ADS.md: Your Campaign Operating System

Every Claude prompt in this course starts by referencing ADS.md without it Claude writes generic copy, with it Claude knows your offer, your audience, and what has already worked

Every Claude prompt in this course starts by referencing ADS.md. Without it Claude writes generic ad copy that could belong to any business in any niche. With it Claude knows your offer, your audience, your platform, your best-performing hooks, your testing history, and writes copy that is already informed by what has actually worked.

Why ADS.md Works

Claude has no memory between conversations. Every time you start a new session and ask for ad copy it starts from zero.

ADS.md is the context that removes that problem. It holds your offer from SALES.md but specific to what is being advertised, your audience from MARKETING.md but filtered to who sees this specific ad, your platform choice and constraints, your winning hooks so future copy builds on what already converts, your testing history so Claude does not suggest angles you have already tried, and your campaign log so you can see the full picture in one place.

It works alongside MARKETING.md, SALES.md, and EMAIL.md. Reference all four in a prompt and Claude has your entire client acquisition system in context.

The Complete ADS.md Structure

Copy this template and fill in every section:

# ADS.md Ad Campaign Operating System
Last updated: [DATE]
## What I'm Advertising
Primary offer: [ONE-PARAGRAPH OFFER DESCRIPTION FROM SALES.MD]
Secondary offers: [OTHER SERVICES BEING TESTED IN ADS IF ANY]
Current landing page: [URL OR DESCRIPTION OF WHERE ADS SEND PEOPLE]
What the landing page does: [FORM SUBMISSION / CALL BOOKING / PRODUCT PAGE]
## Target Audience

From MARKETING.md:

- Who: [ROLE, AGE, SITUATION]
- Their problem: [WHAT THEY ARE FRUSTRATED BY RIGHT NOW]
- Their desire: [WHAT THEY WANT TO ACHIEVE]
- Where they are when they see this: [SCROLLING META / SEARCHING GOOGLE]

Audience not being targeted:

- [WHO YOU ARE EXCLUDING AND WHY]
## Platforms

Primary: [Meta / Google Search / LinkedIn]

Starting budget: £[X] per day

Secondary: [To be added when primary is profitable]

## Target Metrics

Average project value: £[X]

CPL ceiling (10% of project): £[X]

Target CTR on Meta: 2% or above

Target CPL: Under £[X]

Target ROAS: [X]x (revenue from ads divided by spend)

## Winning Hooks

[Add entries here as you test and find winners]

Hook: "[PASTE HOOK TEXT]"

Type: Question / Statement / Outcome

Platform: Meta

Result: [CTR%] CTR · £[X] CPL

Notes: [Why it works and which audience it resonates with most]

## Campaign Log
Campaign 1: [NAME]

Platform: Meta

Status: Active / Paused / Complete

Date started: [DATE]

Budget: £[X] per day

Target audience: [DESCRIPTION]

Ads tested: [X]

Best CPL: £[X]

Current CPL: £[X]

Notes: [Key learnings from this campaign]

Change made this week: [WHAT YOU CHANGED AND WHY]
## Creative Angles Tested

[Record each angle tested with performance notes]

Angle 1: Problem-first (frustration with manual process)

Result: Best performer 2.3% CTR · £22 CPL

Recommendation: Keep developing variations of this angle

Angle 2: Outcome-first (what the business looks like after)

Result: Average — 1.1% CTR · £48 CPL

Recommendation: Test with different visual or shelve this angle

Angle 3: Social proof (specific client result)

Result: Testing — not enough data yet

## Headlines That Performed

[Winning Meta headlines and Google RSA headlines]

Meta headline: "More bookings. Less admin."

Platform: Meta

Performance: 2.3% CTR when paired with problem-angle primary text

Google headline: "Restaurant Booking Systems UK"

Quality Score: 8 as of [DATE]

Performance: 4.2% CTR · £3.10 CPC

## Weekly Review Log

[Monday updates one line per week]

[DATE] Spend £[X] · [X] leads · CPL £[X] · Change: [ONE THING]
## Response Templates

[What to say when a lead comes in from ads]

Immediate response within 1 hour:

[TEMPLATE FOR FIRST MESSAGE TO A NEW AD LEAD]

Discovery call opener for ad leads:

"Thanks for reaching out I saw you came through the [AD TOPIC] campaign.
Can you tell me a bit more about [SPECIFIC PROBLEM FROM THE AD]?"

Maintaining ADS.md Over Time

Update it after every weekly review. Add new winning hooks as you find them. Update the campaign log with current metrics. Add creative angles with performance notes. Update the weekly review log with one line per Monday.

After 3 months ADS.md contains your best-performing hooks, your creative angle history, and your exact CPL trajectory. Every new campaign Claude helps you write will be informed by what has already proven to work for your specific audience.

Using ADS.md in Claude Prompts

Writing new hooks:

Using @ADS.md write 10 new hooks for my next creative test.

Build on the winning angles in my hook bank but approach them from

a different emotional starting point.

Reviewing results:

Using @ADS.md here are my results from this week: [DATA].

Tell me what to do next and update the campaign log section with

today's data.

Writing a new campaign:

Using @ADS.md, @SALES.MD, and @MARKETING.MD — I want to launch a new

campaign targeting [NEW AUDIENCE SEGMENT]. Write 5 hooks based on my

best-performing angles adapted for this new audience.

Analysing a losing ad:

Using @ADS.md this ad got 0.4% CTR and £92 CPL after £60 of spend.

Here is the copy: [PASTE AD]. Tell me what the data suggests about why

it underperformed and what to test next.

Your Action Right Now

Build your ADS.md today. Fill in the first four sections covering What I'm Advertising, Target Audience, Platforms, and Target Metrics using what you have built throughout this course.

Leave the Winning Hooks, Campaign Log, and Weekly Review sections empty. You will fill them in as you run campaigns. The file becomes more valuable with every week of data you add to it.