Display Campaign Build

This drill constructs display advertising campaigns from scratch: platform selection, placement targeting, creative setup, conversion tracking, lead routing, and CRM integration. It is designed for problem-aware audiences who encounter banner ads on industry publications and relevant websites.

Prerequisites

• Google Ads account with Display campaign access and billing configured
• Meta Business Manager with Audience Network enabled
• PostHog installed on all landing pages
• Landing pages built (run landing-page-pipeline drill if needed)
• ICP defined with documented pain points
• Attio CRM configured
• Clay account for lead enrichment

Input

• ICP document with firmographic and psychographic criteria
• 3 primary pain points for the problem-aware audience
• Banner creative assets (landscape 1200x628, square 1200x1200, logo)
• Landing page URLs with UTM parameters configured
• Monthly budget allocation ($1,000-3,000 for Baseline)

Steps

1. Select platforms and allocate budget

For display advertising targeting problem-aware prospects on industry sites:

• Google Display Network (primary): 60% of budget. Reaches 90%+ of internet users via 2M+ publisher sites. Use managed placements for industry sites and custom intent audiences for broader reach.
• Meta Audience Network (secondary): 40% of budget. Extends Meta ads beyond Facebook/Instagram to partner apps and websites. Strong retargeting via Pixel data.

Split rationale: GDN offers direct placement targeting on industry publications. Meta Audience Network offers better retargeting and lookalike capabilities.

2. Build the Google Display campaign

Using the google-ads-display-campaign fundamental:

1. Create 2 campaign groups:

   • Campaign A: "Display - Managed Placements - [Industry]" — ads on specific industry sites
   • Campaign B: "Display - Custom Intent - [ICP Pain Point]" — ads shown to users searching for related topics

2. Configure Campaign A (managed placements):

   • Research 15-25 industry publications and blogs where ICP reads
   • Add each as a managed placement via the API
   • Set daily budget to 60% of GDN allocation / 30
   • Bidding: Maximize Conversions for first 2 weeks, switch to Target CPA after 15+ conversions

3. Configure Campaign B (custom intent):

   • Build custom intent audiences from:
     • 10-15 keywords the ICP searches when experiencing the pain point
     • 5-10 competitor URLs
     • 3-5 industry resource URLs
   • Set daily budget to 40% of GDN allocation / 30
   • Bidding: Maximize Conversions

4. Create 3 ad groups per campaign (one per pain point):

   • Each ad group targets a different ICP pain point
   • Each gets 3-5 responsive display ad variants

5. Upload responsive display ads:

   • 3 headlines per pain point (stat hook, question hook, proof hook)
   • 2 descriptions per pain point
   • Landscape and square images per pain point
   • Long headline summarizing the value offer

6. Configure exclusions:

   • Exclude mobile app placements (accidental clicks)
   • Exclude below-the-fold placements
   • Exclude parked domains and error pages
   • Set frequency cap: 5 impressions per user per week

3. Build the Meta Audience Network campaign

Using the meta-ads-campaign-setup and meta-ads-audiences fundamentals:

1. Create the campaign:

   • Objective: Lead Generation or Traffic (depending on whether you use Instant Forms or landing pages)
   • Placements: select Audience Network manually (do NOT use Automatic Placements, which will spread budget across Facebook/Instagram)

2. Build audiences:

   • Custom Audience: website visitors from last 30 days who did not convert (from Meta Pixel)
   • Lookalike Audience: 1% lookalike from best customers (export from Attio, hash emails, upload)
   • Interest-based Audience: interests matching the problem space (not solution category)

3. Create ad sets (one per audience):

   • Daily budget: split Meta allocation across audiences (50% retargeting, 30% lookalike, 20% interest)

4. Build display ad creative:

   • Single image format for Audience Network
   • Problem-agitation headlines matching GDN ads for cross-platform consistency
   • Include a clear CTA button

4. Install conversion tracking

Using google-ads-conversion-tracking and meta-ads-pixel-capi:

1. Google Ads: Create conversion actions for page_view, form_submit, demo_booked. Import PostHog events as Google Ads conversions via the offline conversion import API.
2. Meta: Verify Pixel fires on all landing pages. Configure Conversions API (CAPI) for server-side event deduplication.
3. PostHog: Using posthog-custom-events, track:
   • display_impression (via platform API sync)
   • display_click (landing page UTM parameter capture)
   • display_conversion (form submission with source attribution)
   • Properties on each event: platform, campaign_id, ad_group, placement, pain_point
4. UTM structure: utm_source=google|meta&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=display-baseline-{pain-point}&utm_content={creative-variant}
5. Build the PostHog funnel: display_click > page_view > scroll_50 > form_focus > form_submit > demo_booked

5. Deploy lead routing

Using attio-contacts, attio-deals, clay-enrichment-waterfall, clay-scoring, and loops-sequences:

Build an n8n workflow triggered by PostHog display_conversion webhook:

1. Extract lead data from form submission
2. Enrich via Clay: company data, LinkedIn profile, ICP scoring
3. Create or update contact in Attio with: source: display-ads, campaign, platform, placement, lead_score
4. If lead_score >= 70: create deal in Attio, add to Loops high-intent nurture, send Slack alert
5. If lead_score < 70: add to Loops educational nurture
6. Log all enrichment and routing decisions as PostHog events for attribution analysis

6. Launch sequence

1. Launch GDN Campaign A (managed placements) first — this is your controlled test
2. After 3 days and 1,000+ impressions: review placement report, exclude any irrelevant sites
3. Launch GDN Campaign B (custom intent) — broader reach test
4. Launch Meta Audience Network retargeting campaign
5. After 7 days: launch Meta lookalike and interest campaigns
6. Stagger launches to isolate performance signals per campaign type

Output

• 2 GDN campaigns (managed placements + custom intent) with 3 ad groups each
• 1 Meta Audience Network campaign with 3 ad sets
• PostHog funnel tracking display click-through to conversion
• n8n lead routing workflow: display conversion > Clay enrichment > Attio CRM > Loops nurture
• UTM-tagged landing pages with full attribution

Triggers

• Campaign monitoring: daily manual check during first 2 weeks
• Placement exclusion review: weekly
• Creative refresh: every 2-3 weeks
• Lead quality report: weekly via n8n