paid-ads
Verified@coreyhaines
npx machina-cli add skill coreyhaines31/marketingskills/paid-ads --openclawPaid 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
Check for product marketing context first:
If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
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?
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?
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 |
| 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]
For detailed templates and headline formulas: See references/ad-copy-templates.md
Audience Targeting Overview
Platform Strengths
| Platform | Key Targeting | Best Signals |
|---|---|---|
| Keywords, search intent | What they're searching | |
| Meta | Interests, behaviors, lookalikes | Engagement patterns |
| 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 — showing ads to people who already bought wastes spend
For 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
- Use UTM parameters consistently
- Compare platform data to GA4
- Look at blended CAC, not just platform CPA
Platform Setup
Before launching campaigns, ensure proper tracking and account setup.
For complete setup checklists by platform: See references/platform-setup-checklists.md
Universal Pre-Launch Checklist
- Conversion tracking tested with real conversion
- Landing page loads fast (<3 sec)
- Landing page mobile-friendly
- UTM parameters working
- Budget set correctly
- Targeting matches intended audience
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
- Making big budget changes (disrupts learning)
- Stopping campaigns during learning phase
Task-Specific Questions
- What platform(s) are you currently running or want to start with?
- What's your monthly ad budget?
- What does a successful conversion look like (and what's it worth)?
- Do you have existing creative assets or need to create them?
- What landing page will ads point to?
- Do you have pixel/conversion tracking set up?
Tool Integrations
For implementation, see the tools registry. Key advertising platforms:
| Platform | Best For | MCP | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | Search intent, high-intent traffic | ✓ | google-ads.md |
| Meta Ads | Demand gen, visual products, B2C | - | meta-ads.md |
| LinkedIn Ads | B2B, job title targeting | - | linkedin-ads.md |
| TikTok Ads | Younger demographics, video | - | tiktok-ads.md |
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
Source
git clone https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/paid-adsView on GitHub Overview
Paid Ads is an expert performance marketer who helps create, optimize, and scale paid advertising campaigns across Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and other ad platforms. It covers campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, and optimization, and references bulk ad-creative generation and landing page optimization workflows (ad-creative and page-cro).
How This Skill Works
Begin by gathering product-marketing context and defining goals, then select platforms and build campaigns using standardized naming and budgeting. Apply platform-specific strengths, targeting signals, and bidding strategies, while enforcing testing versus scaling phases and proven ad-copy frameworks. Leverage references to bulk ad-creative (ad-creative) and landing page optimization (page-cro) to drive cohesive cross-channel performance.
When to Use It
- Planning a new multi-platform paid campaign (Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, X).
- Aiming to improve ROAS or CPA with bidding optimization and budget tuning.
- Defining audience targeting, retargeting, and lookalike strategies across platforms.
- Allocating ad spend with a clear funnel and landing page considerations.
- Generating bulk ad creative and iterating based on performance data (in tandem with landing page optimization).
Quick Start
- Step 1: Gather product-marketing context (goals, budget, audience, offer) and specify platform targets.
- Step 2: Map Campaign Structure with naming conventions and allocate a testing vs scaling budget plan.
- Step 3: Launch with copy frameworks (PAS/BAB) and set up tracking; monitor, optimize, and iterate.
Best Practices
- Start with product-marketing context: confirm goals, budget, audience, and offer before starting.
- Define clear campaign goals and targets (CPA/ROAS) and set a monthly/weekly budget.
- Use standardized naming conventions for campaigns, ad sets, and creatives to stay organized.
- Adopt structured budget flow: 70/30 during testing and 20-30% increases during scaling, waiting 3-5 days between raises.
- Apply proven ad-copy frameworks (PAS, BAB, Social Proof Lead) and reference templates for copy and headlines.
Example Use Cases
- Google Ads Search campaign for a SaaS product with target ROAS, using GOOG_Search_Brand_Demo_Ongoing naming.
- Meta Ads lead-gen campaign using Lookalike audiences to drive free trial signups, named META_Conv_Lookalike-Customers_FreeTrial_2024Q1.
- LinkedIn Lead Gen targeting CMOs in SaaS with a whitepaper offer, named LI_LeadGen_CMOs-SaaS_Whitepaper_Mar24.
- Retargeting campaign across channels to recapture cart abandoners with tailored dynamic creatives.
- Budget scaling case where winning campaigns receive 20-30% increases after 3-5 days of learning, consolidating into top-performing combinations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Skills
ad-creative
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to generate, iterate, or scale ad creative — headlines, descriptions, primary text, or full ad variations — for any paid advertising platform. Also use when the user mentions 'ad copy variations,' 'ad creative,' 'generate headlines,' 'RSA headlines,' 'bulk ad copy,' 'ad iterations,' 'creative testing,' 'ad performance optimization,' 'write me some ads,' 'Facebook ad copy,' 'Google ad headlines,' 'LinkedIn ad text,' or 'I need more ad variations.' Use this whenever someone needs to produce ad copy at scale or iterate on existing ads. For campaign strategy and targeting, see paid-ads. For landing page copy, see copywriting.
competitor-alternatives
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to create competitor comparison or alternative pages for SEO and sales enablement. Also use when the user mentions 'alternative page,' 'vs page,' 'competitor comparison,' 'comparison page,' '[Product] vs [Product],' '[Product] alternative,' 'competitive landing pages,' 'how do we compare to X,' 'battle card,' or 'competitor teardown.' Use this for any content that positions your product against competitors. Covers four formats: singular alternative, plural alternatives, you vs competitor, and competitor vs competitor. For sales-specific competitor docs, see sales-enablement.
content-strategy
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to plan a content strategy, decide what content to create, or figure out what topics to cover. Also use when the user mentions "content strategy," "what should I write about," "content ideas," "blog strategy," "topic clusters," "content planning," "editorial calendar," "content marketing," "content roadmap," "what content should I create," "blog topics," "content pillars," or "I don't know what to write." Use this whenever someone needs help deciding what content to produce, not just writing it. For writing individual pieces, see copywriting. For SEO-specific audits, see seo-audit. For social media content specifically, see social-content.
copy-editing
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to edit, review, or improve existing marketing copy. Also use when the user mentions 'edit this copy,' 'review my copy,' 'copy feedback,' 'proofread,' 'polish this,' 'make this better,' 'copy sweep,' 'tighten this up,' 'this reads awkwardly,' 'clean up this text,' 'too wordy,' or 'sharpen the messaging.' Use this when the user already has copy and wants it improved rather than rewritten from scratch. For writing new copy, see copywriting.
marketing-ideas
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user needs marketing ideas, inspiration, or strategies for their SaaS or software product. Also use when the user asks for 'marketing ideas,' 'growth ideas,' 'how to market,' 'marketing strategies,' 'marketing tactics,' 'ways to promote,' 'ideas to grow,' 'what else can I try,' 'I don't know how to market this,' 'brainstorm marketing,' or 'what marketing should I do.' Use this as a starting point whenever someone is stuck or looking for inspiration on how to grow. For specific channel execution, see the relevant skill (paid-ads, social-content, email-sequence, etc.).
marketing-psychology
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to apply psychological principles, mental models, or behavioral science to marketing. Also use when the user mentions 'psychology,' 'mental models,' 'cognitive bias,' 'persuasion,' 'behavioral science,' 'why people buy,' 'decision-making,' 'consumer behavior,' 'anchoring,' 'social proof,' 'scarcity,' 'loss aversion,' 'framing,' or 'nudge.' Use this whenever someone wants to understand or leverage how people think and make decisions in a marketing context.
