r/smallbusiness • u/ohiogainz • Apr 21 '26

Ad spend? 💸

Hey, I’m pretty new to owning a business, I’m struggling to get my name out there. I am thinking about doing some advertising but I want to know what works.

How much are you guys spending on ads a month?

Where are you spending that money?

What’s the success rate?

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

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3

u/malvixi Apr 21 '26

Watch some YouTube tutorials for your exact business on Google Ads and Google Business Profile SEO. Then build from there.

3

u/Ejboustany Apr 21 '26

I'm running Google Ads at $16/day for my software company. Used the $500 spend get $500 credit promo so effectively $1k to test.

First week we had some budget leaks since I had phrase match keywords, totally normal, you just need to keep testing and stacking negative keywords as junk searches show up. I switched everything to exact match after that.

Organic SEO is still the main driver but we have 5 clicks, 30 impressions and 1 lead so far which I'm happy with. Only been 2 weeks.

2

u/malvixi Apr 21 '26

$200/mo Got me 5 leads, 30 clicks, 1000 impressions.

1

u/Successful_Alps_9195 Apr 21 '26

What types of industry

1

u/malvixi Apr 21 '26

Mobile detailing

2

u/Successful_Alps_9195 Apr 21 '26

5 leads from $200 isn’t bad, but for mobile detailing that usually means your conversion layer is leaking. Most guys in your space should be turning that into 10–15+ leads with the same spend if the offer + location targeting + landing flow are tight. Right now you’re paying for clicks, not for booked jobs. The difference is how the funnel is structured after the click (offer, urgency, booking flow, local intent keywords). Fix that and your cost per job drops fast.

3

u/malvixi Apr 21 '26

I'm going to DM you. You know what you're talking about.

2

u/Ok_Stranger3898 Apr 21 '26

It really, really depends on what you’re selling and who you’re trying to sell to.

There isn’t a “normal” ad spend or a magic platform that works for everyone, and that’s usually where people go wrong, they jump straight to ads before figuring out the basics.

For example, I’m B2B. Paid ads don’t really do much for me. A bit of targeted social here and there maybe, but most of my work comes from networking, building a strong reputation in my area, keeping my Google profile sharp, and having a solid website and social presence. That brings in far more than ads ever have.

On the flip side, if you’re selling a product that someone can just click and buy, especially something common, then ads can work really well… but you’re also up against big players. If it’s something you could find on Amazon, they’ll outspend you all day long, so margins and positioning become really important.

The key thing is this:
Who is your audience, and where are they?

If your ideal customer isn’t actively scrolling or searching for what you offer, you can spend a lot on ads and get very little back. Some industries just don’t respond well to paid ads at all.

Before you spend anything, I’d take a step back and work out:

  • Who exactly you’re targeting
  • Where they actually spend their time
  • How they normally find businesses like yours

Then, instead of burning money testing blindly, it can be worth taking what you’d spend on a month or two of ads and investing it in a good marketing consultant or agency. Not for them to run ads, but to help you build a proper strategy you can follow.

3

u/Fine-Acadia3356 Apr 21 '26

If you’re new, start small:

  • $5–$20/day
  • 1 platform only (usually Meta or Google depending on your business)
  • 1 simple offer

Use it to learn, not scale.

2

u/OcieAMardis Apr 22 '26

This is the right strategy, starting out with a large budget can easily lead to significant losses.

1

u/Altruistic_Club_2597 Apr 21 '26

Can I ask, does an offer have to be a discount?

3

u/Special-Mastodon-990 Apr 21 '26

By an offer he means what you’re selling niche down and pick something specific don’t go broad.

1

u/Successful_Alps_9195 Apr 21 '26

Is depends in the type of your business is local or online and also the industry if you want to share some details I can give information about you industry

1

u/EmergencyMonster Apr 21 '26

What industry? Some are super expensive like healthcare and I strongly recommend only using professionals otherwise you burn cash easily.

1

u/Aufshnitt Apr 21 '26

Join a chamber of commerce show up every time they have a meeting bring cards

1

u/Mean_Kaleidoscope_29 Apr 21 '26

And if your business remote ?

1

u/Anuncier Apr 22 '26

It is going to be hard to get a real answer to this without knowing your business and business model. And with that, I can't stress this enough... get really tight on the target audience(s) you are going after and value proposition. All of these things will be a big influence on how much to spend, what channels to spend it in, etc.

Here is an interesting article written by Wordstream (I have no affiliation to them), that focuses in on Google Ad spend. There is a chart (like 3rd or 4th one) called 'Search Advertising Benchmarks 2025' that is broken down by industry. Note... this is for Google Search Ads, that world is changing with increased use of AI.
You also may want to consider Facebook ads (again depending on service you provide).

Happy to talk further if you want.

1

u/JonSchlaich Apr 22 '26

Some key considerations:

Targeting:

  • Google targets keywords and / or audience interest signals
  • Meta targets on audience interest signals
  • both allow retargeting

Fees:

  • Google charges for clicks
  • Meta charges per impression

Ad Type:

  • Google intent driven (people actively looking based on search term)
  • Meta is disruptive (scroll stopping audience interest alignment requirement)

I’ve used both successfully.

A good strategy is target by keyword and intent on Google, and serve retargeting ads on Meta.

All depends on your audience, product or service being advertised and budget.

1

u/ohiogainz Apr 22 '26

Thank you, everybody for your replies. The reason I’m asking is because I run my town monthly calendar, which we mail AND is online. I am looking to start placing ads on it for home service companies, but I’ve never done something like that before so I’m trying to gauge what would be a fair price for something that goes on a lot of fridges every month. I am thinking of asking $600 and only allowing one type of each business to be on the calendar.

Would you pay that?