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How small is this startup or small business? I've operated on equivalent budgets, and budgets for startups that are >$1m/month No right answer here, especially when you haven't given ANY information about the business, your goals, etc, etc, etc. Answer from Greedy-Gap-7822 on reddit.com
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BDC
bdc.ca › home › articles and tools › marketing, sales and export › marketing › what is the average marketing budget for a small business?
What is an average marketing budget for a small business?
Like any business expense, marketing has many components. Horvath suggests allocating your marketing budget to each of the following categories. You can adjust the amounts over time based on what’s most effective. Website: The cost of your website includes the original design and build as well as monthly hosting.
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Transcend Digital
transcenddigital.com › home › what is a good marketing budget for a startup?
What is a Good Marketing Budget for a Startup? - Transcend Digital
July 15, 2025 - This includes the cost of marketing and sales efforts. You can calculate your CAC by dividing your total marketing and sales expenses by the number of new customers acquired. Understanding your CAC will help you determine how much you can afford to spend on marketing. Determining your startup’s marketing budget requires thoroughly understanding your company’s growth stage and the specific goals you aim to achieve.
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Digitalfirst
digitalfirst.ai › blog › start-up-marketing-budget
One Year, $500 Monthly Start-Up Marketing Budget: How Would You Spend It?
You can market your business effectively with $500 per month If you know what you're doing and have clear goals of what you need.
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Taylorscherseo
taylorscherseo.com › saas-marketing › startup-marketing-budgets
Startup Marketing Budgets: How Much Should a Startup Spend on ...
You can get people to sign up for a waitlist, but again, it will be expensive until you can start bringing in recurring revenue. Focus on product development first and then move to marketing once you have the right product-market fit and go-to-market strategy. As mentioned, 15-20% of total revenue ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/entrepreneur › what’s typical marketing budget for startups and small businesses? i was offered 500€ - is that even realistic??
r/Entrepreneur on Reddit: What’s typical marketing budget for startups and small businesses? I was offered 500€ - is that even realistic??
August 12, 2024 -

What’s typical marketing budget for companies like small businesses and startups? - I was offered 500€ only for marketing like doesn’t sound even realistic

Hey everyone

I would like to hear more about budgeting on marketing in companies like in your business or company how do you budget in marketing?

I Start up wants work with me just 500 on marketing and it feels incredibly low for marketing but understandable that its just starting from stratch but still … this seems incredibly low to be, specially considering the costs associated with digital advertising, content creation and other marketing strategies specially that company wants work with models..

For those of you with experience in startups or in small or big businesses:

  • what’s the typical marketing budget you have seen in these settings?

  • have you ever worked in budgets this small? If so how did you make it work??

  • what are some creative , low- cost marketing strategies that could stretch this 500€ ?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated! Or any advice

Thank you

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Salesforce
salesforce.com › ca › marketing › how-to-create-marketing-budget
How to Create a Marketing Budget | Salesforce Canada
A good rule of thumb is to spend 10% to 20% of your overall budget on brand awareness, 10% to 20% on lead nurturing and remarketing, and 60% to 80% on direct response. Salaries, software, and vendor costs.
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SCORE
score.org › resource › article › how-create-a-marketing-budget-startups
How to Create a Marketing Budget for Startups | SCORE
Based on the key marketing channels below, the estimate for an initial marketing budget for a startup is $50 to $385 per month, plus a one-time cost for logo design.
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Foundersarm
foundersarm.com › blog › how-much-does-marketing-cost-for-a-startup
How Much Does Marketing Cost For A Startup? Managing Your Budget - Founders Arm | Virtual Growth Assistants for Hire
Research shows that startups should allocate 5 to 10 percent of their revenue to marketing. Yet, revenue can take a lot of work for a new business. So, when you’re just starting, how do you get the word about your products and services?
Find elsewhere
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HubSpot
blog.hubspot.com › marketing › startup-marketing-budget
Startup Marketing Budget: How to Write an Incredible Budget
November 22, 2022 - So, how much of your gross revenue will you need? The average marketing budget for startups should be 11.2% of overall revenue. This percentage gives marketers enough resources to build brand awareness and start attracting leads.
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TBDC
tbdc.com › home › setting a marketing budget for your startup
Setting a Marketing Budget for Your Startup - TBDC
April 3, 2025 - Set an effective marketing budget for your startup with expert tips, industry benchmarks, and a 5-step plan for growth.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/startups › how much do u spend each month on marketing?
r/startups on Reddit: How much do u spend each month on marketing?
October 10, 2023 -

Hi all, I’m looking to get some benchmarks around how much each startup spends on marketing.

TLDR; we decided to bootstrap and forgo the VC route a few months back so this means our numbers need to make sense. I’m in charge of sales and on average, we do approx $30k usd each month at 40% margins.

Right now, we spend approx $1k a month on google ads which is working but most of the revenue is also coming from existing customers who expanded their work with us.

We are not profitable at the moment but on track to do so. Our business is saas+service.

I see many business or startup spending 8-30k a month just on marketing. How do you decide the budget? Is it revenue-based?

Note that we are bootstrapping at the moment so growth at all cost is not possible since we won’t have VC money.

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Homerdigitalmarketing
homerdigitalmarketing.com › how much does marketing cost for a startup?
How Much Does Marketing Cost for a Startup?
May 31, 2025 - Most startups should expect to spend between 10% and 20% of their projected annual revenue on marketing. This often works out to $2,000 to $10,000 per month depending on industry, competition, and growth goals.
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Scratchdisk
scratchdisk.biz › post › marketing-startups-breaking-down-costs
Marketing for Startups 2025: Breaking Down the Costs | Scratchdisk Creative (SCr)
April 3, 2025 - A: Startups typically allocate 12-20% of gross revenue to marketing. Early-stage startups often need to invest at the higher end of this range (15-20%) to build brand awareness, while more established startups might reduce to 12-15% as they ...
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Top Rope Media
topropemedia.com › blog › 2025 › 04 › 23 › digital-marketing-costs-does-it-make-sense-for-a-small-business
Marketing Costs for Small Business and Non-Profits
May 23, 2025 - As long as you can provide the ... updates. Marketing costs for a full-time digital marketing manager range between $55,000 to $85,000 a year here in San Diego, California....
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Mesh Payments
meshpayments.com › home › how to best manage your startup’s marketing budget
Manage Your Startup's Marketing Budget | Mesh
January 15, 2025 - Individual campaign costs: Variable costs associated with launching and executing campaigns.. The last of these three is the big variable. A big summer or holiday marketing push will mean a big spike in expenditure versus a quieter month. But the first two are likely to remain relatively stable throughout the year, especially when dealing with figures like wages for full-time staff. You just need to make sure that you keep on top of them. In a busy startup environment, that’s easier said than done…
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Baremetrics
baremetrics.com › academy › how-to-create-a-marketing-budget-for-your-startup
How to create a marketing budget for your startup - Baremetrics
May 3, 2024 - While there is no set rule to establishing your marketing budget, founder and CEO of Elevate My Brand, Laurel Mintz, recommends that startups set their initial budget to 12 to 20 percent of gross or projected revenue.
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Growth-division
growth-division.com › growth-marketing › how-much-startup-spend-marketing
How Much Should A Startup Budget for Marketing? | Growth Division
Calculate your loaded marketing budget - this is the cost to acquire customers in terms of channel spend, plus your other marketing costs like salaries. As a rule of thumb, we say double your CAC budget to get an idea of your loaded marketing budget. Calculate your monthly marketing budget - divide your loaded marketing budget by your timeframe - 24 months in our above example. With many different variables and approaches at play, setting a marketing budget is no easy task – especially for a startup without much data to fall back on.
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Stripe
stripe.com › resources › more › how-to-make-a-marketing-budget-for-your-startup
How to make a marketing budget for your startup | Stripe
April 22, 2024 - As a general rule, making $5 for every $1 you spend on marketing is considered a good ROI. Flexibility in strategy Digital marketing is constantly evolving. Startups need to be responsive to changes, which might mean shifting budget allocations ...
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Agilie
agilie.com › blog › how much money do startups need for digital marketing?
How Much Money Do Startups Need for Digital Marketing?
August 7, 2025 - Any marketing techniques are being used, usually costly ones. Usually, businesses devote 8-10% of their total marketing budgets to advertise their products or services. However, startups have to spend more money: no one knows about them yet, ...
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uSERP
userp.io › organic-growth › startup-marketing-budget
Startup Marketing Budget: A Founder’s Perspective
October 17, 2025 - It requires time, money, effort, and often the help of AI technologies to automate and optimize processes, so SEO must have a special spot on your startup marketing budget. Since most early-stage teams juggle limited time and resources, leaning on automation can make a real difference. To maximize that investment, startups can use AI tools for keyword research, content briefs, and on-page optimization. Paired with human oversight, these tools help small teams create high-quality, search-optimized content faster and cost-effectively, ensuring every marketing dollar works harder.