| name | paid-ads |
| description | When the user wants help with paid advertising on Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, or Twitter/X — 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'retargeting,' 'audience targeting,' 'ad budget,' 'should I run ads.' Covers campaign strategy, targeting, bidding, and optimization. For bulk ad creative, see ad-creative. For landing pages, see page-cro. |
| category | marketing |
| tier | on-demand |
Paid Ads
Expert performance marketer mode: create, optimize, and scale paid campaigns that drive efficient customer acquisition.
Before Starting
Product context: If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it first and tailor output to it; only ask for what it doesn't cover.
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
1. Campaign Goals
- Primary objective? (Awareness, traffic, leads, sales, app installs)
- Target CPA or ROAS? Monthly/weekly budget?
- Constraints? (Brand guidelines, compliance, geographic)
2. Product & Offer
- What are you promoting? (Product, free trial, lead magnet, demo)
- Landing page URL? What makes the offer compelling?
3. Audience
- Ideal customer, and the problem the product solves for them?
- What are they searching for or interested in?
- Existing customer data for lookalikes?
4. Current State
- Prior ads — what worked/didn't?
- Existing pixel/conversion data?
- Current funnel conversion rate?
Platform Selection Guide
| Platform | Best For | Use When |
|---|
| Google Ads | High-intent search traffic | People actively search for your solution |
| Meta | Demand generation, visual products | Creating demand, strong creative assets |
| LinkedIn | B2B, decision-makers | Job title/company targeting matters, higher price points |
| Twitter/X | Tech audiences, thought leadership | Audience is active on X, timely content |
| TikTok | Younger demographics, viral creative | Audience skews 18-34, video capacity |
Campaign Structure Best Practices
Account Organization
Account
├── Campaign 1: [Objective] - [Audience/Product]
│ ├── Ad Set 1: [Targeting variation]
│ │ ├── Ad 1: [Creative variation A]
│ │ ├── Ad 2: [Creative variation B]
│ │ └── Ad 3: [Creative variation C]
│ └── Ad Set 2: [Targeting variation]
└── Campaign 2...
Naming Conventions
[Platform]_[Objective]_[Audience]_[Offer]_[Date]
Examples:
META_Conv_Lookalike-Customers_FreeTrial_2024Q1
GOOG_Search_Brand_Demo_Ongoing
LI_LeadGen_CMOs-SaaS_Whitepaper_Mar24
Budget Allocation
Testing phase (first 2-4 weeks): 70% to proven/safe campaigns, 30% to testing new audiences/creative.
Scaling phase: consolidate budget into winning combinations; increase budgets 20-30% at a time; wait 3-5 days between increases for algorithm learning.
Ad Copy Frameworks
Key Formulas
Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS):
[Problem] → [Agitate the pain] → [Introduce solution] → [CTA]
Before-After-Bridge (BAB):
[Current painful state] → [Desired future state] → [Your product as bridge]
Social Proof Lead:
[Impressive stat or testimonial] → [What you do] → [CTA]
Detailed templates and headline formulas: See references/ad-copy-templates.md
Audience Targeting Overview
Platform Strengths
| Platform | Key Targeting | Best Signals |
|---|
| Google | Keywords, search intent | What they're searching |
| Meta | Interests, behaviors, lookalikes | Engagement patterns |
| LinkedIn | Job titles, companies, industries | Professional identity |
Key Concepts
- Lookalikes: base on best customers (by LTV), not all customers
- Retargeting: segment by funnel stage (visitors vs. cart abandoners)
- Exclusions: exclude existing customers and recent converters — ads to people who already bought waste spend
Detailed targeting strategies by platform: See references/audience-targeting.md
Creative Best Practices
Image Ads
- Clear product screenshots showing UI; before/after comparisons
- Stats and numbers as focal point; human faces (real, not stock)
- Bold, readable text overlay (keep under 20%)
Video Ads Structure (15-30 sec)
- Hook (0-3 sec): pattern interrupt, question, or bold statement
- Problem (3-8 sec): relatable pain point
- Solution (8-20 sec): show product/benefit
- CTA (20-30 sec): clear next step
Production tips: captions always (85% watch without sound); vertical for Stories/Reels, square for feed; native feel outperforms polished; first 3 seconds determine if they watch.
Creative Testing Hierarchy
- Concept/angle (biggest impact)
- Hook/headline
- Visual style
- Body copy
- CTA
Campaign Optimization
Key Metrics by Objective
| Objective | Primary Metrics |
|---|
| Awareness | CPM, Reach, Video view rate |
| Consideration | CTR, CPC, Time on site |
| Conversion | CPA, ROAS, Conversion rate |
Optimization Levers
If CPA is too high:
- Check landing page (is the problem post-click?)
- Tighten audience targeting
- Test new creative angles
- Improve ad relevance/quality score
- Adjust bid strategy
If CTR is low: creative isn't resonating → test new hooks/angles; audience mismatch → refine targeting; ad fatigue → refresh creative.
If CPM is high: audience too narrow → expand targeting; high competition → try different placements; low relevance score → improve creative fit.
Bid Strategy Progression
- Start with manual or cost caps
- Gather conversion data (50+ conversions)
- Switch to automated with targets based on historical data
- Monitor and adjust targets based on results
Retargeting Strategies
Funnel-Based Approach
| Funnel Stage | Audience | Message | Goal |
|---|
| Top | Blog readers, video viewers | Educational, social proof | Move to consideration |
| Middle | Pricing/feature page visitors | Case studies, demos | Move to decision |
| Bottom | Cart abandoners, trial users | Urgency, objection handling | Convert |
Retargeting Windows
| Stage | Window | Frequency Cap |
|---|
| Hot (cart/trial) | 1-7 days | Higher OK |
| Warm (key pages) | 7-30 days | 3-5x/week |
| Cold (any visit) | 30-90 days | 1-2x/week |
Exclusions to Set Up
- Existing customers (unless upsell)
- Recent converters (7-14 day window)
- Bounced visitors (<10 sec)
- Irrelevant pages (careers, support)
Reporting & Analysis
Weekly Review
- Spend vs. budget pacing; CPA/ROAS vs. targets
- Top and bottom performing ads; audience performance breakdown
- Frequency check (fatigue risk); landing page conversion rate
Attribution Considerations
- Platform attribution is inflated — compare platform data to GA4
- Use UTM parameters consistently
- Look at blended CAC, not just platform CPA
Platform Setup
Complete setup checklists by platform: See references/platform-setup-checklists.md
Universal Pre-Launch Checklist
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Strategy
Launching without conversion tracking; too many campaigns (fragmenting budget); not giving algorithms enough learning time; optimizing for wrong metric.
Targeting
Audiences too narrow or too broad; not excluding existing customers; overlapping audiences competing.
Creative
Only one ad per ad set; not refreshing creative (fatigue); mismatch between ad and landing page.
Budget
Spreading too thin across campaigns; big budget changes (disrupts learning); stopping campaigns during learning phase.
Task-Specific Questions
- What platform(s) are you running or want to start with?
- Monthly ad budget?
- What does a successful conversion look like (and what's it worth)?
- Existing creative assets, or need to create them?
- What landing page will ads point to?
- Is pixel/conversion tracking set up?
Tool Integrations
For implementation, see the tools registry. Key advertising platforms:
For tracking, see also: ga4.md, segment.md
Related Skills
- ad-creative: For generating and iterating ad headlines, descriptions, and creative at scale
- copywriting: For landing page copy that converts ad traffic
- analytics-tracking: For proper conversion tracking setup
- ab-test-setup: For landing page testing to improve ROAS
- page-cro: For optimizing post-click conversion rates
