Sail Marketing Brief

$1,902

Total paid spend · last 7d (Meta $1,538 + LI $364)

$7,312

Total paid spend · last 28d (Meta $5,339 + LI $1,973)

44 / 161

Meta hotel leads · 7d / 28d

4 / 18

LinkedIn conversions · 7d / 28d

Meta remains the volume + efficiency engine (hotel CPL ~$19–24, restaurant custom-conv CPR ~$5–14). LinkedIn stays ~4–10× more expensive per result ($91–110/conv) and earns its keep on two placements only (Shahar thought-leader post, Restaurant Rank video). Correction to yesterday: restaurant campaigns do convert — via a custom pixel event, not the standard lead event (see §4). Clarity had no data again this run (API 403).

1 · Meta — Sail campaigns only (act_305550522185383 "Hotel 32 32")

17 Sail-named campaigns; 6 active. Client-hotel campaigns in the account are excluded by scope. Hotel campaigns optimize the lead event; restaurant campaigns optimize a custom pixel conversion (offsite_conversion.fb_pixel_custom) — reported here as "cust".

Active campaigns — last 7d

Campaign	Spend	Impr	CTR	CPC	Freq	Leads	Cust	CPL / CPR
Sail Lead Magnet — Geo ABO (winners)	$620.73	232,539	2.29%	$0.12	1.90	26	11	$23.87
Sail Lead Magnet — pps_comparison ($40/day)	$425.81	47,924	1.13%	$0.79	2.29	7	6	$60.83
Sail Restaurant Lead Magnet - Lead Restaurant	$243.51	4,023	3.53%	$1.72	1.75	0	22	$11.07
Sail Lead Magnet	$205.62	21,757	1.25%	$0.76	1.65	11	5	$18.69
Sail Lead Magnet - ABM	$34.68	579	0.69%	$8.67	1.83	0	0	—
Sail SBB	$7.11	308	3.25%	$0.71	1.12	0	0	—
Total (7d)	$1,537.46	307,130	2.05%	—	—	44	44	—

Last 28d — spend / results / cost-per-result

Campaign	Spend	CTR	Freq	Leads	Cust	CPL / CPR
Sail Lead Magnet — Geo ABO (winners)	$1,445.19	2.01%	2.52	75	26	$19.27
Sail Restaurant Lead Magnet - Lead Restaurant	$1,174.90	2.65%	1.91	0	85	$13.82
Sail Lead Magnet	$1,038.66	1.22%	2.41	55	38	$18.90
Sail Lead Magnet — pps_comparison	$841.87	1.43%	3.33	30	14	$28.06
Sail Restaurant Lead Magnet 3 (paused)	$668.34	6.83%	1.62	0	125	$5.35
Sail Lead Magnet - ABM	$141.20	1.14%	3.90	1	0	$141.20
Sail SBB	$27.79	3.50%	1.16	0	0	—
Total (28d)	$5,338.95	1.79%	—	161	210	—

Geo ABO is the efficiency + volume leader (75 leads/28d at $19). Restaurant Lead Magnet 3 is paused but was the cheapest per result ($5.35) — worth a look for reactivation (your call). pps_comparison is drifting up (freq 3.33, CPL $28) — fatigue.

2 · Meta creative — SCALE / HOLD / PAUSE (recommendations)

Ranked by delivering spend, 7d + 28d. Sail 7d avg cost/result = $23.30. One fresh creative in the last 14 days: pps_comparison v4 (resentment-first copy) — and it is the weakest delivering ad.

Creative	Campaign	7d spend	7d CTR	7d CPR	28d CPR	Call
Nearby Search Visibility Gap - Feed+Story	Restaurant LR	$180.17	3.94%	$9.01	$11.24	SCALE
[01] Video Gradient - STAR report	Lead Magnet	$135.02	1.61%	$15.00	$21.28	SCALE
[12] Image Feed - Competitor ad previews	Geo ABO	$43.71	0.82%	$10.93	$16.49	SCALE
Video 2 - Not Gradient	Geo ABO	$461.55	2.32%	$24.29	$19.16	HOLD
Video 1 - Gradient	Geo ABO	$32.22	2.57%	$16.11	$17.91	HOLD
[10] Image Feed - Rate parity	Lead Magnet	$31.49	0.99%	$31.49	$20.67	HOLD
pps_comparison (original)	pps_comparison	$207.06	1.29%	$51.77	$23.08	PAUSE / FIX
pps_comparison v4 (resentment-first) — new 09-03	pps_comparison	$218.71	1.01%	$72.90	$72.90	PAUSE / FIX

SCALE: "Nearby Search Visibility Gap" (restaurant) is the standout — 3.94% CTR, $9 per custom conversion. "[01] STAR report" and "[12] Competitor ad previews" beat the $23 avg comfortably. (Scale = raise budget only on your approval.)
HOLD: "Video 2 - Not Gradient" is the volume workhorse — 19 results/7d, but 7d CPR ($24) sits right at average and above its own 28d ($19), so watch, don't scale. Freq is fine (1.9).
PAUSE / FIX: The whole pps_comparison pod is expensive — original at $52 (7d) and the fresh v4 at $73, ~3× the Sail average. v4 has had 6 days now and is not landing; recommend pausing v4 and reworking the resentment-first hook.
ABM campaign stays a laggard (28d CPL $141, 1 lead, freq 3.9) — candidate to pause.

3 · LinkedIn — account 512779887 (all Sail, no client campaigns)

API: runtime CLAUDE.md still says LinkedIn-Version: 202502, which is retired (HTTP 426). Active versions are 202503–202510; used 202509. Token was valid — no refresh needed. oneClickLeads=0 everywhere → "conv" = externalWebsiteConversions. Org-name resolution used organizationsLookup (the plain /organizations/{id} route is admin-only and 403s for third-party orgs).

Window	Spend	Impr	Clicks	CTR	CPC	Conv	Cost/conv
Last 7d	$363.79	8,032	44	0.55%	$8.27	4	$90.95
Last 28d	$1,973.07	36,600	209	0.57%	$9.44	18	$109.62

Active campaigns — 28d

Campaign	Spend	CTR	CPC	Conv	Call
Sail — Restaurant Rank VIDEO (Owner/Partner/CXO)	$262.59	0.50%	$6.56	9	SCALE
Sail — Thought Leader (Shahar 20M post)	$93.49	3.83%	$3.34	0	SCALE
Sail — Restaurant Rank (Owner/Partner/CXO)	$273.53	0.50%	$6.51	5	HOLD
Images (Marketing Comp Set)	$592.63	0.73%	$16.46	3	PAUSE
Sail — Hotel Marketing Comp (LI Mktg+DOSM)	$593.44	0.54%	$11.20	0	PAUSE
Videos (Marketing Comp Set)	$157.39	0.21%	$15.74	1	PAUSE

Best on the platform: Restaurant Rank VIDEO (9 conv/28d at $6.56 CPC) and the Shahar thought-leader post (3.83% CTR, $3.34 CPC — ~7× account-avg CTR, engagement play). This is where LinkedIn budget belongs.
Worst: "Hotel Marketing Comp" ($593, 0 conversions in both windows), "Images" ($593 at $16 CPC, 3 conv), "Videos" (0.21% CTR). These three are the drains — ~$1.34K/28d for 4 conversions.

Audience hygiene — served-company review (REPORT ONLY, no exclusions applied)

28d served-company breakdown: 16,025 impressions spread across 1,761 companies — a thin long tail, and LinkedIn attributed real spend to almost none of it (top row = Disney at $20.22). Value of exclusions here is reclaimed impressions, not dollars.

Clear exclusion candidates (outside ICP of independent + small/mid hotels): The Walt Disney Company (296 imp / $20 — top served org), Chick-fil-A, and non-hospitality media/sports orgs served by the account: Dave Campbell's Texas Football, The Daily Texan, FloSports, TSTV Sports. Plus large brands/mega-resorts outside ICP: Universal Orlando, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Grand Sierra Resort, Seminole Hard Rock, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton, BWH/Best Western, 1 Hotels, Montage International.

Keep (third-party hotel management cos — they carry independents): Aimbridge, Atrium, Concord, Pyramid Global, Driftwood, Remington, TPG Hotels & Resorts, Dimension, EOS, Coury, Avion, Kinseth, Noble House, Highgate, Peregrine.

Ambiguous — left for Shahar: AIC Hotel Group, Capital Vacations, Hyatt Vacation Ownership (timeshare/vacation-ownership), AAHOA (hotelier trade association — could be reach worth keeping).

Company exclusions are an authorized targeting-hygiene action, but held for approval this run given the tiny materiality (top offender = $20/28d, everything else $0 attributed) and to keep live-campaign edits reviewed. Say the word and I'll apply the clear-cut set (Disney + the sports/media orgs first).

4 · Flags & attribution

Resolved / downgraded from yesterday: the "restaurant campaigns convert nothing / we're buying invisible leads" alarm was a metric-selection artifact. Restaurant campaigns don't fire the standard lead event — they optimize a custom pixel conversion (offsite_conversion.fb_pixel_custom), and they are recording it: 22 conv/7d ($11 CPR) on Lead Restaurant, 85/28d, plus 125/28d on the paused Restaurant Lead Magnet 3 ($5.35 CPR — the cheapest result in the account). Restaurant is working. Still worth a one-time confirm that this custom event is the intended lead action, but it is not a fire.

DATA Microsoft Clarity returned HTTP 403 on every call again (token is well-formed and non-expiring — exp 2126 — so not expired). Most likely the daily export quota (Clarity caps API calls per project/day) was already consumed by an earlier run, else the token is unbound from the project. No friction/scroll/rage-click data this run. If a first fresh call tomorrow still 403s, regenerate CLARITY_DATA_EXPORT_TOKEN. This is the 2nd consecutive day with no Clarity data.
DOC LinkedIn API version in runtime CLAUDE.md is stale (202502 → retired). Use 202503–202510 (202509 confirmed working). Every LinkedIn run hits a 426 first without it — worth a one-line fix in the shared runtime doc.
WATCH pps_comparison pod fatigue: original at freq 3.33 and $52 7d CPR, v4 at $73. The angle is tiring across both creatives, not just one.

5 · Recommendations (nothing changed — approval required)

Meta: pause pps_comparison v4 (6 days, $73 CPR = 3× avg) and rework the resentment-first hook; consider resting the whole pps_comparison pod (fatigue on both creatives).
Meta: pause the ABM campaign (28d CPL $141, 1 lead, freq 3.9).
Meta: hold/scale the winners — Geo ABO's "Video 2", "[01] STAR report", and the restaurant "Nearby Search Visibility Gap" ($9 CPR). If you want to push budget, these are the ones (your call — I won't touch budgets). Consider a look at reactivating paused Restaurant Lead Magnet 3 ($5.35 CPR).
LinkedIn: shift weight to Restaurant Rank VIDEO + the Shahar thought-leader post; the "Images"/"Videos" Comp Set campaigns and "Hotel Marketing Comp" are the expensive, low/zero-conversion drains (~$1.34K/28d for 4 conv).
LinkedIn hygiene: approve the clear-cut exclusions (Disney, Chick-fil-A, the 4 sports/media orgs, big flags) and I'll apply them as company exclusions on the active Sail campaigns.
Confirm the restaurant custom pixel event is the intended lead action (one-time check), and retry/regenerate the Clarity token so tomorrow's brief has friction data.

6 · Angles to test (copy only — no ads created)

Competitor scan: Sojern (acquired by RateGain, 2025) now markets "AI-powered, for independent hoteliers" and pushes a Commission product — pay-per-booking. Triptease pushes AI metasearch bidding. Both bill at booking, which can cancel. That sharpens Sail's honest wedge: billed on the completed stay. (Meta Ad Library API stayed app-permission-blocked; angles from live messaging reads + MESSAGING.md. Public-numbers guardrail respected — no internal ROAS/8.3x, client-side gains only.)

A · Booked ≠ stayed — the honest wedge (vs Sojern Commission / Triptease CPA)

Primary (Meta): Sojern's "commission" bills you when the guest books. Booking.com bills you the same way. Then the guest cancels — and you already paid. Sail is the only one that waits for the guest to actually sleep in the bed. No stay, no pay.
Headline: Purchase isn't the finish line. The stay is.
LinkedIn variant: "Performance" hotel marketing usually bills at booking — a booking that can cancel. Sail bills only on the completed stay. That's the line between activity and outcome, and it's the whole model.

B · AI-search visibility — "Do guests find you when they ask ChatGPT?"

Primary: Your next guest is asking ChatGPT "best boutique hotel in [city]." If your name isn't in the answer, the OTA wins a booking you never saw coming. Sail makes independents findable where discovery is actually moving.
Headline: When they ask AI where to stay, is your hotel in the answer?
Note: ties directly to our top-CTR restaurant creative ("Nearby Search Visibility Gap") — the visibility-gap frame is already the account's best performer; extend it to hotels.

C · Anti-agency — "paid for outcomes, not activity"

Primary: Your agency gets paid whether guests show up or not. We don't. Sail only wins when a booked room becomes a stayed night — skin in the game, not a slide deck. No retainer. No upfront.
Headline: The marketing partner that only gets paid when you do.

Queue behind these: the month-end OTA-commission-invoice math ($150 room × 15–25%), and a "bidding on your own name" brand-search rescue hook.