How Much Should You Spend on Marketing?
A practical guide to budgeting for early-stage startups
You’re building something big—but your budget isn’t. Marketing feels important, but how do you know what’s enough to spend without overcommitting too early (or underfunding your growth)?
If you're a small startup, especially in B2B or deep tech, determining a marketing budget isn’t about guessing or copying what bigger companies do. It’s about building the right engine for your stage, your goals, and your team.
Here’s how to approach it—with clarity and confidence.
1. Anchor to Your Stage (Not Just Revenue)
The “spend 10% of revenue on marketing” rule? That’s fine for companies with revenue. But early on, you need a different lens.
Instead of a percentage, think about what marketing is supposed to do right now:
Do you need to validate positioning?
Are you preparing to raise?
Are you trying to land your first 10 customers?
Startups that anchor budget to a specific outcome are more focused—and spend more efficiently.
2. Understand What You’re Actually Buying
When you budget for marketing, you’re not just paying for ads or content. You’re investing in:
Strategy – positioning, messaging, go-to-market plans
Execution – content, design, campaigns, website, etc.
Tools – CRM, analytics, automation, SEO platforms
People – internal team, freelancers, or fractional support
Too often, startups budget for a tool or a tactic (e.g., “We need LinkedIn ads!”) but skip the strategy or content that actually makes it work.
Your marketing budget should account for both thinking and doing.
3. Use This Simple Planning Framework
Here’s a starting point we recommend for startups between pre-seed and Series A. The prices stated are for informational purposes only. Remember, this is not one size fits all:
Strategy & Leadership
Fractional marketing lead or consultant: $2K–$10K/month
(Depending on scope and involvement)
Execution
Freelancers (writer, designer, paid ad management): $1K–$5K/month
(Variable depending on cadence and channels)
Tools & Platforms
CMS, CRM, analytics, automation: $200–$800/month
(Typically lighter for early teams)
Paid Acquisition (Optional/Test Phase)
Test budget: $2K–$5K/month
(If you're ready with messaging, funnel, and goals)
Total starting point: $5K–$15K/month, depending on your growth targets, resources, and internal support.
4. Budget for What You Can Execute
Throwing $10K at ads when your site isn’t ready won’t get you results. That’s putting water into a leaky bucket! Hiring a strategist but never implementing their plan? Same problem.
Your marketing budget should match your execution capacity. Questions to think through:
Do we have someone to lead this?
Who’s executing the writing, designing, launching?
What does “success” look like? Are we set up to track success?
If the answer is “we don’t know,” consider a fractional partner who can help you make it real and make it work.
5. Treat Marketing Like a Growth Investment—Not Overhead
Done right, marketing is the engine that drives traction, trust, and sales.
If you treat it like a cost to minimize, that’s what it will become.
The right question isn’t “How little can we spend?” It is actually:
“What will it take to hit our next milestone—and how do we build the marketing to get us there?”
Final Word: Budget What Moves the Needle
There’s no perfect number—but there is a smart approach. Align your budget to outcomes. Build only what you need. And don’t be afraid to stay lean—but focused. Because at this stage, clarity is the best ROI you can get.
