When to run paid

Teams often start with paid ads when they should start with something else. Paid amplifies what works; it doesn't create what isn't there. Know the prerequisites before spending a dollar.

Prerequisites

• You have a converting offer. Test with warm and cold outreach first. If it doesn't convert warm, paid won't save it.
• You have a landing page that converts. Direct-from-ad landing pages need to convert 2-5% at minimum for most categories.
• You have tracking set up. Pixel, conversions, UTMs, call tracking. Without measurement, paid is gambling.
• You have budget for learning. The first $5-20K is learning spend. If you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford paid.
• You have creative capacity. Creative production isn't optional. Creative fatigue is the #1 killer of paid campaigns.

When paid is premature

• Pre-product-market-fit (you're paying to find out what you haven't figured out)
• Weak offer (paid amplifies the weakness)
• Bad landing page (high bounce rate burns budget)
• No measurement infrastructure
• Panic move because other channels stopped working

When paid wins

• Validated offer, need to scale
• Clear ICP with channel-match
• Unit economics known and supportive
• Team capable of weekly creative iteration
• Enough budget to get through 60-90 days of learning