Research & Data — July 2026
Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Industry — 2026
How much should your company spend on marketing? This page compiles 2026 marketing budget benchmarks — showing marketing budget percentage of revenue by industry, company size, and channel — sourced from the Gartner CMO Survey, Deloitte CMO Survey, and HubSpot State of Marketing 2026 report.
Try the Budget CalculatorMost companies allocate 6–12% of revenue to marketing. The overall average across industries is 9.1% (Gartner CMO Survey 2025). B2B companies average 7–9%; SaaS and consumer brands average 10–15%. Startups and early-stage businesses typically invest 15–25% to build initial awareness.
Marketing Budget Percentage by Industry — 2026 Benchmarks
Updated July 2026| Industry | Typical % | Range | B2B / B2C | Primary Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS / Software | 15% | 12–18% | B2B/B2C | Gartner CMO Survey 2025 |
| Consumer Goods | 14% | 10–18% | B2C | Deloitte CMO Survey 2025 |
| Retail / E-commerce | 10% | 7–12% | B2C | HubSpot State of Marketing 2026 |
| Healthcare / Pharma | 9% | 6–12% | B2B/B2C | Gartner CMO Survey 2025 |
| Financial Services | 9% | 8–12% | B2B/B2C | Deloitte CMO Survey 2025 |
| B2B Services / Consulting | 7% | 5–9% | B2B | Gartner CMO Survey 2025 |
| Nonprofit | 6% | 4–8% | B2C | Nonprofit Marketing Guide 2025 |
| Manufacturing | 4% | 2–6% | B2B | Gartner CMO Survey 2025 |
| Industrial / Engineering | 3% | 1–5% | B2B | Deloitte CMO Survey 2025 |
Sources: Gartner CMO Survey 2025 (n=395), Deloitte CMO Survey Spring 2025 (n=312), HubSpot State of Marketing 2026, Nonprofit Marketing Guide 2025. Ranges reflect 25th–75th percentile; outliers excluded. Actual spend varies by company size, competitive intensity, and growth stage.
Marketing Budget by Company Size (2026)
Updated July 2026| Company Size | Marketing Budget (% of Revenue) | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Startup / Pre-revenue | 20–30% | CAC investment phase — building awareness |
| Small ($1M–$10M revenue) | 10–15% | Growth mode; brand building concurrent with demand gen |
| Mid-market ($10M–$100M) | 7–12% | Balanced investment; channel mix diversifying |
| Enterprise ($100M+) | 5–8% | Brand established; efficiency and retention focus |
| Fortune 500 | 3–7% | Scale economies; higher absolute spend, lower % |
Sources: Gartner CMO Survey 2025, Deloitte CMO Survey 2025, US SBA Marketing Guidelines.
How Marketing Budgets Are Allocated — B2B vs B2C (2026)
Updated July 2026| Channel / Category | B2B Average | B2C Average |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Advertising (Paid) | 35% | 42% |
| Content & SEO | 22% | 16% |
| Events & Trade Shows | 18% | 8% |
| Marketing Technology (Tools) | 12% | 10% |
| Brand & Creative Production | 8% | 14% |
| PR & Communications | 5% | 10% |
Sources: Gartner CMO Survey 2025, HubSpot State of Marketing 2026. Percentages represent share of total marketing budget. Individual company allocations vary significantly.
What Is a Marketing Budget?
A marketing budget is the total amount a company allocates to promote its products or services over a defined period — typically one financial year. It covers all spending on advertising, content creation, SEO, events, marketing tools and technology, agency fees, and marketing staff costs (in some definitions).
Marketing budgets are most commonly expressed as a percentage of projected or actual revenue — a convention that scales the investment with the size of the business and makes year-over-year comparisons meaningful.
Why Marketing Spend Varies So Much by Industry
The gap between manufacturing companies (2–6%) and SaaS companies (12–18%) reflects fundamental differences in customer acquisition economics:
SaaS companies invest heavily because their marginal cost of serving an additional customer is near zero. Once the product is built, every new customer is nearly pure profit — so acquiring them aggressively makes economic sense. High churn risk also means continuous marketing investment is required to replace departing customers.
Manufacturing companies rely on long-term relationships, distributor networks, and specification-driven sales cycles. Marketing spend goes toward trade shows, technical content, and distributor support — not mass advertising. Customer lifetimes are also longer, reducing the need for continuous acquisition spending.
How to Set Your Marketing Budget
The three most common approaches used by marketing leaders:
Percentage of revenue (most common): Use industry benchmarks as a starting point. Take your projected annual revenue, multiply by your industry's benchmark percentage, and adjust up or down based on growth objectives. A company targeting aggressive growth should spend 25–60% above the industry baseline.
Objective-based budgeting: Start with revenue targets, work backwards through conversion rates to determine the marketing spend needed to hit them. This is the most rigorous approach but requires reliable historical conversion data. Use our Inbound Marketing Calculator to do this calculation.
Competitive parity: Match or exceed what competitors are spending. Useful in highly competitive markets where share of voice correlates closely with market share. Requires competitor spend data from industry reports or media monitoring tools.
The Trend: Budget Pressures in 2025–2026
The Deloitte CMO Survey found that marketing budgets fell from 10.1% of revenue in 2024 to 9.3% in 2025 — the third consecutive year of declining budget share. Marketing leaders cited economic uncertainty, increased pressure to demonstrate ROI, and AI-driven efficiency gains (requiring fewer headcount dollars) as primary causes.
Despite declining percentages, absolute marketing spend continues to grow as company revenues expand. Digital channels — particularly AI-assisted search, social, and programmatic — are taking larger shares of the mix, while traditional media and trade show spending declined.
Calculate Your Marketing Budget
Use our free Marketing Budget Calculator to get an instant recommendation based on your revenue and industry, with a suggested channel allocation breakdown. No signup required.
To calculate the ROI of your current marketing spend, use our Marketing ROI Calculator — it supports both basic ROMI and gross-profit ROI with COGS.
🧮 Calculate your marketing budget free →
Read now →Marketing Budget Questions — Answered
What percentage of revenue should a company spend on marketing?
Most companies allocate 6–12% of revenue to marketing. B2B companies average 7–9%, while SaaS and consumer brands average 10–15%. Early-stage businesses often spend 15–25% to build initial awareness. According to the Gartner CMO Survey 2025, the overall average across industries is 9.1% of company revenue.
How much do B2B companies spend on marketing?
B2B companies spend an average of 5–9% of revenue on marketing. B2B product companies average 8.6% and B2B services companies average 7.0%, according to the Gartner CMO Survey 2025. Companies with smaller average deal sizes and higher customer volumes spend toward the higher end of this range.
How much did companies spend on marketing in 2025?
Global marketing spend reached approximately $1.65 trillion in 2025. Digital advertising accounted for approximately 57% of total spend. The Deloitte CMO Survey found that marketing budgets averaged 9.3% of company revenues in 2025, down slightly from 10.1% in 2024 due to economic pressures.
What is the average marketing budget for a small business?
Small businesses (under $5M revenue) typically spend 7–15% of revenue on marketing. The US Small Business Administration recommends 7–8% for businesses with revenue under $5M and established products. New businesses or those in competitive markets should budget 12–20% to build initial customer acquisition.
How do I calculate my marketing budget?
The most common method: multiply your annual revenue by your industry benchmark percentage. Example: $2M revenue × 8% = $160,000 marketing budget. Use our free Marketing Budget Calculator at freemarketingcalculator.com/marketing-budget-calculator/ to get an instant recommendation based on your revenue and industry.