Marketing Budget Planner

Size a marketing budget against revenue and growth posture.

$
Fund new channels and demand gen.
%
Overrides the posture benchmark when set.
Recommended annual budget
$5,500,000
11% of revenue
Monthly budget
$458,333
Annual ÷ 12
% of revenue
11%
Grow, take share

A grow posture at 11% of $50,000,000 suggests roughly $458,333/month. Treat it as a starting envelope, reallocate toward whatever channel is compounding.

Benchmarks are broad industry ranges (B2B tends lower, D2C higher). Real budgets follow payback and pipeline coverage, not a single percentage.

About this calculator

"What should we spend on marketing" is usually answered with a gut number pulled from nowhere. Percent-of-revenue benchmarks give a defensible starting envelope, not a precise answer, calibrated to whether the goal is holding position, growing share, or an aggressive land-grab.

How to use it

  1. Enter annual revenue.
  2. Pick a growth posture: Maintain (~6% of revenue), Grow (~11%), or Aggressive (~18%), each pre-set to a common industry benchmark.
  3. Optionally override with your own percentage if you have a specific target in mind, this replaces the posture benchmark.
  4. Read the recommended annual and monthly budget the selected percentage implies.

Methodology

Annual budget is revenue × the selected percentage (posture benchmark, or your custom override if set). Monthly budget is simply that annual figure ÷ 12.

The three posture percentages, 6%, 11%, 18%, are broad industry starting points, not a formula derived from your specific business. B2B businesses with longer sales cycles tend to sit lower in this range; D2C and consumer businesses with shorter, more measurable payback tend to sit higher.

This calculator deliberately doesn't account for payback period, pipeline coverage, or channel-level ROI, real budgets should ultimately be set by what each channel can profitably absorb, not a fixed percentage. Treat the output as a sanity-check envelope for a planning conversation, not a final number.

FAQ

Is 11% of revenue a good marketing budget for a growth-stage company?

It's a reasonable industry midpoint for a company actively trying to grow share rather than just defend it, but the right number depends heavily on your sector, sales cycle, and current channel efficiency. Use it as a starting envelope, then adjust based on what your best channels can actually absorb profitably.

Why do B2B and D2C benchmarks differ so much?

D2C businesses typically have shorter, more directly measurable payback (a paid ad today can convert to a sale within days), which supports spending a higher percentage of revenue with more confidence. B2B sales cycles stretch months or quarters, so budgets tend to be set more conservatively relative to revenue.

Should I use this percentage across every channel equally?

No, this gives a total envelope, not a channel-by-channel allocation. Within that budget, allocate more toward whichever channels show the best payback and pipeline coverage, the percentage benchmark says nothing about how to split spend across paid, content, events, and other channels.