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