1080p/4K, ≤256GB), LinkedIn (≤200MB, ≤10min), Meta (≤4GB), TikTok (≤287MB). Upload to the DAM (Bynder, Brandfolder, Frontify) with campaign tags.

Use the team's UTM convention doc — source/medium/campaign/content. Build via the shared link-builder (HubSpot, Bitly, or in-house). Inconsistent UTMs break attribution in GA4 and the WBR will be uncomparable.

Programmatic and CTV require brand-safety verification (DoubleVerify or IAS), platform policy review, and a test in the ad server (DV360, The Trade Desk). Inventory blocklist confirmed before activation.

Queue YouTube, LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok via Sprout, Hootsuite, or Later. Native uploads — not reshared links — get algorithmic priority. Custom thumbnail and chapter markers on YouTube; captions native-uploaded on each platform.

Launch in Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok Ads — whichever match the channel plan. Frequency caps set, dayparting configured, conversion event verified firing in GA4 before spend ramps.

Drop the video and short positioning blurb in the sales enablement hub (Highspot, Seismic, or Notion). Post in #content and #sales-floor Slack channels with the asset link and approved talk track.

Any influencer or creator partnership requires clear disclosure — #ad at the top of the caption, Instagram Paid Partnership tag, or YouTube paid-promotion flag. Spot-check posts within 24 hours of going live.

Within 24 hours of launch: real-time check in GA4, Meta Events Manager, and LinkedIn Insight Tag. A conversion mapped to email-blur instead of form-submit will overstate by 5x and warp budget allocation.

Pull view count, view-through rate (25/50/75/100%), CTR, CPM, CPV, and conversions per channel. Compare against benchmark for the channel and format. Identify the weakest creative for cutdown iteration.

Common levers: new hook test, alternate thumbnail, audience refresh, dayparting tweak, or pause underperforming placements. Document the hypothesis before launching the iteration — otherwise the learning is lost.

Final scorecard: total reach, completed views, conversions, CPA, ROAS, attributed pipeline. Multi-touch view from the MAP/CRM, not last-click only. Wins, misses, and the one thing to do differently next time — captured in the project retro doc.