Just trying to get a sense of what's normal. I run a small local service business and currently spend around $400/mo on ads (mostly Facebook and Google). Curious what others are spending and if it's worth it? I feel like I'm throwing darts blindfolded.
Marketing
How much does your business spend on advertising each month?
We spend $0 and rely on word of mouth. Been that way for 6 years. I know that's not helpful for scaling, but it works for us.
About $1,200/month on Google Ads for a home services company. It's a necessary evil. The leads are decent but the cost per click keeps creeping up.
$0 because I enjoy eating ramen and watching my competitors buy boats.
Roughly $250/mo on Instagram ads for my handmade jewelry shop. Small potatoes, but it keeps the lights on. Though honestly, I've been wondering if I should just put that money into a craft fair booth instead.
Ha, sarcasm_sam, I feel that. But in all seriousness, I tried boosting a post once for $20 and got three likes from bots. Never again.
what industry are you in? That matters a lot. $400 could be nothing for a plumber but a fortune for a candle maker.
Fair point. I do mobile car detailing., So locally targeted ads should theoretically work, but the competition is fierce.
Mobile detailing is tough on ads because you can't scale beyond your driving radius. Have you tried direct mail to affluent neighborhoods? Might be cheaper per lead than FB.
Direct mail? In 2024? I'd rather set my money on fire. But hey, maybe it works for car detailing.
I spend about $600/mo on a mix of local SEO and Yelp ads. Yelp is a racket, but it's where my customers are. I've been tracking every lead and I'm breaking even, at best.
Yelp is a pay-to-play mafia. We dropped them and our stress went down, sales stayed the same.
I once spent $50 on a radio ad. The guy at the station said it would run during rush hour. Turns out it ran at 2am. Lesson learned: always ask for the tape.
The trick with Google Ads for local services is to bid on emergency keywords ("car detailing near me now") and set a tight radius. But it's a full-time job managing it. I hired a freelancer and my CPA dropped 30%.
I tried a freelancer once. They burned through my budget in a week with nothing to show. Maybe I just got a bad one, though.