Costs
Part of Local Advertising: What to Keep and What to Drop
Local Advertising Tools Compared: Google, EDDM, Meta, Nextdoor and Yelp
Google Ads and Local Services Ads, USPS Every Door Direct Mail, Meta, Nextdoor and Yelp compared on published costs, limits, and which jobs each one fits.
What to take away
- Google fits urgent, already-searched demand. Pay per click on Google Ads, pay per lead on Local Services Ads.
- EDDM costs $0.26 per piece in postage, with a 200-piece minimum and a 5,000-piece daily cap per ZIP Code. It reaches every address on a route but gives no click data.
- Meta can start at $1 a day. Yelp advertises from $5 a day. Nextdoor's own budget guide suggests $3, $5 or $10 a day.
- Re-check every figure in your account. Postage and platform terms change.
This is a desk review. We did not run paid campaigns on these platforms. Each verdict below rests on the platform's own published terms, read in October 2026, and on the operating limits they imply. Where a platform publishes no rate, we say so rather than guess.
The five tools at a glance
| Tool | Billing | Fits when | Drops out when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads and Local Services Ads | Click on Google Ads, lead on Local Services Ads | Customers already search for the service | Nobody answers the phone, or calls go untracked |
| USPS EDDM Retail | Per piece, postage plus printing | You want a neighborhood and have no prospect list | You need urgent leads or click data |
| Meta Ads | Auction, daily budget | You have photos and a landing page | The offer needs explaining in person |
| Nextdoor Ads | Daily budget, billed up front | The service area is a few neighborhoods | Your area is a whole metro |
| Yelp Ads | Pay per click, monthly cap | Reviews are steady and the category is searched | The page has few reviews |
Google's own guidance separates the two products. Google Ads is pay per click and needs a website or landing page. Local Services Ads is pay per lead, works without a website, and is limited to specific countries and service categories.
Google Ads Help also says Local Services Ads campaigns are moving to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, and that manual per-lead bidding is no longer supported there. Check which setup your account has before planning around it.
Google Local Ads Options
Search
- Location info
- Yes
- Local actions
- Directions, calls
- Reporting
- Different
- Bidding
- Different
Performance Max
- Location info
- Yes
- Local actions
- Directions, calls
- Reporting
- Different
- Bidding
- Different
What each tool costs, from published sources
| Tool | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | No minimum ad spend. Monthly cap is the daily budget times 30.4; one day can run up to 2x the daily budget | Google Ads setup guide |
| Local Services Ads | Charged only for valid leads. Google advises a budget of at least 10 leads a week. Lead price varies by location and job type; no dollar range published | Google Local Services Help |
| USPS EDDM Retail | $0.26 per piece; at least 200 pieces; up to 5,000 a day per ZIP Code | usps.com |
| Meta Ads | About $1 a day minimum for most impression-billed ad sets; with a cost cap, budget at least 5x the cap | Meta Business Help Center |
| Nextdoor Ads | Suggested $3, $5 or $10 a day. A $5 plan charges $155 up front (31 days) | Nextdoor business blog |
| Yelp Ads | As little as $5 a day on average; from $150 a month; no term contracts; click price set by auction, none published | business.yelp.com |
Google location ads depend on location assets, normally a linked Google Business Profile, and radius targeting around them is available only for US locations. Nextdoor's help center also describes a monthly subscription, so confirm current billing in Ads Manager.
EDDM Retail also has handling rules. Bundles hold 50 to 100 pieces and stand no taller than 6 inches, and the indicia must sit above and to the right of the address block. Printing comes on top of postage, so get a printer quote.
USPS EDDM Verification Checklist
- Confirm current rules
- Confirm route counts
- Confirm dimensions and weight
- Confirm indicia
- Confirm quantity and postage
- Confirm payment and entry
- Confirm delivery details
Verdicts: what holds up and what does not
Google holds up for urgent jobs. A searcher with a broken furnace is ready to buy, and pay per lead means you pay only for valid contacts. It fails when the phone goes unanswered, because the lead is spent either way. Count booked jobs from your own records.
EDDM holds up for seasonal, neighborhood-wide pushes. Postage alone for 400 pieces is $104, and a full 5,000-piece day is $1,300. It does not hold up when you need tracking, because a mailer gives you no click data. Add a code or a dedicated phone number.
Meta holds up as a cheap test with strong photos. The $1 floor lowers the cost of trying, not the cost of results. It drops out if you lack a landing page or a way to track calls.
Nextdoor holds up only for a few neighborhoods. The suggested budgets are small, so the test is cheap. We found no published results benchmark, so treat it as unproven until your own numbers say otherwise. See local advertising benchmarks for how to build one.
Yelp holds up where reviews already exist. The monthly cap protects the budget, but the click price is an auction with no published range. With few reviews, skip it and build reviews first.
What $150 buys
A comparison, with figures from the table. Postage for 400 EDDM pieces is $104, before printing. Yelp lists plans from $150 a month. A $5-a-day Nextdoor plan charges $155 up front for 31 days.
Meta lets you spend $5 a day for 30 days, which is also $150. The amounts are equal, so compare booked jobs, not budgets. Adding a second tool before the first is measured is one of the recurring local advertising mistakes.
Rules that change across the border
US placements follow platform policy plus general truth-in-advertising rules. Canada adds consent: commercial email and text messages need permission under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, and that applies to messages sent into Canada from anywhere.
Quebec adds language rules. Commercial signage and many promotions must appear in French under the Charter of the French Language, with conditions on other languages. Yelp support is limited to the US and Canada. For sidewalk signs, see ADA clear width rules.
Testing the operating burden
Give every tool the same test before paying for a second month.
- Same source sample, same user roles, same required output.
- Timed setup, weekly labor, correction work and shutdown.
- An export testmove leads, contacts and reports out first.
- Ownership, cancellation and price-change terms in writing.
Save the tested plan with its date. Work through the local advertising checklist in order rather than buying three tools at once, and see local advertising examples for channel patterns.
