{
 "id": "10.10",
 "title": "Paid acquisition",
 "department": "Marketing and growth",
 "department_slug": "marketing-and-growth",
 "direction": null,
 "branded": false,
 "status": "needs-you",
 "owner": "Param",
 "last_verified": "Mon Oct 26",
 "holds": "When, where, budget, rules",
 "urls": {
  "html": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/marketing-and-growth/paid-acquisition",
  "markdown": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/marketing-and-growth/paid-acquisition.md",
  "json": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/marketing-and-growth/paid-acquisition.json"
 },
 "other_directions": [],
 "tldr": {
  "headline": "We have never paid for a Brew brand, and spend stays zero",
  "points": [
   {
    "icon": "money",
    "text": "No budget, channel or rule for paid acquisition exists today."
   },
   {
    "icon": "eye",
    "text": "Our pages have no analytics or ad pixel, so a paid click could not be counted."
   },
   {
    "icon": "chart",
    "text": "The only paid campaign was for Cozy Snugglet: no sales, paused 8 Oct."
   },
   {
    "icon": "lock",
    "text": "Three gates before any test: pricing set, name chosen, partners handing off weekly."
   },
   {
    "icon": "flag",
    "text": "First test, if any: Meta, Instagram only, in India, with a fixed cap."
   }
  ],
  "stat": {
   "value": "29",
   "label": "clicks on the Cozy campaign"
  },
  "decide": "Do we do paid acquisition at all before launch?",
  "mood": "waiting"
 },
 "sources": [
  "brew origin/main a559de6: public/index.html:1-2; public/app.js:404, 409; git grep for gtag, googletagmanager, fbq in public and server.js finds nothing",
  "memory: squareup-tracking-structure, cozy-meta-campaign, brew-pricing-parked, no-spend-while-building, no-disclaimers-in-ads, sell-relief-not-discounts",
  "handbook content/ai-and-models/cost-per-brand.md",
  "handbook/AGENTS.md"
 ],
 "open_questions": [
  "**Do we do paid acquisition at all before launch?** Proposal: no; organic and warm intros only while reads are capped.",
  "**What are the gates for the first test?** Proposal: pricing agreed with Sai, the name chosen, and every partner handing off weekly for four weeks.",
  "**Which channel first?** Proposal: Meta, Instagram only, in India, because the founder audience scrolls there and the ad account exists.",
  "**What budget?** Proposal: Param names one fixed cap for a two week test; nothing is spent past it.",
  "**Do we set up tracking now, before any spend?** Proposal: yes; run Setup Analytics for the product's own pages this cycle, at no cost.",
  "**Does the Cozy campaign teach us anything here?** Proposal: one rule only: never launch paid without a working purchase or ask event to count."
 ],
 "parts": {
  "Answer": "We have never paid to acquire a brand for Brew, and no budget, channel or rule for it exists; this document holds the questions and a proposal that keeps spend at zero until a read turns into a weekly habit and a price exists.",
  "Today": "| Fact | Source |\n|---|---|\n| No ad, campaign or paid post for the product appears in any source | [src: no source found in memory or brew origin/main] |\n| The product's own pages carry no analytics or ad pixel, so a paid click could not be counted | [src: brew/public/index.html:1-2] [src: git grep gtag googletagmanager fbq origin/main] |\n| The company has one Meta ad account, SquareUp Ads India, billed in rupees, and one GA4 account; neither has a Brew dataset or property | [src: memory squareup-tracking-structure] |\n| A Setup Analytics skill exists that builds a Meta dataset and a GA4 property for a new product | [src: memory squareup-tracking-structure] |\n| The one paid campaign we ran was for a different store, Cozy Snugglet; it was paused on 8 Oct after a lifetime ₹9,817, 29 clicks, one add to cart and no sales. The memory index rounds it to ₹9,860; the note's figure is used here | [src: memory cozy-meta-campaign] |\n| Pricing is parked, so there is no revenue per brand to pay back a click | [src: memory brew-pricing-parked] |\n| Reads are capped while we build; each costs real money, see [cost per brand](/ai-and-models/cost-per-brand) | [src: brew/public/app.js:404] [src: handbook content/ai-and-models/cost-per-brand.md] |\n| The product name is not chosen, so there is no brand to buy search terms for | [src: handbook/AGENTS.md] |",
  "Tomorrow": "Every item here is a proposal for Param.\n\n| Item | Version | Tag |\n|---|---|---|\n| No paid acquisition while reads are capped | v1 | New, proposed |\n| Install analytics on the landing and the ask page first: a GA4 property and a Meta dataset, with read asks, sign ins, reads started and first hand offs as events | v1 | New, proposed |\n| A first paid test only after three gates: pricing set, name chosen, partners handing off weekly | v1 | New, proposed |\n| The first test: one channel, one audience, one hook from [audiences and hooks](/marketing-and-growth/audiences-and-hooks), a fixed cap Param names, one ask: a read | v1 | New, proposed |\n| Retargeting people who started a read and stopped | v2 | New, proposed |\n| Search ads on the product name, once it exists | v2 | New, proposed |",
  "How we do it": "Proposed rules, until Param decides:\n\n1. Spend nothing on ads for the product until Param writes a budget into this document.\n2. Never boost a post that claims something the current version does not do.\n3. Every paid test gets a row in the [campaign log](/marketing-and-growth/campaign-log) before it starts: goal, cap, dates, hook, what success means.\n4. Stop a test the moment it reaches its cap. No auto top ups.\n5. Ad creative follows the house rules: no disclaimers or fine print on creative, sell relief and never discounts.\n6. Count only what a person does after the click: read asks, reads started, first hand offs. Never likes or followers.",
  "Numbers": "| Metric | Definition | Where measured | Status |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Cost per read ask | Ad spend divided by read asks from that test | Ad platform and the asks list | Proposed |\n| Cost per first hand off | Ad spend divided by new brands that hand off a pick within 14 days | Ad platform and brief status | Proposed |\n| Read cost on top | Our model and data cost for each paid read | [Cost per brand](/ai-and-models/cost-per-brand) | Proposed |",
  "Open": "1. **Do we do paid acquisition at all before launch?** Proposal: no; organic and warm intros only while reads are capped.\n2. **What are the gates for the first test?** Proposal: pricing agreed with Sai, the name chosen, and every partner handing off weekly for four weeks.\n3. **Which channel first?** Proposal: Meta, Instagram only, in India, because the founder audience scrolls there and the ad account exists.\n4. **What budget?** Proposal: Param names one fixed cap for a two week test; nothing is spent past it.\n5. **Do we set up tracking now, before any spend?** Proposal: yes; run Setup Analytics for the product's own pages this cycle, at no cost.\n6. **Does the Cozy campaign teach us anything here?** Proposal: one rule only: never launch paid without a working purchase or ask event to count."
 }
}