Which ad platform should your business start with?
A free field guide drawn from research across 483 advertising platforms, written by an operator who has spent her own money on ads and worked inside TikTok and Amazon Ads.
Inside the map
The three questions to answer before you spend anything: where the buying moment is, what your budget can honestly buy, and what creative you can feed the platform.
A straight card on each of the ten platforms most businesses should consider first: Meta, Google, TikTok, Amazon, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit, and Spotify. Start here if, skip if, and the first campaign to run.
The wider landscape in brief: the 33 self-serve platforms behind the big ten, and how to think about your second platform once the first is working.
The $50 Test: I am spending US$50 of real money on each of the ten platforms, advertising this map. Subscribers get the scoreboard by email as each result lands.
About the author. Ajoke Emekene is a paid media operator and performance marketer. Her career runs from her own agency, Joke Ralu and Associates (30+ clients), to Client Solutions Manager at TikTok working with fintech brands, to Amazon Ads. She has spent over US$30,000 of her own money on ads, which is why this map is written the way it is: every recommendation is priced like it is your money, because for years it was hers.
US$30,000+ of her own money spent on ads Agency founder · TikTok Client Solutions · Amazon Ads