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How Much Should You Spend on Marketing to Hit Your Number?

How much should you spend on marketing to hit your number? Start from your new revenue goal, decide how much of it marketing should source, and see the budget it takes, per month and per quarter.

The goal

New business only, not renewals.

The rest come from outbound sales, referrals, partners, and similar.

What a customer costs marketing

Marketing spend divided by the customers it brought in. The CAC calculator can help you work it out.

Starting values are an example, not benchmarks. Replace them with your own numbers.

Marketing budget needed

$180,000

$15,000 a month for 12 months, to bring in 12 of the 20 new customers.

Per quarter

$45,000

Share of the new revenue goal

18%

Customers from marketing

12

worth about $600,000

Marketing cost per customer

$15,000

What the budget looks like at different costs per customer

For 12 marketing-sourced customers over 12 months.

Cost per customerBudgetPer monthShare of goal
$7,500 (50%)$90,000$7,5009%
$11,250 (75%)$135,000$11,25014%
$15,000 (yours)$180,000$15,00018%
$18,750 (125%)$225,000$18,75023%
$22,500 (150%)$270,000$22,50027%
$30,000 (200%)$360,000$30,00036%

Why start from the goal

Most marketing budgets start from last year's budget or a percent of revenue. Neither tells you whether the spend can actually deliver the growth you're planning. Working backward from the goal does: how many customers you need, how many of them marketing should bring in, and what each one costs to win.

The formulas

  • New customers needed = new revenue goal ÷ average contract value, rounded up.
  • Customers from marketing = new customers needed × share from marketing, rounded up.
  • Marketing cost per customer = your number, or cost per lead ÷ lead to customer rate.
  • Marketing budget = customers from marketing × marketing cost per customer.
  • Per month = budget ÷ months. Per quarter = budget ÷ (months ÷ 3).

Getting the inputs right

  • Marketing cost per customer should include everything marketing spends: ads, tools, content, events, agencies, and the marketing team's pay. If you only count ad spend, the budget will come out too low. The customer acquisition cost calculator can help you work it out.
  • Share from marketing is a planning choice, not just a history lesson. If sales is going to carry more of the load through outbound, lower it, and plan that capacity separately.
  • Timing matters. Spend usually has to land before the revenue does. If your sales cycle is long, front-load the budget so pipeline exists in time. The revenue goal calculator shows how much of your window is left once the sales cycle is accounted for.

How to use the result

If the budget is more than you can spend, you have three levers: lower the cost per customer, raise the average contract value, or shift more of the goal to other channels. The table above shows how much the cost per customer alone moves the number. Either way, you go into budget season with a number tied to the goal, not a guess.

Need help turning these numbers into a growth strategy?

Calculators can help you understand the numbers. Building a repeatable growth engine requires the right strategy, positioning, execution, and measurement. Robert Gilbreath works with founders and leadership teams to develop practical go-to-market and marketing growth programs.

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