Skip to main content Home Skills Automation & Agents paid-ads When the user wants help with paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or other ad platforms. Also use when the user mentions 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ad copy,' 'ad creative,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'ad campaign,' 'retargeting,' or 'audience targeting.' This skill covers campaign strategy, ad creation, audience targeting, and optimization.
bunx add-skill coreyhaines31/marketingskills -s paid-ads claude codex marketing
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
Check for product marketing context first:
If .claude/product-marketing-context.md exists, 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
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
βββ Campaign 1: [Objective] - [Audience/Product]
β βββ Ad Set 1: [Targeting variation]
β β βββ Ad 1: [Creative variation A]
β β βββ Ad 2: [Creative variation B]
β β βββ Ad 3: [Creative variation C]
β βββ Ad Set 2: [Targeting variation]
βββ 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
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] β [Agitate the pain] β [Introduce solution] β [CTA]
Before-After-Bridge (BAB):
[Current painful state] β [Desired future state] β [Your product as bridge]
[Impressive stat or testimonial] β [What you do] β [CTA]
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 customersRetargeting : Segment by funnel stage (visitors vs. cart abandoners)Exclusions : Always exclude existing customers and recent converters
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
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
Check landing page (is the problem post-click?)
Tighten audience targeting
Test new creative angles
Improve ad relevance/quality score
Adjust bid strategy
Creative isn't resonating β test new hooks/angles
Audience mismatch β refine targeting
Ad fatigue β refresh creative
Audience too narrow β expand targeting
High competition β try different placements
Low relevance score β 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.
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
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:
Related Skills
copywriting : For landing page copy that converts ad trafficanalytics-tracking : For proper conversion tracking setupab-test-setup : For landing page testing to improve ROASpage-cro : For optimizing post-click conversion rates 