Custom app for campaign planning and media budget
Appfront builds apps that help agencies and advertisers plan campaigns and keep media budgets under control: per campaign, per channel and per period, from booking through to settlement. Planning and money sit on the same screen, so a shift in the plan is immediately visible in the budget, and vice versa.
What is an app for campaign planning and media budgets?
An app for campaign planning and media budgets records, for each campaign, which creatives run in which channel and in which period, what budget has been reserved for them, and what has actually been spent. Online channels deliver that actual spend automatically; for outdoor advertising, radio, print and sponsorship, it comes from the purchase order and the invoice. The app places planned, reserved, bought and actual figures side by side, per channel and per month.
Without an app, the plan lives in a spreadsheet or planning tool, the budget in another spreadsheet, and the invoices in the accounts. If a campaign slips by two weeks, someone has to update three files, and at the end of the quarter it turns out a channel has overspent without anyone noticing. At an agency, there is also the re-billing to the client, with margins that differ by channel.
We build custom solutions because the structure differs from one organisation to another. An agency plans per client and invoices with a fee per channel; an advertiser plans per brand and per market and works with an annual budget split across quarters. Which channels, which periods and which settlement: those are your agreements, and the app should follow them.
Planning and budget together
Shifting a campaign shifts the budget with it. Lowering a budget shows which creatives no longer fit.
Actual alongside planned
Spend from the advertising platforms and from invoices alongside the plan, per channel and per month, with any variance clearly visible.
Re-billing and margin
For agencies: what has been purchased, what is re-billed, and what fee applies to each channel.
How we build your app for campaign planning and media budgets
We start with the spreadsheets you use today, because your structure is already in them. That shows what the app needs to carry over and what it needs to add.
Per client or brand, per channel and per period: how you plan now, how you split budgets and where settlement takes place. We take over your structure rather than imposing a new one.
Campaigns with creatives per channel and period, budget per campaign and per channel, and the reservations that follow from them. Changes in the plan flow through to the budget.
Spend from the advertising platforms via their integrations, and spend from purchase orders and invoices via the accounting system. Tracked per channel against the plan.
For agencies, the recharge per client with the fee per channel; for advertisers, reporting per brand and per quarter. After that, we take over management of the app.
What a campaign planning and media budget app actually does
The components below feature in almost every campaign plan. Which ones you need depends on your channels and on whether you plan for yourself or for clients.
Campaign calendar
All campaigns and creative by channel on one timeline, per client or brand, with filters for period and channel.
Budget per campaign and channel
Annual budget divided across campaigns and channels, with reservation, purchasing and actuals per line.
Integration with advertising platforms
Spend from Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn and other platforms, updated daily alongside the plan.
Purchase orders and invoices
For channels without an integration: the purchase order at booking and the invoice at realisation, matched per campaign.
Variances and alerts
A channel heading over its budget, or a campaign without actuals, triggers an alert, not a line in a report.
Reporting per client or brand
Planned, spent and remaining per period, in the format the client or the board expects.
Who we build a campaign planning and media budget app for
The app is intended for organisations where multiple campaigns run at once across several channels, and where the spreadsheet no longer keeps up.
Media agencies
You plan and buy for multiple clients and invoice with a fee per channel. The recharge must balance per client.
Marketing departments of advertisers
An annual budget across brands, markets and quarters, with campaigns that shift. You want to know what is left before the quarter ends.
Brands with multiple labels
Each label has its own plan and budget, with joint purchasing divided out per label.
Organisations with a lot of offline media
Outdoor advertising, radio, print and sponsorship produce no automatic actuals. The purchase order and the invoice are the source, and they belong in the plan.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page covers the planning and money behind campaigns. If you need an app for a campaign's or event's audience, see our page on a campaign app. For automating marketing processes, there's AI marketing automation, and you can read about our way of working at building an app.
For the media owner's side, with inventory and placement plans, there is our software for advertising space placement plans.
For earned publicity alongside paid, with mentions, reach and tone per campaign, there is our app for media monitoring and reach reporting.
Why choose Appfront for your campaign planning and media budget app?
A campaign plan does not fail on the calendar. It fails when the money sits somewhere other than the plan.
Planning and budget are one thing
A shift in the plan is a shift in the budget. We build them as one model, not as two screens with an integration in between.
Your structure, your fee
Per client, per brand or per market, and invoicing as you have agreed it. No restructuring because a package prefers it differently.
Actuals from the source
Spend comes from the platforms and from the invoices, not from what someone types in by hand. That is the difference between a plan and proper control.
Security and privacy for a campaign planning and media budget app
Budgets, rates and fees are commercially sensitive, especially at an agency with multiple clients. Access is set per client or brand: a client who looks in sees their own plan and budget, not the purchase prices and not the other clients. Every access and every change is logged.
Integrations with advertising platforms run through keys held in a managed environment rather than in the code, with read-only access wherever possible. Realisation is stored per day, so any discrepancy between platform and accounting can be traced back to a specific date.
Frequently asked questions about a campaign planning and media budget app
Questions that agencies and advertisers ask before getting started.
It records, for each campaign, which creatives run in which channel and during which period, what budget has been reserved for that, and what has actually been spent. Planning and budget sit in the same model, and realised spend comes from the advertising platforms and from invoices, so variances by channel and by month are visible.
Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn have integrations that let spend be retrieved daily per campaign. For other platforms, we review their documentation on a case-by-case basis. For channels without an integration, such as outdoor advertising and print, the purchase order and the invoice are the source.
Yes. For each client and each channel, you record what is to be recharged and what fee applies to it. For each period, the app calculates what is invoiced to the client and what the margin is, and passes that on to invoicing in your accounts.
Yes. In that case the recharging falls away and the core remains: an annual budget divided across brands, channels and periods, with realised spend alongside it. For many marketing departments, that is exactly what is missing.
The creatives shift along the calendar and the budget moves with them to the new period. If this causes a month or a quarter to exceed its budget, the app gives a warning before the purchase is made, not after.
Yes, with a dedicated role that shows that client's planning and budget only, without purchase prices and without other clients' data. You decide precisely what each client can see.
Sometimes it is, and in that case we will say so. Custom development pays off when your structure differs from the norm, when you have many offline channels where the invoice is the source, or when recharges per client and per channel need to reconcile with your accounts.
Your campaigns and your media budget in one model?
Tell us how you plan today and where the budget slips out of view. We will look over your spreadsheets with you and show what an app would concretely deliver in your situation.