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    Free marketing budget calculator

    How much should you spend on marketing? Work it out in a minute.

    Put in your yearly revenue, say what you sell and how hard you want to grow, and see a budget split across print, web, social, ads and events, beside this year’s survey benchmark.

    Start the calculatorHow it works
    • Free, with no sign-up
    • Nothing is sent or saved
    • 2026 UK and survey data built in
    A business owner planning at a desk

    Example

    Revenue £500,000

    Goal Grow steadily

    Budget £45,000 a year

    That is £3,750 a month

    A starting point, not a rule

    1. Your revenue

    2. What you sell

    3. Your goal

    4. How customers find you

    Your marketing budget

    £45,000 a year

    About £3,750 a month

    Across all the companies surveyed, marketing budgets average 9.0% of revenue. You are at 9%.

    The CMO Survey, 2026: 308 US companies.
    • Print and signage£2,250
    • Website and search£2,250
    • Social and content£1,800
    • Paid advertising£1,800
    • Events and everything else£900

    In the UK this quarter, events and direct marketing are where most companies are adding budget. See the UK picture.

    Your print share is about £188 a month.That is close to PrintPass Growth, at £155 a month.

    See PrintPass

    A starting point, not advice. Benchmarks are from The CMO Survey 2026, a survey of 308 US companies. The three goals are our own suggestions built around that average, and the channel splits are ours too, so change them to suit your business. Nothing you type is sent or stored.

    In the UK right now

    More UK companies are raising marketing budgets than cutting them

    The IPA Bellwether Report asks UK companies every quarter whether they are raising or cutting their marketing budgets. In its latest survey, 23.8% raised their budgets, 16.9% cut them and 59.4% held them steady.

    The chart shows the balance for each kind of marketing: the share of companies raising a budget, less the share cutting it. Events and direct marketing are where UK companies are adding most.

    Source: IPA Bellwether Report, Q2 2026, published 16 July 2026.

    Companies raising budgets, less those cutting

    • Events+11.0%
    • Direct marketing+3.0%
    • Main media advertising+1.5%
    • PR+1.4%
    • Sales promotions+0.9%
    • Market research−4.1%
    • Other marketing−10.8%

    +6.9% across all marketing budgets

    How it works

    Three numbers, and what to do with them

    1. A share of your revenue

      Most budgets start as a percentage of revenue. Spend less to hold your ground, more to grow or launch.

    2. A split by channel

      A café and an online shop should not spend the same way. Pick the mix nearest to how your customers find you.

    3. A monthly figure

      A yearly number is hard to act on. The monthly one tells you what you can commit to, starting now.

    Spending the print share

    What a print budget buys

    Printed business cardsBusiness cardsSee pricePrinted bannersRoller bannersSee pricePrinted posters and signsA-frame pavement signsSee priceA printed vinyl stickerSticker sheetsSee price

    Live starting prices, before VAT. See all print products.

    The other shares

    We can help with those too

    Website and search

    A website designed and built to match your print, with a free check of the one you have.

    See web design

    Social, content and ads

    Help planning and running your marketing, from a Chartered Marketer.

    See digital marketing

    Your brand

    A logo and identity that make every pound of marketing work harder.

    See logo design

    Questions

    Marketing budgets, answered

    How much should a small business spend on marketing?

    There is no single right figure. The CMO Survey 2026 found marketing budgets averaging 9.0% of company revenue, so the calculator treats that average as the level for steady growth, about half of it to keep ticking over and about one and a half times it to launch or grow fast. Those two steps either side are our own suggestions. Use them as a starting point, then adjust.

    Where do the benchmarks come from?

    From The CMO Survey 2026, run by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with Deloitte and the American Marketing Association. It found marketing budgets averaging 9.0% of company revenue: 12.0% for companies selling products to consumers, 10.1% for services to businesses, 7.2% for services to consumers and 7.0% for products to businesses.

    Is there UK data in here?

    Yes. The UK section uses the IPA Bellwether Report, which tracks whether UK companies are raising or cutting marketing budgets. It shows direction, not a share of revenue, so the percentage benchmarks come from The CMO Survey.

    Do those figures apply to my business?

    Treat them as a guide. The survey covers 308 US companies of all sizes, so use it to see where you sit, then choose a figure you can afford and keep up.

    Where do the channel splits come from?

    They are our own suggested starting points for three kinds of business, not survey figures. Yours should follow where your customers actually come from.

    We are new. Should we spend more?

    Usually, yes. A new business has to become known before it can be chosen, so the “launch or grow fast” setting is the one to try.

    Why does it start at £500,000?

    That is roughly the average yearly turnover of a UK small or medium-sized business, worked out from the government’s Business Population Estimates for 2025: about 5.7 million such businesses turning over about £2.8 trillion between them. Most are much smaller, so change it to your own figure.

    Is my information stored?

    No. The sums happen in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or saved.

    Can you help me plan the spend?

    Yes. Get in touch and a real person will talk it through with you.

    Know the number.Split it well.Spend it wisely.

    Ready to put the print share to work? Shop print.