How much should you
spend on marketing?
There is no universal number — it depends on your revenue and how hard you are pushing for growth. This gives you a defensible starting range instead of a guess.
Your numbers
$
Holding steady is ~5%. Aggressive is 25%+
Higher margins can support more spend
What it means
Conservative
—
Maintaining position. Enough to not go backwards.
Recommended
—
Scaled to your growth target and margin.
Recommended, per month
—
The number that actually goes in your plan.
Benchmark
—
B2B typically runs 2-5% of revenue; B2C 5-10%. Growth-focused companies push higher.
This is a model, not a rule. It starts at 5% of revenue, adds weight for your growth target, and adjusts for margin. Real budgets depend on your market, your competition, and what you are already getting. Use it to sanity-check a number, not to set one in stone.