Okay, a few suggestions here. The core principles of PPC don't really change city by city. The strategy is about finding people with intent, wherever they are. So instead of looking for a magic "Helsinki strategy", I'd focus on the fundamentals.
If you're selling a service, you'd almost certainly want to start with Google Search Ads. People in Helsinki who need something are probably going to search for it on Google first. Social media ads are much harder for services unless you have a very specific B2B audience you can target on LinkedIn.
The 'local knowledge' part is all in the keyword research. You need to figure out what people in Helsinki are actually typing into Google. This will likely mean doing your research in Finnish as well as English. Think terms like "[your service] Helsinki", "[your service] hinta" (price), or "[your service] lähellä" (near me). This is far more important than any campaign setting.
Before you spend a single euro, make sure your website and offer are solid. If your site looks untrustworthy or doesn't clearly explain what you do and have a clear call to action, you'll just waste money on clicks that don't convert.
In terms of costs, for a developed country like Finland, you could be looking at anything from £5 to £50+ per lead. I've seen it go higher in very competitive industries. I remember one of our HVAC clients in a dense city was paying around $60 per lead, but it was profitable for them. It all depends on your niche.
Hope that helps!
Forget specific "Helsinki strategies". If people are actively looking for your service, you need to be on Google Search.
Your only job is to do proper keyword research in Finnish for the Helsinki area to capture that intent. Everything else is secondary to that.
Hope this helps!
Some thoughts. The challenge isn't really Helsinki, it's about understanding user intent in that specific market. I wouldn't overthink it.
For most services, you want to be on Google Search Ads because you're catching people who are actively looking for a solution right now. Your main task is to do the keyword research to figure out the exact terms people in Helsinki are using, which almost certainly means doing it in Finnish. That's where the real local knowledge is, not in some platform feature.
Also, be realistic with costs. In a developed market you might be looking at £5-£50 per lead, and it could be more if it's a very competitive space. Your website needs to be good enough to convert the traffic you pay for.
Hope this helps.
