One of the questions I’m frequently asked by smaller businesses is where they should be spending their advertising budget. With so many different platforms available, from Google Ads and Facebook to LinkedIn, Microsoft Ads and various others, it can be difficult to know which is likely to generate the best return, particularly when you’ve only got a few hundred pounds a month to work with. Unfortunately, there’s no single answer that applies to every business, and I’ve seen plenty of companies waste considerable amounts of money simply because they’ve chosen to advertise somewhere that isn’t particularly suitable for their products or services.
The good news is that you don’t necessarily need an enormous advertising budget to achieve worthwhile results. In fact, smaller budgets can sometimes encourage businesses to be much more selective about how they spend their money, rather than spreading it across dozens of campaigns without really understanding which ones are working. However, there are a few important things I’d consider before committing any money to a particular platform.
Google Ads – Reaching People Who Are Already Looking
Personally, I think Google Ads is often the most sensible starting point for businesses with a limited advertising budget, particularly if they’re offering products or services that people actively search for.
The main advantage of Google’s search advertising is that you can reach potential customers at precisely the moment they’re looking for something. If somebody searches for ’emergency plumber Worcester’, for example, there’s a pretty good chance they need a plumber, and probably sooner rather than later. Compare that with somebody scrolling through Facebook who happens to see an advertisement for plumbing services, despite having absolutely no intention of hiring a plumber.
Of course, Google Ads isn’t necessarily cheap. Depending on your industry, some keywords can cost several pounds per click, or considerably more in particularly competitive markets. However, if you concentrate on highly relevant searches, restrict your geographical targeting and avoid wasting money on irrelevant keywords, it’s possible to generate worthwhile results without spending thousands of pounds every month.
I’d generally recommend starting with a relatively small number of carefully selected keywords rather than attempting to advertise for every product or service you offer. It’s also worth paying close attention to your search terms report and adding negative keywords to prevent your advertisements appearing for searches that aren’t relevant to your business.
Facebook and Instagram – Creating Demand Rather Than Capturing It
Facebook and Instagram advertising operate rather differently, because people generally aren’t using these platforms specifically to look for products or services. Instead, you’re attempting to attract their attention while they’re doing something else, which means your advertisements need to be interesting enough to interrupt whatever they were looking at.
This can work extremely well for certain businesses, particularly those selling visually appealing products or services that people might not have considered purchasing until they saw an advertisement. For example, somebody probably isn’t going to search Google for a particular handmade gift they’ve never heard of, but they might be tempted to buy one after seeing it advertised on Instagram.
Meta’s advertising platform also offers sophisticated audience targeting, allowing you to reach people based on factors such as their location, interests and previous interactions with your business, although privacy restrictions have made some forms of targeting and measurement more difficult in recent years.
However, I’d be cautious about assuming that cheaper clicks automatically mean better results. You might be able to attract hundreds of visitors through Facebook for relatively little money, but if none of those people are particularly interested in buying anything, the campaign isn’t achieving much. Ultimately, the objective should be generating customers rather than simply increasing website traffic.
What About LinkedIn and Microsoft Ads?
LinkedIn can be particularly effective for businesses selling products or services to other businesses, especially when you’re trying to reach people working in specific industries or job roles. However, advertising on LinkedIn can be expensive compared with other platforms, and I’d be reluctant to recommend it to a small business with a very limited budget unless there was a particularly compelling reason to use it.
Microsoft Ads, on the other hand, is something I think businesses sometimes overlook. Although Bing has a considerably smaller share of the search engine market than Google, it still attracts a substantial audience, and advertising costs can sometimes be lower due to reduced competition.
If you’re already running successful Google Ads campaigns, it might be worth testing similar campaigns through Microsoft Ads to see whether you can generate additional enquiries at a reasonable cost. However, I’d generally establish which keywords and advertisements are working on Google first, rather than immediately dividing a small budget between both platforms.
Don’t Spread Your Budget Too Thinly
One mistake I regularly see is businesses attempting to advertise on several different platforms simultaneously, despite having barely enough money to run one campaign properly.
Let’s say you’ve got £300 a month available for advertising. You could spend £100 on Google Ads, £100 on Facebook and £100 on LinkedIn, but that leaves you with relatively little money to test anything properly. If your average Google Ads click costs £2, for example, your entire monthly budget on that platform would only generate around 50 visitors.
At that level, it could take quite some time to gather enough information to establish which advertisements and keywords are actually producing results.
Personally, I’d be much more inclined to concentrate the entire £300 on whichever platform appears most likely to generate customers, at least initially. Once you’ve established a campaign that’s performing reasonably well, you can consider experimenting with other channels.
Make Sure You’re Measuring the Right Things
Perhaps the most important consideration is making sure you’re actually measuring the results of your advertising.
Google Ads and Meta both provide conversion tracking functionality, allowing you to measure actions such as purchases, enquiry form submissions and telephone calls. Without this information, you’re effectively spending money without knowing whether it’s generating any business.
However, even conversion tracking doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. If you’re generating enquiries rather than online sales, it’s worth considering how many of those enquiries actually become customers, and how much revenue they generate.
For example, one campaign might produce 20 enquiries at £10 each, while another produces just five enquiries at £25 each. The first campaign might initially appear more successful, but if most of those enquiries are poor quality and the second campaign generates several profitable customers, the results could tell a very different story.
Start Small, Then Increase What Works
Ultimately, I think the most sensible approach is to start with the platform that best matches how your customers actually find and purchase your products or services. If people are actively searching for what you sell, Google Ads is probably worth investigating first. If you’re selling something that benefits from visual advertising or needs to be introduced to potential customers, Facebook or Instagram might be more appropriate.
Whatever you choose, make sure you’ve got proper conversion tracking in place, give your campaigns enough time to gather useful information and avoid making changes simply because an advertising platform recommends increasing your budget.
There’s nothing wrong with starting at £200 or £300 a month, provided you’re realistic about what that money can achieve.
I’d much rather see a business spending £300 and generating £1,000 in profit than spending £3,000 without having the slightest idea whether any of it is working.