| name | paid-ads |
| description | Paid advertising strategy and execution: Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads — campaign structure, targeting, bidding, creative testing, ROAS optimisation |
Paid Ads Skill
When to activate
- Setting up a new Google Ads, Meta Ads, or LinkedIn Ads campaign from scratch
- Diagnosing poor ROAS or high CPA on existing campaigns
- Structuring ad groups and campaigns for better Quality Score
- Writing ad copy and creative briefs for paid campaigns
- Designing A/B tests for ads (creative, audience, landing page)
- Deciding budget allocation across channels
When NOT to use
- Organic SEO — use the seo-audit skill
- Email marketing — use the email-sequence skill
- Content strategy — use the content-strategy skill
- Compliance-sensitive industries (healthcare, finance) — ad policies vary; verify manually
Instructions
Campaign structure audit
Audit my paid ad campaign structure and suggest improvements.
Channel: [Google Ads / Meta Ads / LinkedIn Ads / TikTok Ads]
Current structure: [describe — campaigns, ad groups, targeting]
Monthly budget: $[X]
Current ROAS / CPA: [X]
Goal: [awareness / leads / purchases / signups]
Average order value / lead value: $[X]
Audit:
1. Campaign structure — are campaigns organised by objective, not just product?
2. Ad group granularity — are targeting and creatives tightly matched?
3. Keyword match types (Google) — too broad? too narrow?
4. Audience layering — are you excluding existing customers from acquisition campaigns?
5. Bidding strategy — does it match your goal and data volume?
6. Budget allocation — are high-performing campaigns budget-capped?
Produce: list of issues ranked by revenue impact + specific fixes.
Google Ads campaign setup
Set up a Google Ads campaign for [product/service].
Goal: [leads / ecommerce sales / app installs]
Target keywords: [list or describe intent]
Budget: $[X]/day
Geo: [countries / cities]
Competitor names to consider: [list]
Design:
1. Campaign type: [Search / Performance Max / Shopping / Display]
2. Campaign structure:
- Campaign 1: [Brand] — exact match on own brand terms
- Campaign 2: [Non-brand intent] — target keywords by theme
- Campaign 3: [Competitor] — competitor terms (if budget allows)
3. Ad group structure per campaign:
- Tight ad groups: 5-15 keywords per group, same intent
- Separate ad groups for different buying stages (problem-aware vs. solution-aware)
4. Bidding strategy:
- < 30 conversions/month: Maximise Conversions (learning phase)
- 30-100 conversions/month: Target CPA
- > 100 conversions/month: Target ROAS
5. Ad copy (3 headlines × 30 chars, 2 descriptions × 90 chars):
- Headline 1: [match search intent]
- Headline 2: [key differentiator]
- Headline 3: [CTA or offer]
6. Extensions: Sitelinks, Callouts, Structured Snippets minimum
Write 3 ad variations for A/B testing.
Meta Ads targeting strategy
Design targeting strategy for Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram).
Product: [describe]
Target customer: [demographics, interests, behaviours]
Budget: $[X]/day
Objective: [awareness / traffic / leads / purchases]
Average customer LTV: $[X]
Build targeting layers:
1. Core audiences:
- Interest targeting: [specific interests, not broad categories]
- Behaviour targeting: [purchase behaviours, device use]
- Demographics: [age, gender, location, job title if relevant]
2. Custom audiences (upload/build):
- Website visitors (pixel — 30d, 60d, 180d windows)
- Customer list upload (email match)
- Video viewers (watched 50%+)
3. Lookalike audiences:
- LAL 1%: based on [purchasers / high-LTV customers / email list]
- LAL 2-3%: broader expansion
4. Exclusions:
- Existing customers (exclude from acquisition)
- Recent converters (exclude for 30 days post-purchase)
Campaign funnel:
- TOF: Broad/interest → video or image creative → drive awareness
- MOF: Website visitors + engagers → testimonial creative → drive consideration
- BOF: Cart abandoners + product viewers → offer/urgency → drive conversion
Budget split for $[X]/day: [allocate across funnel]
Ad creative brief
Write a creative brief for [channel] ad campaign.
Product: [describe]
Target audience: [who they are, what they care about]
Key message: [the single thing the ad must communicate]
Offer: [discount, trial, guarantee, etc.]
CTA: [what you want them to do]
Format: [static image / video / carousel / story]
Tone: [professional / playful / urgent / aspirational]
Brief sections:
1. Hook (first 3 seconds / above the fold):
- Pattern interrupt: [what stops the scroll?]
- Immediate value signal: [why should they keep watching?]
2. Body (problem → solution → proof):
- Problem statement (make them feel understood)
- Solution positioning (how you solve it differently)
- Social proof (number, testimonial, or result)
3. CTA (clear action):
- Primary CTA: [button text + landing page]
- Urgency element: [if applicable]
Write 3 creative concepts in this format. Rate each for estimated CTR potential.
ROAS optimisation
Diagnose poor ROAS and create an optimisation plan.
Channel: [Google / Meta / LinkedIn]
Current ROAS: [X] (target: [X])
Monthly spend: $[X]
Conversion tracking: [working / broken / partial]
Funnel stage with biggest drop: [awareness → click / click → landing page / landing page → conversion]
Diagnose in order:
1. Tracking: is conversion data accurate? (pixel fires, view-through vs. click-through, attribution window)
2. Audience: is targeting too broad (low intent) or too narrow (limited reach)?
3. Creative: CTR vs. industry benchmark? Low CTR = creative problem
4. Landing page: conversion rate vs. benchmark? Low CVR = page problem
5. Offer: is there a compelling reason to act now?
6. Bidding: is the algorithm optimising toward the right signal?
Produce: ranked list of hypotheses + experiments to run, each with expected impact and effort.
Example
User: My Google Ads campaigns for a SaaS tool ($99/mo) have a CPA of $480 — way too high. Spend: $8,000/month. What's wrong?
Claude's diagnosis:
At $99/month, you need CPA < $200 to have a viable payback period (assuming 6-month average subscription). At $480 CPA you're burning ~2.4x what you can afford.
Most likely culprits in order:
-
Conversion tracking issue (check first) — confirm your goal is "trial signup" not "page view." If you're counting any event, CPA looks inflated but isn't real.
-
Budget allocated to broad match — broad match on SaaS keywords attracts irrelevant searches. Run Search Term Report for last 30 days. If >30% of clicks are irrelevant, switch to phrase/exact and add negative keywords.
-
No landing page specificity — if you're sending all ad groups to your homepage, conversion rate will be 1-2% instead of 5-8%. Create dedicated landing pages per campaign.
-
Missing brand campaign — brand terms convert at 10-20x lower CPA than non-brand. If you're not bidding on your brand name, competitors are capturing your warmest traffic.
Quick wins this week:
- Pull Search Term Report, add 20+ negatives
- Create a dedicated trial signup landing page for your top 2 ad groups
- Add brand campaign with exact match — budget $500/month
