paid-campaign-strategy

Paid Campaign Strategy

Design paid advertising campaign architecture for B2B SaaS. Determines which campaigns to run, budget allocation, targeting strategy, and account structure across Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads. This is the upstream skill that feeds all copy and creative skills.

Live LinkedIn Ads data (optional): when the linkedin-ads MCP is authenticated, ground the strategy in the account's actual performance — read current spend, CPL, audience response, and top creatives (get_campaign_performance, get_audience_demographics, compare_performance) before allocating budget or setting KPI targets. Reads are free; write tools gated by .claude/rules/linkedin-ads-spend.md. See .claude/mcp/linkedin-ads/README.md.

Process Flowchart

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PAID CAMPAIGN STRATEGY PROCESS │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INPUT VALIDATION │
│ Required: │
│ □ product-messaging (value props, differentiators) │
│ □ icp-behavioural (personas, firmographics, pain points) │
│ Optional: competitor-research, funnel-strategy, company-context│
│ □ Monthly budget range │
│ □ Campaign objective (awareness / leads / demos / trials) │
│ → If missing: Suggest upstream skills first │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PHASE 1: PLATFORM SELECTION │
│ Step 1.1: Apply platform selection matrix │
│ Step 1.2: Determine primary vs support platform │
│ Step 1.3: Allocate budget split across platforms │
│ → Output: Platform recommendation with rationale │
│ ✓ Checkpoint: Platform(s) selected with budget split │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PHASE 2: CAMPAIGN ARCHITECTURE │
│ Step 2.1: Google Ads — select from 5-pillar model │
│ Step 2.2: LinkedIn Ads — select funnel stages │
│ Step 2.3: Map campaigns to objectives and budget tiers │
│ Step 2.4: Define ad group structure per campaign │
│ → Output: Campaign list with objectives and budget │
│ ✓ Checkpoint: Every campaign has objective + budget + KPI │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PHASE 3: TARGETING + TRACKING │
│ Step 3.1: Map ICP → Google keyword strategy │
│ Step 3.2: Map ICP → LinkedIn audience filters │
│ Step 3.3: Define UTM taxonomy │
│ Step 3.4: Define negative keyword seed list (Google) │
│ Step 3.5: Set KPI targets per campaign │
│ → Output: Targeting specs + UTM structure + KPI targets │
│ ✓ Checkpoint: Every campaign has targeting + tracking defined │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SELF-EVALUATION │
│ □ Budget allocation totals to 100% │
│ □ Every campaign has objective, budget, targeting, KPI │
│ □ Platform selection justified by ICP signals │
│ □ Negative keywords included for Google │
│ □ UTM taxonomy defined and consistent │
│ □ Timeline accounts for 60-90 day B2B learning window │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CHAIN SUGGESTIONS │
│ → google-ads-copy (generate RSA copy per campaign) │
│ → linkedin-ads-copy (generate ad copy per funnel stage) │
│ → ad-creative-brief (visual direction for designers) │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘