# paid-ads

> A Claude Code skill that plans paid advertising — Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, X — covering campaign structure, audience targeting, bidding, budget allocation, and optimization.

**Use case**: Plan paid campaigns that don't burn budget

**Canonical URL**: https://agentcookbooks.com/skills/paid-ads/

**Topics**: claude-code, skills, marketing, paid-ads

**Trigger phrases**: "PPC", "paid media", "ROAS", "ad campaign", "should I run ads"

**Source**: [Corey Haines](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/paid-ads)

**License**: MIT

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## What it does

`paid-ads` is a Claude Code skill from Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). It turns Claude into a performance marketer who handles campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, budget allocation, and the per-platform quirks that quietly burn cash. The skill activates when you mention "PPC", "paid media", "ROAS", "ad campaign", or "should I run ads".

The output of a session is a campaign plan: platform recommendation with rationale, account structure (campaigns / ad groups), audience definitions, bid strategy, daily budget allocation, and the kill criteria — when to pause, when to scale, what ROAS or CPA threshold disqualifies a campaign.

## When to use it

Reach for it when:

- You're spinning up paid for the first time and don't want a $5K education in account structure
- An existing campaign is bleeding money and you need a structured optimization pass
- You're choosing between Google, Meta, and LinkedIn and need a decision, not "all three"

When *not* to reach for it:

- You don't have product-market fit yet — paid acquisition without retention is incinerator
- You need ad copy specifically — that's `ad-creative`, this is strategy

## Install

The skill is distributed via Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). Install via the repo's recommended path — copy the [`paid-ads` SKILL.md](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/paid-ads) into your project's `.claude/skills/paid-ads/` directory, or use the repo's plugin install if you've set it up.

Once installed, the skill activates on the trigger phrases above. The first time it runs, it will check for `.agents/product-marketing-context.md` (or `.claude/product-marketing-context.md`) — populating that file with your product context first dramatically improves output quality across all of Haines's marketing skills.

## What a session looks like

A typical session has three phases:

1. **Platform + budget fit.** Which platform's intent model matches your buyer (Google search for high-intent, Meta for discovery, LinkedIn for B2B targeting), and what minimum budget makes the platform statistically meaningful.
2. **Account structure.** Campaign and ad-group taxonomy, audience definitions, exclusions, conversion tracking setup, bid strategy (manual / Maximize / tROAS / tCPA).
3. **Optimization rhythm.** Weekly review checklist, kill criteria, scaling rules, the "underperforming creative" definition with a real impression threshold.

The discipline that makes it work: kill criteria *before* launch. Most paid spend is wasted because nobody wrote down "this is the number that means we stop".

## Receipts

Honest reporting on what `paid-ads` produces and where it has limits:

**Where it works well:**
- Forces budget reality — the skill won't pretend $300/month on Meta will produce signal
- Account structure recommendations prevent the messy-account problem that calcifies into permanent waste
- Kill criteria up front saves the "let's give it another month" trap

**Where it backfires:**
- Without account access it can't see the actual data; the plan is hypothesis-based until you run it
- Platform UIs and bid strategies shift fast; tactical recommendations need verification against current docs

**Pattern that works:** start with one platform that matches your funnel, not three. Multi-platform scaling is a phase-two move, not a launch strategy.

## Source and attribution

Originally written by [Corey Haines](https://corey.co). The canonical SKILL.md and any supporting files live in the [`paid-ads` folder](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/paid-ads) of his [marketing-skills repository](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills).

License: MIT. You can install, adapt, and redistribute the skill, with attribution preserved.

This page documents the skill from a practitioner's perspective. For the formal spec and any updates, defer to the source repo.