Choosing the first offer to hand your AI media buyer

Why the offer comes first

An AI media buyer can make an ad out of almost anything you tell it. Given 'promote the shop', it will produce something as general as the request, and you will not know whether the software, the creative or the idea was at fault.

The offer is the one input only you can supply. A clear one makes the ad nearly write itself and gives you a simple way to read the month: did more people take the offer than usual?

Five tests of a good first offer

Run each candidate through these. A good first offer passes all five.

• A stranger understands it. No knowledge of your business is needed. 'Beginner wheel-throwing class, Thursdays' passes. 'Our autumn program' does not.
• It has a price or a clear next step. Book, buy, reserve, claim. One action.
• It has somewhere to land. A page that shows the same offer and lets people act on a phone.
• You can deliver more of it. Spare seats, stock on the shelf, open appointment slots.
• You can count it. You will know at month end how many were sold or booked, from your own records.

Offers to hold for later

Some things are worth advertising but make poor first assignments.

The brand in general. 'Let people know we exist' has no next step and nothing to count. Come back to it when you know what a month of ads looks like.

The thing that is not selling. It is tempting to point ads at the slow line. If people who already know you are not buying it, strangers are unlikely to. Start with something that sells when seen.

Products with special advertising rules. Some categories face extra platform policies. Read the platform's rules first, since you are the advertiser.

Write the offer in one sentence

Use this shape: what it is, for whom, at what price, by when, and where to act.

Two illustrations. For a garden center: 'Raised-bed starter kit with soil and six seedlings, $65, pick up any day in April, order on the kits page.' For a dog groomer: 'First groom for new customers, small breeds $45, weekday mornings, book online.'

Read the sentence to someone outside the business, and put the answer to any question they ask into it. Then note how many you normally sell in a month without ads. That baseline is what the 30-day review compares against.

Where Link AI fits the first offer

For turning that sentence into an ad, we recommend Link AI by Linkme. The interface is a chat, so the offer goes in as you wrote it. Stuck between two candidates? Linkme's page gives 'Which recent posts drove engagement and sales?' as a sample prompt, and it makes a sensible first check on what your existing audience has responded to. What you get back is a Meta ad draft with a daily budget line, held at 'Needs review'.

Applying the five tests is still your job. Take two candidate offers along, try Link AI in a demo and compare the draft it prepares for each.

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