How Much Should You Really Spend on Marketing? (And what to do with that money)
Everyone says, “Just do marketing.” Nobody says how much it costs — or what to spend it on. If you’re a founder or small-business owner who’s been winging it, this is the conversation you actually need.
Marketing isn’t a line item you slap on the spreadsheet and forget. It’s an investment you plan, measure, and optimise. Spend too little and you starve growth. Spend blindly and you burn cash. Spend with intention, and you build predictable lead flow and better margins.
Below I’ll cut through the noise, give you clear, realistic guidance for each business stage, show concrete budget examples (so you can stop guessing), and walk you through how to prioritise spend when resources are tight. No fluff. Just practical, “do this” advice.
Stop looking for a single magic number
You’ll see a lot of “rules of thumb” out there. The most common one is to spend 5–10% of revenue on marketing. That’s a useful baseline for established businesses with stable revenue, but it’s not a law. The right marketing budget for you depends on your stage, margins, growth goals, and the channels that actually work for your business.
Here’s a better way to think about it:
If you’re pre-revenue or early-stage, your budget should prioritise customer discovery and the cheapest path to your first sales. Spend what you can afford, and spend it strategically.
If you have steady revenue but want to grow, treat marketing as growth investment — 5–10% is a sensible range to scale predictably.
If you’re scaling aggressively and have proven channels, you may invest 3–6% of revenue on ongoing marketing while re-allocating additional funds to paid acquisition that has a positive return.
To make that concrete: if your business pulls in R50,000 per month, a 5–10% range means R2,500–R5,000/month for marketing. If you’re at R200,000/month and scaling, 3–6% is R6,000–R12,000/month. These are examples, not targets to copy blindly.
Budget by stage — practical ranges and priorities
Let’s break budgets down by stage and what you should actually spend the money on.
Pre-revenue / very early stage (you’re testing product-market fit)
Spend: as little as possible, but spend smartly.
Focus: customer interviews, landing pages, minimal paid tests, tools for tracking. This stage is about validating demand, not brand-building.
Early revenue / growth stage (Roughly first real customers to steady monthly revenue)
Spend: 10–20% of revenue if you’re trying to grow quickly and margins allow. You’re buying growth and learning.
Focus: content that converts, simple paid tests, one good funnel, basic CRO, and a small allocation to an outsourced specialist (copy, ads, or SEO).
Growing / scale stage (steady, predictable revenue)
Spend: 5–10% of revenue. You have product-market fit and want predictability.
Focus: scale channels that already work, improve customer lifetime value, invest in analytics and optimisation, and hire consistent help (freelancer or part-time marketer).
Scaling / mature stage (you’re doubling, with proven unit economics)
Spend: 3–6% of revenue on retention + acquisitions, but add incremental ad spend where ROI is proven. Now you invest more in people, processes, and growth ops rather than experiments.
(If you want exact examples in your currency or revenue band I can draft them, but the important point: match spend to stage and cash flow.)
How to allocate your budget (a practical template)
Don’t scatter your dollars. Marketing money should be allocated across channels and activities that move the needle. Here’s a practical allocation model you can adapt — described so it’s useful whether you have R1,000 or R100,000 per month.
Think in buckets: foundation, content/organic, paid acquisition, tools/tech, and people/creative.
Foundation (website, tracking, sales funnel): this is your home base. If the website sucks, nothing else works. Invest here first.
Content/organic (SEO, blog, email): builds compounding value. Good for long-term, lower-cost growth.
Paid acquisition (ads, sponsored posts): use for predictable lead flow once you’ve proven a funnel.
Tools/tech (email provider, analytics, landing page tools): enable efficiency and measurement.
People/creative (freelancers, agencies, copywriting, design): execution matters. Poor creative kills ad performance.
A simple split for a growing small business might look like this: website 15%, content/email 25%, paid acquisition 35%, tools 10%, creatives/outsourcing 15%. If you have zero budget, flip that: 60% of your “time budget” goes to content and outreach, and prioritise free tools.
B2B vs B2C: spend where it matters
Different businesses need different mixes.
B2B typically spends more on people and relationship-based marketing — account-based marketing, LinkedIn outreach, sales development, and content that supports longer decision cycles. Expect higher per-lead costs but higher lifetime value.
B2C normally invests more in scalable paid channels (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), product visuals, and fast conversion funnels. Volume matters, so ad spend tends to be a larger share.
If you’re a service business, lean into email, referrals, and thought leadership. If you sell physical products, invest more in product photography, social proof, and paid ads that drive immediate purchases.
Measure the right things: make numbers drive decisions
If you don’t track ROI, you’re guessing. Core metrics you must watch:
Cost per Lead (CPL): total spend divided by leads. If you spent $1,200 and got 40 leads, CPL is $30.
Conversion Rate: percentage of leads that become customers. If 10% of those 40 leads buy, you have 4 customers.
Cost per Acquisition (CPA): total spend divided by customers. Using the numbers above, $1,200 ÷ 4 = $300 CPA.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): how much a customer pays over their relationship with you. If your LTV is $600 and CPA is $300, your LTV:CAC ratio is 2:1. That’s a baseline; better is 3:1 for many businesses.
Here’s a short example to show why measurement matters: you spend $1,200 on ads, you get 40 leads (CPL $30), 10% convert to customers (4 customers), and CPA is $300. If your average customer pays $600 over their lifetime, that’s an LTV:CAC of 2:1 — okay, but not great. You either need to improve conversion, reduce acquisition costs, or increase LTV.
If your numbers look poor, don’t throw more money at ads. Fix the funnel first — landing page, copy, offer, follow-up.
Where to spend first — practical priorities for any budget
If you’ve only got room in the budget for one thing, do the website and measurement. Your site is the destination for everything else. Make sure it converts.
If you have a little time but no money, build your owned asset: email. Start collecting addresses on day one. Owned audiences beat rented attention.
If you have a small ad budget (say R1,000–R3,000/month), run one tightly controlled test on the platform where your customers are. Track cost per lead and conversion rate. If it works, scale. If it doesn’t, learn fast and iterate.
Always spend the minimum to validate channel ideas. Small, fast tests beat big, slow experiments.
Cheap doesn’t mean worthless — tactics that stretch budget
If cash is tight, use tactics that scale with time rather than money.
Content that answers questions buyers actually ask will pull organic traffic for months. Think practical “how-to” posts, not puff pieces.
Partnerships and cross-promotions with complementary local businesses are low-cost visibility boosters.
Email nurturing beats chasing cold traffic. A well-segmented five-email welcome sequence converts more than generic blasts.
Referral programmes are cheap and powerful; reward customers for introductions.
Use community groups (WhatsApp, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn communities) to build trust and visibility locally.
Time is the currency for zero-budget marketing. If you’re bootstrapped, invest your hours where they compound (content, email, relationships).
Avoid common budget-wasting mistakes
There are certain ways small businesses waste marketing cash.
Chasing every new channel. If TikTok doesn’t match your customer profile, don’t force it because someone said it’s “the future.”
Spraying and praying with ads. Launch narrow tests with controlled spend. Don’t run multiple uncontrolled campaigns and hope something sticks.
Buying followers or cheap leads. They harm conversion and ruin metrics. Clean lists and genuine engagement beat big vanity numbers.
Hiring expensive agencies before you’ve tested the funnel. Get a freelancer or consultant to build and document a repeatable system, then scale.
When to increase spend — and when to hold back
Spend more when your numbers show predictable improvement: CPA is falling, conversion is improving, and LTV supports scale. Don’t increase spend because you “feel” momentum.
Hold back when churn is high, your product experience has issues, or CAC outweighs LTV. Fix the product and retention first. Marketing can bring customers in, but only a reliable product keeps them.
Quick templates you can use today
If you’re running numbers, here are two simple templates:
Small business with R50,000/month revenue (growth stage)
Marketing budget: 5–10% → R2,500–R5,000/month
Suggested split: Website & tracking 15%, Content/email 30%, Paid ads 35%, Tools 10%, Creative/freelance 10%.
Startup pre-revenue testing a funnel
Budget: whatever you can afford for discovery (time > money). Invest in customer interviews, a single landing page, a small targeted ad test (R500–R1,500), and manual outreach.
Final thought — spend with intention, measure like a scientist
Marketing spend without measurement is gambling. The smarter path is to decide what you need (leads, conversions, retention), design the smallest test to move the needle, and measure outcomes. Repeat what works, kill what doesn’t, and keep your allocation flexible.
If you have to choose one thing to do right now: make your website convert and start owning an email list. Those two moves will make every rand you spend afterward far more effective.
Want me to draft a sample 3-month marketing budget for your exact revenue and goals? Tell me your monthly revenue and primary growth goal and I’ll give you a customised plan with channel splits and expected KPIs.
