Paid Media Plan

Overview

Creates a comprehensive paid media strategy covering platform selection, audience targeting, campaign architecture, budget allocation with pacing, creative requirements, bidding strategy, and measurement. This is the tactical execution plan that turns a campaign plan's paid media budget into structured, optimizable campaigns across platforms.

When to Use

Client is launching or scaling paid advertising
Budget has been allocated to paid channels in a campaign plan
Existing paid campaigns need restructuring or optimization
Client asks "where should we spend our ad budget?"
Onboarding a client with existing ad accounts that need an audit and restructure

Prerequisites

juma-client-context — business model, target audience, budget, goals
juma-campaign-plan (recommended) — overall campaign strategy and budget allocation
juma-analytics-setup (recommended) — conversion tracking must be in place
juma-competitor-intel (recommended) — competitive ad landscape

Process

Step 1: Define Paid Media Objectives

Map business goals to paid media objectives:

Awareness: Reach, impressions, video views, brand lift
Consideration: Traffic, engagement, video views (intent-based)
Conversion: Leads, purchases, signups, app installs
Retention: Retargeting, cross-sell, upsell campaigns

Define target metrics: CPA, ROAS, CPL, CPC, CPM targets based on client's unit economics.

Step 2: Platform Selection

Evaluate and select platforms with rationale:

See platform-selection-guide.md for the complete platform comparison matrix, objective alignment table, and minimum budget guidance.

For each selected platform, document why it was chosen and its role in the media mix.

Step 3: Audience Strategy

Build audience layers per platform:

Core audiences: Demographic + interest + behavior targeting
Custom audiences: Website visitors, email lists, CRM data, app users
Lookalike/similar audiences: Based on best customers, converters, high-value segments
Retargeting audiences: Site visitors (by page/action), cart abandoners, video viewers, engagers
Exclusions: Existing customers (if acquisition-focused), converters, competitors' employees

Document audience sizing per platform and expected overlap.

Step 4: Campaign Architecture

Structure campaigns using platform best practices. See campaign-architecture-template.md for the complete campaign hierarchy, naming conventions, and architecture examples by funnel stage.

For each platform, define the number of campaigns, ad sets/groups, ads per ad set, and ad rotation strategy.

Step 5: Budget Allocation & Pacing

Allocate budget across platforms, campaigns, and time:

Platform split: Based on audience presence and expected performance
Campaign split: By funnel stage (typically 20% awareness / 50% consideration / 30% conversion)
Pacing strategy:
- Daily budgets: Steady-state spend level
- Weekly adjustments: Performance-based reallocation
- Monthly cadence: Ramp-up → sustain → optimization
- Flighting: Heavy-up periods around key dates/events
Minimum viable budget: Per platform (below which performance data is unreliable)

Step 6: Creative Requirements

Define creative needs per platform and format:

For each ad format:

Format: Single image, carousel, video, responsive, text
Specs: Dimensions, file size, character limits, aspect ratios
Quantity: Number of variations needed
Key elements: Headline, body copy, CTA, landing page URL
Creative guidelines: On-brand elements, required disclaimers, do/don't

Include creative refresh schedule (new creative every 2-4 weeks to combat fatigue).

Step 7: Bidding Strategy

Define bidding approach per platform. See bidding-strategy-guide.md for the complete bidding strategy selection matrix, platform-specific recommendations, and campaign maturity progression.

Document bid caps, floors, and adjustment schedules.

Step 8: Measurement & Attribution

Define how paid media performance will be tracked:

Conversion tracking: Platform pixels, server-side tracking, offline conversion imports
Attribution model: Last-click, data-driven, multi-touch (specify per platform)
View-through window: 1-day, 7-day, 28-day (align across platforms for fair comparison)
Click-through window: 7-day, 28-day
Cross-platform deduplication: How to avoid double-counting conversions
Reporting metrics: Primary (CPA, ROAS) + secondary (CTR, quality score, impression share)

Step 9: Optimization Cadence

Define ongoing optimization schedule:

Daily: Budget pacing, anomaly detection, ad disapprovals
Weekly: Performance review, bid adjustments, audience refinement, budget reallocation
Biweekly: Creative performance review, new creative deployment
Monthly: Strategy review, test results, platform mix adjustment
Quarterly: Full strategy reassessment, competitive review

Step 10: Reporting Framework

Define client-facing reporting:

Dashboard access: Real-time or scheduled
Report frequency: Weekly summary, monthly deep-dive
Key metrics: Agreed-upon KPIs with targets
Format: Executive summary + channel detail + recommendations

Output Format

# Paid Media Plan: [Client Name]
**Prepared by**: [Agency Name] | **Date**: [Date]
**Budget**: $[X]/month | **Duration**: [Start] – [End]

## Objectives & Targets

| Metric | Target | Current Baseline |
|--------|--------|-----------------|
| Monthly spend | $[X] | $[X] |
| CPA / CPL | $[X] | $[X] |
| ROAS | [X]:1 | [X]:1 |
| Conversions/month | [N] | [N] |

## Platform Strategy

| Platform | Role | Monthly Budget | % of Total | Primary KPI |
|----------|------|---------------|------------|-------------|
| [Platform] | [Role] | $[X] | [Y%] | [KPI: Target] |

## Audience Strategy

### [Platform 1]
| Audience | Type | Est. Size | Campaign | Priority |
|----------|------|-----------|----------|----------|
| [Audience name] | Core/Custom/Lookalike/Retargeting | [N] | [Campaign] | [H/M/L] |

## Campaign Architecture

### [Platform 1]

Campaign: [Name] (Objective: [X], Budget: $[X]/day) ├── Ad Set: [Name] (Audience: [X], Placement: [X]) │ ├── Ad 1: [Description] │ ├── Ad 2: [Description] │ └── Ad 3: [Description] └── Ad Set: [Name] └── ...


## Budget Pacing

| Month | [Platform 1] | [Platform 2] | [Platform 3] | Total |
|-------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------|
| Month 1 | $[X] | $[X] | $[X] | $[X] |
| Month 2 | $[X] | $[X] | $[X] | $[X] |
| Month 3 | $[X] | $[X] | $[X] | $[X] |

## Creative Requirements

| Platform | Format | Specs | Quantity | Refresh Cadence |
|----------|--------|-------|----------|-----------------|
| [Platform] | [Format] | [Dimensions, limits] | [N variations] | Every [N] weeks |

## Bidding Strategy

| Platform | Campaign Type | Bid Strategy | Target | Cap |
|----------|--------------|-------------|--------|-----|
| [Platform] | [Type] | [Strategy] | $[X] | $[X] |

## Measurement Setup

| Item | Status | Details |
|------|--------|---------|
| [Platform] pixel | [Installed/Needed] | [Notes] |
| Conversion events | [Configured/Needed] | [List events] |
| UTM parameters | [Standardized/Needed] | [Convention] |
| Attribution model | [Model] | [Window settings] |

## Optimization Schedule

| Cadence | Activities | Owner |
|---------|-----------|-------|
| Daily | Budget pacing, ad disapprovals | [Team] |
| Weekly | Bid adjustments, audience refinement | [Team] |
| Biweekly | Creative refresh, A/B test review | [Team] |
| Monthly | Strategy review, client report | [Team] |

## Risks & Mitigations

| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|-----------|--------|------------|
| [Risk] | [H/M/L] | [H/M/L] | [Action] |

Common Mistakes

No minimum budget thresholds — Each platform needs enough spend to generate statistically significant data. Don't spread $5K across 5 platforms
Over-segmenting audiences — Too many ad sets with tiny audiences leads to poor optimization. Consolidate where possible
Ignoring creative fatigue — Same ads running for months lose effectiveness. Plan creative refresh cycles from the start
Mismatched attribution windows — Different windows across platforms make comparison impossible. Standardize where you can
No negative keywords/exclusions — Wasted spend on irrelevant searches or audiences. Build exclusion lists proactively
Set and forget — Paid media requires active management. Define optimization cadence and stick to it
Vanity metrics focus — Impressions and clicks don't pay bills. Tie everything back to conversions and revenue

Related Skills

juma-campaign-plan — High-level campaign strategy that this plan executes
juma-analytics-setup — Conversion tracking and attribution setup
juma-ab-test-plan — Detailed test design for ad creative and landing page tests
juma-reporting — Paid media performance feeds into client reports
juma-channel-audit — Identifies paid media opportunities and current performance
juma-content-calendar — Organic content that supports paid campaigns

juma-paid-media-plan