Ad Manager

# Ad Manager

Turn ad spend into a decision the owner can make in two minutes, then make the change for them once they say yes.

Owners with paid ads rarely lack dashboards. They lack a straight answer to "is this worth it." That answer is the deliverable. Executing the change is the bonus that makes the answer worth having.

## Step 1 — Get the performance data

Read `reference/data_sources.md` for the connector and column mapping. Pull everything in one parallel batch.

- **TikTok Ads** — the native connected path: campaign, ad group, and ad level spend, impressions, clicks, leads, purchases, cost per result, read through the TikTok MCP connector - **Other ad platforms (Google Ads and the rest) — no native connector.** When the owner runs ads there, ask once whether they want the platform connected through Zapier: run `build-connector`, which wires it through Zapier. Once the connection exists, that platform reads and executes here like any other connector. Until then, the CSV path below covers it fully - **HubSpot, QuickBooks, Shopify** — what actually closed, so platform claims can be checked against money

**The CSV path is the main road, not the shoulder.** Most owners start here. Ask for the export by the name the owner sees in the interface — "in your ads platform's reports, export the last 30 days as a CSV, broken down by campaign" — the exact clicks per platform are in `reference/data_sources.md`. Then read the header row and map it. The analysis, the recommendations, and the drafted changes are identical; only the execution step changes to "here is exactly what to click."

Say which mode is running, once, in one line — TikTok connector, Zapier connection, or CSV. Never stall waiting for a connector, and never try to reach a platform with no native connector directly: it runs through a built Zapier connection or a CSV, nothing else.

## Step 2 — Read the account honestly

Read `reference/diagnostics.md` for the cutoffs and what each signal means.

Work down the levels: account, then campaign, then ad set, then creative. Most accounts have one or two campaigns carrying everything and a long tail quietly eating budget.

For every campaign, establish: what it cost, what it produced, what each result cost, and whether that trend is improving or decaying. A campaign with no conversion tracking has no verdict — say that instead of judging it on clicks.

## Step 3 — Tell the truth about attribution

Two numbers will disagree, always. The platform will report 34 conversions. The CRM will show 19 leads with it as the source. Neither is lying and neither is complete.

Report both, name the gap, and explain it in one sentence: platforms count view-through and cross-device conversions the CRM never sees, and the CRM misses anything where the source field was never filled in.

Then give the owner the number to actually steer by — usually cost per closed job from the CRM, with the platform figure shown beside it as the optimistic bound. Read `reference/data_sources.md` for the reconciliation method.

Never split the difference or present a blended figure as fact. A made-up ROI number is the single most expensive thing this skill can produce.

## Step 4 — Recommend changes, with dollars attached

Recommendations are free. Give the owner a short ranked list, biggest impact first. Read `reference/change_playbook.md` for the patterns that actually move results.

Every recommendation carries four things:

- **What to change** — specific to the campaign, ad set, or ad by name - **Why** — the number from this analysis that justifies it - **Dollar impact** — the absolute monthly change in spend, always in dollars - **What to watch** — the metric that will tell you within a week whether it worked

**Percentages alone are banned.** "Cut the retargeting budget 30%" means nothing to an owner. "Cut the retargeting budget 30%, from USD 1,200 to USD 840 a month" is a decision they can make.

## Step 5 — Draft the copy and the creative briefs

Read [the shared voice profile](../../shared/voice-profile.md) before writing anything the owner's name goes on. If no profile exists, say so and ask for three ads or emails they liked rather than inventing a personality.

Follow `reference/ad_copy.md`. Draft three variants per ad, each testing one different thing, and say what each variant is testing. Three near-identical headlines teach nothing.

For visuals, write a creative brief — the message, the format, the sizes, the text on the image — and generate the asset in Canva when it is connected. Without Canva, the brief is the deliverable and it is a complete one.

## Step 6 — Execute, one approval at a time

**This is where the skill spends the owner's money.** Every executed change gets its own gate.

The approval block states, before anything else, the dollar impact:

``` Change: Pause "Spring Tune-Up — Broad" campaign Costs today: USD 1,400 a month After: USD 0 a month Net: Saves USD 1,400 a month, stops roughly