Where Should You Advertise? What Every Platform Actually Does

It's tempting to be everywhere. A bit of Google, a bit of Facebook, a quick boost on TikTok, maybe a radio spot if there's budget left over.

The result is rarely enough of anything to actually work.

Every advertising platform does a different job. Confusing them is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes a business can make. The businesses that grow fastest aren't the ones on every channel. They're the ones who picked the right channel for their goal, then owned it.

So, where should you advertise? Start by understanding what each platform is really for.

GOOGLE ANSWERS DEMAND

Someone searching "used utes Tauranga" already wants a ute. You're not convincing them. You're competing to be the one they click.

That makes Google the most direct route to people who are ready to act. It also means small details decide who wins:

• Negative keywords matter as much as keywords. Blocking terms like "free", "jobs" or "repair" from a sales campaign can cut wasted spend by up to a third.
• Match types control how loosely Google matches a search to your keyword. Broad casts the widest net and wastes the most.
• Quality Score rewards relevance. When your keyword, ad and landing page line up, you get better positions for less.
• Conversion tracking is non-negotiable. Without it, your campaign is optimising towards nothing.

Best for: businesses whose customers already know what they're looking for.

SEO KEEPS YOU FOUND

Google Ads gets you to the top of the page the moment you pay. SEO earns you a spot that stays there after you stop.

It's the same person searching for the same thing. The difference is that ads switch off when the budget does, while good rankings keep bringing in traffic without paying for every click.

SEO usually takes three to six months to build, so it's not a quick fix. But plenty of people scroll straight past the ads to the organic results, and every month you rank is a month you're not paying for that traffic.

The two work best together. Your ads show which keywords actually convert, and SEO locks those keywords in for the long term.

Want the full breakdown? Read our guide to Google Ads vs SEO.

Best for: businesses playing the long game who want steady leads without relying on ad spend forever.

META CREATES DEMAND

On Facebook and Instagram, nobody was looking for you. Your ad has to stop them mid-scroll and make them care.

The single biggest lever is the campaign objective, because it decides which people Meta shows your ad to. Choose "traffic" and Meta finds people who click things, not people who buy things. Same ad, same budget, completely different result.

A few more things that separate good Meta campaigns from expensive ones:

• Build creative vertical first (9:16), then crop for feed. Letterboxed Reels are one of the most common reasons a good campaign underperforms.
• Run several ads at once and let the platform find the winner.
• Follow up leads fast. Meta leads are high volume but lower intent than a Google search, and speed of response matters more than anything else.

Best for: building awareness, generating leads, and reaching people who don't know they need you yet.

TIKTOK REWARDS REAL

TikTok punishes anything that looks like an ad. A video shot on a phone by one person will regularly beat a polished production, and that's by design.

The rules are strict:

• Hook in the first 1 to 2 seconds. Not five.
• Shoot vertical and full frame. Repurposed landscape footage looks lazy, and performs like it.
• Always add captions. A large share of viewing happens with the sound off.
• Show real people. Faces outperform product shots almost every time.
• Refresh often. Creative fatigue on TikTok sets in within weeks, not months.

Best for: attention and reach, especially with audiences under 35.

YOUTUBE IS A FIVE-SECOND AUDITION

On a skippable YouTube ad, viewers decide in five seconds whether to stay. If your first twenty seconds are a slow intro, you've already lost them.

The trick most people miss: you can start a video partway through. If your strongest moment isn't at the start, drop the viewer straight into it.

RADIO, BILLBOARDS AND PRINT MAKE EVERYTHING ELSE WORK HARDER

Traditional media builds the recognition that gets a search ad clicked and a social ad trusted.

• Radio is the fastest traditional channel to get live, and a live read from a host carries more weight than a produced spot.
• Billboards build credibility at scale. Keep it to around six words, because people read them at speed.
• Print still works well in regional markets and trade sectors.

Here's the catch. Brand searches spike within days of a billboard or radio campaign going live. If your Google brand campaign isn't running, a competitor buys those clicks, and you've paid for awareness someone else converts.

WHERE IT ALL CONNECTS

Every campaign leaves behind an audience you can advertise to again: people who watched your video, engaged with your page, or visited your website.

The strongest campaigns work in sequence:

1. Go wide with awareness or video views to build a large audience for less.
2. Retarget the people who engaged. They convert at a fraction of the investment of a cold audience.
3. Retarget website visitors with your specific offer. This is your smallest, warmest audience.

Two mistakes to avoid. Don't switch off your awareness campaign the day your sales campaign launches, because you've just turned off the tap that fills it. And remember that audiences expire: most website audiences only last 30 to 180 days. Go quiet for a quarter and you start again cold.

SO, WHICH PLATFORM IS YOURS?

Start with one question: is your customer already looking for you, or do you need to find them?

If they're searching, start with Google, and build your SEO so you're not paying for every click forever. If they need convincing, start with Meta or TikTok. If you need to be known in your region, add traditional media to make the rest work harder.

Owning your space doesn't mean doing everything. It means doing the right thing, properly.

Not sure which platform is yours? That's exactly what we work out with our clients. Book a strategy chat with the Squid team and let's build your plan.