Every pound spent on marketing must prove its worth. A marketing campaign, however, is only as successful as the money it earns back.
Without a clear budget, marketing campaigns overlap, costs spiral, and tracking results becomes difficult. A well-structured digital marketing plan creates visibility into where you want the money to go, what should drive returns, and how each marketing channel contributes to growth.
A key part of every plan is the budget. This guide covers everything you need to create a practical digital marketing budget: benchmarks, a five-step framework, and budget examples. You’ll also see how Moss simplifies the process by standardising approvals and improving visibility into marketing-related spend across budgets and teams.
Digital marketing budget explained
A digital marketing budget plan defines how much a business allocates to each online channel — from paid search and social ads↗ to SEO and email marketing. Here’s what makes this plan distinct and why modern businesses need one.
Digital marketing budget vs. overall marketing budget
A digital marketing budget is one section of a broader marketing budget. Traditional marketing strategies cover factors like events and print materials. Digital marketing strategies offer precise tracking of every click, view, and conversion that happens online.
For most early-stage SMBs, digital marketing channels consume the majority of marketing spend because the potential return on investment is quite high. Plus, online platforms allow for better targeting, faster feedback, and lower entry costs.
Why businesses need a marketing budget
A marketing budget removes guesswork from spending decisions and forces leadership to define priorities before spending. Without deciding what’s most important ahead of time, marketing becomes reactive: Teams chase trends, overspend on low-turn activities, and struggle to justify investments. Keeping campaigns proactive requires an understanding of what drives results and where to spend.
How much should digital marketing cost?
Most experts recommend allocating 6–20% of gross revenue↗ to marketing for early-stage SMBs, with the majority dedicated to digital marketing channels. Businesses in competitive sectors such as SaaS or e-commerce often allocate even more spend to marketing for faster customer acquisition.
Average total marketing spend and benchmarks
On average, U.K. SMBs typically allocate around 7% of annual revenue↗ to marketing campaigns. B2B companies in services and consulting often spend around 6%↗, whilst retail and consumer brands push closer to 10%. SaaS businesses frequently invest 15% or more↗ during growth phases because they need to acquire customers quickly, build brand recognition, and secure market share before competitors do.
Paid vs. organic: How much should go where?
There's no standard split for SMBs since it depends on your goals. Paid marketing↗ delivers quick results and targeted reach, but it costs money every time you want to run a campaign.
Organic strategies like SEO and content marketing require more time but offer compounding value — once you rank well or build an audience, traffic continues flowing without ongoing ad spend. 79% of high-performing companies spend over 10% of their marketing budgets↗ on content creation. This includes organic SEO, writing, and publishing, with the rest going to paid channels.
5 steps to calculate your digital marketing budget
Building a market budget means starting with what you know — performance data and business goals — then adjusting based on results. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Review past performance and ROI
Start by analysing what the company has already spent, and track the results of those campaigns. Look at each marketing channel, and calculate the return of investment (ROI). Even a few months of data can reveal patterns about which channels deliver the highest-quality leads and inform future allocation decisions.
Step 2: Know your numbers
Your marketing budget must align with core financial metrics↗. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) that suit your goals best. For instance, calculate your customer acquisition cost and compare it to customer lifetime value (CLV). If you’re spending £150 to acquire a customer who generates £100 in CLV, that’s unsustainable.
Step 3: Define your audience and channels
Identify the two or three channels most likely to reach your target audience at scale, then allocate the majority of the budget there.
For example, B2B SMBs may get the best results on LinkedIn because of the professional audience. But e-commerce brands might prioritise Instagram and Google Shopping due to the platforms’ focus on visual discovery and purchase intent.
Step 4: Break down costs
Divide your budget into a few main areas. Start with your people costs — whether employees, contractors, or agencies — because they’re fixed. Determine how much time team members will devote to the project, whether that’s in hours or by project, and subtract it from the total budget.
From there, allocate the rest based on the following guidelines:
- Advertising (paid search, social media ads, display campaigns) typically consumes 40–60% of the total digital budget.
- Content marketing tends to account for 15–25%, covering creation, management tools, and distribution.
- Tools and software often require 5–15% for analytics, automation, and CRM — effective subscription management↗ helps control these recurring costs.
Understanding which expenses are essential or discretionary↗ also helps you prioritise spend and maintain flexibility when budgets tighten. People and tools remain fixed, while advertising and content budgets flex depending on cash flow and marketing spend results.
Step 5: Monitor and adjust your budget
Set a cadence for budget reviews↗: monthly for fast-moving businesses, quarterly for longer sales cycles. Compare actual spend to planned allocations, and assess performance against business goals.
While solid plans often reduce the need to react, it’s best to stay flexible. If a channel exceeds targets, it may be best to increase its budget mid-cycle. If something underperforms — adjust your plan quickly. Pause low-performing campaigns, redirect budget to what’s working, or test a different approach. Don’t wait until quarter-end to cut what isn’t delivering.
Digital marketing budget: Template and tools
Here are some realistic marketing budget examples and platforms to help manage your plan.
Sample marketing budget breakdown (SMB vs. enterprise)
An early-stage SMB with £500,000 in annual revenue might allocate £50,000 to digital marketing (10% of revenue):
- People: £10,000 (20%)
- Paid advertising: £25,000 (50%)
- Content marketing: £10,000 (20%)
- Tools and software: £5,000 (10%)
An enterprise with £10 million in revenue might allocate £700,000 (7% of revenue):
- People: £210,000 (30%)
- Paid advertising: £280,000 (40%)
- Content marketing: £140,000 (20%)
- Tools and software: £70,000 (10%)
The SMB focuses heavily on paid acquisition because organic channels haven’t matured. The enterprise still invests a decent amount in paid to maintain their market position, but uses the difference to increase headcount.
Tools to track your marketing budget
Most businesses start with spreadsheets for budget tracking. Excel or Google Sheets work well for simple budgets but become cumbersome as complexity grows.
Scaling teams typically need dedicated budget tools, but the subscription budget doesn’t always allow enterprise-grade platforms. Moss provides automated tracking of and visibility over company spend↗ without the weight of specialised marketing software. It links transactions to budgets and categories so teams can compare actual spend against their planned allocations.
How Moss helps with digital marketing budget allocation
Here’s how Moss strengthens and streamlines your marketing budget plan.
Real-time expense visibility
Moss consolidates card, invoice, and reimbursement transactions in one place. You can track how spend is allocated across budgets, teams, and categories, and use upcoming versus spent amounts to keep your marketing initiatives within budget. This spend visibility improves strategic decision making and forecasting.
Automated approvals
Marketing teams need quick access to funds for time-sensitive opportunities like conference sponsorships with tight deadlines and expiring promotional ad rates. Moss automatically routes spend requests to the right approvers based on your approval policies, for example by amount, team, or cost centre, or other criteria, so decisions happen quickly and consistently. The right person can put their stamp on each transaction faster, keeping workflows smooth.
Take control of your marketing budget with Moss
A well-structured digital marketing plan brings clarity to growth decisions. Build your budget by understanding past performance, setting measurable business goals, and breaking down costs into clear categories. Don’t sweat the small stuff — let Moss manage the details so you can focus on big-picture strategies.
Moss automates approvals and centralises company spend in one place, giving finance and marketing teams a clear, up-to-date view of expenses. The platform simplifies budget management so you can enjoy marketing results without the headache.
Monitor and manage your spend confidently with Moss↗.
