How much should marketing cost?

Below will give you an assesment and guide to help you understand how much you're investing and if that aligns with your business goals.

How much should you budget for Marketing?

You know your business needs marketing. The question is: how much?

The standard advice: invest 5-15% of annual revenue.

What that means for you:

B2C businesses: 8-15%+ (consumer markets are noisier)
B2B businesses: 5-10% (longer sales cycles, higher value customers)

The UK average is 7.7% of annual revenue (CMO Survey Fall 2024). For a £1m turnover business, that's roughly £77k annual marketing spend.

Some industries spend more: consumer goods and financial services companies invest over 20%.

Bottom line: If you're spending £1,000/month on a £1m turnover (1.2%), you're not in the game yet. Your competitors are spending 6-10 times that amount—and that's why their phone is ringing and yours isn't.

How much do you currently invest?

A lot of companies expect growth but under invest in their marketing. This assesment will allow you to see how much of your revenue you invest in as a percentage each year on marketing and what that means in terms of outcome.