Anchor Your Annual Marketing Budget in Reality

jennmontgomery28
Dec 16, 2025
8 min read

A DIY Guide to Designing a Budget that Fits Your Business

When you look at your business’ budget, do you have a category specific to marketing? Or does it feel like it’s just taking away from something else? Just like with a home who’s AC has broken down - if you don’t have it in your budget, it’s going to be painful when you really NEED it. So building in a category for marketing is a smart business move. But, if you’re like most business owners, you’re likely wondering how much you should spend, what to plan for, and maybe, where to even start?

A great time to work on figuring your budget is when you’re already planning for the new year (that is something you do, right?). Creating a marketing budget to match your annual strategic marketing plan doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. Let’s walk through it step-by-step:

Step 1: Determine what you want your marketing to do for you.

Ask yourself these three questions and answer them honestly - get rid of the “shoulds.”

What do you want to accomplish this year? Use your marketing plan as a roadmap; if you’ve already followed my TIDE Framework for an Annual Marketing Plan You’ll Actually Use, this question is likely already answered! If not, then consider your goals and what you might need to do to reach them.
What’s realistic for this stage in your business? Take a look at your revenue for this year and what your anticipated revenue is for next year (if you’re not sure, this may be a good time to tag in your CPA or financial advisor) to determine a reasonable amount that you can put toward marketing.
What do you actually need to do based on where you’re at in business? Once you have clarity on your goals and the financial boundaries you’re working with, you can look at what’s required and what makes the most sense for right now to pull it all together. Maybe your website is ready for a refresh, your branding could be stronger or more market-aligned, or maybe you’re looking at growth methods. Depending on what you’re working toward, it might be time to invest in design support (so you’re not DIYing), strategic advertising (to reach the right strangers), or email marketing (to warm up your prospects and clients).

Step 2: What Categories Can You Leverage for Your Marketing Budget?

Before you start assigning dollar amounts, it helps to break your marketing needs into clear categories. When you categorize your investments, you can prioritize to make sure every dollar has purpose.

Of course, every business is different. Here are some core categories to consider:

Branding

This focuses on ensuring your business looks and feels consistent to create the best customer experience. This can include items like your visual identity, daily-use templates, brand photography and brand messaging. (If you’re not sure which pieces of your branding need attention, download my Brand Touchpoint Checklist self-audit.)

If your business has not yet launched or just recently launched, expect to allocate 75-90% of your budget to this category.

Online Presence

With or without your involvement, your business exists online, and it’s usually the first impression that people see. You, as the business owner, want to control your online presence so it can build trust and connect you with your ideal clients. Online digital presence can include your website, social media, directories, and search engine visibility (SEO).

Product-based businesses tend to allocate more energy/funds to an SEO campaign because they’re trying to reach strangers, while service-based businesses rely more heavily on referrals and word of mouth, and don’t need as strong of an SEO campaign.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that your online presence is ever-changing; you need to be updating your photos and content as your business grows and evolves.

Content Creation

I always advocate for my clients to do their own content creation whenever possible. Who can tell your story and show what your business offers better than you, the creator? Content creation can include blogging, email newsletter writing, social media campaigns (paid and organic), and video. All of these efforts are designed to showcase your knowledge and the quality of your work, and it’s hard to recreate that passion as a third-party. If you choose to outsource, make sure you’re actively involved in the process.

Advertising

Advertising campaigns are your intentional (and most often paid) efforts to get in front of the right people at the right time. Advertising isn’t going to be a one-size-fits all effort; not all businesses will even need to pay for advertising. A lot of business owners think that the only way to advertise is on social media, but other options include Google Ads, paid directories, ads on/in specialized publications and websites, and, of course, physical advertising like postcards and flyers.

The key to successful advertising is to understand your ideal market: where they spend time, how they digest information, and what speaks to their values and needs best.

Software

An oftentimes overlooked category, software subscriptions that help you market are a key piece of a marketing budget, and will likely recur monthly or annually - though some businesses can leverage free versions for the first few years. Some examples of marketing-related software that you may need to pay for include:

A Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) that will help you manage your business/client relationships in several different forms, including book of business tracking, task tracking, and in some cases, social media management and email marketing. One of the most popular CRMs out there is Hubspot.
A social media management scheduling tool (i.e. Later, Sprout, Hootsuite, Buffer)
An email marketing platform (i.e. Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Kit)
Design tools that help you create if you’re DIYing (i.e. Canva, Adobe, CapCut)
Email signature host (i.e. Wisestamp, Signature Hound)
Website Design/Hosting (i.e. Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Wordpress plugins, BlueHost, etc.)

Outsourcing & Professional Support

As a business owner, you’re busy running the day-to-day operations (working in the business) and doing the tasks that are going to bring in revenue. So spending time working on the business and doing the back-end marketing tasks that take time and energy is taking away from those revenue-generating opportunities. If you’re spending an unbalanced amount of time not actively making money, then it might be time to outsource.

Here’s a real example: A business broker is going to be focused on communicating with clients who are interested in buying and selling businesses. Their focus is on in-person opportunities, networking, and finding their next client. To help in those tasks, they need an active content strategy in email or on social, and once they’re in the process of selling a business, they need outstanding materials that support the sale happening quickly. Passing these tasks on will help the business broker save time and energy, allowing them to focus on where the business needs them more: meeting new people and building relationships.

Calculator on a folder and notebook, implying the process of planning for an informed budget.

Step 3: Pick a Marketing Budget Level

When it comes to setting aside a dollar amount, the options will vary. The right investment depends on where your business is today, the goals you’re working toward, and how much growth you’re ready to support. The easiest way to approach marketing budgets is to break them into three levels. Each tier will give you room to choose what fits your business, and what you realistically need in the short- and long-term.

Low Budget ($3,000 - $7,500/yr): Ideal for new businesses and tight budgets. If you are a new business, be prepared to spend the majority of this budget to get you off the ground. I would highly recommend making sure you spend the money to set yourself up the way you imagined your business, rather than starting small and having to go back and change things later (i.e. don’t settle for ‘good enough’). If you have the ability, set aside a “launch budget” and then a separate marketing budget, even if it’s smaller for that first year. This looks like:
- You DIY most your marketing
- You write most of your own content
- You are not paying to advertise
- You are strategically and sparingly calling on your consultants for help (trading time for money)

Medium Budget ($8,000 - $30,000/yr): Ideal for the business owner ready for consistent, attainable growth without having to do everything themselves. Most often a long-term, repeatable budget. This looks like:
- You outsource at least half of your content and marketing tasks
- Consistently investing in expanding your brand presence
- You have systems in place that save you time (some paid, some free)
- You are trying a lot of strategies to see what works best for you and your ideal clients
- On the higher end of the budget, you’re likely running consistent monthly ads

High Budget ($30,000+/yr): Ideal for the business owners who have medium to large enterprises and are in aggressive growth mode. This looks like:
- You outsource (nearly) all of your marketing tasks, or have brought on a marketing staffer
- You run aggressive conversion-centric ad campaigns
- You pursue media, PR, speaking, and podcast opportunities regularly
- You no longer use free versions of systems because they don’t fit your needs

Step 4: Revisit Your Marketing Budget Quarterly

Marketing, and the budget that goes with it, is not a “set it and forget it” effort. You’ll need to revisit the plan and budget regularly to make sure you’re evaluating success, adjusting efforts, and amending the strategy as your business grows and changes. Checking quarterly and setting new goals annually is a great habit. Things to ask during your evaluation include:

What’s working?
What’s wasting money?
Where do you need more support?
Where can you pull back?
Consider what you don’t know. If a marketing effort still seems like a good idea but it's not quite working the way you’d hope, you may need a consultant to help bring your ideas to fruition in a way that’s going to make the right impact on your business.

Get Support for Your Marketing Plan, in Your Budget

As the year winds down, this is the perfect time to pause, take a breath and take an honest look at how your business performed over the past year.

Whether you’re mapping out your very first marketing plan, choosing which budget level makes sense for this season of business, or realizing it’s finally time to outsource the work that is draining your time, I’m here to help. If you’re ready for guidance, clarity, or hands-on support with any of the items in this blog, I’d love to collaborate with you to make sure you start your year with a plan that feels aligned, intentional and sustainable.

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Budget Must-Haves, Nice-to-Haves, and Cost-Saving Strategies

Post Glossary

Market-aligned: Your ideal client isn't everyone. Market-aligned means making strategic choices that make sense for your brand to best speak to the ideal person you want to work with. Click here to read a blog about determining who that is.

Email marketing: Sending out mass email to verified contacts through an email marketing platform like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or Kit to advertise, share information, promote new products, etc.

Visual identity: Often includes the things that people see from your brand, like your logo, colors, fonts, icons, and other design style choices.

Brand photography: Most often references photos of you, your spaces, your team, and the tools you use daily. It can also reference the style of photography that you use in your marketing materials (i.e. people photos, landscape photos, grayscale vs. color, etc.).

Social media campaigns (paid and organic): Social Media campaigns are the strategic curation of content that you share on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X (Twitter). Organic campaigns are the ones you're putting out for free, and paid campaigns are the ones you're paying real money to promote to the right people. Both can be effective when done well and consistently.