Many small businesses spend on marketing in bursts: a quiet month prompts a sudden advert, a salesperson calls with an offer, a competitor does something and it feels necessary to respond. The spending adds up without anyone deciding what it should achieve.
Setting a small business marketing budget, even a modest one, turns that reactive spending into a plan you can measure.
Start with what you can afford
The right figure depends on your margins, your growth plans and how much work you can handle. A common approach is to set aside a percentage of revenue, but the more useful question is how much you can spend consistently for six months without strain.
Consistency matters more than size. Most marketing takes time to work, and a budget that stops after one month rarely shows results.
Work out what a customer is worth
Knowing the typical value of a customer, including repeat work, tells you how much you can reasonably spend to win one. If a customer is worth a thousand pounds over time, spending fifty to acquire them is sensible.
This figure helps you judge every marketing option in the same terms, rather than comparing prices that mean nothing on their own.
The businesses that waste marketing money usually have no idea what a customer is worth. Once they know, most spending decisions become obvious.
Ryan Cole, Founder, Presseo
Fix the free basics first
Before spending anything, make sure the free foundations are in place: an accurate Business Profile, a website that clearly explains what you do and how to contact you, and a routine for asking customers for reviews.
Paid marketing sends people to these places. If they are weak, you are paying to send visitors somewhere that will not convince them.
Spend where customers are already looking
For most local businesses, the first money works hardest where people are already searching for what you offer, such as local search advertising or improving your website’s visibility for key services.
Channels that create awareness among people not yet looking can work too, but they usually take longer and cost more to show results.
Keep a small amount to test
Set aside a portion of the budget to try something new each quarter. A small, time-limited test tells you whether a channel works for your business without risking the whole budget.
Decide in advance what result would count as success, so the decision to continue or stop is clear.
Account for your own time
Marketing costs time as well as money. Posting on social media, writing content and managing adverts all take hours that could be spent on the business itself.
Be honest about how much time you can give. Sometimes paying for help is cheaper than the time it would take you to do the work yourself.
Track the results
For each area of spending, record what it cost and what it produced in enquiries and customers. A simple spreadsheet is enough.
Ask every new customer how they found you. Combined with your spending records, those answers show which channels are worth continuing.
Review every quarter
Every three months, look at what each part of the budget achieved. Move money from what is not working to what is, and consider whether the overall budget should grow as the business does.
Avoid making changes after a single quiet week. Short-term swings are normal and can lead to poor decisions.
Watch for hidden costs
Subscriptions, directory listings and software fees accumulate quietly. Review them regularly and cancel anything that is not producing results.
Many small businesses find money for new marketing simply by cutting services they had forgotten they were paying for.
Get advice before big commitments
Before signing long contracts or committing large sums, get a second opinion. Ask what results similar businesses have seen, and whether you can start with a shorter commitment.
The web design hub covers how your website fits into that plan as the place your marketing sends people.
Plan for seasonal peaks
Many small businesses have busy and quiet periods. Spending slightly ahead of the busy season, when customers start researching, often works better than spending evenly across the year or reacting once demand has already arrived.
Not sure how much to spend?
We will help you set a realistic budget and decide where it goes first.
