One map, two jobs
Paid advertising looks like a dozen platforms, but almost every channel does one of two very different jobs.
AI can draft a channel plan and a budget split in seconds. But the real CPCs, ROAS benchmarks and audience sizes must come from each platform's own tools and current benchmark reports, never a guess.
1. Demand capture (intent). People are already searching for what you sell, so you just show up. This is Google Search & Shopping and marketplace ads like Amazon. It's the cheapest way to reach someone who already wants your product, but you're capped by how many people search: you can't capture demand that doesn't exist yet.
2. Demand creation (interruption). People are scrolling, not shopping. Your ad, really your creative, has to stop the thumb and manufacture the want. This is Meta (Facebook & Instagram), TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat. Reach is enormous; results live or die on the creative.
Two layers sit on top: retargeting (cheaply re-engaging people who already visited, so it harvests demand other channels created and can't grow you alone) and retail media (ads inside the store where people already shop with their wallet out, the fastest-growing slice of digital ad spend).
Fastest path: one prompt, end to end
🤖 AI prompt — paste into ChatGPT / Claude
You are my paid-media strategist. Product: [product]. Average order value: [AOV]. Target buyer: [age / who they are]. Total monthly budget: [budget].
1. Decide whether my product is mostly demand-CAPTURE (people search for it) or demand-CREATION (impulse / new), and say which.
2. Open Google Keyword Planner (ads.google.com) and read the REAL monthly search volume for my core terms. Open current DTC benchmark pages (e.g. eightx.co, triplewhale.com) for Meta / Google / TikTok ROAS and CPA. Do NOT invent CPCs, ROAS or volumes.
3. Recommend ONE starting channel and a budget split across at most 2-3 channels, each sized to its realistic monthly minimum.
Output ONE markdown table: Channel | Job (capture / create) | Starting % of budget | Why (with the real number and its source beside it).
Do not guess or estimate any number. Every figure must come from a tool you opened or a source you can cite; put the source next to it. If you cannot get a real number, leave that cell blank and tell me which tool to open. If you can't browse, return the table headers with the tools I should use.
Or do it in 5 steps
- Classify the product. Searchable / need-driven leans Google + Amazon; new, visual or impulse leans Meta / TikTok. This one call sets everything after it.
- Confirm demand exists. Open Google Keyword Planner and read real monthly volume for your terms. Thin volume means you must create demand before search has anything to catch.
- Pick the lead channel and fund it to its floor. Each platform needs a realistic minimum (roughly $2-3k/month on Google or Meta, more on TikTok) before its algorithm has enough data to optimize.
- Add a capture layer. Pair whatever creates demand with a channel that harvests the searches it generates: branded Search, Shopping, or Amazon if you sell there.
- Leave retargeting for last. It's the cheapest paid you'll run, but it only re-engages demand the other channels created.
Done looks like: one lead channel funded above its floor, a capture channel beneath it, and a written reason (with a real number) for every dollar.
Worked example: where the DTC money actually goes
| Channel | Share of DTC ad spend (2026) | Blended DTC ROAS |
|---|
| Meta | 61-72% | 2.87x |
| Google | ~33% | 2.30x |
| TikTok | ~2.3% (median) | 2.40x |
Sources: Common Thread Collective Q1 2026 (Meta 61.4% of tracked spend) and Triple Whale full-year 2025 (Meta 68.3%) for spend share; Rule1.ai / Hawky.ai 2026 for blended ROAS (directional).
TikTok's CPMs run ~47-53% cheaper than Meta, but its cost per customer is usually higher. These are starting benchmarks: search your own product in the channel finder on this page for a tailored match.
Re-check the mix quarterly; platform costs and your creative capacity both drift.