Resources ›5 questions before advertising
Guide for business owners · 20265 questions every business owner should ask before spending on advertising
Not about which platform to use or what budget to set. These are the questions that reveal whether your current advertising spend is actually working — or just spending.
If you can answer all 5 with specific numbers — not feelings, not vague impressions — your advertising is under control. If you can't, that gap is costing you money every month.
01Budget
How much does it cost me to acquire one new customer through advertising?
If you don't know your cost per acquisition, you can't decide whether advertising is profitable. Without this number, every budget decision is a guess — not a strategy.
⚠ Red flag
"We spend X/month and see results" — without knowing what each new customer actually costs.
✓ Healthy
"A new customer costs us Y RON via Google Ads. Margin per customer is Z RON — advertising makes economic sense."
02Attribution
Can I link every RON spent on ads to an actual sale?
Platforms report conversions, but those numbers aren't always real sales. If there's no clear link between ad spend and actual revenue in your bank account, you're operating on bad data.
⚠ Red flag
"The platform says we have conversions but we can't find them in our sales data or CRM."
✓ Healthy
"We know exactly how many real sales each campaign generated this month and can verify them in accounting."
03Profitability
Is my advertising profitable after deducting all costs — not just the ad spend?
High ad revenue doesn't mean profit. Real margin includes returns, operational costs, agency fees, and delivery costs. Real profitability matters — not the number shown on the platform.
⚠ Red flag
"ROAS is 5 so we're profitable" — without calculating on actual net margin after all costs.
✓ Healthy
"On real margin, every RON invested in ads generates X RON net profit after all costs."
04Competition
Do I know what my competitors promise and why someone would choose me over them?
If your ad message resembles your competitor's, the buyer decides on price. Clear differentiation reduces cost per click and increases conversion rate without increasing budget.
⚠ Red flag
"We don't follow competitors" or your ads look like everyone else's and you're competing only on price.
✓ Healthy
"We know exactly what competitors promise and our ads address a distinct reason to buy from us."
05Decision
Do I have a clear criterion for when to scale or stop my advertising budget?
Without a defined threshold, budget decisions are emotional — you scale when optimistic, cut when stressed. That means you stop advertising exactly when you should be investing more.
⚠ Red flag
"We increase budget when sales are good and reduce it when things slow down" — reactive, not strategic.
✓ Healthy
"We have a cost per acquisition threshold: below it we invest more, above it we optimize before spending more."
Next step
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