Setup Guide

Generate a complete
ads strategy with AI

By Dan Donovan, @askdandonovan

Four steps. Five minutes. You'll have a professional paid advertising strategy covering campaign architecture, budget allocation, creative briefs, and a 12-week rollout plan.

4 Steps
~5 min Setup time
6 Deliverables
$0 Extra cost
What you'll generate
Ads Strategy
Platform mix, competitive analysis, targeting
Campaign Architecture
Full funnel structure with ad copy
Budget Plan
Monthly pacing and seasonal adjustments
Creative Brief
Asset specs, scripts, copy bank
Tracking Setup
Pixel, CAPI, call tracking checklist
12-Week Roadmap
Phased rollout with weekly milestones
Before you start: You'll need a Claude account with a Pro or Max plan. If you don't have one, sign up at claude.ai first. The setup below takes about 5 minutes.
1

Install Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic's command-line tool. It runs in your terminal and can read, write, and reason about files on your computer.

On Mac or Linux, open Terminal and paste this:

Terminal 
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Once installed, verify it works:

Terminal 
claude

It'll ask you to log in the first time. Sign in with your Anthropic account and you're set.

Windows? Claude Code also works on Windows via WSL. Or download the desktop app from claude.ai/code for a simpler setup.
2

Install the Ads skill

This installs a specialised advertising skill that gives Claude Code 190+ audit checks, industry benchmarks, and strategic planning templates across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more.

One command. That's it.

Terminal 
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-ads/main/install.sh | bash

You'll see it install the orchestrator, 17 sub-skills, 10 agents, reference files, and 11 industry templates. Takes about 30 seconds.

3

Generate your ads strategy

Open Claude Code and type one command. Replace the business type with whichever matches yours.

Claude Code 
/ads plan local-service

Pick your business type:

saas SaaS companies
ecommerce Online stores
local-service Local businesses
b2b-enterprise B2B sales
info-products Courses & coaching
mobile-app App companies
real-estate Property
healthcare Medical & health
finance Financial services
agency Marketing agencies

Claude will ask you four quick questions before generating your plan. Have these ready:

  • Your industry and what you sell: be specific
  • Monthly ad budget: what you spend or plan to spend
  • Primary goal: leads, sales, calls, app installs
  • Which platforms you're on, or want to be on
Pro tip: The more context you give, the better the output. Instead of just running the command, try: "I run a plumbing business in Sydney, spend $3K/mo on Google Ads, main goal is phone calls. Run /ads plan local-service."
4

Get your output

Claude generates six strategy documents, each tailored to your business type, budget, and goals. Here's what you'll get:

1
ADS-STRATEGY.md
Executive summary, competitive landscape, platform selection with rationale
2
CAMPAIGN-ARCHITECTURE.md
Full campaign structure, ad groups, keywords, naming conventions, ad copy
3
BUDGET-PLAN.md
Platform allocation, monthly pacing, seasonal adjustments, expected returns
4
CREATIVE-BRIEF.md
Brand guidelines, content pillars, video scripts, headline and copy bank
5
TRACKING-SETUP.md
Pixel, CAPI, call tracking, UTM conventions, verification checklist
6
IMPLEMENTATION-ROADMAP.md
12-week phased rollout with weekly tasks and success criteria

Want more? Once the skill is installed, you also get:

  • /ads audit: full multi-platform audit with 190+ checks and a health score
  • /ads google: deep Google Ads analysis (Search, PMax, YouTube)
  • /ads meta: deep Meta analysis (FB, IG, Advantage+)
  • /ads creative: cross-platform creative quality and fatigue detection
  • /ads budget: budget allocation and bidding strategy review
  • /ads competitor: competitor ad intelligence across platforms
?

What to do with your output

Your strategy includes a priority system. Every recommendation is tagged so you know what to tackle first:

Critical
Fix immediately: these are actively costing you money or breaking tracking
High
Fix within 7 days: significant performance drag on your campaigns
Medium
Fix within 30 days: optimisation opportunities that compound over time
Low
Backlog: best practices and minor improvements

Start with the Critical items. Work down. Don't try to fix everything at once.

Pro tip: Re-run the audit after you've made fixes to verify they worked. Set a recurring monthly check to catch new issues early. Ad accounts drift over time.