SKILL.md
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Area
Questions
Goals
Primary objective? (Awareness, traffic, leads, sales, app installs) Target CPA/ROAS? Monthly budget? Constraints?
Product & offer
What are you promoting? Landing page URL? What makes it compelling?
Audience
Ideal customer? Problem you solve? What do they search for or care about? Existing customer data for lookalikes?
Current state
Run ads before? What worked/didn't? Pixel/conversion data? Funnel conversion rate?
Two Modes: PMF Testing vs Conversion-Driven
Mode
When
Goal
Budget
Metrics
PMF testing
Pre-PMF; idea validation
Validate demand, messaging, pricing, audience before building
$47–500; small
CTR, sign-up rate, bounce rate; low CTR/high bounce = messaging issue
Conversion-driven
PMF validated
Commercialization; scale; efficient acquisition
Scale; ROAS target
ROAS, CAC, conversion rate
PMF testing: Use paid ads as a learning tool—simple landing page, "Join Waitlist" or "Get Early Access" CTA, test ad variations (value props, price points, audiences). No full product needed. See google-ads for PMF testing setup.
Conversion-driven: Full funnel; conversion tracking; scale budget. Avoid large-scale paid acquisition before PMF—see cold-start-strategy.
Reference: Marketing Cactus – Using Google Ads to Test Product-Market Fit
When to Use Paid Ads
Condition
Rationale
PMF validated (conversion mode)
Product-market fit confirmed; scale acquisition
PMF testing (validation mode)
Small budget; validate demand, messaging, pricing before building
Budget available
CAC and LTV modeled (conversion); or $47–500 for testing
Need speed
Organic takes months; paid delivers traffic immediately
When NOT to Use Paid Ads
Condition
Rationale
Pre-PMF + large scale
Large-scale paid acquisition before PMF wastes budget; use PMF testing mode or cold-start channels first
No conversion tracking
Can't measure ROAS; optimize blindly (PMF testing uses CTR/sign-up)
Organic can work
SEO, content, community may achieve goal at lower cost; see seo-strategy
Cold start: For acquisition, use Product Hunt, Reddit, directories, founder-led outbound first. For PMF validation, small-budget Google Ads + landing page is valid. See cold-start-strategy, google-ads.
Ad Formats by Medium
Paid ads span multiple media beyond web. Choose by product type and audience.
Medium
Format
Best for
Skill
Web
Search, Display, Social (landing page)
Websites, SaaS, e-commerce, leads
google-ads, meta-ads, linkedin-ads, reddit-ads, tiktok-ads
Display / Banner
Ad networks, programmatic, banner ads
Brand awareness; retargeting; publisher sites
display-ads
App
App install, in-app ads, App Store/Play Store
Mobile apps; user acquisition (UA)
app-ads
TV / Streaming
CTV, OTT, linear TV
Brand awareness; streaming viewers; 95% ad completion
ctv-ads
Directory / Marketplace
Taaft, Shopify App Store, G2, Capterra
High-intent directory visitors; app/software discovery
directory-listing-ads
Out-of-home (OOH)
Billboards, transit, DOOH
Brand reach; unskippable; real-world exposure
—
Web drives to landing pages; Display = banner/network on publisher sites; App = install or in-app; TV/CTV = awareness or QR/URL; Directory = paid placements within Taaft, Shopify App Store, G2, Capterra.
Platform Selection (Web)
Platform
Best for
Use when
Google Ads
High-intent search traffic
People actively search for your solution
Meta (FB/IG)
Demand gen, visual products
Creating demand; strong creative assets
LinkedIn Ads
B2B, decision-makers
Job title/company targeting matters; higher ACV
Reddit Ads
Niche communities, discussion-driven
Audience in specific subreddits; authentic, value-first messaging
TikTok Ads
Younger demographics, viral creative
Audience 18–34; video capacity
X (Twitter) Ads
Tech audiences, thought leadership
Audience active on X; timely content
Decision tree: High intent? → Google Search. No? → Awareness: Meta/TikTok/YouTube. B2B: LinkedIn. E-commerce: Meta + Google Shopping. App? → app-ads. Streaming/TV? → ctv-ads. Display/banner? → display-ads. Directory (Taaft, Shopify, G2)? → directory-listing-ads.
Dual-Channel Strategy
Treat Google Ads and Meta Ads as complementary, not competing. Google captures high-intent search at moment of need; Meta creates and shapes demand by introducing brands to new audiences. A dual-channel approach often outperforms single-channel; use unified KPIs (prioritize profit over volume). See google-ads, meta-ads for platform setup.
Budget Allocation
Phase
Approach
Testing (2–4 weeks)
70% proven/safe; 30% new audiences/creative
Scaling
Consolidate into winners; increase 20–30% at a time; wait 3–5 days between increases
Ad Copy Frameworks (Cross-Platform)
Framework
Structure
PAS
Problem → Agitate pain → Introduce solution → CTA
BAB
Current painful state → Desired future state → Your product as bridge
Social Proof
Impressive stat/testimonial → What you do → CTA
Creative Best Practices
Image ads: Clear product screenshots; before/after; stats as focal point; human faces (real); text overlay <20%.
Video ads (15–30 sec): Hook (0–3s) → Problem (3–8s) → Solution (8–20s) → CTA (20–30s). Captions always; vertical for Stories/Reels; native feel outperforms polished.
Creative testing order: 1) Concept/angle 2) Hook/headline 3) Visual style 4) Body copy 5) CTA.
Retargeting Overview
Funnel stage
Audience
Message
Top
Blog readers, video viewers
Educational, social proof
Middle
Pricing/feature visitors
Case studies, demos
Bottom
Cart abandoners, trial users
Urgency, objection handling
Exclusions: Existing customers; recent converters (7–14d); bounced visitors (<10s).
Budget & Metrics
Metric
Purpose
ROAS
Return on ad spend; primary paid channel metric
CAC
Cost per acquisition; compare to LTV
Quality Score (Google)
Ad relevance, LP experience; higher = lower CPC
CPC/CPM
Cost per click/impression; platform-specific
Quantified benchmarks: Quality Score 5→7 can reduce CPC by 30–50%. Smart bidding (Target CPA/ROAS) typically needs ≥30 conversions in 30 days to work effectively. Proper optimization can increase conversion rates 30–150% and reduce CPA 20–50%.
Attribution & Incrementality
Incrementality measures the additional value marketing creates beyond what would occur without it—causal impact, not just correlation. Essential in privacy-first environments (cookies limited, third-party data restricted); incrementality testing does not depend on cross-device tracking.
Approach
Use when
Incrementality testing
Holdout experiments (geo, channel); isolate true lift; justify budget
Attribution
UTM, last-click, multi-touch; compare channels; see traffic-analysis
Advanced conversion
Server-side (Enhanced Conversions, CAPI); better accuracy
Principle: Measure incrementality and downstream value, not just cost metrics. Major platforms have lowered experiment thresholds (e.g., Google Ads incrementality experiments from $100K+ to ~$5K minimum spend).
Ad-to-Landing-Page Alignment
Principle
Practice
Ad promise on page
Ad copy (e.g. "15% off") must appear immediately; mismatch increases bounce
Post-click experience
Ads drive traffic; LPs drive conversions; optimize full funnel
Quality Score
Well-optimized LPs improve Google Quality Score → lower CPC
Mobile-first
CTA above fold; thumb-reachable; fast load (<3s)
See landing-page-generator for LP structure and conversion optimization.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Launching without conversion tracking
- Too many campaigns (fragmenting budget)
- Not giving algorithms learning time (2–4 weeks; PMax needs 6+ weeks)
- Single ad per ad set; not refreshing creative (fatigue)
- Spreading budget too thin; big budget changes
Weekly Optimization Cadence
Check
Action
Creative fatigue
Refresh when CTR or conversion rate drops; test new concepts
Learning phase
Ensure sufficient volume (e.g., 50+ conv/week Meta; 30+ conv/30d Google for smart bidding)
Brand term share
If brand terms >30% of conversions, consider reallocating to non-brand
Placement/spend
Flag if any single placement exceeds 15% of total spend
Affiliate Brand Bidding
When running affiliate programs: prohibit affiliates from bidding on your brand terms in Google Ads. Monitor paid search; use brand monitoring tools. See affiliate-page-generator.
Competitor Brand Bidding
When: Bid on "[Competitor] alternative," "[Competitor] vs [You]" to intercept high-intent traffic. Google allows competitor terms as keywords; ad copy cannot use competitor names without permission.
Landing page: Use a dedicated comparison/alternatives page, not a blog. Users searching competitor brands expect direct alternatives; blog increases bounce. See alternatives-page-generator, google-ads Competitor Brand Keywords.
Output Format
- Channel recommendation (and route to platform skill if needed)
- When to start (PMF check; budget readiness)
- Budget approach (test budget; ROAS target)
- Landing page requirement (ad-to-page alignment)
- Metrics to track (ROAS, CAC, Quality Score)
Related Skills
- google-ads, meta-ads, linkedin-ads, reddit-ads, tiktok-ads: Web platform setup
- reddit-posts, linkedin-posts, tiktok-captions, twitter-x-posts: Platform (organic) skills; creative alignment with reddit-ads, linkedin-ads, tiktok-ads, X Ads
- app-ads: App install, UA; Google App Campaigns, Apple Search Ads
- ctv-ads: CTV, OTT, streaming ads
- display-ads: Ad networks, banner ads, programmatic display
- directory-listing-ads: Taaft, Shopify App Store, G2, Capterra paid placements
- landing-page-generator: LP structure for paid traffic; ad-to-page alignment
- alternatives-page-generator: Competitor brand keyword ads → dedicated LP (not blog); comparison page structure
- cold-start-strategy: When NOT to use paid ads
- pmf-strategy: PMF validation; when to use PMF testing vs conversion-driven mode
- seo-strategy: Organic vs paid
- integrated-marketing: PESO model; paid as one channel
- keyword-research: Keywords inform paid search targeting
- traffic-analysis: UTM for paid attribution
- analytics-tracking: Conversion tracking; ROAS measurement; incrementality experiments