Americas · CountryBOFU
Performance marketing for businesses in Canada
The short answer
PMG runs performance marketing for Canadian businesses from Mumbai — Google, Meta, Amazon.ca and LinkedIn campaigns, SEO and AEO, and CRM that respects Canada's strict anti-spam rules. We overlap Eastern mornings and work asynchronously with Prairie and Pacific teams. For Quebec, campaigns and landing pages are built in French, not translated as an afterthought.
What makes Canadian performance marketing different
- Two official languages — English and French campaigns, with Quebec French reviewed by native speakers
- Smaller, concentrated population — most Canadians live in a handful of metro areas, so audiences saturate faster than in the US
- US spillover — Canadians see US media and brands; pricing, shipping and duties must be clear for cross-border offers
- Strict anti-spam law — email and SMS lists must be built on documented consent
- Provincial differences — Quebec's language and privacy rules, and different seasons and holidays by province
Rules to know before advertising in Canada
- CASL: commercial electronic messages need express or implied consent, sender identification and an unsubscribe mechanism; penalties can be substantial
- PIPEDA: governs personal information in commercial activity across most provinces
- Quebec Law 25: stricter consent, transparency and privacy-impact requirements for organisations handling Quebecers' data
- Charter of the French Language (as amended by Bill 96): commercial advertising and product information in Quebec must be available in French, with French at least as prominent as other languages
- Competition Act: misleading advertising, drip pricing and unsubstantiated environmental claims are prohibited
- Ad Standards: the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards and influencer disclosure guidelines apply
Channel mix that tends to work in Canada
| Business | Lead channels | Supporting channels |
|---|---|---|
| D2C and retail | Meta, Google Shopping, Amazon.ca | Email/SMS (CASL-compliant), TikTok, YouTube |
| B2B and SaaS | Google Search, LinkedIn | ABM, content, review sites |
| Education and immigration services | Google Search, Meta, YouTube | WhatsApp, webinars, multilingual creative |
| Local services | Google Search, Business Profile | Meta, reviews |
How we work with Canadian clients
- Kick-off in your Eastern morning, or recorded for Western provinces.
- Language plan — English, Quebec French and, where relevant, Punjabi, Hindi or Mandarin for diaspora audiences.
- Consent-first CRM — CASL-compliant forms, records and unsubscribe flows.
- Province-level budgets and reporting in CAD.
- Weekly rhythm — overlapping calls plus async updates.
The Canadian marketing calendar
- Canadian Thanksgiving (October) — earlier than the US; family and food categories
- Black Friday and Cyber Monday — strong despite being a US import
- Boxing Day (26 December) — one of Canada's biggest sale days
- Back-to-school (August–September) — education, apparel and electronics
- Diwali and Vaisakhi — key moments for Canada's large South Asian communities
What does performance marketing cost for a Canadian business?
Canadian CPCs and CPMs are generally a little lower than in the US but vary sharply by category and province; Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are the most competitive. Because the population is smaller, audiences saturate faster, so creative refresh matters earlier. Budget per channel should support enough conversions for the algorithms to learn. Management is scoped per engagement and quoted in CAD or USD; ad spend is billed by the platforms to your own accounts.
Industries we can help in Canada
- D2C and retail — bilingual Meta and Google campaigns with CASL-compliant CRM; see D2C
- Education and immigration-adjacent services — multilingual campaigns for students and newcomers; see education
- SaaS and B2B — Search, LinkedIn and ABM across Canada and the US; see SaaS
- Professional services — accountants, lawyers and consultants marketing within professional rules; see professional services
- Real estate — developer and brokerage campaigns in the GTA, Vancouver and Calgary; see real estate
Entering Canada: a phased plan
- Compliance. PIPEDA, provincial privacy laws including Quebec's Law 25, and CASL consent.
- Localise. CAD pricing, bilingual content for Quebec, delivery and duties information.
- Test Google, Meta and Amazon.ca in Ontario and British Columbia first.
- Scale to Alberta, Quebec and other provinces.
Example: an Indian food brand entering Canada
Diaspora targeting in Brampton, Mississauga and Surrey, Amazon.ca listings, Canadian fulfilment, and French packaging and content before entering Quebec.
Provinces and territories in Canada
Market notes for each provinces and territorie — cities, industries, regulation and how we work with you.
Digital marketing services for businesses in Canada
Every engagement is built from the same components — chosen and weighted for your category, budget and customers in Canada. Most clients start with two or three of these and add more once the economics are proven.
Performance Marketing
Full-funnel paid media run against your margins. We set break-even ROAS and a target cost per acquisition first, then plan Google, Meta and other channels around what customers in Canada actually respond to. Budgets move every week toward whatever produces the cheapest incremental sales or qualified leads — not the loudest platform numbers.
Google Ads
Search, Performance Max, Shopping, YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns built around high-intent searches in Canada. We fix conversion tracking first, separate brand from non-brand, use location and language targeting deliberately, and report on cost per qualified lead or sale rather than clicks and impressions.
Meta Ads
Facebook and Instagram campaigns driven by creative testing — new hooks, formats and offers every week — with the Conversions API for reliable signals and audiences shaped for Canada. Lead campaigns route straight to WhatsApp or your CRM so your team can follow up within minutes.
SEO
Technical SEO, content and authority building aimed at the searches buyers in Canada make before they contact a business. We fix crawl, speed and indexing problems first, then build service, location and comparison pages that can rank in Google and be cited in AI answers.
AEO & GEO (AI Search)
Answer engine and generative engine optimisation: answer-first content, clear entity information and structured data that help your business appear in Google's AI features, ChatGPT and other assistants when buyers in Canada ask for recommendations.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn campaigns for B2B companies selling in Canada: job-title, industry and company targeting, account-based lists, lead forms synced to your CRM, and reporting on pipeline and revenue rather than cost per lead alone.
Marketplace Marketing
Amazon and regional marketplace advertising and listing optimisation, balanced with your own website so you grow sales in Canada without handing all your margin to marketplaces.
Web Design & Development
Fast, conversion-focused websites and landing pages — clear offers, trust signals, mobile-first forms and proper tracking — so the traffic you pay for in Canada actually turns into enquiries and sales.
Why businesses in Canada work with PMG
- Measurement first. Break-even ROAS, target CAC and clean tracking before any budget is scaled.
- You own everything. Ad accounts, data and creative stay in your name, and ad spend goes straight to the platforms.
- Senior people on your account. The strategist who runs your campaigns is the person you talk to every week.
- Weekly transparency. A scorecard, change log and test board every week — no vanity metrics.
- Short minimum terms. We would rather keep clients with results than with contracts.
- A long working day. Mon–Sat, 7am–9pm IST, giving real overlap with Canada and overnight progress on your campaigns.
Cities and areas we serve in Canada
We plan budgets and creative city by city, because costs, competition and customer behaviour differ even within Canada. Campaigns regularly target:
- Toronto
- Montreal
- Vancouver
- Calgary
- Ottawa
- Edmonton
Free growth audit
Get a written audit for Canada.
No sales call required. Tell us where to look; a strategist replies within working hours and sends the written audit within 72 hours.
- Tracking check
- Pixels, Conversions API, GA4 events and offline conversions — what is firing, what is double-counted, what is missing.
- Wasted spend
- Search terms, placements, audiences and overlap that cost money without producing qualified leads or sales.
- Conversion path
- Landing page speed, message match, form friction and follow-up time — where interested people drop off.
- 90-day priorities
- The three changes we would make first, with the metric each one should move.
Frequently asked questions
Do you create French-language campaigns for Quebec?
Yes — with native Quebec French writers and reviewers, and French landing pages that meet Quebec's language requirements.
How does CASL affect our email marketing?
You need express or implied consent before sending commercial emails or texts, clear sender identification and a working unsubscribe. We audit consent records and build compliant sign-up flows.
Can you target Canadian diaspora audiences?
Yes — South Asian, Chinese and other communities in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and beyond, in the languages they prefer.
Do you handle cross-border US–Canada campaigns?
Yes — separate campaigns and pricing for each country, with clear currency, shipping and duty information.
Is Canada's Black Friday as big as in the US?
Black Friday is a major event in Canada, and Boxing Day remains one of the biggest sale days. Plan both.
Do we need French for Canada?
For Quebec, yes — French is required for commercial advertising there; elsewhere English usually suffices.
What is CASL?
Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, which requires consent for commercial emails and texts.
How much does it cost to hire a digital marketing agency in Canada?
PMG quotes after a free audit — a fixed monthly fee, a percentage of ad spend or a hybrid, depending on channels, markets, creative volume and tracking. Ad spend is paid directly to the platforms from your own accounts.
How long does it take to see results from digital marketing in Canada?
Tracking fixes and search campaigns often show improvement within two to four weeks. Prospecting on Meta or YouTube usually needs three to six weeks of creative testing, and SEO compounds over three to nine months. We agree leading indicators for each channel so you are never guessing.
Do we need to sign a long contract?
No. Minimum terms are short, because we would rather keep clients with results than with contracts. Ad accounts, data and creative stay in your name throughout.
Will we own our ad accounts and data?
Yes. Campaigns run in your own Google, Meta and other ad accounts with partner access for PMG, and you can see everything at any time.
When can we talk to PMG live from Canada?
Our team works Mon–Sat, 7am–9pm IST. Live overlap with Canada: Eastern mornings until about 11:30am EDT; async with the West. Day-to-day questions are handled on a shared WhatsApp group.
More in Americas
All international marketsIndustries we know well
Free growth audit
Find out where your budget is leaking.
Send us your ad account, analytics or site. Within 72 hours you get a written audit: tracking gaps, wasted spend, and the three moves we'd make first. No pitch deck.