How to Self-Learn

Performance

Marketing
in 2024

Rohit Kumar
01

Table of
content

One Channel Deep 03

Process 06

No middlemen 16

Become Top 1% 19

Learning Resources 21

Books Recommendation 23
02

Here is how I would start over in 2024 to

start learning and getting better at
performance marketing. 

It’s not a course to become a media buyer

but a directional guide to get started with
the process of learning the craft. And if you
consistently stay the course, I can guarantee
you will start to see the difference.

Let’s straightway get started,....

I help reduce cac & scale revenue.

Scaled two biz from 0 to $10M+.

And I share actionable ideas

(no gyaan) on digital marketing

& growth.
Linkedin
Instagram
 01
03

One
Chapter one

Channel
Deep
 04

One Channel Deep

Performance marketing is about marketing your
product and services through various platforms to drive
measurable results. 

Now, there are many platforms one can advertise, i.e.

Google Search, YouTube, Bing, Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

But there are 3 major ad platforms I believe where one

should have the expertise

Google Search Ad
Meta Ad
Youtube Ads

Reason
You will find the majority of the ad spends going into
these channels. Hence, every company first starts
performance marketing with these 3 core channels.
Learning from these 3 core channels can be
extrapolated to other ad platforms.
If you know Meta, you can crack Twitter and
Linkedin.
If you know Google Search Ads, you can crack
Bing.
 05

But build expertise in only 1 channel first.

Because the fundamentals of advertising will remain the

same across all channels. 

One of the biggest mistakes we make is to start learning

all channels, i.e. Meta and Search all at once. They get

confused and drop it in the middle. 

Be a decent marketer in one channel first. 

Now, which channel should one deep dive first?

I recommend Google Search Ads.

Reason 

Fewer Variable

It has fewer variables to worry about. Eg: Ads are

textual in search ads vs Static + Video creatives in

Meta ads. 

Easy implementation

Because of the fewer variables, you can quickly

execute the campaigns as well.

Learning Resourc

I just love the learning resource created by Google

for search ads. It’s simple and quicker to grasp and

implement.

However, there is no hard and fast rule. 

You can even start with Meta ads.

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06

No

Chapter two

middlemen
07
No Middlemen
Yes, no Middlemen. Please don’t buy expensive courses
just to learn the basics of Search Ads. 

I have never bought any course on performance

marketing. It was just ruthless & deliberate practice.

Learn > Experiment > Document (learning) > Learn >

Experiment > Document (learning)– in loop. 

But if not middlemen, then how do you learn?

Straight from the creators, i.e. from Google & Meta. 

Now, here are some of the resources for Search Ads and
Meta that I recommend:

Google Search Ads

If you want to start from zero
Google Ads Search Certification by Skillsho
Ensure you complete the certification by passing
the assessment.
Resource
Once you have done the above certification, you
can explore other courses at this link.

08

If you have some information but want to brush up

on important concepts quickly:

My all-time favourite articles on some of the critical

concepts of search ads. Feel free to even jump
directly to certain concepts.

Campaign Structure & Organizatio

Keyword Research & Selectio

Negative Keyword

Quality Score & Best Practice

Create Effective Search Ad

Ad Extension

Bidding Strategie

Landing Page & Improving LP Experienc

Tracking Conversion

Google YT Channel to know more.

09
Go through the below cheatsheet for a
fair idea of overall Search Ads.
 10

Meta Ads
If you want to start from zero:
Do the Media buying course from Met
Meta Certified Media Buying Professiona
Later, you can also check out the media buying
exam course.

Optional: Later if you have time, you can check out

the Media Planing cours
Meta Certified Media Planning Professional

Quick difference between media planning &

buying
Media Planning - Identifying if Meta ad is the
right channel to reach the TG. Media Buying -
Once identified, then how to make meta ads
work
A media planner might discover that a radio ad
is the best way to reach their intended
audience. Media buyers can use this
information to perform additional research to
determine the best times of day to play the ad
to maximize reach with cost efficiency -
Source: Indeed.
11
If you have some information but want to brush
up on important concepts quickly

Feel free to even jump directly to certain concepts.

Meta Ad Manage
Ad Manager quick overvie
Campaign Objective
Understanding of Campaign Setup - Audience,
Budget, Creative & Placemen
Buying Types - Auction, Reach & Frequenc
Bidding Strateg
Audienc
Audience
Audience
Creative
Essential
Creatives based on objective
My Favourit
Mobile Firs
Optional: Write Creative Brie
Optimisatio
Deliver
Pixe
Pixel
Pixel
Optional: Understanding of D2C & App with
Advantage
Relevant Tool
Audience Overla
Ad Library
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Go through the below cheatsheet to get a fair
idea of overall Meta-ads

13
CLAP
But, it’s not just about mastering
an ad platform with optimizations
and audiences, but also cracking
creatives, landing pages and pixel.
Performance marketing is no longer just abou
Media Planning & Buying

But also abou

Creating winning ads (Creative Strategist
Building High Converting Landing Pages
(Conversion Rate Optimization
Having Strong Business Acumen (What pixel to
optimize)

Hence, there are 4 key aspects to mastering Meta ads or

any push advertising channels:

CLAP : Creative + Landing page + Audience + Pixe

Creative
Start with some of the books I recommend
Briefly covered in resources I shared for Meta.
It’s a deep concept, I will share a process note
shortly on it in my newsletter
14

Landing Page
Whether search ads or meta ads, being great at
conversion rate optimisation
Here are some of the resources as starting point:
Instapage.co
Conversion Rate Optimizatio
Landing Page Example
Other Stu
Unbounc
Landing page Example
Other Stu
Growth.Desgn: Landing page Desig
CX
Landing page Blog
HotJar Blogs

Audienc
Covered in materials I have shared in
Google search ads & Meta Ads
Pixe
Check out the pixel section in the cheat
sheet below to understand what I mean.
(it’s in top left)

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16

03
Chapter three

Process
 17
Process
Now, as you are learning, you need to do 3 things
parallely:
Absor
Make Notes generously as you go.
I prefer handwritten notes for better retention.
As you are making the notes, parallelly execute the
knowledge
Execut
If you can have a running ad account acces
Wherever you are working, if there is a
performance marketing team reach out to
them. Ask if you can get the view access to
the account to learn and in return, you will
share a recommendation list of items they
can implement
As you go through the content of the
courses I have mentioned on Google & Meta,
start wandering & implementing it on the ad
platfor
Eg: If you are going through a concept of
quality score. Check in the ad platform
where to find the quality score column
etc. Check the score and see how you can
improve with the content you have
learned so far.
See if you can apply for internship(even if it’s
free) to get some running ad account access
to learn from.
18

b. If you can’t have a running ad account acces

Still, try to get access to a running ad account
as that’s the best way to learn. Reason: You will
learn from the real campaigns, then the demo
ones. But still follow the below steps if you
don’t get access:
Create an ad account for a specific platform
you are Learning.
As you go through the content of the
course, start wandering & implementing it
on the ad platfor
Eg: If you are going through a concept of
quality score. Check in the ad platform to
find the quality score column etc. What
are the different variables & columns that
contribute to the quality score
You can create a landing page in the form of
your blog or website and can run traffic or
conversion campaigns on Meta and Search.
This way you will learn the entire process of
creating ads, launching a campaign and
measuring the performance.

Documen
Document your learnings on the go. I used to
publish my learning on Linkedin. And that was the
start of my LinkedIn journey.

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19

Chapter Four
Become
Top 1%
 20

Become Top 1%
Once you have gathered the basic knowledge of the
process I shared so far, below is the only thing that will
decide if you will become the top 1%.

Structured & Documented Experiments.

Do as much as possible. 

The more you experiment with new features or your

hypothesis, the more you will get confidence & will keep
getting better at the craft. 

Moreover, documenting your experiments is equally

important. As it helps you track the number of experiments
and learning you have gathered from it. 

Here is the template I follow to document my experiments. 

Link

5 key things to trac

Metric Impacte
Evaluation Dat
Outcom
My Learning(most imp
Next Steps

Keep doing and documenting your experiments, and

I can guarantee you will be unstoppable.

And the only skill set you need to do experiments is

“Be curious”.

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06
Chapter Six

Learning
Resources
22

Learning Resources
My Best Work
Here is the link to access below resources You can keep
returning to it, as I keep updating this list.

23

07
Chapter Seven
Books
Recommendation
24

Books Recommendation
Below are the books I recommend to build a strong, solid
learning around growth & marketing that will equip you to
become a great performance marketer. 

Business

1. Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman

2. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

3. The CEO factory by Sudhir Sitapati

4. Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

5. The Go-Giver by Bob & John

Growth

6. Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis

7. Explosive Growth by Cliff Lerner

8. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg

9. Master Growth Hacking by Apurva Chamaria

Ad Copywriting & Content Marketing

10. Influence by Robert Cialdini

11. Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

12. Consumer Behaviour by S. Ramesh Kumar

13. Fast, Cheap and Viral by Aashish Chopra

14. They Ask you Answer by Marcus Sheridan

25

Leadership & Managing Teams

15. The High-potential leader by Ram Charan

16. Execution by Charles, Larry & Charand

17. HBRs 10 Must Reads on Managing People (vol 1 & vol 2)

18. High Output Management by Andy Grove

19. HBR'S 10 Must Reads: On Teams

Essential Finance Fundamentals

20. How Finance Works by Mihir Desai

21. HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers

Bonus: Professional Development

1. So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport

2. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

3. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

4. Deep work by Cal Newport

5. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself

Bonus: Personal Development

1. The Miracle Morning by Hal Alrod

2. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.

3. Atomic Habits by James Clear.

4. Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins.

5. Siddharta by Hermann Hesse.

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Reading Roadmap
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Rohit