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How much should you spend on marketing?

Plan on 2–12% of revenue for marketing if you run a UK small business, and where you sit depends on what you sell, how fast you want to grow and how long you have been trading. Put in your yearly revenue, your type of business and your goal to see a budget range a month and a year, how much of your gross profit it takes, and how the money usually splits between ads and the people and tools behind them.

Your budget a month and a year
The share of revenue and of gross profit
How the money usually splits

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Yearly revenue

Before costs. 500k or 500,000 both work.

Your type of business

Your goal for the next year

How long you have tradedUnder two years

Gross margin (optional)

What is left after the cost of the goods or the work. Lets us check the budget fits.

Local services (trades, clinics, salons) · grow steadily

Spend about £2,083–£3,333 a month (5–8% of revenue, £25,000–£40,000 a year).

£2,083–£3,333A month

5–8%Of revenue

£25,000–£40,000A year

5%8%

The coloured band is the usual share of revenue for your type of business and goal.

In your full report

How the money usually splits
Whether your margin can carry it

Rather have a person look at it? We will go through your numbers with you on a free 30-minute call.

Book a free call

The short answer

Plan on 2–12% of revenue for most UK small businesses, and 12–25% for an online shop or software company growing fast. These are planning ranges: no UK survey measures small-business marketing spend well.
A local service business turning over £500,000 a year that wants steady growth would usually spend 5–8% of revenue on marketing: £2,083–£3,333 a month, or £25,000–£40,000 a year.
A business in its first two years usually needs about two percentage points more than an established one, because it has no reviews, rankings or word of mouth yet.
Marketing should take no more than about a third of gross profit: an online shop with £400,000 of revenue and a 30% gross margin can carry about £3,333 a month.
Gartner's CMO Spend Survey of larger companies put marketing budgets at 7.7% of company revenue in both 2024 and 2025.

Written by Dennis, CEO & Co-founder at Scale OxfordLast reviewed 9 November 2026

What percentage of revenue should you spend on marketing?

There is no single right figure. The share depends on what you sell, how much your buyers shop around and how fast you want to grow. The table shows the ranges the calculator uses for each type of business and goal.

Online shops and software companies sit highest because almost every sale starts with someone finding them online, often through paid ads. Professional firms sit lowest because much of their work comes through referrals and repeat clients.

As a cross-check against larger firms, Gartner's CMO Spend Survey put marketing at 7.7% of company revenue in 2024 and 2025. That sits inside the steady-growth range for local services, B2B firms and hospitality.

Marketing as a share of yearly revenue, by type of business and goal
Type of business	Hold my position	Grow steadily	Grow fast or launch
Local services (trades, clinics, salons)	3–5%	5–8%	8–12%
Professional firms (law, accounting)	2–4%	4–7%	7–10%
B2B services and agencies	2–5%	5–9%	9–14%
Online shop	5–8%	8–12%	12–20%
Software and tech	6–10%	10–15%	15–25%
Hospitality and retail	3–5%	5–8%	8–12%

Typical UK small-business ranges for 2026, the ones the calculator uses. Add two points to each end for a business under two years old. Ranges, not quotes.

How much should a small business spend on marketing in the UK? Six worked budgets

Multiply your yearly revenue by the share for your type of business and goal, then divide by twelve for a monthly figure. The six businesses below are run through the calculator.

The software start-up shows why the gross margin matters. At 17–27% of revenue, the top of its range would take 33.8% of its gross profit, just over a third, so the calculator suggests holding spend nearer £6,667 a month.

Six UK businesses run through the calculator
Business	Inputs	Share of revenue	A month	A year	Top of range, share of gross profit
Plumbing and heating firm	£250,000 revenue, grow steadily, 50% gross margin	5–8%	£1,042–£1,667	£12,500–£20,000	16%
Accountancy practice	£600,000 revenue, hold position, 70% gross margin	2–4%	£1,000–£2,000	£12,000–£24,000	5.7%
Café and restaurant	£350,000 revenue, grow steadily, 65% gross margin	5–8%	£1,458–£2,333	£17,500–£28,000	12.3%
Online shop	£400,000 revenue, grow steadily, 40% gross margin	8–12%	£2,667–£4,000	£32,000–£48,000	30%
B2B consultancy	£1,000,000 revenue, grow steadily, 50% gross margin	5–9%	£4,167–£7,500	£50,000–£90,000	18%
Software start-up under two years old	£300,000 revenue, grow fast, 80% gross margin	17–27%	£4,250–£6,750	£51,000–£81,000	33.8% (over a third)

Arithmetic from the calculator for the inputs shown, monthly figures rounded to the nearest pound. Illustrations, not UK averages.

How much of your gross profit should marketing take?

Revenue sets the starting range; gross profit tells you whether you can afford it. Gross profit is what is left after the cost of the goods or the work, and it has to pay for wages, rent and everything else before any of it is profit.

The calculator flags any budget whose top end would take more than a third of gross profit. Take an online shop with £400,000 of revenue that wants steady growth: at a 40% margin its 8–12% range fits, but at 25% or 30% the top of the range would take 48% or 40% of gross profit.

If your margin is thin, the answer is rarely to stop marketing. It is to hold spend at the cap, put it into the channels that bring customers most cheaply, and work on the margin itself.

An online shop with £400,000 revenue, growing steadily (8–12%), at four gross margins
Gross margin	Gross profit a year	Top of range as share of gross profit	Most a month at a third	What the calculator says
25%	£100,000	48%	£2,778	Over a third: hold near £2,778 a month
30%	£120,000	40%	£3,333	Over a third: hold near £3,333 a month
40%	£160,000	30%	£4,444	Fits: £2,667–£4,000 a month
60%	£240,000	20%	£6,667	Fits, with room to spare

Arithmetic from the calculator. A third of gross profit is a rule of thumb for a budget a business can keep up, not a law.

Does a new business need a bigger marketing budget?

Usually, yes. An established business gets customers from the reviews, rankings, repeat buyers and word of mouth it built over years. A new one has none of that yet, so it has to pay to be found while it builds them.

The calculator adds two percentage points to each end of the range for a business under two years old. A local service business turning over £200,000 that wants steady growth would spend 5–8%, or £833–£1,333 a month, once established, and 7–10%, or £1,167–£1,667 a month, in its first two years.

Put some of the extra into things that keep working after you stop paying for them, such as reviews and SEO, as well as ads that bring customers now.

Set up and fill in your Google Business Profile.
Ask every happy customer for a review from the first week.
Build a website with a page for each service and the area you cover.
Run a small search ads campaign on the searches closest to a purchase.
Track every enquiry, so you know which of these is working.

Media, people and tools: where a marketing budget goes

As a starting point, about 70% goes on the work people see: ads, content, listings and design. The other 30% pays for the people and tools behind it, such as an agency or freelancer, software and tracking. The split shifts towards people when the budget is small, because a campaign needs someone to run it whatever its size.

For the local service business turning over £500,000, the middle of its range is £2,708 a month: about £1,896 on ads, content and listings and £812 on people and tools.

Then split the media money by channel. Fund one or two channels properly rather than five thinly, because a channel with too little money never brings enough results to judge. The budget planner (Where should my next £1,000 go?) does that split for your business, channel by channel.

Ads, content and listings: Google Ads, Meta ads, SEO content, directories and design.
People: an agency, a freelancer or the hours of your own staff.
Tools: email software, tracking, call recording and scheduling.

How do you know if your marketing budget is working?

Judge it by customers and profit, not by clicks or followers. Track what each channel costs and what it brings: cost per lead, cost per customer and, for an online shop, return on ad spend.

Compare what a customer costs to win with what they are worth in gross profit over the time they stay. If a customer is worth three times what they cost or more, the budget is earning its keep and there may be room to spend more.

Give each change time to show. Paid ads can be judged within a few weeks; SEO and reviews take months.

Monthly: cost per lead and per customer, for each channel.
Quarterly: move money from the weakest channel to the strongest.
Yearly: set the share of revenue again for the year ahead.

How the tool works

Put in your yearly revenue, before costs.
Choose your type of business and whether you want to hold, grow or grow fast.
Tick if you have been trading for under two years, and add your gross margin if you know it.
See the budget a month and a year, and whether your margin can carry it.

How Scale Oxford helps

Know your budget? See what it buys with us.

Our prices are published, so you can match the range above to a service before you talk to anyone, and see whether ad spend is paid on top. Oxford businesses can start with a free audit, and we then plan how the budget splits between ads and our fee, and which channels go first.

We show every service's starting price on one page, with whether ad spend is paid on top.
We split your budget between ad spend and fees so the ads get enough money to work.
We report what each channel cost and brought every month, so the budget moves to what works.

Book a free call See our prices

Case study · BoConceptScale Oxford brought the cost of each online sale from Google Ads down by 43% for BoConcept. The account was counting some sales twice and missing others, so Google was bidding on the wrong numbers. We fixed the tracking before touching a single bid.↓ 43%Lower cost per sale↑ 81%Higher return on ad spend↑ 162%More revenue from Google AdsRead the case study →

Questions people ask

How much should a small business spend on marketing?

Plan on 2–12% of revenue for most UK small businesses; no UK survey measures small-business spend well, so treat it as a range to test, not a rule. Professional firms holding their position sit near 2–4%; online shops and software companies trying to grow fast often spend 12–25%. A local service business turning over £500,000 that wants steady growth would usually spend 5–8%, about £2,100–£3,300 a month.

Is marketing budget a percentage of revenue or profit?

It is usually set as a share of revenue, because revenue is the number everyone knows. Check it against gross profit too: if marketing would take more than about a third of gross profit, there is little left for wages, rent and profit.

Should a new business spend more on marketing?

Usually yes. A business under two years old has no word of mouth, reviews or rankings yet, so it has to pay to be found. The calculator adds two percentage points to each end of the range for a young business.

What does a marketing budget pay for?

Roughly 70% goes on the work people see (ads, content, listings, design) and 30% on the people and tools behind it (an agency or freelancer, software, tracking). The split shifts towards people when the budget is small.

Is £1,000 a month enough for marketing?

For a local service business turning over £150,000–£240,000 a year that wants steady growth, it is about right: 8% of £150,000 is £1,000 a month, and so is 5% of £240,000. Spent on one or two channels it is enough to learn what works. Spread across five, each gets too little to judge.

Should I cut marketing when sales fall?

Cut what is not working, not everything. A channel that brings customers at a profit is the last thing to stop, because the leads you stop paying for today become missing sales a month or two later. Reviews and rankings also take far longer to rebuild than to keep.

How do I set a marketing budget before I have any revenue?

Use the revenue you plan for your first year, choose Grow fast or launch and tick under two years. Treat the result as a ceiling, not a target, and check it against your cash, because there is no gross profit to pay for it yet. Spend in small steps and keep what brings customers.

Do staff salaries count as part of the marketing budget?

Count them if those people spend their time on marketing. A full-time marketer's salary is often larger than the whole people share the calculator shows, so the money for ads has to be found on top. Agency and freelancer fees count too.

How should I split the budget between Google Ads, SEO and social media?

Start where your buyers already look. People who search for what you sell are usually best reached through Google search ads and SEO; products people buy on impulse often do well on Facebook and Instagram. Fund one or two channels well enough to judge, then move money to the one that brings customers most cheaply. Our budget planner splits a monthly figure by channel for your business.

Should I spend the same on marketing every month?

Not if your sales are seasonal. Spend more in the weeks before your busy season, when people are choosing, and less in quiet months. Keep a steady base for SEO and reviews, which build slowly and suffer when switched on and off.

Is ad spend part of the marketing budget, or on top of it?

Ad spend is part of it: it is most of the 70% that goes on the work people see. Many agencies, ours included, bill ad spend separately from their fee, paid straight to Google, Meta or LinkedIn. When comparing quotes, check whether the price includes ad spend.

How often should I review my marketing budget?

Look at paid ads every month, the budget as a whole every quarter, and the share of revenue once a year. Move money between channels when one clearly brings customers more cheaply than another. Revisit the whole figure after a big change in revenue or margin.

What does Gartner's 7.7% figure mean for a small business?

It is the average share of revenue that marketing leaders at larger companies reported in 2024 and 2025. It sits within the steady-growth range for local services, B2B firms and hospitality, so it is a useful cross-check. It is not a target: a small online shop growing fast will usually need more.