How to advertise on ChatGPT: a first campaign walkthrough
A practical sequence for access, billing, campaign settings, ad groups, creative and launch checks in ChatGPT Ads Manager.
Start with one offer and one destination. A small, coherent first campaign is easier to diagnose than a catalog of unrelated services launched at once.
Before opening campaign creation, have the person responsible for payment, the landing-page owner and the person checking conversions available. Get those permissions in place before preparing the final ad.
Check account readiness first
Follow OpenAI’s first-campaign quickstart for account access, verification and payment setup. Account creation alone does not prove you can serve ads in every market. Confirm eligibility and the target country in the account you will actually use.
Record the account owner and payment approver. Keep the client’s account under the client’s control if you are running the campaign for someone else.
Choose the outcome and spending boundary
Decide what you want the campaign to accomplish before selecting its goal. A sale, a trial start and a qualified inquiry have different economics. Check that the selected event corresponds to a completed action on the site.
Review the country, budget and applicable bid settings before saving the campaign. Read the confirmation screen rather than assuming settings carried over from another campaign.
OpenAI documents a first-campaign schedule limitation: start and end date controls may appear only after the first campaign is published. If a future launch time is essential, resolve that limitation before publishing. Do not publish simply to uncover the scheduling controls.
Group ads around one customer task
Ad groups are useful for separating messages that need different context or destinations. For a booking software offer, one group could address a solo studio owner setting up online bookings. A second could address a team coordinating staff calendars.
Prepare the ad and the page together
Use a headline that states the offer’s useful benefit. Let the description add a detail instead of repeating it. The image should show the product or its relevant use. Follow the current ad creation guide and the validation shown in your account for accepted inputs.
Open the final destination on a phone, test the main action and check any tracking parameters survive redirects. If a promise appears in the ad, the reader should find the same promise and conditions on the page.
Review before publishing, then watch delivery
Keep a short launch record: approved offer, destination, selected goal, event, country, spending ceiling and review owner. Confirm the image preview and ad status before walking away.
After launch, watch for explicit errors and check the measurement path. Delivery and reports need time to populate, so repeated edits in the first minutes can obscure what you launched. Use the full readiness checklist for the checks that should be completed before spending starts.
Sources and review date
Official documentation checked on 2026-10-12. Availability and features can change; confirm them before launch.