Diagnose paid-media waste

Follow the checks. Name one class. Stop before any spend change. If you get stuck, stop and bring the note to a person. Do not take a channel ban or a budget change from this page.

Use when. You already spend (or are about to) on search, social, display, retargeting, sponsorship, affiliate, or other performance media — and you need one disposition (hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person) before adding budget.

Do not use when. You want someone to run the account, invent demand, pick "always Meta / never Google," chase dollar benchmarks, or treat a free audit as proof.

Your input. Named offer boundary; ICP or explicit UNKNOWN; channels paid (inventory); conversion/join keys; Sales qualification definition (or none); spend window dates; supporting activity state or UNKNOWN; named spend owner.

Your quality check. Contradictions and unknowns stay visible. No invented benchmarks. Human decision stays blank until the owner picks hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person. Vanity CPA never stands alone as success.

Put this to work

Prepare a Paid-media waste Decision Pack

For the accountable spend owner

Copy this prompt. Paste it with the relevant source material into Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI assistant, then review the result before acting.

# Role and job
Help an accountable owner follow eight checks on supplied evidence and stop at one disposition: hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person.

# Outcome
Walk the eight checks:
1. State the question — is this paid spend wasted for this offer?
2. Check instrumentation — is a conversion defined, and can you see the events? If not, stop.
3. Check event volume — enough events to learn, or unknown noise?
4. Separate vanity cost from a sales-accepted lead — platform CPA is not the decision.
5. Name what is not ads — offer, page, or follow-up gaps stay visible.
6. Name the waste class (one of the five below), then pick one disposition: hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person.
   - instrumentation gap — conversion not defined or events not visible
   - insufficient event volume — too few events to learn or signal too noisy
   - vanity vs qualified-lead mismatch — platform CPA differs from sales-accepted lead cost
   - non-ads dependency — offer, page, or follow-up gaps block assessment
   - inconclusive — cannot determine from supplied evidence
7. If lead quality is the gap, hand that question to sales qualification — do not invent a buyer.
8. Write the note — unknowns stay written, no spend change from this page.

Success means the disposition is hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person, unknowns stay written, and no spend, bid, budget, or channel ban is chosen.

# Inputs
- Named offer / business boundary: [paste]
- ICP or explicit UNKNOWN: [paste]
- Channels currently paid (inventory only): [paste]
- Conversion / event inventory and join keys: [paste]
- Qualification definition with Sales (or none): [paste]
- Spend window (dates only — no ROAS targets): [paste]
- Supporting activity state (content / brand / sales follow-up) or UNKNOWN: [paste]
- Accountable spend owner: [name or role]

# Boundaries
You may inventory, diagnose, expose gaps, and draft the pack. Do not invent benchmarks or demand, ban or bless platforms by decree, change spend, scrape private ad accounts, publish, DM anyone, or recommend "scale." The owner chooses hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person.

# Output
Return the eight checks, the waste class or inconclusive, and one blank human disposition: hold | instrument-first | review-with-a-person. If stuck, name the step and stop. Do not invent a vendor or a channel ban.

# Stop and recovery
Stop when authority is unclear, evidence would be invented, private-account access is required without warrant, or spend change is requested. Return the blocker and cheapest next instrumentation check.

# Final check
Verify no invented benchmarks, no categorical channel doctrine, vanity CPA never alone as success, Sales quality named or unknown, and consequential authority remains with the owner.

Human decision — cannot be delegated. Accept one disposition: hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person. No spend or publish from this page.

If you are stuck. Stop on the step that failed. Bring the note to a person. Do not invent the next spend move.

Outcome

A reviewable Paid-media waste Decision Pack. Whether spend is wasted remains unproved until the owner signs a dated disposition.

Use When

Use when you already spend (or are about to) on paid media — search, social, display, retargeting, sponsorship, affiliate, or other performance channels — and you need one disposition (hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person) before adding budget.

Inputs

Named offer boundary; ICP or explicit UNKNOWN; channels paid (inventory); conversion/join keys; Sales qualification definition (or none); spend window dates; supporting activity state or UNKNOWN; named spend owner.

Recipe

State the question. Is this paid spend wasted for this offer?
Check instrumentation. Is a conversion defined, and can you see the events? If not, stop.
Check event volume. Enough events to learn, or unknown noise?
Separate vanity cost from a sales-accepted lead. Platform CPA is not the decision.
Name what is not ads. Offer, page, or follow-up gaps stay visible.
Name the waste class (one of the five below), then pick one disposition: hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person.
- instrumentation gap — conversion not defined or events not visible
- insufficient event volume — too few events to learn or signal too noisy
- vanity vs qualified-lead mismatch — platform CPA differs from sales-accepted lead cost
- non-ads dependency — offer, page, or follow-up gaps block assessment
- inconclusive — cannot determine from supplied evidence
If lead quality is the gap, hand that question to sales qualification. Do not invent a buyer.
Write the note. Unknowns stay written. No spend change from this page.

Stuck on a step? Stop there. A person reviews the note. They do not inherit a budget change from the workflow.

Human and AI Control

AI may map evidence, expose contradictions, and draft the pack. The named spend owner chooses the disposition and controls any spend change.

Output and Handoff

If accepted, the disposition is hold, instrument-first, or review-with-a-person — not scaling spend. Later siblings (instrument conversions, prioritise channels, analyse performance) may apply after a signed disposition.

Evidence and Stop

Stop for invented evidence, unclear authority, private-account access without warrant, or any request to change spend without separate authority. Do not invent benchmarks or demand.

Reliability

Producer: Advertising navigator with agent assistance. The decision pack is the pattern; exposed contradictions and owner authority are the protocol. Retain the pack and later response as evidence. The owner accepts only a warranted disposition.

Active Gaps: Decision Pack receipt template (Gap 10) remains OPEN until first live dogfood. Deferred siblings: instrument paid conversions, prioritise paid channels, analyse paid campaign performance.

Where the note goes

hold — keep the note with a review date and owner.
instrument-first — there is no Playbook recipe for instrumentation yet.
review-with-a-person — the named spend owner reviews the note.

Compare Outcome and Correct Method applies only after a Decision Trace exists.