How Much Should a Small Business Budget for Marketing?

The key to a successful small business marketing budget isn’t how much you spend but where you invest it.

You know that old saying, it's not what you have, it's how you use it.

I’ve spoken to hundreds of small business owners over the last 12 months, and most haven’t thought about or allocated a structured marketing budget.

Yet, they all want to:

• Generate a stable lead flow

• Get off the tools and hire staff

• Provide stability & certainty for their families

• Build a predictable business that scales without the emotional rollercoaster

In 2025, if you want predictable growth, you need to set aside a clear digital marketing budget that aligns with your business goals and long-term marketing objectives, aka an acquisition strategy.

In a previous post, I outlined the main reasons why every small business needs a marketing plan. In this post, we’ll get into specifics: the amount, the timeline, and the expectations you should set.

Bear in mind, this article is a rough guide to help you build clarity. If you want a tailored breakdown of your marketing efforts, book a marketing strategy session with our team for a in-depth analysis of your business and online presence.

Marketing Expenses - How much do you need to move the needle?

Budget Baseline: $1,000 – $3,000 (Ad Spend + Agency Fee Monthly)

This is the minimum to stay visible, but only if your website and marketing assets are dialled in.

For many businesses moving into 2026, this baseline razor-thin end and 90% of the time is not enough to grow the businesses and future-proof or penetrate market share.

Note

If your website needs work, factor in an initial investment to get it up to scratch. Your marketing performance depends on your website and core offer. If you're presenting well online and have trust badges or proof of work, this budget will work.

What service can I expect from this budget?

At this level, you’re typically investing in one or two marketing activities:

• Paid media management for (Google Ads or Facebook Ads)

• Or foundational SEO to increase organic website traffic and brand awareness

Scaling & Growth: $3,500 – $10,000 (Ad Spend + Agency Fee Monthly)

This is the range where things start to scale. It varies depending on your industry, service offering, and how many leads or sales you need to sustain growth.

• If your service price point is $100 – $1,000, expect to scale around the $3,500 mark.

• If you offer services between $1,000 – $10,000, you’ll likely be in the mid-range.

• If you operate at enterprise level or across multiple locations, your marketing spend could easily exceed $10,000+.

What service can I expect from this budget?

At this level, you’re getting a full omnipresent ecosystem:

• Ongoing website development and SEO

• Conversion rate optimisation (CRO)

• Email flows & customer lifecycle journeys

• Paid media management across multiple social platforms

• Creative strategy and content creation (blogs, videos, and social media ads)

Your marketing campaigns become interconnected, each channel supporting the others for a stronger return on investment.

Business at this range have an enormous amount of leverage. You're positioned as an authority, building trust, creating new digital infrastructure and future proofing your business.

At this level of investment we can get fun and creative.

Market Consumption & Premium Positioning: $10,000 – $30,000 (Ad Spend + Agency Fee Monthly)

This investment tier is reserved for businesses that have moved beyond survival and stability and are now playing the game of market leadership. At this stage, you have your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) dialled. You know your numbers. You know the levers. You are not guessing.

This is where brands evolve and create their own category of one.

A premium investment unlocks a true omnipresent ecosystem, where your marketing infrastructure is firing on all cylinders. Every touchpoint reinforces authority, trust, and differentiation.

With this level of investment, you are investing in the assets and sophistication required to dominate your industry, including:

• Custom website builds with world-class UX and UI

• High-fidelity creative production

• Backlink building + PR

• Continuous CRO, testing, and data intelligence

• Story-driven content engineered for every stage of awareness

• Full funnel ad campaigns across all major digital marketing channels

• 3D assets and visual environments that elevate your brand experience

• Advanced segmentation, personalisation, and automated customer journeys

• Strategic brand campaigns designed to capture attention and build long-term equity

This bracket is built for high performers, visionary leaders, and businesses committed to market expansion and premium positioning.

It gives you the scale, speed, and strategic depth to outperform competitors, increase market share, and become the brand your audience defaults to without hesitation.

Key Variables That Impact Your Budget

Your marketing investment will depend on these factors:

• Website aesthetic, performance and domain authority

• The number of marketing assets and intellectual property your business has (lead magnets, landing pages etc)

• Cost per click in your industry (Google Ads and PPC campaigns are more expensive for premium services)

• Market saturation and competition

• Skepticism of your target audience

• How long does it take for leads to convert into new customers (Sales cycle)

Where Should I Start?

It depends on the factors above and where you are in your business lifecycle.

Your website is the most important piece in the puzzle, bearing in mind you have strong branding, good offer and have your businesses fundamentals in place.

Due to the complexity of the digital landscape and the different variables that impact success, it's impossible to give you a general place to begin.

For instance, if you're business is just starting you should invest in a brand identity and a strategy deck. This will inform your steps moving forward and how you communicate to the people that matter most.

Or let's say you're in your 3rd year and you have a proven offer and client base but you're having issues with lead flow. Here we'd have to look at your data + analytics, your online visibility, your website and your position in the market.

Discover

Your website is the cornerstone of your marketing efforts, and it must come before paid advertising.

Learn more

Businesses are playing monopoly online; they just don't realise it yet. Watch a video where I uncover this core concept and show you how we booked out Bespoke Landscapes 3 months in advance.

Why Hyper Specific Landing Pages and Conversion Rate Optimisation Are Paramount If You Want To Generate More Revenue & Lower Acquisition Costs

Every marketing dollar you spend will eventually lead traffic somewhere, and that destination is your landing page.

A landing page is where your ad spend, social media campaigns, and email marketing efforts convert into measurable outcomes.

If your landing pages aren’t strategically built with strong headlines, persuasive copy, and clear CTAs, you’re wasting money.

Best practice for landing pages:

• Optimise for user experience (fast load time, mobile-friendly design)

• Align copy with ad messaging to boost conversion rate

• Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar to track performance

• Continuously A/B test and adjust content

We've seen well-designed landing pages lift conversion rates by 20–50%, dramatically improving marketing ROI.

Score your landing page

Access our in-house checklist for key things your landing page needs to convert. This checklist is generating millions in sales & making 1 in 3 clients have to lower ad spend because they can't handle the lead volume.

Is Search Engine Optimisation Relevant Going Into 2026?

A lot of clients and prospects are wondering whether SEO is still worth it. It is but don't rely on it as your sole acquisition channel.

SEO is a long-term, compounding investment that drives organic growth without ongoing ad spend.

For small businesses, SEO does three things:

• Increases visibility on Google for high-intent keywords

• Builds brand authority over time

• Generates consistent website traffic that supports other marketing channels

The thing is Google is prioritising paid media, so if your serious about visibility and staying competitive you'll have to invest in some paid search campaigns.

Discover

How Google delivers information as it pivots into AI.

Pair SEO with consistent content creation across other platforms such as blog posts on LinkedIn, case studies + educational videos on Youtube. This will have a higher impact on your SEO and help nurture leads through your customer journey.

The internet has become hyper connected and it's not enough to just show up in traditional search.

Marketing Tools and Key Performance Indicators

Using free analytics tools like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, or Meta Pixel allows you to measure:

• Website traffic sources

• Cost per lead

• Conversion rate

• Cost per click (CPC)

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

• Click through rate (CTR)

These metrics are your key performance indicators (KPIs). They help you identify what’s driving profit and what’s draining your marketing dollars.

Tracking these metrics in real time gives you data-backed confidence to reallocate your advertising budget strategically instead of guessing.

Pro Tip

Use Microsoft Clarity (it's free) to record sessions and see heat maps on your landing pages. This will help you gauge opportunities, see where traffic is dropping off and tailor content to better serve your clients.

Allocating Budgets by Industry, Growth Stage, and Company Size

Different businesses require different budget structures. These are rough figures. Organise a free strategy session where we'll tell you exactly what you need

Startups

Startups and early-stage companies need to prioritise visibility and traction. They should allocate 10–20% of total revenue to marketing, focusing on:

• Building brand awareness

• Creating a lead generation system

• Establishing credibility through SEO and social proof

Established Businesses

Established businesses and enterprise level organizations with stronger brand recognition can allocate 10-25% of revenue, focusing on:

• Expanding into new markets

• Protecting market share

• Refining conversion optimisation

• Investing in customer retention and automation

B2B Companies

B2B businesses tend to have longer sales cycles and higher deal values. Total marketing budgets should lean toward:

• Thought leadership content (Video + Written)

• LinkedIn Ads and email nurturing

• Demand Gen campaigns through Google

• Retargeting and remarketing campaigns across socials

10-20% of revenue should go towards marketing depending on ambitions of the business.

B2C Companies

This depends on your industry and type of service you're fulfilling. As a general rule 8 - 15% of revenue should go towards marketing depending on whether you're looking to prioritise grow or maintain.

Budgets often prioritise:

• Paid social campaigns

• Micro influencer partnerships

• Seasonal product launches

• Google Ads campaigns

Company Size

Larger companies with more established marketing systems typically diversify across multiple digital marketing channels, while smaller businesses may focus on fewer, high-performing channels to maximise efficiency.

A great way to think of your digital advertising efforts - Your main aim is to stay top-of-mind and build trust.

If you do these two things well, conversions and revenue growth follow.

Budgeting for Product Launches or New Services

If you’re planning a new product launch or introducing a new service, you need to create a separate marketing budget for it.

This budget should include:

• Pre-launch awareness (teasers, PR, social media campaigns)

• Launch phase (ads, landing pages, email sequences)

• Post-launch retargeting (remarketing campaigns, loyalty offers)

Think of it as a mini marketing campaign within your annual budget.

If your regular marketing spend is 10% of revenue, add an extra 2–5% for significant launches. This ensures you don’t dilute ongoing lead generation campaigns while still pushing growth.

Note

Every added service or product launch needs its own strategy + its own funnel. This is true across any business type, industry or size. Similarly, if you're scaling and hiring more staff, you'll need to account for that in your marketing spend.

Marketing Channels and Spend Allocation

A healthy marketing mix ensures your business isn’t reliant on one platform.

Digital Marketing Channels

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for intent-driven traffic

• Social Media Advertising for reach and awareness

• Email Marketing for retention and upselling

• SEO and Content Marketing for long-term traffic

• Landing pages + website for trust and conversion

Traditional Advertising

While most small businesses prioritise digital, traditional advertising methods like direct mail, local radio, and trade shows can still play a role, especially for local visibility.

Combine both for a truly omni-channel presence that builds brand awareness and customer relationships.

How long do I need to invest?

Now that you know some rough numbers, let’s look at timelines.

Keeping your campaigns active over a long-term time horizon will deliver the biggest benefits to your business. Consistency compounds results, lowering acquisition costs as you build trust with your audience.

Most ad platforms rely on algorithms that need time to learn and gather data before driving highly targeted traffic to your pages.

For compounding business growth, keep the campaigns on and invest more as your revenue increases.

Desire Drives Action - It Also Drives Your Marketing Budget

Instant Desires (Lower Price Points)

If your offer is in the lower price range, you’ll likely see faster traction. For instance, a carpet cleaning business will target people ready to buy within 7-30 days.

These businesses rely on immediate intent, so Google Ads and short-term social campaigns are perfect.

Long-Term Desires (Higher Price Points & Identity Beliefs)

If you’re offering premium services such as design and construction building, where jobs can reach $1–5+ million, your marketing timeline will be much longer.

Your prospects need to learn about:

• Budgets and timelines

• Your unique process

• Common industry mistakes

• Frameworks and methods you use

Here, education-based marketing works best: content creation, SEO, and nurturing campaigns over time.

Be Prepared to Adjust and Adapt

Things change. Algorithms shift. Competitors increase their ad spend.

Don’t be rigid with your marketing strategy. Revisit your campaigns quarterly, assess your performance metrics, and reallocate your spend accordingly.

Avoid these common timeline mistakes:

• Expecting overnight success

• Running inconsistent campaigns that break algorithm momentum

• Prioritising speed over strategy

• Ignoring the importance of brand building

Stay agile and data-driven. That’s how you scale sustainably.

When will I see results?

Patience is key.

As mentioned earlier, your service price point and industry will dictate results.

Higher-value services need longer timelines because prospects require more education and trust before converting.

Avoid these mistakes if you want long-term stability:

• Vanity metric obsession: Chasing followers instead of conversions and revenue

• Ignoring external factors: Overlooking market trends or competitor activity

• Short-term thinking: Focusing only on immediate ROI rather than lifetime value

True growth comes from consistent, data-driven marketing.

Note

We're seeing improved results and higher lead volume within the first 30 days of launching our campaigns.

Final Thoughts

Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you’re building an empire, be patient. With the right strategy the results will come.

Your marketing plan should serve as a roadmap for business stability and growth. The more consistent your marketing, the more predictable your success becomes.

Want to find out the exact budget, timeline, and marketing strategy your business needs to grow predictably?

Book a 60-minute strategy session an expert marketing consultant, we'll go over:

• Your competition & their strategies

• Your offer & brand position

• SEO + AI visibility

• Google ads campaigns

• Your website & landing pages

• Meta + social media campaigns

Mesmerise isn't your typical agency, we're growth architects. Partner with a digital marketing agency that gets it.

Frequently Asked Questions