What Should My Marketing Budget Be? [Infographic]

The online marketing landscape is a bustling market. One the left, merchants trying to sell you services for an arm and a leg. On the right, merchants promising the same services for pennies. Business owners know they need to be marketing, but with all the noise they aren’t sure how much they should spend on online marketing. Or, worse, they’re already spending money on marketing and worry they’re spending too much.

The truth is that there’s no one budget the fits everyone, but there is a good guideline for how much money you should expect to spend to see results (and how much is overkill). This infographic from Real Magnet outlines what real business are spending on marketing. How does your budget stack up?

It may sound a little surprising that companies are paying up to 12% of their revenue on online marketing, but marketing is a tricky beast. If you spend too little you save in the short term, but don’t end up seeing meaningful results in the long term. 

When you break it down, that makes sense: online marketing is less cut-and-dry than traditional marketing. The price to order, print and mail fliers is consistent. The price for online ads varies depending on your industry, and even then fluctuates from day to day. The fast-paced nature of online marketing means that strategies (and budgets) need to adapt in order to stay competitive.

Want more budgeting pointers? Don’t miss our How Do I Measure My Marketing to Calculate ROI? BizzyWebinar on April 5. Can’t make it? You can watch it anytime after broadcast on our YouTube channel.

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