How to calculate a marketing budget
A marketing budget is the money a company plans to spend on marketing programs, media, tools and marketing people or agencies over a period, usually a year. The two most useful ways to set it are:
- Percentage of revenue: marketing budget = annual revenue x target percentage. Fast, easy to compare with peers, but it ignores what you actually need to grow.
- Goal-based (bottom-up): marketing budget = (new ARR target / average contract value) x CAC x marketing share of CAC. Slower, but it ties every dollar to a revenue goal.
Calculate both. If the goal-based number is far above the percentage-of-revenue number, either the growth goal is aggressive or acquisition is too expensive; check CAC and payback with the LTV and CAC calculator.
Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue: 2025 benchmarks
| Finding | Value |
|---|
| Average marketing budget as a share of company revenue (2025) | 7.7%, flat on 2024 |
| CMOs with a budget of 6% of revenue or less | About half |
| Paid media as a share of the marketing budget | 30.6% |
| CMOs who say their budget is insufficient for their strategy | 59% |
Source: Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey, 402 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, mostly at companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. Treat these as large-company benchmarks: a startup with $3M of ARR that wants to double usually needs a much higher percentage, which is why the goal-based method matters.
How to allocate a B2B SaaS marketing budget
The calculator starts from an illustrative split you can edit. Paid media at 30% reflects Gartner's 30.6% average; the rest is a common starting point for a B2B SaaS team, not a benchmark.
| Channel | Starting share | When to raise it |
|---|
| Paid media | 30% | Clear buying intent on search or review sites and a CAC that pays back |
| Content, SEO and AEO | 20% | Long sales cycles where buyers research first; see B2B SaaS SEO and answer engine optimization |
| Events, webinars and partnerships | 10% | Enterprise deals and ecosystems where trust is built in person or through partners |
| Marketing technology and data | 15% | When manual work blocks scale; see the GTM tech stack |
| Agencies, freelancers and contractors | 15% | When you need skills you cannot hire full-time yet |
| Experiments and reserve | 10% | Always keep some budget to test new channels |
Marketing budget example for a B2B SaaS startup
A company at $3M ARR wants to add $1.5M of new ARR next year at a $15,000 average contract value. That is 100 new customers. With a blended CAC of $12,000, total acquisition cost is $1.2M, and if marketing carries 40% of it, the goal-based marketing budget is $480,000, about $40,000 a month, or 16% of current revenue. At 10% of revenue the top-down budget would be $300,000, which would leave the growth goal underfunded by $180,000. The fix is either more budget, a lower CAC, or a smaller goal.
Marketing budget FAQ
What percentage of revenue should go to marketing?
Gartner's 2025 CMO Spend Survey found marketing budgets averaged 7.7% of company revenue, with half of CMOs at 6% or less. Those are mostly large companies. Startups and growth-stage B2B SaaS companies usually spend a higher share of revenue because revenue is still small and growth targets are aggressive, so set the budget from your growth goal and check it against revenue.
How do you calculate a marketing budget?
Two common methods: percentage of revenue (annual revenue multiplied by a target percentage) and goal-based (new customers needed multiplied by the marketing share of your customer acquisition cost). Calculate both, then pick the number you can fund and justify with expected pipeline.
How should a B2B SaaS company allocate its marketing budget?
Split it across paid media, content and SEO, events and partnerships, marketing technology and people or agencies. Gartner found paid media averaged 30.6% of marketing budgets in 2025. Early-stage companies often put more into content, founder-led channels and experiments until one channel proves it converts.
What is a good marketing budget for a startup?
There is no single number. Work backwards from the revenue goal: how many new customers you need, what each costs to acquire, and how much of that cost marketing carries. Then confirm the total fits your runway, using a burn rate and runway calculator.
What is the difference between a marketing budget and sales and marketing spend?
A marketing budget covers programs, media, tools and marketing people or agencies. Sales and marketing (S&M) spend adds the sales team: salaries, commissions and sales tools. Customer acquisition cost usually uses the full S&M figure, so be clear which one you are comparing.
Is this marketing budget template free?
Yes. The calculator is free with no signup, your numbers stay in your browser, and the download gives you a CSV template with your channel split by month and quarter that opens in Excel or Google Sheets.