How Much Should My Marketing Budget Be?

By: Jonathan Stec

Published: September 7th, 2024

This is a common question, and an easy one. Let me start by saying, you need fuel for the fire. Without it, the fire dies. Of course, it needs to be the right fuel, so make sure you are working with someone that knows what they are doing and has the experience.

Anyway, my general recommendation is a minimum of 10% of your TOP LINE revenue for maintenance to normal growth, with 20% for more aggressive growth. This is the budget that should be applied across all channels, allocating more towards the channels that make you more money (PPC, SEO). And the larger you are, the more you need to spend. Amazon’s marketing spend in 2023 was 18.5% of their top line revenue ($56.7 billion in marketing on $305 billion in revenue, that is $4.7n billion a month, and I bet you they spend $1 billion of that on Pay Per Click advertising).

So, if you are a small plumbing business that generates $75,000 a year, you need to spend $7.5k a year, or $625 a month (not that much when you look at it monthly). This should be enough to maintain your business, maybe grow it.

And yes, if you have a multi-national corporate brand with $50 million in sales per year, you should be spending $5 million to $10 million a year on advertising.

If you are doing it right, this should be something to actually look forward to, because it will be pushing your business towards the goals you have set out for it.