When to start pre-opening promotion: a 60-day calendar for a new business

How does Google’s opening window work?

According to Google’s help page, you enter a future date in the “opening date” field. Once verified, the profile appears on Google 90 days before opening, and you can share posts, renovation photos and a description. Until opening day, users cannot add reviews or photos, or suggest edits.

What you enter, and where

Select “Edit profile”, then edit next to the opening date field. Year and month are enough. Save, then verify.

The 90 days after opening

After opening day, the profile shows a “recently opened” label for 90 days. For someone looking for a new place nearby, that label works like the congratulation flowers placed at a shop’s door.

Why is 60 days enough rather than 90?

Ninety days is Google’s longest pre-opening window. Most shop owners, however, sign the lease about two months before opening, which is when the address becomes final. A profile set up before that risks verifying the wrong location. Sixty days leaves room for verification, crawling and 30 days of posts.

If you start earlier

With a fixed name and address you can stretch to 90 days, if posts keep flowing; an idle profile looks like a shuttered shop.

If you start later

Start in the last two weeks and you may open while verification and crawling are still pending.

What do you do 60 to 31 days before opening?

This is the groundwork period: name, address, domain, profile and site, the things hard to change later. Finish the six tasks below in the first 30 days; D stands for opening day. For the profile step by step, see how to set up a Google Business Profile.

Reserve the name and handles on the same day

If the domain and Instagram handle do not match, customers may think you are two places. Reserve all three in one sitting.

Set up tracking before opening

Set up later, you lose the first weeks of data, and opening-week searches set the budget for month two.

What do you do 30 to 8 days before opening?

This is the announcement period: the profile is visible, the site is being crawled, and it is time to build curiosity. Renovation photos, team introductions and the opening announcement spread across four weeks. You will find wording and channels, with examples, in how to write an opening announcement.

Posting rhythm

Three posts a week make 12 in four weeks. Repeat the opening month and address in every post.

Meet the neighbouring shops

“A new place is opening on the corner”, said by the shop next door, the pharmacist or the baker, is the cheapest ad that brings the first customer to your door.

Set up the ad account two weeks ahead

Have the ad account, payment method and audiences ready 14 days ahead. Google and Meta review ads before they run, and review can take longer; a last-minute ad may still await approval on opening morning.

What must not be missed in the final week and on opening day?

The final week is for repetition, not new setups. Ads go live, flyers hit the street, and the opening day is pinned on the profile and accounts. Opening day has one job: linking every customer to the next one. The shop-specific detail is in how to promote a new shop.

1. Check opening hours and phone number on the profile one last time.
2. Launch ads 5 to 7 days before opening.
3. Pin the opening day on your profile and accounts.
4. Place a QR code to your profile next to the till.
5. Collect WhatsApp numbers from first-day customers, with consent.
6. In the evening, add the day’s photos to the profile.

If the till stays quiet on opening day

Day one may be slow. Judge the result by the 90 days of the “recently opened” label.

How do the August 2026 rules affect the calendar?

The Turkish Ministry of Trade’s amendment to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices, published in the Official Gazette on 1 July 2026, took effect on 1 August 2026. In discount ads, the “price before discount” is now the lowest price applied in the 10 days before the discount starts. Campaigns offering a benefit tied to a condition fall under the same rule.

If you plan an opening discount

An “old price” ad is risky for a new shop with no price history. Build the calendar around the 10-day rule and have the wording checked by your accountant or a lawyer.

If you work with an influencer

Under the same amendment, influencers posting for payment or benefit must clearly label the post as “reklam” (advertisement) or “tanıtım” (promotion). Write that label into the agreement from the start. If you plan a prize draw at opening, also add to the calendar that the permit application must be filed at least 15 days before the campaign.

What this means for you

The calendar comes down to one sentence: groundwork 60 days before the shutters go up, announcements 30 days before, ads 7 days before, then 90 days of reviews and visibility after opening. The week you sign the lease is the first week of your promotion. You can find the whole order in nine steps in the new business promotion guide.

If you would rather not build the calendar alone

Adapte’s Start a Business Online campaign is built on “open online before you open”. For a fixed TRY 36,000 + VAT it includes a domain in your name with one year of hosting, a 6 + 12 page site, 108 articles, 3 social accounts, a Google Business Profile, WhatsApp Business and GA4 plus Search Console. The delivery schedule is given in writing. Capacity is 12 ventures and the application window closes on 1 November 2026. Apply on the Start a Business Online campaign page.

The calendar works without a shop too

A service business without a storefront can appear with a service area instead of an address; the rest of the calendar stays the same. For the full set of steps to promote a new company, see how to promote a new company.

Quick Summary

• Start pre-opening promotion at least 60 days ahead.
• Google shows a verified profile 90 days before opening.
• After opening, the profile carries a “recently opened” label for 90 days.
• Reviews can only be written after opening.
• Set up ads 14 days ahead and launch them 5 to 7 days ahead.
• Since 1 August 2026, discount ads follow a 10-day price rule in Türkiye.

Short Glossary

Verification: Verification is the approval step Google uses to confirm that a Business Profile really belongs to that business.

Crawling: Crawling is the visiting process a search engine uses to read a page so it can be added to the index.

Pinned post: A pinned post is the social media feature used to keep one post at the top of an account.

Next Step

Open online before your shutters go up. Apply to the Start a Business Online campaign and get your name and plan proposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Source: Google Business Profile Help — Add a business opening date