Quick answer
On a small budget, start with the advertising media that reach people already looking for you: a free Google Business Profile, then Google search ads for the services people search for, then Facebook and Instagram ads for local awareness. Leaflets and local print suit tight areas. Radio, television and billboards rarely suit a first budget.
A new roofing company has £500 a month for advertising and a list of options as long as your arm: Google, Facebook, leaflets, the parish magazine, local radio, a sponsored roundabout, a stand at the county show. Every salesperson who calls says theirs is the one that works. The honest answer is that each medium suits a different kind of customer and a different size of budget, and the order you try them in matters more than which one is “best”. This comparison sets them out side by side, with the questions that decide which fits your business.
The question that decides everything
Are your customers already looking for what you sell, or do you need to put the idea in front of them? A homeowner with a leaking roof searches for a roofer today. A homeowner whose roof is fine has no idea they might want new guttering until something prompts them. The first group is reached by search media: Google, maps listings, directories. The second is reached by interruption media: social ads, leaflets, radio, posters. Small budgets go further with the first, because the customer is already halfway to buying.
The main media compared
| Medium | Best for | Minimum sensible spend | How easy to measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Local services found on maps and local search | Free; time to keep it updated | Good: calls, directions, website clicks |
| Google search ads | Customers searching for a specific service now | Low; you set a daily budget | Very good: calls, forms, sales |
| Facebook and Instagram ads | Local awareness, offers, visual products | Low; small daily budgets work | Good, with tracking set up |
| Leaflets and door drops | Tight geographic areas, older audiences | Design plus print plus delivery | Fair, with a code or tracked number |
| Local print and magazines | Community audiences, trusted local titles | Varies by title | Weak unless you track responses |
| Local radio | Broad awareness across a region | High; needs repetition | Weak |
| Billboards and outdoor | Brand recognition on busy routes | High | Weak |
Free first: your Google Business Profile
Before paying for anything, make sure the free listing is complete. For local trades and services, the map listing is often where the first enquiries come from. Categories, service areas, opening hours, real photos and a steady flow of reviews do more for a local plumber than a month of paid adverts. Our guide to Google Business Profile optimisation walks through it, and it costs nothing but an afternoon.
Google search ads
Search ads put you at the top of results for the words customers type, such as “roofer near me” or “emergency boiler repair Leeds”. You pay when someone clicks, and you control the daily budget. Google’s help page on average daily budgets explains that spend can vary day to day but will not go above twice the daily budget on any one day, or 30.4 times it over a month.
Search suits small budgets well because you can start narrow: a few high-intent searches, a tight area, strict hours. The danger is broad keywords that bring clicks from people who were never going to buy. Our guide to Google Ads costs shows what clicks cost in different trades.
Facebook and Instagram ads
Social ads reach people by who they are and where they live rather than what they searched. They suit offers, seasonal pushes, visual work and building recognition in an area so that when people do need you, they remember the name. Small daily budgets can still reach a lot of local people, but the creative has to earn attention because nobody asked to see your ad. Our Facebook and Instagram ads guide covers how to start.
Leaflets and local print
Print still works, especially for tight areas, older audiences and services where trust matters. A well-designed leaflet through the right streets can outperform online ads for a window cleaner or a takeaway. Royal Mail’s Marketreach publishes research and planning tools for door drops and direct mail. The costs to plan are design, print and delivery, which our guide to leaflet distribution costs breaks down.
Print is harder to measure, so build measurement in: a specific offer code, a dedicated phone number or a short web address that only appears on the leaflet. Our comparison of print versus digital marketing covers when each earns its place.
Radio, television and outdoor
These build broad awareness, and they can work brilliantly for established businesses with a clear message and a budget to repeat it. For a first budget they usually do not suit, for two reasons. They need repetition to work, which means sustained spend, and they are hard to connect to enquiries, so you cannot easily tell whether the money worked. Revisit them once search and social are reliably paying their way.
Match the medium to your business
- Emergency and urgent trades (plumbers, locksmiths, electricians): Google Business Profile and search ads first.
- Planned home improvements (kitchens, landscaping, extensions): search ads plus social ads showing finished work.
- Hospitality and retail: social ads, local print and the map listing.
- Very local services (window cleaning, gardening rounds): leaflets on the streets you serve, plus the map listing.
- Business-to-business services: search ads for specific services, and a strong website for people who check you out.
A worked example: £500 a month
Take the roofing company from the start, with £500 a month and a twenty-mile service area. A sensible first three months might look like this. The Google Business Profile is completed in week one, with photos of real jobs and a request for reviews sent to every recent customer; cost, an afternoon. Around £350 a month goes into Google search ads on a handful of urgent, high-intent searches such as “roof leak repair” and “emergency roofer”, limited to the service area and to working hours plus early evenings. The remaining £150 goes into a simple Facebook and Instagram campaign showing before-and-after photos of finished roofs to homeowners in the same area, building recognition for the bigger, planned jobs.
Every enquiry is logged with where it came from. After three months, the owner knows the cost of an enquiry from each source and how many became paid work. If search brings in jobs at a fraction of their value, more budget goes there. If social builds bookings for replacement roofs in spring, it earns its share. Only then would it make sense to test leaflets on the estates where most jobs have come from, or a sponsored slot in the local magazine. The point is not this exact split; it is that each pound is placed where it can be measured.
Spread or concentrate?
With a small budget, concentrate. Spreading £300 across five media means each gets too little to show whether it works. Put most of it into the one medium that best matches how your customers buy, give it two or three months, and measure enquiries and the work they turn into. Add a second medium only when the first is clearly paying for itself. Our guide to measuring marketing return shows how to keep score.
Getting help
Whichever medium you choose, the material has to look like a business worth calling. Our flyer and leaflet design is £89, and our Google Ads management starts at £199 a month, with ad spend paid to Google on top. Every Luxbranding price is on our pricing page. For the legal side of any advert, the government’s overview of marketing and advertising law is a useful start.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best advertising for a small business on a budget? +
Start with what reaches people already looking for you. Complete your free Google Business Profile first, then try Google search ads for the services people search for, then Facebook and Instagram ads for local awareness. Leaflets suit tight local areas. Radio, television and billboards usually need bigger, sustained budgets.
Should a small business spread its advertising budget? +
Not at first. Spreading a small budget across several media gives each too little to show whether it works. Concentrate on the one medium that best matches how your customers buy, run it for two or three months, measure enquiries and sales, and only add a second once the first is clearly paying for itself.
Do leaflets still work for small businesses? +
They can, especially for very local services, older audiences and businesses where trust matters. They work best through carefully chosen streets with a clear offer. Because print is harder to measure, add a unique code, phone number or web address so you can tell how many enquiries the leaflets brought in.
Is local radio worth it for a small business? +
Rarely as a first step. Radio builds broad awareness but needs repetition, which means sustained spend, and it is hard to link to enquiries, so you cannot easily tell whether it worked. It suits established businesses with a clear message. Prove search and social first, then test radio if budget allows.
