paid-media-budget-allocationlisted

# Paid Media Budget Allocation Allocate a paid advertising budget across channels by **cost per customer**, not gut feel — funding each channel until the cost of its *next* customer reaches the target, so the marginal cost of a customer is roughly equal everywhere. This is the most customers a given budget can buy. ## Before you start 1. **Read the brand/product context first.** If a context file exists (e.g. `.agents/product-marketing.md`, `.agents/aaj-brand.md`, or similar), read it for the product, audience, pricing, and positioning. If none exists, ask the user for the essentials below before allocating. 2. **Establish the unit economics.** You need: business model (B2B SaaS / ecommerce / local-services / marketplace), average contract or order value, gross margin, and gross-margin **LTV** per customer. If LTV is unknown, help the user estimate it (or invoke the `unit-economics` skill) before continuing. 3. **Confirm the objective** — one of: a fixed **monthly budget**, a **CAC target**, or a **customer goal**. ## Method 1. **Set the CAC ceiling from LTV.** A healthy LTV:CAC ratio is **≥ 3:1**. Work backwards: ceiling ≈ LTV ÷ 3. This is the most you should pay per customer from ads (blended). Note this is *paid-media* CAC; fully-loaded CAC is higher. 2. **Pick the channel set for the model.** Don't run every channel — pick the 3–5 where the buyer actually researches and purchases. See `resources/channel-benchmarks.md` for the default set per model. 3. **Get a base CA