Ads in Poland and the EU for a Ukrainian business
Poland is the closest and most understandable market for a Ukrainian business, but “translate the site and run the same ads” does not work. Here is what has to change.
Updated 11 September 2026 · 3 min read
Language: localisation, not translation
A Polish audience barely clicks ads with mistakes and does not buy on a machine-translated site. Minimum: a native speaker proofreads the ads, the page and the emails. Better: a copywriter writes in Polish from scratch based on your brief.
Also check:
- Price format: 199 zł, not 199 PLN or $.
- A phone number with a Polish code and a way to write on WhatsApp or Messenger. Telegram is barely used in Poland.
- An address or at least a city. A business “from nowhere” does not earn trust.
Cost per click and per lead
On Google Search a click in Poland costs 1.5 to 3 times more than for the same queries in Ukraine. On Meta the gap is smaller, 1.5 to 2 times. Leads are correspondingly more expensive. Before launching, redo the unit economics with Polish prices and the new cost per lead. Our calculator and benchmarks exist for exactly this.
Payments and paperwork
- Google Ads and Meta let you target Poland from a Ukrainian account. But a separate account with a Polish address and currency is easier for reporting and carries a lower risk of a “country mismatch” restriction.
- Selling goods to Polish buyers requires Polish payment methods: BLIK and Przelewy24 cover most. Card-only loses part of the orders.
- GDPR: a cookie consent banner with a real choice, a privacy policy in Polish, consent in forms. Without it Google Consent Mode does not work and ads lose conversion data.
- VAT invoices for B2B clients. An accountant’s question, but it has to be solved before the first lead, not after.
What works differently
- Google Maps and reviews matter more. Poles read opinie before any purchase or booking. A profile without Polish reviews barely converts.
- Allegro for goods is a channel, not a competitor. Many stores start there and add their own site later.
- Discounts work worse than in Ukraine. A concrete benefit is better: free delivery, warranty, fast arrival.
- Seasonality differs: long weekends, school holidays, religious holidays. The campaign calendar has to follow the local one.
The first three months
- Month one: a test with a minimal budget on two channels, a Polish landing page, tracking with Consent Mode. Goal: learn the real cost per lead.
- Month two: scale the channel that adds up, collect the first Google Maps reviews, add Polish payment methods.
- Month three: remarketing, expansion to neighbouring cities or countries, a review of the unit economics.
If the economics do not add up after month two, it does not always mean the market is not yours. Often the problem is the site or trust, not the ads. But continuing with the same setup makes no sense.
Other EU countries
Germany, Czechia, Lithuania, Romania work by the same logic, but each with its own language and payment habits. The cheapest way to test a market: a week of search ads with $300-500 and a localised page. It is cheaper than any research.