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How to shortlist two paid channels before you spend anything

A short process for narrowing six paid channels to two: what each platform says its ads are, and the questions that remove the poor fits.

By Antoine Martin, Founder, Web Marketing International.
Published 4 November 2026. Last reviewed 4 November 2026.

Short answer

Describe the goal, buyer and creative you can produce, then read what each platform says about its own formats. Google and Microsoft run search ads, Meta runs ads across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, LinkedIn lists four formats, Snapchat lists seven, and TikTok describes full-screen sound-on ads.

Six channels is too many to test properly. The aim of this process is to reach two you are willing to read about in detail, using only things you know about your own business. The wider reasoning is in which paid advertising channel to start with.

Four inputs

  1. The action you want, in one phrase: a call, a form, a sale, an install.
  2. Who must take it, described the way a customer would describe themselves.
  3. The creative you can produce every month without strain: text, images, video, or none of these.
  4. The monthly advertising budget you can commit, separate from any fees.

What each platform says its ads are

These are the platforms’ own descriptions, which you should re-read before you commit, because they change.

  • Google. Search is text ads on search results, Display runs across websites, apps and Google properties such as YouTube, Video runs on YouTube and other websites, and Shopping ads appear on search results and the Shopping tab[1].
  • Microsoft. Five campaign types are listed: Performance Max, Search, Display, Video and connected TV, and Shopping. Search ads reach people on Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and other search engines, and display and native ads run across Microsoft 365, MSN, Edge, Outlook and Microsoft Casual Games[2].
  • Meta. Formats include photo, video, stories, Messenger, carousel (up to ten images or videos), slideshow, collection and playable, and ads can appear on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network[4]. Objectives are described as sales, traffic, leads, and awareness and engagement[3].
  • LinkedIn. Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Dynamic Ads and Text Ads[5].
  • Snapchat. Sponsored Snaps, Single Image or Video Ads, Story Ads, Collection Ads, Commercials, AR Lenses and AR Filters[6].
  • TikTok. Full-screen, sound-on ads[7].

Remove the poor fits

Work through these in order and drop any channel that fails one badly.

  • If your buyer is a named job role, check LinkedIn first, since it lists job title, function and industry as targeting[5].
  • If you cannot produce video on a schedule, mark TikTok down, since it describes its ads as full-screen and sound-on[7].
  • If your customers already search for what you sell, Google and Microsoft both describe search ads aimed at people actively searching[1][2].
  • If you sell products, check the shopping and collection formats each platform lists.

The rules above are mine, and they are about fit, not performance. I am not saying any channel performs better for any kind of business.

Keep two

Enter your inputs in the paid channel picker, take the two highest scores and read those platforms’ pages for your objective. The pre-launch checklist is the next step. If you want a second view of the short list, my Microsoft Ads management page describes one of the channels I work on, and I sell that service.

Sources

  1. Google Ads Help, About campaign types. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  2. Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft Advertising. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  3. Meta for Business, Ad objectives. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  4. Meta for Business, Ad formats. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  5. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn Ads. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  6. Snap Inc., Snapchat for Business, Snapchat ad formats. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  7. TikTok, TikTok For Business. Accessed 4 November 2026.