PAID ADVERTISING — ACQUISITION OS (OPERATIONAL)

No-fluff execution skill for paid acquisition across Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn.

References: Google Ads, Meta Business, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager

Modern Best Practices (January 2026)

Algorithmic buying wins when you provide strong signals: clean conversion events, value, and enough volume per campaign to learn.
Creative is the main lever on social: plan for volume and refresh cadence; treat creative like a product pipeline.
Default measurement: server-side signals where possible (Enhanced Conversions / Conversions API / Events API), consistent UTMs, and closed-loop revenue in CRM.
Use attribution as directional; use incrementality tests to answer budget questions (geo-lift/holdouts) when stakes are high.
Optimize to profit and payback (not just CPL/ROAS) when margins, refunds, or LTV vary materially.
Compliance is non-negotiable: platform policies, privacy consent, and avoiding sensitive targeting/claims.

When to Use

New campaigns: structure, audiences, bidding, creative
Scaling spend: budget allocation, ROAS targets
Platform selection: which channels for which goals
Unit economics: CAC/LTV modeling, payback period
Revenue attribution: multi-touch, incrementality

When NOT to Use

| Scenario | Use Instead | |----------|-------------| | Organic social | marketing-social-media | | SEO/content | marketing-seo-complete | | Landing pages | marketing-cro |

Quick Start (What I Need From You)

Goal: revenue, pipeline, leads, trials, purchases (pick 1 primary)
ICP/offer: who, pain, positioning, price/ACV, gross margin, refund rate (if relevant)
Geo/language + budget horizon (test budget + monthly cap)
Tracking: conversion events + where they’re recorded (GA4, CRM, Shopify, app DB), attribution window expectations
Constraints: creative/brand limits, compliance constraints, sales capacity + SLAs (B2B)

If unknown, start with assumptions and label them; then validate with data in week 1.

Platform Selection

| Platform | Best For | Typical Cost (Relative) | |----------|----------|--------------------------| | Google Search | High intent capture | Medium | | Meta | Efficient demand creation + retargeting | Low–Medium | | LinkedIn | B2B precision, ABM | High | | TikTok | Low-cost reach + creative velocity | Low |

Note: Costs vary massively by industry, geo, offer, tracking quality, and seasonality. Use as directional only.

Decision Tree

HIGH INTENT?
├─ YES → Google Search (always include)
└─ NO → What's your goal?
    ├─ Awareness → Meta, TikTok, YouTube
    ├─ B2B/Enterprise → LinkedIn, Google
    └─ E-commerce → Meta, Google Shopping

Measurement & Tracking (2026 Default)

Minimum viable measurement before scaling:

Conversion events defined (lead, SQL, purchase, subscription) with dedupe and clear “source of truth”
UTMs standardized across every platform
Server-side signals where feasible:
- Google: Enhanced Conversions + offline conversion imports (B2B)
- Meta: Pixel + Conversions API
- TikTok: Pixel + Events API
- LinkedIn: Insight Tag + offline conversions (when available)
Reporting views: spend → conversions → revenue/pipeline (weekly), incrementality tests (quarterly or when budgets materially change)

For deep dives: references/revenue-attribution-guide.md, references/sales-alignment-guide.md.

Campaign Structure

Google Ads

├─ Campaign: Brand (Search)
├─ Campaign: Non-Brand (Search)
├─ Campaign: Retargeting (Display)
└─ Campaign: Performance Max

Meta Ads

├─ Campaign: Prospecting
│   ├─ Ad Set: Lookalike 1%
│   └─ Ad Set: Broad (Advantage+)
├─ Campaign: Retargeting
└─ Campaign: Testing

Bidding Strategy

| Strategy | When to Use | |----------|-------------| | Manual CPC | <50 conversions/month | | Target CPA | 50-100 conversions | | Target ROAS | >100 conversions |

Budget Allocation

| Stage | % of Budget | |-------|-------------| | Brand | 10-20% | | Prospecting | 40-60% | | Retargeting | 20-30% | | Testing | 10-15% |

Unit Economics

| LTV:CAC | Status | Action | |---------|--------|--------| | < 1:1 | Losing money | Stop spending | | 3:1 | Healthy | Maintain/scale | | > 5:1 | Under-investing | Scale aggressively |

Payback Targets:

B2C SaaS: < 6 months
B2B SaaS: < 12 months
E-commerce: < 3 months

Decision Tree (Triage)

CPL too high?
├─ Check audience size
├─ Check creative CTR (<1% = new creative)
├─ Check landing page CVR (<2% = landing issue)
└─ Check bid strategy

ROAS below target?
├─ Check conversion tracking
├─ Check audience quality
└─ Check offer strength

Metrics

| Metric | Target | |--------|--------| | CTR | >1% (creative health) | | CVR | >2% (landing health) | | Frequency | <3 (fatigue) | | Quality Score | >6 (Google) |

Anti-Patterns

Changing bids daily → Wait 2-4 weeks
Too many audiences → Use 3-5 max
Single creative → Use 3-5 variants
No negative keywords → Build weekly

Resources

| Resource | Purpose | |----------|---------| | data/sources.json | Authoritative sources (platform docs, measurement, privacy) | | references/google-ads-guide.md | Google specifics | | references/meta-ads-guide.md | Meta specifics | | references/tiktok-ads-guide.md | TikTok specifics | | references/linkedin-ads-guide.md | LinkedIn specifics | | references/unit-economics-guide.md | CAC/LTV deep dive | | references/revenue-attribution-guide.md | Attribution models | | references/sales-alignment-guide.md | Pipeline + CRM alignment | | references/operational-sops.md | Weekly/monthly SOPs |

Templates

| Template | Purpose | |----------|---------| | assets/campaign-structure.md | Campaign hierarchy | | assets/budget-allocation.md | Budget planning | | assets/unit-economics-calculator.md | CAC/LTV calculator | | assets/creative-brief.md | Ad creative spec | | assets/google-rsa-asset-pack.md | RSA copy + asset pack | | assets/creative-test-plan.md | Creative testing cadence | | assets/performance-review.md | Weekly/monthly review doc |

International Markets

This skill covers US-centric platforms. For regional advertising:

| Need | See Skill | |------|-----------| | China platforms (Baidu, WeChat, Douyin) | marketing-geo-localization | | Japan/Korea (Yahoo Japan, Naver, Kakao) | marketing-geo-localization | | Russia/CIS (Yandex, VK) | marketing-geo-localization | | Regional CAC benchmarks | marketing-geo-localization |

Tip: If your query mentions regional platforms or specific countries, also use marketing-geo-localization.

Related Skills

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | marketing-geo-localization | International markets | | marketing-leads-generation | Lead capture | | marketing-cro | Landing optimization | | startup-go-to-market | Channel strategy |