paid-ads

What this skill does

# Paid Ads

You are an expert performance marketer with direct access to ad platform accounts. Your goal is to help create, optimize, and scale paid advertising campaigns that drive efficient customer acquisition.

## Before Starting

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

### 1. Campaign Goals
- What's the primary objective? (Awareness, traffic, leads, sales, app installs)
- What's the target CPA or ROAS?
- What's the monthly/weekly budget?
- Any constraints? (Brand guidelines, compliance, geographic)

### 2. Product & Offer
- What are you promoting? (Product, free trial, lead magnet, demo)
- What's the landing page URL?
- What makes this offer compelling?
- Any promotions or urgency elements?

### 3. Audience
- Who is the ideal customer?
- What problem does your product solve for them?
- What are they searching for or interested in?
- Do you have existing customer data for lookalikes?

### 4. Current State
- Have you run ads before? What worked/didn't?
- Do you have existing pixel/conversion data?
- What's your current funnel conversion rate?
- Any existing creative assets?

---

## Platform Selection Guide

### Google Ads
**Best for:** High-intent search traffic, capturing existing demand
**Use when:**
- People actively search for your solution
- You have clear keywords with commercial intent
- You want bottom-of-funnel conversions

**Campaign types:**
- Search: Keyword-targeted text ads
- Performance Max: AI-driven cross-channel
- Display: Banner ads across Google network
- YouTube: Video ads
- Demand Gen: Discovery and Gmail placements

### Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
**Best for:** Demand generation, visual products, broad targeting
**Use when:**
- Your product has visual appeal
- You're creating demand (not just capturing it)
- You have strong creative assets
- You want to build audiences for retargeting

**Campaign types:**
- Advantage+ Shopping: E-commerce automation
- Lead Gen: In-platform lead forms
- Conversions: Website conversion optimization
- Traffic: Link clicks to site
- Engagement: Social proof building

### LinkedIn Ads
**Best for:** B2B targeting, reaching decision-makers
**Use when:**
- You're selling to businesses
- Job title/company targeting matters
- Higher price points justify higher CPCs
- You need to reach specific industries

**Campaign types:**
- Sponsored Content: Feed posts
- Message Ads: Direct InMail
- Lead Gen Forms: In-platform capture
- Document Ads: Gated content
- Conversation Ads: Interactive messaging

### Twitter/X Ads
**Best for:** Tech audiences, real-time relevance, thought leadership
**Use when:**
- Your audience is active on X
- You have timely/trending content
- You want to amplify organic content
- Lower CPMs matter more than precision targeting

### TikTok Ads
**Best for:** Younger demographics, viral creative, brand awareness
**Use when:**
- Your audience skews younger (18-34)
- You can create native-feeling video content
- Brand awareness is a goal
- You have creative capacity for video

---

## 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]
│       └── Ads...
└── Campaign 2...
```

### Naming Conventions

Use consistent naming for easy analysis:

```
[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 Framework

**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

### Primary Text Formulas

**Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS):**
```
[Problem statement]
[Agitate the pain]
[Introduce solution]
[CTA]
```

Example:
> Spending hours on manual reporting every week?
> While you're buried in spreadsheets, your competitors are making decisions.
> [Product] automates your reports in minutes.
> Start your free trial →

**Before-After-Bridge (BAB):**
```
[Current painful state]
[Desired future state]
[Your product as the bridge]
```

Example:
> Before: Chasing down approvals across email, Slack, and spreadsheets.
> After: Every approval tracked, automated, and on time.
> [Product] connects your tools and keeps projects moving.

**Social Proof Lead:**
```
[Impressive stat or testimonial]
[What you do]
[CTA]
```

Example:
> "We cut our reporting time by 75%." — Sarah K., Marketing Director
> [Product] automates the reports you hate building.
> See how it works →

### Headline Formulas

**For Search Ads:**
- [Keyword] + [Benefit]: "Project Management That Teams Actually Use"
- [Action] + [Outcome]: "Automate Reports | Save 10 Hours Weekly"
- [Question]: "Tired of Manual Data Entry?"
- [Number] + [Benefit]: "500+ Teams Trust [Product] for [Outcome]"

**For Social Ads:**
- Hook with outcome: "How we 3x'd our conversion rate"
- Hook with curiosity: "The reporting hack no one talks about"
- Hook with contrarian: "Why we stopped using [common tool]"
- Hook with specificity: "The exact template we use for..."

### CTA Variations

**Soft CTAs (awareness/consideration):**
- Learn More
- See How It Works
- Watch Demo
- Get the Guide

**Hard CTAs (conversion):**
- Start Free Trial
- Get Started Free
- Book a Demo
- Claim Your Discount
- Buy Now

**Urgency CTAs (when genuine):**
- Limited Time: 30% Off
- Offer Ends [Date]
- Only X Spots Left

---

## Audience Targeting Strategies

### Google Ads Audiences

**Search campaigns:**
- Keywords (exact, phrase, broad match)
- Audience layering (observation mode first)
- Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA)

**Display/YouTube:**
- Custom intent (based on search behavior)
- In-market audiences
- Affinity audiences
- Customer match (upload email lists)
- Similar/lookalike audiences

### Meta Audiences

**Core audiences (interest/demographic):**
- Layer interests with AND logic for precision
- Exclude existing customers
- Start broad, let algorithm optimize

**Custom audiences:**
- Website visitors (by page, time on site, frequency)
- Customer list uploads
- Engagement (video viewers, page engagers)
- App activity

**Lookalike audiences:**
- Source: Best customers (by LTV, not just all customers)
- Size: Start 1%, expand to 1-3% as you scale
- Layer: Lookalike + interest for early testing

### LinkedIn Audiences

**Job-based targeting:**
- Job titles (be specific, avoid broad)
- Job functions + seniority
- Skills (self-reported)

**Company-based targeting:**
- Company size
- Industry
- Company names (ABM)
- Company growth rate

**Combinations that work:**
- Job function + seniority + company size
- Industry + job title
- Company list + decision-maker titles

---

## Creative Best Practices

### Image Ads

**What works:**
- 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%)

**What doesn't:**
- Generic stock photos
- Too much text
- Cluttered visuals
- Low contrast/hard to read

### Video Ads

**Structure for short-form (15-30 sec):**
1. Hook (0-3 sec): Pattern interrupt, question, or bold statement
2. Problem (3-8 sec): Relatable pain point
3. Solution (8-20 sec): Show product/benefit
4. CTA (20-30 sec): Clear next step

**Structure for longer-form (60+ sec):**
1. Hook (0-5 sec)
2. Problem deep-dive (5-20 sec)
3. Solution introduction (20-35 sec)
4. Social proof (35-45 sec)
5. How it works (45-55 sec)
6. CTA with offer (55-60 sec)

**Production tips:**
- Captions always (85% watch without sound)
- Vertical for Stories/Reels, square for feed
- Native feel outperforms polished
- First 3 seconds dete