Free tool
Marketing Budget Calculator
Enter your yearly revenue and where your business is today. You get a monthly and yearly marketing budget range from the percentage-of-revenue rule, plus an estimate of the leads that budget could buy.
Total sales for the last 12 months, in US dollars.
You mainly need to hold your position and keep customers coming.
Used only to estimate how many leads the budget could buy.
Monthly budget
$1,458 to $2,083
Yearly budget
$17,500 to $25,000
Weekly
$337 to $481
Share of revenue
7% to 10%
What it could buy. At the average Home & Home Improvement cost per lead of $91, that is roughly 16 to 23 leads a month if all of it went to Google Ads.
For comparison, Gartner's 2026 survey of senior marketing leaders (mostly large companies) found budgets of about 7.7% of revenue, which would be $19,250 a year on your revenue. The bands above are planning ranges, not guarantees.
How this calculator works
The calculator multiplies your annual revenue by a percentage band. Established businesses with steady growth usually plan 7% to 10% of revenue. Businesses that are growing fast or competing hard usually plan 10% to 15%.
These bands are rule-of-thumb planning ranges, not a measured benchmark. For context, Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey of 401 senior marketing leaders, mostly at large companies, found marketing budgets of about 7.7% to 7.8% of company revenue.
If you pick an industry, the calculator also estimates how many leads the budget could buy at that industry's average Google Ads cost per lead from LocaliQ's 2026 benchmarks. That is an average, not a prediction of your results.
Brand new with no revenue yet? A percentage of nothing is nothing. Decide the most you can spend every month for six months without stress, then use the advertising budget calculator to see what that amount could buy.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a small business spend on marketing?
Many small businesses plan between 7% and 15% of revenue. Steady, established businesses sit near the low end and growing or competitive ones near the high end. Treat it as a starting point, then adjust once you can see what a customer costs you.
Is the marketing budget based on revenue or profit?
The rule of thumb uses revenue, meaning total sales, not profit. If your profit margin is thin, start at the low end of the range and track results closely before raising it.
What counts toward the marketing budget?
This calculator treats the budget as money for marketing activity: ads, content, tools and agencies. Add your own time or staff salaries separately if you want a fully loaded figure.
How accurate is the number of leads it shows?
It divides your monthly budget by the average cost per lead for the industry you pick. Real costs vary by city, season, offer and how well your ads and website are set up, so use it for planning, not as a promise.
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Sources
- LocaliQ (WordStream) 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks. Average Google Ads cost per click and cost per lead for 23 US industries.
- Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey press release. Marketing budgets of about 7.7% to 7.8% of company revenue; 401 senior marketing leaders, mostly large companies.
Estimates, not guarantees. Your own results depend on your offer, market and execution.