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

references/programmatic-display.md Programmatic buying, DSPs, DOOH

references/remarketing-retargeting.md Retargeting strategy + windows

references/youtube-ads-guide.md YouTube + Shorts specifics

references/creative-testing-ads.md Creative testing methodology

references/privacy-cookieless-ads.md Privacy-first advertising

references/amazon-ads-guide.md Amazon Sponsored Products/Brands/Display, DSP

references/microsoft-ads-guide.md Bing/Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn targeting, Copilot

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