New business promotion: how to promote a new shop in 9 steps, before and after opening

When should you start promoting a new business?

Look, the best moment is the week you sign the lease. In Google Business Profile you can enter an opening date up to a year ahead, and the profile becomes visible 90 days before you open. For 90 days after opening, your profile also shows that you have recently opened. That is a free 180-day shop window.

The 90 days before the shutter goes up

During this period customers can see you, but they cannot yet add reviews or photos. Google keeps that restriction until the official opening. So the first 90 days are for filling in every detail and announcing the date.

Opening day and the first week

Once you open, the profile accepts reviews and photos. The first customers who walk in become your first witnesses online. The job this week is to turn them into witnesses.

The 90 days after opening

This is the measuring period. You count how many people call, ask for directions or write on WhatsApp, and from which channel. If you are setting up a company that sells to other businesses, the order of the steps shifts a little; we cover that in how to promote a new company.

Which week does each of the 9 steps fall into?

Each of the nine steps is tied to a week and to a single output. The table below shows what to do from 90 days before opening to 90 days after, and how you know each step is done. Simply shift the calendar to your own opening date. For a day-by-day version, see when to start promoting before opening.

Which 3 steps should you take before opening?

The three steps before opening make your name searchable: one name everywhere, an opening date on Google, and a contact point a phone can reach in one tap. Without these, every announcement is wasted. Whoever picks up your flyer first takes out a phone and searches your name. If nothing shows up, the flyer goes in the bin.

Step 1: One name, three places

Use the same name on the sign, the domain and the social accounts. If the sign says “Lezzet Durağı”, Instagram says “lezzetdurak” and the domain says “durak-pastane”, customers think they are three different businesses. Check that the domain and handles are free before you settle on the name.

Step 2: Tell Google your opening date

When creating the Business Profile, choose the future opening date option. Year and month are required, the day is optional. We walk through creation and verification in how to set up a Google Business Profile. Verification depends on Google and can take a few days, so put it in the calendar.

Step 3: A place a phone reaches in one tap

Set up a web page, even a single page. Put phone, WhatsApp and directions buttons at the top. Keep opening hours and the opening date on the first screen. Customers search for you on a phone, so they should not get lost in a menu.

Which 3 opening-week steps bring customers inside?

Opening week has three jobs: the announcement, the door and the first witnesses. The announcement states the date and the offer, the door stops passers-by, and the first witnesses vouch for you online to people who have never seen you. Here is the thing, everybody hangs balloons. Very few ask the first customer for a review.

Step 4: A one-text opening announcement

Put the date, address, opening hours and first-week offer into one short text. Use the same text in your WhatsApp status, on Instagram and on the door. For ready-made patterns, see the six examples in how to write an opening announcement.

Step 5: Door, window and neighbouring shops

The cheapest promotion in a neighbourhood is meeting the shopkeepers next door. The baker, the pharmacist and the hairdresser talk to hundreds of people a day. Tell them who you are and what you sell. Word of mouth starts there.

Step 6: Turn the first customer into a witness

Ask happy first customers openly for a review. Do not offer discounts or gifts in return, Google’s rules do not allow it. A QR code next to the till that opens your profile is enough.

Which 3 steps in the first 90 days bring lasting customers?

The 90 days after opening move promotion from guesswork to arithmetic. First you measure, then you write content for the questions customers ask, and only then do you run a small ad test. Order matters. A business that buys ads before measuring spends without knowing where the money goes, and at the end of the month says the till is not turning over.

Step 7: Write down three numbers every week

Your Business Profile shows calls, direction requests and website clicks. If you have a website, Search Console and GA4 add more. Every Monday, write these three numbers in a notebook. After four weeks, the channel that works becomes obvious.

Step 8: Write a page for each customer question

In the first month, note the six questions you hear most on the phone and at the till. “Are you open on Sunday”, “do you deliver”, “how much is it”. Write a short answer page for each. Long, intent-rich questions climb to the top far faster than broad keywords.

Step 9: A small single-channel ad test

After day 60, try ads on one channel, with one offer and a monthly cap written down in advance. The goal is not a sales explosion but learning what one customer costs you. To build the budget line by line, see the three scenarios in new business promotion budget.

Why is being seen not the same as being clicked?

Let me give you a number from our own site. Over three months, from 14 June to 13 September 2026, adaptedijital.com was shown 142,296 times on Google but received 1,699 clicks. That is a click-through rate of about 1.2 percent. One in a hundred people who see it click. The lesson for a new business: being seen is the start, and the first screen is what earns the click.

Three in four clicks come from a phone

In the same period, 1,267 of the 1,699 clicks came from mobile. Mobile click-through rate was 1.86 percent, desktop 0.57 percent. People on a phone are about three times more willing to click. Your customer is most likely searching for you on the street, phone in hand.

What this means for you

Open your page on a phone first. If the first screen does not say what you sell, where you are and how to reach you, being seen will not turn into clicks. I have tried more than a hundred domains and sites so far. Here is what I noticed: the page that gets clicked is not the prettiest one, it is the one that answers fastest.

Which package and which month should the promotion budget go to?

Split the budget around your opening day. If you have not opened yet, money should go into building your name, site and content. If you have opened and customers are not walking in, money should go into making one channel work. Adapte runs two separate campaigns for these two situations, both TRY 36,000 + VAT, paid upfront at a fixed price.

Say you are opening a patisserie in Beylikdüzü

Say you have signed the lease and opening is three months away. In that case steps 1, 2 and 3 and the content side are covered by Start a Business Online, and you focus on the window and the product. If customers are few after opening, one of the Get Visible Online recipes sets up step 9. The way to cut your coat according to your cloth is not to spend both budgets in the same month.

Places and deadline

Start a Business Online works with 12 places, and the last day to apply is 1 November 2026. The setup schedule is given to you in writing. If you want to open online before you open the shop, go to the Start a Business Online campaign page. If you are already open, fill in the needs form on the Get Visible Online page.

How does promotion differ for a shop, a company and a service-area business?

The nine steps are the same for every business; the weight shifts. For a shop, the door and the map come first. For a company, the name, the site and the proposal file come first. For a business with no shop that goes to the customer, the service-area setting comes first. Professions with advertising rules check their own regulations before every step.

Shop, store, branch

Maps and directions are your main channel. Put weight on steps 2, 5 and 6. The passer-by and the person searching on the map are the same customer, so keep both doors open.

Workshops, services and businesses without a shop

If you do not want to show an address, you choose a service area in your Business Profile and appear district by district. Steps 3 and 8 are the most valuable for you. Customers find you through a question, not through a door.

Health, law and education

If you are opening a clinic, a law office or a course, promotion is limited by regulation in Türkiye. First check the Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities in Health Services, your bar association’s professional rules or the Ministry of Education rules for private courses. Price listings, discount promises and before-and-after photos are not recommended in these professions.

Let me ask you one thing: how many days until you open? If it is more than 90, build your name first; if it is fewer, become reachable first. The decision is that simple.

Quick Summary

• New business promotion starts about 90 days before opening.
• A future opening date can be added to Google Business Profile up to a year ahead.
• Nine steps: three before, three in opening week, three in the next 90 days.
• Seen is not clicked: on adaptedijital.com the rate is about 1.2 percent.
• Three in four clicks come from a phone, so build the first screen for phones.
• Not open yet: Start a Business Online. Already open: Get Visible Online.

Short Glossary

Business Profile: A Business Profile is the free listing used to show your business on Google Search and Maps with its name, address, hours and reviews.

Click-through rate: Click-through rate is the ratio used to measure how often a page shown in search is clicked, by dividing clicks by impressions.

Service area: A service area is the setting used to tell Google which districts you serve without showing your address.

Next Step

If your opening date is set, the calendar is on your side. Apply for Start a Business Online and let us set up your name, site and Business Profile before the shutter goes up.

Frequently Asked Questions

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