Start: a performance marketer in 6 weeks
For people who have no projects yet and can give the track 6 weeks. Every step is a lesson, a task and a result you keep. The results add up to a portfolio.
You tick a step yourself once your work matches its "Done when" line. Nobody reviews it, and it is not a certificate.
Progress is saved in this browser only, without an account.
What you will need
- About 5 h of reading across all track lessons; the rest of the time goes into the tasks.
- A computer for weeks 1-4: the test site, GTM, GA4 and the ad account are easier to set up away from a phone.
- 10,000 ₸ for the Meta test campaign in week 2: 2,000 ₸ a day for five days. Real spend is what turns the test into a case study.
- Free Google accounts (GA4, Tag Manager) and Meta accounts (Business Manager and an ad account).
- A test site with a form: a site builder or a single HTML page.
What you have at the end
- A test site with verified tracking: GTM, GA4, Meta pixel
- A case study of an ad campaign on a real budget
- An audit of one business with five findings
- A proposal and an estimate for the first project
- Report templates and a table of ten outreach messages
Three steps to pick a niche and see what the work consists of. Without them the other weeks turn into reading.
Task. Read the "One specialisation" section of lesson 19.03 and the lesson on choosing a channel for the product. Pick one industry and one channel for the next three months: an industry where you know people or are a customer yourself, and the channel you will run the week 2 test in.
Result. One line in a "profile" note: industry, channel, city.
Done when your profile note names one industry, one channel and a city, and the channel is one you can run the week 2 test in.
Task. Take one business nearby: a coffee shop, a dental clinic, an Instagram store. Draw the customer path: where they hear about it, where they land, what counts as a lead, who handles it.
Result. A one-page diagram with 5-7 steps and a note on where people drop out.
Done when the diagram has 5-7 steps from first contact to a handled lead and marks at least one place where people drop out.
Task. Write down CPM, CPC, CTR, CR, CPL, CPA, ROAS, LTV, CAC, AOV, retention and churn with a formula and one example in tenge. Check the definitions against the lesson and the glossary.
Result. A table of 12 metrics you will come back to in week 4.
Done when all 12 metrics have a formula and an example in tenge, and you have checked each one against the lesson and the glossary.
Lesson / 10 min reading04.05Marketing metrics: 12 terms from CPM to churn with tenge examplesToolGlossary →
Measurement first, traffic second. Without events there is nothing to show a client, and a cheap test with correctly set up events is already a case study.
Task. Set the rules for source, medium, campaign and content for three campaigns: Meta, Google, Telegram. Build the links in the builder.
Result. A rules table and six ready links.
Done when the rules table lists the allowed values for source, medium, campaign and content, and all six links follow those rules with no hand edits.
Lesson / 9 min reading10.02UTM tags: how to tag links and see where leads come fromToolUTM builder →Task. Complete exercises 1 and 2 in the lab: push a form event to the dataLayer and build a lead tag.
Result. Two completed exercises and a screenshot of the green check.
Done when exercises 1 and 2 pass the lab's check and you have saved a screenshot of the green check.
Lesson / 9 min reading10.04Google Tag Manager: how to send a form lead to GA4 and verify itToolTraining lab →Task. Make a test site with a form: a site builder or a single HTML page. Create a GA4 property, connect it through GTM, mark the lead event as a key event. Check it in DebugView.
Result. A screenshot of the generate_lead event in DebugView.
Done when submitting the form on the test site shows up in DebugView as a generate_lead event, and that event is marked as a key event.
Lesson / 9 min reading10.05Google Analytics 4: how to set up a property and count leadsTask. Install the Meta Pixel through GTM on the test site, send a Lead event on form submit, verify with test events in Events Manager.
Result. A screenshot of the Lead event in Test Events.
Done when submitting the form on the test site shows up in Test Events as a Lead event.
Lesson / 8 min reading10.03Meta and TikTok pixels: installing through GTM and the lead eventTask. Describe three events of the test site using the lesson template: when it fires, parameters, where to check. This is how you will brief client developers.
Result. A one-page document: three events.
Done when each of the three events has a firing condition, parameters and a place to check it.
Lesson / 11 min reading10.15dataLayer specification: how to write an event spec for a developer
A test campaign on your own 10,000 ₸. Real spend is what separates a portfolio from lecture notes.
Task. Using the lesson, describe where demand comes from in your niche and pick two channels with a three-sentence rationale.
Result. A "channels and why" paragraph in the profile note.
Done when your profile note names two channels, and each rationale says where demand in your niche comes from.
Lesson / 10 min reading06.01Performance marketing: from demand in your niche to a completed jobTask. Open Meta Ad Library for three competitors in your niche. Explain in five sentences what signals they give the algorithm and why their impressions may cost more or less than yours.
Result. Five sentences you will come back to after the test.
Done when your five sentences name three competitors from Ad Library and at least one signal for each that affects the price of an impression.
Lesson / 10 min reading06.02How the ad auction works in Meta and Google AdsTask. One offer, three angles: problem, result, process. Text and image for each, with no promises the landing page does not keep.
Result. Three creatives in a folder.
Done when the three creatives share one offer with different angles (problem, result, process), and every promise appears on the landing page.
Lesson / 10 min reading05.08Performance creatives: one offer, three angles and choosing after the clickTask. A Meta campaign to your test site: leads objective, a broad audience by geo and age, three creatives, 2,000 ₸ a day for five days. Check spend and events every day.
Result. Your first case study: a table of spend, impressions, clicks, leads, CPL.
Done when the campaign ran for five days, the table has spend, impressions, clicks, leads and CPL, and you checked spend and events every day.
Lesson / 10 min reading06.04Meta ads: targeting, a lead test and lead qualityTask. Collect 10 queries from your niche, split them by intent, write one ad per group. Launching is optional: the plan is already an artefact.
Result. A table of 10 queries with groups and ad texts.
Done when the 10 queries are split into groups by intent, and each group has an ad.
Lesson / 12 min reading06.03Google Ads: setting up a search campaign around intentTask. For your niche, list the Kazakhstan platforms: 2GIS, Krisha, Kolesa, OLX, city Telegram channels. Price benchmarks and what each needs to start.
Result. A table of platforms with prices and conditions.
Done when every platform in the table has a price benchmark and what it takes to start.
Lesson / 10 min reading06.08Local platforms in Kazakhstan: where to advertise and what it costs
Ads bring people in. The landing page and lead handling decide whether there are deals.
Task. Using the lesson formula, rewrite the headline, subheading and button of your test site. Compare with three competitors.
Result. A new first screen and before and after screenshots.
Done when the test site's headline, subheading and button are rewritten with the lesson formula, you have before and after screenshots, and the new screen is compared with three competitors.
Lesson / 10 min reading03.02Value proposition: how to tie a promise to proofTask. Write five hypotheses for your landing page and score them with ICE. Implement the first one.
Result. A hypothesis table with scores.
Done when all five hypotheses have ICE scores, and the first one is implemented on the site.
Lesson / 10 min reading04.13CRO and A/B tests: landing page hypotheses and ICE scoringTask. In the experiment calculator, work out how many visitors per variant it takes to tell a 5% visitor-to-lead conversion from 8%. Compare with the visitor count of your own test and decide whether anything can be claimed.
Result. A paragraph with the number and the conclusion.
Done when the paragraph has the visitors-per-variant number from the calculator, the number from your test and a plain conclusion on whether the test supports any claim.
Lesson / 10 min reading10.08A/B testing: how to test hypotheses without fooling yourselfToolCalculators →Task. Enter the test leads into a spreadsheet or a free CRM plan with the fields: source, date, status, reason for rejection.
Result. A lead table with sources.
Done when every lead from the test is entered with a source, a date and a status, and every rejection has a reason.
Lesson / 9 min reading09.02Tracking leads: a spreadsheet, statuses and when to move to a CRM
A client does not pay for leads. They pay for understanding what happens to them.
Task. In GA4 compare the last click and data-driven models for your test. Explain the difference in three sentences.
Result. A comparison screenshot and three sentences.
Done when the screenshot shows both models on your test data, and the three sentences say where they differ and why.
Lesson / 9 min reading10.07Attribution models: why one sale gets credited to different channelsTask. Impressions, clicks, leads, leads with a valid phone number, qualified leads. Find the biggest drop and its cause.
Result. A funnel with numbers and one cause.
Done when all five funnel stages have numbers (impressions, clicks, leads, leads with a valid phone number, qualified leads), and the biggest drop is marked with its cause.
Lesson / 9 min reading12.04Funnel analysis: how to find the stage where you lose customersTask. In the CAC payback calculator on the calculators page, use sample data to work out after how many months a customer pays back the acquisition cost. Explain it to a business owner from your niche.
Result. One paragraph on payback with numbers.
Done when the paragraph has the input numbers and the payback period from the calculator, and no term is left unexplained.
Task. Describe what you would change if CPL came in 30% under target: budget, audiences, creatives, and where you would stop.
Result. A half-page plan.
Done when the plan says what changes in budget, audiences and creatives, and at what point you stop.
Lesson / 11 min reading06.09Scaling ads: when to raise the budget and where to stop
The five lessons of module 19. The results of weeks 1-4 become case studies, and case studies become projects.
Task. Write up the week 2 test using the template: context, task, what you did, plan vs actual table, what you would do differently.
Result. A case study at a link, 250 words.
Done when the case study opens from a link without an access request and passes every item of the case study checklist in lesson 19.01.
Lesson / 8 min reading19.01Portfolio without clients: what to show when you have nothing to showTask. Pick a nearby business with a site and ads. Go through the checklist in 40 minutes, write up five findings and an offer.
Result. A one-page audit, your second case study.
Done when the audit has five findings ranked by loss, each with a fact, a consequence and an action, and the offer names the scope, timing and next step.
Lesson / 12 min reading19.02Using an audit to win a project: 40 minutes, five findings, one offerTask. Pick one channel, find ten businesses with one finding each, write to them using the template, fill in the table.
Result. A table of 10 outreach messages.
Done when the table has ten businesses from one channel, each with its own finding, and all ten have been sent a message using the template.
Lesson / 11 min reading19.03Where to find first projects: five channels, one message, a table of repliesTask. A work list with hours, a step-by-step price, a one-page proposal with a "not included" section.
Result. A proposal and an estimate.
Done when the proposal has a work list with hours, a step-by-step price and a "not included" section, and fits on one page.
Lesson / 10 min reading19.04What to charge and how to put it in writing: hourly pricing, prepayment and scopeTask. A five-line weekly message and a one-page report with a plan vs actual table, filled in with your test data.
Result. Two templates you will send to your first client.
Done when both templates are filled with your test numbers, the message fits in five lines, and the report is one page with a plan vs actual table.
Lesson / 13 min reading19.05The first month of a project: a plan, a weekly update and a one-page report
The full library stays open for the problem you hit next. Open the Academia catalog →
Need this done on a client account now?
Goodlabs sets up tracking, attribution and paid media for banks, fintech and e-commerce in Kazakhstan. The track teaches the same work.