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Marketing Budget Calculator

Set a marketing budget from revenue or from a customer goal and split it by channel.

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This marketing budget calculator shows how much to spend on marketing per year and per month, either as a percentage of your yearly revenue or from a goal of new customers and what each one costs to win. It runs in your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded.

Use the percent method when you already know what share of income you want to put into marketing. Use the goal method when you know how many new customers you need in a year and roughly what each one costs. The goal method also shows its result as a share of revenue, so you can check it against a percentage you had in mind.

Once you have a total, you can split it across channels such as search ads, social ads, email, or content. The calculator then shows the amount each channel gets, both per year and per month.

Marketing budget calculator example

How to use the Marketing Budget Calculator

  1. Enter your yearly revenue in the Yearly revenue field. You can use any currency, as long as you use the same one for every amount.
  2. Under How do you set the budget?, choose one method.
  3. For the percent method, type a number into Percent of revenue for marketing. The result shows the yearly budget and the monthly budget.
  4. For the goal method, enter New customers wanted per year and Cost to acquire one customer. The result shows the yearly budget, the monthly budget, and the Share of yearly revenue.
  5. To split the budget, open the box labelled Split by channel and type one channel per line: a name, then a percent, such as Search ads 35. You can separate the name and percent with a space, colon, comma, or equals sign. A percent sign or a decimal comma is fine.
  6. Read the channel table. Each channel shows its percent, yearly amount, and monthly amount. If the percents do not total 100, the page tells you how much budget is unassigned or how far over 100 you are. Lines it cannot read are skipped, and if none can be read, it says so.

When the result looks right, you can copy it or download it as plain text.

How to calculate a marketing budget

A marketing budget is set in one of two ways: as a percentage of yearly revenue, or as the number of new customers you want multiplied by the cost of winning each one. With the percent method, the yearly budget is revenue × percent ÷ 100, and the monthly budget is the yearly figure ÷ 12. For example, revenue of 800,000 at 8% gives 64,000 per year, or 5,333.33 per month.

The goal method works in reverse. The budget is customers × cost per customer, so 400 new customers at 150 each comes to 60,000 per year, or 5,000 per month. Divided by 800,000 in revenue, that is 7.50% of revenue, which the calculator shows as the Share of yearly revenue. This lets you test whether a customer target fits within a percentage you are comfortable spending.

Cost to acquire one customer is your marketing and sales spend divided by the number of new customers that spend brought in. Use figures from the same period, such as one year, so the cost is comparable to the budget you are setting.

The calculator does not suggest what percentage of revenue to spend. That depends on your industry, profit margins, and growth goals, so the percent is yours to choose. The goal method helps by showing what a target costs and what share of revenue it represents.

How to split a marketing budget by channel

A channel split divides a total budget into shares that add up to 100 percent. Each channel’s yearly amount is the total multiplied by its percent ÷ 100. For example, a yearly budget of 64,000 split 50, 30, and 20 percent gives 32,000, 19,200, and 12,800. Dividing each of those amounts by 12 gives the monthly figures.

Keeping the percentages at 100 means every part of the budget is assigned to a channel. The sample split on the page is Search ads 35, Social ads 25, Email 15, Content 15, and Other 10, which totals 100. If your channels total less than 100, the difference is budget you have not assigned yet. If they total more, you are planning to spend more than the budget allows.

Choose channels based on where you expect your new customers to come from. Then adjust the percentages until the table matches the plan you want to follow.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I spend on marketing as a percentage of revenue?

The calculator does not give a recommended figure, because the right share depends on your industry, margins, and growth goals. Start with a percentage your business can afford after its other costs are covered. Then use the goal method to check whether that amount is enough to win the number of customers you need.

How do I set a marketing budget from a goal?

Enter the number of new customers you want per year and the cost to acquire one customer. The calculator multiplies the two to give the yearly budget, and shows that budget as a share of your yearly revenue. For example, 400 customers at 150 each is 60,000 per year.

What does cost to acquire one customer mean?

It is your marketing and sales spend divided by the number of new customers that spend brought in. If you spent 60,000 over a year and won 400 customers, the cost is 150 per customer. Use the same time period for both numbers so the result is accurate.

What happens if my channel percentages do not add up to 100?

The page tells you how much of the budget is not assigned, or how far over 100 your total is. Lines it cannot read are skipped, and if none can be read, it says so. Adjust the lines until the message no longer appears.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. Nothing you enter is uploaded, and the amounts can be in any currency. You can copy or download the result as plain text when you are finished.