budget-pacinglisted
Install: claude install-skill SkillMedev/performance-marketing
# Budget Pacing
Budget pacing is spending the right amount at the right time to meet both volume and efficiency targets. Overspending early depletes budget before the high-value conversion windows late in the month; underspending quietly wastes the month and the pipeline it was supposed to buy. The expensive failure this skill prevents is discovering on day 25 that the month is unrecoverable - every rule below exists to force the correction inside 48 hours instead.
## Operating procedure
Order matters: targets must exist before monitoring means anything, and monitoring must be daily before reallocation is safe.
### Step 1: Gather inputs
Collect before the month begins. Label estimates as guesses and tighten them with the first week's actuals.
1. Total monthly budget and the CAC target (or target range) per channel.
2. Volume target: conversions, leads, or purchases expected for the month.
3. Day-of-week seasonality from history - e.g., if Tuesday-Thursday convert 20% better, those days get weighted higher. If no history exists, start flat and label it a guess.
4. Channel list with trailing 30-day CAC and an honest read on remaining impression volume per channel.
5. The business's risk tolerance for over/under-delivery, which calibrates the escalation thresholds below.
### Step 2: Set pacing targets before day 1
Divide total monthly budget by calendar days for the baseline daily target, then reweight by the seasonality curve. Set a daily tolerance band of ±15% around e