Advertising budgets are one of the most common questions founders ask, and the honest answer is that it depends on your category, your goals, and how mature your brand is. Here is how we think about it.
Performance marketing on platforms like Meta, Google, and Amazon Ads requires enough spend to generate statistically meaningful data. Below a certain threshold, you simply do not get enough conversions per week to optimise creative, audiences, and bidding strategy. Spending too little is one of the main reasons brands conclude that 'ads do not work for us' when in reality the campaigns were never given enough room to learn.
If you are starting on a single platform such as Amazon Ads or Meta, we recommend a minimum monthly spend of INR 50,000. This is enough to run two or three campaign structures, gather conversion data, and identify which creatives and audiences are working. Within 60 to 90 days, most brands see clear winners and can decide whether to scale.
For brands running performance marketing across Meta, Google, and one or two marketplaces simultaneously, INR 1 to 2 lakh per month is the sweet spot. This budget supports a full funnel approach with awareness, consideration, and conversion campaigns, plus marketplace search ads to capture high-intent demand.
Brands doing INR 50 lakh or more in monthly revenue typically run paid media budgets of INR 5 lakh and above per month. At this stage, the focus shifts from 'does this work' to 'how do we scale efficiently'. which involves creative testing at volume, sophisticated audience segmentation, and incrementality measurement.
The fastest way to get a clear answer is a quick call with our team. We'll give you specifics for your brand and category.
Talk to our team