Marketing Budget Guide: Average Allocation, Example, Strategy

A marketing budget outlines how much a company is willing to spend on marketing efforts within a specific period, from ad campaigns and SEO to events and tools. Without a clear strategy behind that budget, even the biggest spend can lead to underwhelming results.

Many businesses struggle with allocating their marketing budget effectively. One of the most common mistakes is overspending on short-term tactics and underinvesting in long-term brand growth. Others fail to tie their spending to clear KPIs or customer data. 

Want to learn how to avoid these pitfalls and build a marketing budget that actually drives results? Read our full guide below. 

What is a marketing budget in business?

A marketing budget is your roadmap for how your business plans to reach and connect with customers. It sets the direction for your marketing efforts by clearly outlining how much you’ll spend over a specific period (usually a year), and where that money will go. 

At its core, a marketing budget gives structure to your strategy while providing transparency for your team and stakeholders. Here’s what typically goes into it:

• Advertising costs: Budget for both traditional and digital ads; like billboards, TV, Google Ads, and social media promotions.
• Digital marketing efforts: Covers everything from social media content, SEO, blog production, email marketing, to website maintenance.
• Tools and software: Includes subscriptions for analytics platforms, CRM, marketing automation, and content management tools.
• Market research: Funds for surveys, competitor analysis, and customer insight studies to guide smarter campaigns.
• Campaigns and innovation: Set aside for launching new marketing initiatives or testing bold strategies to reach untapped audiences.

When done right, your marketing budget empowers your team to make smarter choices, measure impact, and adapt quickly in a fast-changing market.

Read more: How to Manage & Track Marketing Expenses with Expense Card

Average company marketing budget

Understanding how much to spend on marketing can be tricky; especially when you’re trying to balance growth with limited resources. That’s why benchmarking against similar businesses can help you set a realistic, effective budget. 

Here’s how marketing budgets typically break down across company size, industry, and business model, based on insights from The CMO Survey and recent industry reports:

1. By company size

The larger the company, the smaller the portion of their overall budget that usually goes to marketing; mostly because they operate at scale.

• Small businesses (under $25M revenue): Allocate around 53% of their total budget to marketing. At this stage, brand awareness and customer acquisition are top priorities.
• Companies with <100 employees: Spend roughly 46% of their overall budget on marketing efforts.
• Mid-sized companies (100–499 employees): Allocate around 33%, balancing growth with operational stability.
• Larger companies (500–999 employees): Marketing takes up just 12% of their budget, often due to already-established brand equity.

2. By industry

Different industries face different levels of competition, customer behavior, and digital maturity; so their marketing budgets vary accordingly.

• Technology & software: Average spend is about 11% of revenue. Startups especially need to invest early in digital strategies like SEO, paid ads, and thought leadership to break into competitive markets.
• Retail & e-commerce: Allocate 5–10% of revenue to marketing, with 30–40% of that dedicated to content marketing. They heavily invest in digital channels; like social media, influencer campaigns, and mobile experiences.
• Healthcare & pharmaceuticals: Spend about 6% of revenue on marketing, with some high-growth companies going up to 14%. Most of this goes toward digital initiatives like patient education to telemedicine promotion.
• Financial services: Allocate 7–10% of revenue, with a strong focus on trust-building. Digital personalization, educational content, and SEO are key tools here.
• Manufacturing & industrial: Typically spend 5–7.5% of revenue on B2B-focused strategies. While trade shows and demos are still common, digital channels (like LinkedIn and SEO) are gaining traction fast.

3. By business model

Whether you sell products or services, and whether you’re B2C or B2B, your marketing budget should reflect how you reach and convert your audience.

• B2C (services): Spend around 15% of revenue on marketing, and it makes up 14.9% of their overall budget.
• B2C (products): Allocate 13.9% of revenue to marketing, which represents 17.3% of their total budget.
• B2B (services): Typically invest 12% of revenue toward marketing.
• B2B (products): Spend more conservatively at 8.3% of revenue, with 11.3% of total budgets on average going to marketing.

Example of marketing budget from various company

Looking at real-world companies can help you understand how different industries and business sizes approach marketing spend. 

Below are examples drawn from a mix of business models, B2B, B2C, SaaS, and enterprise tech, to show how marketing budget allocation varies based on growth stage, brand maturity, and target market.

1. Salesforce

Salesforce is a leading player in the CRM and cloud software space, serving businesses worldwide with tools to manage sales, customer service, marketing, and analytics. 

According to recent data, Salesforce allocates a significant slice of its revenue to sales and marketing, around 43% in 2023, though earlier years saw up to 45%. 

This heavy investment is central to their growth model: by putting resources into demand generation, brand reach, and customer acquisition, Salesforce has been able to sustain double‐digit expansion and continuously stake out new market opportunities as it scales.

2. Google / Alphabet

Google (under the parent company Alphabet) operates at giant scale and dominates digital advertising and search. In 2021, Alphabet spent 8.9% of its revenue on sales and marketing, approximately $22.91 billion. 

At this mature stage, Google doesn’t need to push for mass brand awareness the way emerging companies do; instead, its marketing allocation supports product launches, channel engagement, localized campaigns, and ecosystem growth, while relying on the strength of its existing brand and platform dominance.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft spans enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, consumer hardware, and productivity tools. In recent years, Microsoft’s selling and marketing expenses have hovered between 9% and 11% of revenue. 

For instance, in a trailing‑12‑month period, Microsoft recorded about $25.65 billion in sales and marketing costs, representing ~9.1% of its revenue. 

Such allocation allows Microsoft to maintain visibility across all of its product lines, Office, Azure, Windows, Surface, and more, while supporting global go‑to‑market execution and bundling strategies.

4. Amazon

While Amazon is best known as an e-commerce and cloud company, its advertising arm has grown into a major revenue source. In fact, the advertising segment alone contributes about 8.2% of Amazon’s total revenue. 

Amazon treats ad monetization like a core business, its ad spend and ad revenue capabilities heavily influence how much marketing it does (for itself and as a platform for others). 

This dual role gives Amazon leverage: it funds advertising infrastructure while capturing performance upside.

5. e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. (Eyes, Lips, Face) is a beauty and cosmetics brand that’s differentiated itself through bold marketing and direct-to-consumer digital strategies. In fiscal 2024, e.l.f. ramped its marketing spend to 25% of net sales, a dramatic increase from just 7% in prior years.

This aggressive approach has paid off: e.l.f. reported net sales growth of 77% year-over-year, attributed largely to viral marketing campaigns, strong social presence, and brand momentum among younger consumers. 

Read more: Top SaaS Companies’ Marketing Strategies for Business Growth

How to create a marketing budget that works for your business

Creating a marketing budget isn’t about following a one-size-fits-all formula. It’s about aligning your spending with what truly moves the needle for your business, whether that’s leads, conversions, awareness, or all of the above. 

The key is to combine strategy with structure, and make room for flexibility as your business evolves.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you build a smart, efficient marketing budget:

1. Start with strategy, not numbers

Before you dive into spreadsheets, zoom out. What are your business goals this quarter or year? Do you need more leads, stronger brand recognition, or a deeper relationship with current customers?

Then, review your overall financial picture:

• How much do you spend on operations, staffing, and overhead?
• How much room do you realistically have to invest in marketing?
• What channels align best with your goals, paid ads, SEO, partnerships, or events?

Once you set your goals, you can design a marketing strategy that includes target audiences, priority channels, expected outcomes (KPIs), cost and ROI estimates. 

This approach lets you tie your budget directly to measurable results, not just “doing marketing for the sake of it.’’

Read more: Guide & Alternative for Marketing Work Management Software

2. Audit your current marketing spend

Even if you don’t have a formal budget yet, you’ve likely been spending on marketing, whether through ads, sponsored posts, content creation, or events.

Here’s how to gain clarity:

• List all current marketing expenses (e.g. Google Ads, influencer payments, software, freelancers, etc.)
• Review what’s working and what’s not by tracking performance or ROI
• Pause low-performing efforts and reallocate to high-impact areas

This audit helps you cut waste, double down on what works, and gives you a realistic starting point for budget planning.

3. Use a marketing budget template (and a spend management tool)

A good template gives you structure, but modern spend management tools give you control.

Try this combo:

• Marketing budget template: Use tools like the free template to outline projected vs. actual spending on a monthly basis. Break it down by campaigns, tools, and team needs.
• Spend management software: Go beyond spreadsheets. Platforms like Mekari Expense can help you set approval workflows, track real-time expenses, keep marketing teams accountable, and avoid budget overruns

Together, they make budgeting more transparent and scalable, especially as your business grows.

Read more: How Corporate Debit Card Can Solve Common Budgeting Issues

4. Plan for measurement and ROI

Make sure your budget is tied to KPIs, and measure everything you can.

Use tools like:

• Google Analytics to track traffic and conversions
• CRM platforms to measure lead quality
• Attribution tools to understand what channels drive results

A regular ROI check-in helps you:

• Adjust your spend based on performance
• Identify underperforming campaigns early
• Refine your strategy for the next budget cycle

5. Break down and distribute the budget

Once your strategy is clear and tools are in place, it’s time to allocate.

Here’s a basic breakdown approach:

• Prioritize goals: Brand awareness, lead generation, retention, etc.
• Choose relevant channels: Paid search, email, events, SEO, PR, etc.
• Assign costs: Estimate how much each channel or campaign will need
• Test and adjust: Start with flexible budgets so you can reallocate based on results

You can also calculate cost per lead (CPL), cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS). If something’s too expensive with too little return, tweak your tactics or try new methods.

Control marketing budget with spend management software

Managing a marketing budget doesn’t stop at planning—it’s equally important to keep spending under control as campaigns roll out. This is where spend management software comes in. 

By centralizing all your marketing-related expenses in one platform, it makes budget allocation easier, more efficient, and fully transparent. You can monitor spending in real time, set limits, and ensure every dollar goes to the channels and initiatives that truly matter.

Mekari Expense offers powerful tools to help businesses allocate and track their marketing budgets more effectively. Two standout features include:

• Multi Account: This feature allows businesses to manage and monitor multiple company bank accounts within a single platform. It’s especially useful for organizations that operate with different accounts for various departments, projects, or entities. With Multi Account, you gain better visibility and flexibility over where your marketing funds go.
  
• Mekari Limitless Card (Virtual & Physical Corporate Card): These cards empower your marketing team to make campaign-related purchases without losing oversight. Every transaction is automatically recorded and categorized, making it easy to track ad spend, vendor payments, and software subscriptions in real time. This simplifies reconciliation and reduces the risk of overspending.

With tools like these, businesses can turn marketing budgets from static spreadsheets into dynamic, well-managed systems.

Take control of your marketing budget today with Mekari Expense.

References

Camphouse. ”Marketing Budget Allocation: Tips for Success and Growth”
Salesforce. ”How to Create a Marketing Budget”