Answers

When should a new business start marketing, and what comes first?

Ascent Vision · Published October 25, 2026

Start before you open, with the pieces customers need to find and reach you: the name and domain, the phone number you will keep, a simple website and a Google profile. Google lets a business that has not opened yet set an opening date up to one year ahead, and once the business is verified the profile shows on Google 90 days before that date. In the first weeks, tell everyone you know, ask early customers for reviews, and note where each one came from.

Before opening day

• A name and a matching domain, checked together; the related answer on choosing a domain name covers what to look for.
• The phone number that will stay with the business, on an account the business owns; the related answer on who should own your business phone number explains why.
• A short website that says what you do, where, and how to reach you. One good page is enough to start.
• A way to record every inquiry and where it came from, ready before the first one arrives.

What Google allows before you open

Google's help page on opening dates says a business that has not opened yet can create a profile to let the community know when it will open. Only the year and month are required, and you can enter a date up to one year in the future. After you enter the date and verify the business, Google says the profile shows up 90 days before the opening date, and you can post updates, add photos and write a description in that time.

Once the business opens, Google says the profile shows a "Recently opened" tag for 90 days. Until it officially opens, users cannot suggest edits or post reviews or photos on the profile.

The first weeks

Tell everyone you know, in person and in one short message they can forward. Ask your first customers for an honest review, with no reward attached. Ask every new customer how they found you, and record the channel: search, AI answer, social, referral, paid, email, campaign or direct. After a month, those notes show where to spend the next hour.

What can wait

The SBA's marketing guide says "Marketing takes time, money, and preparation" and suggests a marketing plan to stay on schedule and on budget. As general advice, ads, a large website and accounts on every social platform can usually wait until the phone is answered reliably and every inquiry is recorded. The related answer on where a small business should start with marketing gives the order.

Sources

1. Google Business Profile Help, "Add a business opening date"
2. U.S. Small Business Administration, "Marketing and sales" (Manage your business)

Related answers

• Where should a small business start with marketing?
• How do you choose a domain name for a small business?
• Who should own your business phone number?