Where Should a Small Business Spend Its First €500 on Advertising?
You have €500 for promotion. Should you launch ads or commission a website first?
The answer depends on how ready your business is to receive customers. If someone clicks an ad but cannot find the price or place an order, more impressions will not help. First decide what you sell, who you sell it to and what action you want the customer to take.
1. Get your business ready for advertising
Check whether your offer, prices and ordering process are clear. State your delivery or appointment terms. Test the entire journey from a mobile ad to an enquiry.
Local businesses should check their Google Business Profile: address, opening hours, phone number, photos and contact link. A Business Profile is free for eligible businesses. If your page and enquiry form work properly, you can start testing ads.
2. Choose one objective, not every channel at once
New café. Publish your menu, prices, address, hours and takeaway terms. Add photos to Google. Test a specific offer in one selected neighbourhood.
Beauty salon. Show services, prices, specialists’ work and booking options. Choose one service and a clear invitation to book for the test.
Shop. Promote products that are in stock, with clear prices and delivery terms. If a purchase requires a conversation, measure paid orders rather than the number of messages.
Service company. Describe a specific customer problem and show examples of your work, the steps involved and an enquiry form. Test specific search queries on Google or an ad on social media.
3. How can you allocate a €500 advertising budget?
Option 1. You do not have a website yet.
START consultation — €25; landing page — €130; up to €345 for a self-managed advertising test on one channel. Domain and maintenance are charged separately if needed.
Option 2. You need several pages.
START consultation — €25; 3–5-page brochure website — €230; up to €245 to test one channel if you set up the ads yourself. Domain and maintenance are charged separately if needed. This option makes sense when visitors need to review several services.
Option 3. Your website and offer are ready.
START PLUS consultation — €50; up to €450 to test one channel. Measure calls, enquiries or orders.
Option 4. It is unclear what is holding sales back.
Do not spend the entire €500 on impressions. START marketing diagnostics — €350; spend the remaining €150 on improvements or keep it until you are ready to advertise.
* The listed rates correspond to Growth Marketing Agency’s offers.
4. How can you tell whether advertising works?
Evaluate enquiries and sales, not views: record spend, leads and purchases.
Customer acquisition cost = acquisition spend / number of new customers.
For example, advertising costs €200 and brings in five new buyers. The acquisition cost is €40 per customer. Compare that figure with the contribution from an order. If €25 remains after variable costs, the first purchase does not cover advertising costs.
A small test does not always support a final conclusion. Check the quality of enquiries, not just their number.
5. When should you consult a marketer?
If you do not know which channel to choose, are unsure about your offer or have already spent money without a clear result, start with a consultation. Growth Marketing Agency can help identify the tools your business needs at its current stage.
CONSULTATION + AUDIT
START — €25 for 30 minutes. Answers to your questions and a brief audit of one account.
START PLUS — €50 for 60 minutes. Consultation, a brief audit of one account and a written report.
MARKETING DIAGNOSTICS
START — €350. Analysis of the business, offer, competitors and promotion channels, with an initial 30-day action plan.
LANDING PAGE DEVELOPMENT — €130.
Full Google Ads setup by the agency starts at €750; Instagram and Facebook setup starts at €950. These services are not included in the €500 allocation options described above.
The advertising tests in these examples assume that you set up the ads yourself; results and cost per enquiry are unknown in advance. If €500 is only your media budget, budget separately for specialist work and website preparation.
Do not start by increasing your advertising budget. Start by understanding what will actually help your business gain new customers.
Tell us about your business and budget. We will identify what to fix before launching ads and which promotion tools suit your needs.
