Contractor Ads

---
name: contractor-ads
description: Paid advertising knowledge for contractors. Facebook/Instagram ads, Google Ads, audience targeting, budget optimization, and creative strategy. Activates when discussing ads, campaigns, CPL, ROAS, Meta, or Google Ads.
---

## Contractor advertising

### Budget calculation
Max CPL = (average job size x close rate 15-25%) / target ROAS 5x. Start $20-50/day. Scale winners by 20%.

### Meta Ads setup
Campaign objective: Leads. Budget optimization ON. Audience: drop pin on service area + radius, age 30-65, homeowners. Exclude renters. Placements: Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed/Stories, Marketplace. Turn OFF Audience Network. Lead form: name, phone, email, address, service dropdown, timeline dropdown.

### Google Ads setup
Search campaign. Start Maximize Clicks, switch to Maximize Conversions after 15 conversions, then Target CPA after 30. 3 ad groups by service type. Extensions: call, location, sitelinks, callouts.

### Creative angles (rotate every 2 weeks)
1. PROOF: rating + review count + years
2. PROBLEM-SOLUTION: homeowner problem → result
3. SCARCITY: limited availability, booking ahead
4. LOCAL: specific city or neighborhood
5. EQUIPMENT: feature a machine -- heavy equipment is visually compelling

### Facebook ad specs
Primary text: under 125 characters. Headline: under 40 characters. Description: under 30 characters.

### Google ad specs
15 headlines (30 chars each). 4 descriptions (90 chars each).

### Kill/scale rules
Kill CTR below 1% (Facebook) or 3% (Google) after 1,000 impressions. Scale at 20% budget increase. Never change more than 1 variable per test. Frequency above 2.5 = creative fatigue.

### What NOT to do
- Never run Audience Network
- Never target interests only (use location + demographics)
- Never set it and forget it -- check weekly minimum
- Never use stock photos when job site photos are available