How to promote your business on TikTok (free and paid, with real costs for 2026)
You can promote a business on TikTok for free with organic posts, or pay for ads with a minimum of $20 a day per ad group. Here is how each works and which to start with.
The short answer: you can promote your business on TikTok for free by posting short, useful videos from a business account at least three times a week, or you can pay for TikTok ads, which in 2026 need at least $50 a day per campaign and $20 a day per ad group. Most small businesses should start free, then put ad money behind the videos that already work.
Option 1: free (organic) promotion
TikTok shows videos to people who do not follow you yet, so a small business can reach new customers without paying. What it takes:
- A business account with your name, a one-line bio and one link — where a new customer should act.
- Three to five posts a week. Consistency matters more than polish.
- A hook in the first two seconds. See 80+ TikTok hook examples for businesses.
- Useful, specific videos. Tips, behind-the-scenes, customer results and clear offers. If you do not want to be on camera, use one of these faceless TikTok ideas.
- A clear next step at the end of each video: visit, book, or tap the link in the bio.
What it costs: nothing but time — usually several hours a week to plan, film, edit and post. That time is the real cost, and the reason most businesses stop after a few weeks.
Option 2: paid TikTok ads
TikTok Ads Manager has minimum budgets. As reported by multiple ad-industry sources in 2026:
| Level | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Campaign daily budget | $50 a day |
| Ad group daily budget | $20 a day |
| Campaign lifetime budget | $500 |
Both daily minimums apply together, so a realistic first test is around $50 a day for a week or two. TikTok also recommends budgets well above the minimum for conversion campaigns to give the system enough data to learn. Check TikTok's own Ads Manager for the current rules in your country before you start.
What it costs: at least a few hundred dollars for a meaningful test, plus the cost of the videos themselves.
Which should you start with?
| Free (organic) | Paid ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | $0 | From ~$50/day |
| Time | Several hours a week | Setup plus ongoing testing |
| Best for | Building an audience and trust | Scaling something already working |
| Needs | Consistent videos | Good videos *and* budget |
Start organic. Post consistently for a month, see which videos people watch to the end, and only then pay to show those videos to more people. Ads amplify good videos; they do not fix weak ones.
The part most businesses get stuck on
Both options need a steady supply of short videos. If filming and editing is what stops you, that part can be handed off: MRKT DEPT researches your niche, writes the scripts, produces the videos with an AI spokesperson and posts them on a schedule after you review them. Plans start at $79 a month, and your first video is free.
Related: TikTok marketing for small businesses · ideas by industry · free TikTok tools
Get your social media done for you
MRKT DEPT plans your posts, makes the videos with an AI spokesperson and posts them to TikTok and Instagram. You review every post. Your first video is free.
Read next
Free tools: TikTok hook generator · caption generator · script generator · hook examples · Ideas for your industry · See real videos