For entrepreneurs just starting their online advertising journey, determining what budget for online advertising will achieve real results is crucial. The answer isn't simple, as it depends on the chosen platform, industry, and business goals.
Minimum technical thresholds and actual effectiveness
Each advertising platform sets its own minimum spend thresholds for launching a campaign. However, it's important to remember that these thresholds rarely translate into measurable results.
There's no formally defined minimum budget for Google Ads – theoretically, you can set it as low as 1 PLN per day. However, in practice, such a low amount will prevent your ads from being displayed, as the per-click rates in most industries exceed several PLN.
Specialists recommend a minimum of PLN 25 per day as the entry threshold for a simple text campaign in a search engine for local phrases, while for effective campaigns of small companies such as Performance Max they indicate budgets of PLN 2000–3000 per month (i.e. PLN 65–100 per day).
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Answering the question of how much Facebook advertising costs also requires distinguishing between the technical and practical minimum. The Meta Ads system allows you to start with around 5 PLN per day, but real results appear with a budget of 40–50 PLN per day.
This amount allows us to collect data over the course of a week and evaluate which creatives are performing best.
The TikTok Ads system sets higher requirements – the minimum budget at the campaign level (Lifetime) is PLN 200, while ad groups require at least PLN 80 per day.
LinkedIn Ads, on the other hand, requires a minimum of PLN 40 per day, with click rates being flexible and depending on the competitiveness of the target group.
Advertising Budget for a Small Business – How Much Should You Really Spend?
When we're talking about an effective budget, not just campaign launches, the numbers increase. Experts recommend the following monthly thresholds for individual platforms.
The optimal marketing budget also depends on the company's stage of development. New businesses should allocate 10–15% of revenue to marketing, while established companies may limit themselves to 5–8%.
In the e-commerce industry, these values should be closely linked to the ROAS (return on advertising spend) indicator, which takes into account the margin.
Is cheap advertising on the Internet possible?
Testing ads at a low cost only makes sense as a transitional step. A budget of 500 PLN per month may work well for local campaigns targeting a narrow audience, but it won't allow for dynamic growth. Spending too little means slow data collection and difficulty assessing the effectiveness of individual creatives.
It's important to understand the difference between a budget and a billing model. Performance-based billing and a daily budget are two distinct concepts that are often confused. A budget defines the maximum amount you'll spend in a given period, while a billing model specifies what you pay for—per click (CPC), per impression (CPM), or per conversion (CPA).
Beginner advertisers should start with the CPC model, because billing for conversions (CPA) requires prior data collection – without conversion history, the algorithm has no basis for optimization and can quickly burn through the budget.
Campaign scaling and return on investment
Scaling an advertising campaign should only occur after a testing phase. Once a specific creative or target group is producing satisfactory results, you can gradually increase the budget—ideally by 20% every 2–3 days.
While it's possible to generate returns on a small advertising budget, it requires precise targeting and ongoing optimization. Companies with limited resources should focus on a single platform rather than spreading their budget across multiple channels.
To summarize: the technical minimum is a few zlotys per day, but real results require an investment of 1500–3000 zlotys per month for a single platform. Smaller amounts are only effective for local campaigns or as initial tests before larger investments.
FAQs about minimum advertising budgets
Advertising systems have very low entry thresholds so everyone can test their effectiveness. In the case of Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram), the minimum daily budget is usually the equivalent of $1 (approximately 4–5 PLN). In theory, there's no hard and fast lower limit for Google Ads – you can set a budget of just a few zlotys per day, as long as it's enough to cover the cost of at least one click in your chosen industry.
Unfortunately, no. While it's technically possible to run an ad for a few dozen zlotys a month, such an approach won't yield business results. With such small amounts, the ad will only be displayed to a dozen or so people, which won't translate into actual sales or inquiries. Treating technical minimums as a realistic budget is the surest path to disappointment.
It all depends on the scale of the business, competition and goals, but in market practice certain entry thresholds are adopted:
- Local campaigns (e.g. restaurant, beauty salon, roadside assistance): The absolute minimum for clicks alone (media budget) is approximately PLN 1000–1500 per month.
- Nationwide campaigns (services, B2B): It is worth starting with a budget of PLN 2500–4000 per month.
- Online stores (E-commerce): Due to high competition and the need to promote many products, reasonable activities usually start from PLN 3000–5000 per month.
The budget amount depends on several key factors:
- Industry Competition: The more companies vying for the same customer (e.g., in finance, law, or insurance), the higher the cost per click (CPC).
- Territorial scope: Advertising targeted at the whole of Poland requires much larger expenditures than a campaign limited to one city or district.
- Number and price of products: Promoting a wide range of products or luxury goods (where the customer decision-making process is long) requires higher expenditure.
Too low a budget causes campaign "choking." Modern Google and Meta algorithms require a large amount of data (clicks and conversions) to learn who is best served. With too low a budget, the learning phase drags on forever, ads are displayed irregularly, and the system is unable to outbid competitors, rendering the campaign ineffective.
No. In online marketing, you should always distinguish between two concepts:
- Media (advertising) budget: This is the amount that 100% goes to Google or Meta for clicks and impressions of your ads.
- Agency (or freelancer) fee: This is a separate fee for the knowledge, time, analytics configuration, preparation of graphics, texts and daily optimization of the campaign by a specialist.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Online advertising requires a budget that significantly exceeds the technical minimums, usually ranging from PLN 40 to PLN 100 per day, depending on the specifics of the chosen platform.
- An effective advertising budget for a small business typically ranges from PLN 1500 to PLN 5000 per month, depending on the platform and the share of revenue allocated to marketing.
- Low-budget campaigns only make sense locally, but for effective development, CPC settlement and a budget that allows for the quick collection of analytical data are crucial.
- Real results in online advertising require an investment of PLN 1500–3000 per month for one platform, and scaling the budget should be done gradually only after confirming the effectiveness of tests.
