Briefing · Paid Acquisition

Building the funnel:
a brief for Max.

Paid acquisition for the property-investment funnel — the customer, the offer, the economics, and the regulatory box the creative has to live inside. Max advises on performance; this is what he needs to do it.

For: Max — ads / paid-performance advisor Posture: arm's-length Date: 30 Jun 2026 DRAFT · clears for sending on Marty's sign-off
01

TL;DR — the five things that matter

01

Not a funnel from scratch

There's already a proven, staffed human pipeline. Max feeds qualified, consented, appointment-ready leads into the top of it — paid inbound alongside the existing outbound motion.

02

Quality, not volume

Win = cost per qualified appointment that survives to settlement, not cost per form-fill. That forces offline-conversion feedback (a build job on our side).

03

Economics tolerate it

An in-house sale is worth ~$35k. Allowable CAC sits in the low-thousands — so we can afford to chase quality and ignore cheap junk.

04

Creative is boxed

AU property + tax + retirement is regulated-adjacent. We can't run "$X/week, retire rich, save $Y tax." SMSF is out entirely. See the Hard Gate.

05

Data stays on-prem

The only thing platforms ever see is first-party pixel signal from our own pages. No contact-list uploads / custom audiences — closed by design.

02

The funnel, and where Max plugs in

The existing pipeline is an outbound machine. Max's job is to attach a paid-inbound motion to the front of it and hand off at the qualified-lead node.

Existing (outbound): DATA → SCRUB/QUALIFY → APPOINTMENT SETTER → CONFIRMER → STAGE 1 → FINANCE → PROPERTY SELECTION → SETTLEMENT ┌──────────── MAX'S REMIT (paid acquisition) ────────────┐ PAID ADS → LANDING PAGE (pre-qualifies) → QUALIFIED LEAD ─┼─► APPOINTMENT SETTER → … → SETTLEMENT └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ↑ the handoff node

The handoff is the contract

A "qualified lead" we can hand a human means, at minimum:

The landing page should do as much of this qualification as possible before a human is spent — this is where paid inbound beats cold data (self-selection). Junk/renter leads get suppressed, not passed on.

03

Who we're selling to

AttributeProfile
TenureOwns a home, almost always with a mortgage (we need the equity story). Renters are out.
EquityUsable equity in the principal residence — the strategy leverages off it.
IncomePAYG / self-employed earner paying meaningful tax (the tax angle only lands if they pay tax).
Life stagePre-retirement, typically mid-30s to mid-50s — horizon to build, plus equity + income.
MindsetWorried about a retirement shortfall; wants to pay the home off faster; feels they pay too much tax.
StageMostly first-time / early property investors (some have one IP already).
04

The offer & the events Max optimises for

The offer: a free, no-obligation Stage 1 strategy session — an educational consult about how homeowners use equity and structure to invest, pay the home down faster and prepare for retirement. Education-led, not "get rich."

The optimisation ladder

#EventFires whenSignal
1LeadLanding-page form submitWeak — volume, includes junk
2Qualified LeadPasses scrub (homeowner+income+consent)The real top-of-funnel
3Appointment BookedSetter books Stage 1Strong intent
4Consult AttendedConfirmer + consultantHigh-value mid-funnel
5SettlementDeal completes (weeks/months later)The money event

Optimise toward #2–#4, not #1 — which depends on us piping CRM-stage events back to the platforms (see Tracking). Until that exists, treat "cheap lead" numbers with suspicion.

On data & audiences

05

The economics — allowable CAC

Anchor: in-house property sale ≈ $35,000 contribution indicative · confirm w/ Marty

Allowable CAC / settlement = deal contribution × target acquisition share Qualified-leads / settlement = 1 ÷ (qualified-lead → settlement conversion) Max cost / qualified lead = Allowable CAC ÷ qualified-leads per settlement

Worked example ILLUSTRATIVE — rates are placeholders, Marty's outbound numbers are the anchor

StepRate (TBC)Running yield
Qualified lead → appointment booked50%50%
Booked → Stage 1 seen60%30%
Stage 1 seen → progresses (finance+property)40%12%
Progresses → settlement30%~3.6%
≈ 28 qualified leads / settlement  ·  cap acquisition at 15% of deal → ≈ $5,250 / settlement → ≈ $185 / qualified lead → (at 40% raw→qualified) ≈ $75 / raw lead

The point isn't the exact numbers — it's that $35k deals give real room (hundreds of dollars per qualified lead). We'd rather pay more for a lead that settles than win on cheapest-lead. Marty owns the acquisition-share target and supplies the real conversion rates.

06

The hard gate — regulatory + platform

The binding section. AU + property + tax + retirement = a regulated-adjacent advertising environment. Design inside this box. Full cited detail in the Receipts below.

6.1 · AFSL boundary

6.2 · The finance/broker stage is credit-licensed (NCCP / ACL)

6.3 · Misleading/deceptive conduct (ASIC RG 234 + ACCC)

ClaimRiskNote
"only $X / week" (e.g. the "$3.76/week" math)Very highOmits true costs. Fine in a private fact-find; dangerous in a public ad.
Guaranteed / implied returns or growthVery highNeeds reasonable grounds + substantiation.
"Government approved" / ATO / ASIC referencesHighACCC flags this as a classic spruiker device.
"Save $Y in tax" as an outcomeHighSafe form: "potential benefits like negative gearing & depreciation — ask your accountant."
"Retire earlier / fix your shortfall"HighASIC 2025 priority. Shortfall as problem framing OK; as a promised solution not.
Testimonials ("John made $200k")HighMust be verifiable + representative.
"Free seminar/session" that hides sales purposeMed-highExactly what the Jun-2026 RG 234 update targets.

Safe spine: education-led, free strategy session, general benefit language, balanced risk mention, and a visible "general information only — not personal financial advice" disclaimer.

6.4 · Platform policy

07

Tracking & build dependencies our side, not Max's

Max specs the exact event schema (names, when they fire, value params); we build to it.

08

What we want from Max

  1. Channel + structure — Meta vs Google (vs other) for this audience and these constraints; account structure given SAC limits.
  2. Creative direction — angles that perform inside the §6 box, plus hooks to test.
  3. Landing-page / qualification design — how hard to pre-qualify on the page vs let the setter do it.
  4. The event schema for tracking, so we build to spec.
  5. Budget shape & ramp — given ~$35k deals and the CAC model, how to phase spend and read early signal.
  6. Benchmarks — realistic cost-per-qualified-lead / per-appointment for this AU offer, to set expectations.
09

Receipts — the cited compliance detail

Public law/policy. Not legal advice — the broker's licensee + a lawyer sign off before launch.

AreaHard constraintPractical limit
AFSLNo AFSL for direct-property ads (SMSF gone = good).Keep claims general; "general info only" disclaimer.
ACL / NCCPBroker ACL number on credit ads; comparison rate with any rate.Run broker ads separately under their licence.
ASIC RG 234 (9 Jun 2026) / ACCCNo guarantees, no unsubstantiated $/tax claims, no "govt approved," no disguised-sales funnels.Specific weekly-cost / tax / retirement-certainty claims are enforceable violations.
Meta SACHousing (property) / Credit (finance); no interest/demo/lookalike; personal-attributes ban.Targeting = broad + geo + creative self-selection.
GoogleProperty likely unverified-OK; finance needs ACL + G2RS verification.Verify broker before finance search campaigns.
Custom audiencesConsent per individual; no purchased lists; hashing ≠ exemption; Meta restricts financial-status audiences (Sep 2025).We don't use them — first-party pixel/CAPI only.

Sources: ASIC RG 234 · ASIC – financial product advice · ASIC 13-304MR (SMSF) · ASIC 24-252MR (priorities) · ACCC – spruiker false reps · ACCC – scheme warning · NCCP guide · Meta – choosing a SAC · Meta – financial products policy · Meta – custom audience terms · Google – AU FS verification · Google – FS policy · OAIC APP 7 · LiveRamp – Meta restrictions