What budget a small business in Moldova needs to start advertising online

What a starting budget is made of

1. The ad budget — money paid directly to Meta or Google that buys impressions and clicks. It is the only part that turns directly into traffic.
2. Management — the monthly fee for the agency or specialist who builds and optimises the campaigns.
3. Production — the one-off items: the website or landing page, the video, the photography. Paid at the start, not every month.

A plan with only the first is campaigns left unattended. A plan with only the second is an immaculately configured ad account with too little budget to deliver.

Three starting scenarios, with figures

Our prices are set in euro. The lei figures are approximate: converted at a reference rate of 19.5 lei to the euro and rounded to the nearest hundred. Check the National Bank rate on the day you are invoiced.

Which channel to start with

The answer turns on one question: are people already searching for what you sell?

• If yes, start with Google. A garage, a dentist, a pest control firm: the demand exists and announces itself as a search. Google intercepts it, and the link between spend and enquiry is as short as it gets.
• If no, start with Meta. A new product, a clothing label, a restaurant, a course: nobody searches for it by name because nobody knows it exists. Facebook and Instagram put it in front of the right people before they know they want it.

Both at once, on one campaign's budget, is the most expensive option available: two underfunded channels produce neither data nor customers. The detail for each is in our articles on what Google Ads costs and what Facebook and Instagram ads cost.

Why there is a minimum threshold

The 300–500 € a month threshold is not commercial policy; it follows from how the platforms work. The algorithm needs a number of events — clicks, messages, orders — before it can learn who is worth showing the ad to. On too small a budget the campaign spends and stops without ever leaving the learning phase. The money is gone and there is nothing to build next month on.

Meta's learning phase averages 7–14 days and first enquiries usually arrive in 3–7. On Google, first results can come within 24–48 hours but full optimisation takes 30–90 days. The practical conclusion: plan the budget over three months, not one.

How to check the budget is worth it

1. Cost per lead = ad budget spent ÷ enquiries received.
2. Cost per customer = cost per lead ÷ your close rate.

Worked arithmetic, with illustrative figures: 300 € of budget produced 30 enquiries, so a lead costs 10 €; if you close one in five, a customer costs 50 €. Compare that 50 € with the margin a customer brings. If the margin is 200 €, the budget should grow rather than be debated. If the margin is 40 €, the fix is in the offer, the price or the way enquiries are handled — not in the ads.

What can wait

• A large website. On a tight budget, a landing page with one objective works better than a half-finished ten-page site.
• Ambitious video production. Start with what you have. Professional filming earns its cost once you know which message converts.
• The second channel. Add it once the first has a known and acceptable cost per customer.

What never waits is measurement. Meta Pixel and Google Analytics 4 go in before the first ad, not after. A month of campaigns without measurement is a month of spending you will not be able to say anything about.