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A marketing budget calculator starts from revenue, because that is how most companies set the number. In The CMO Survey of 2026, companies spent a mean of 9 percent of revenue on marketing, but the median was 5 percent: half spend less, half more. For a business with EUR 500,000 in revenue that is EUR 25,000 a year at the median and around EUR 50,000 for a service firm set on growth. If you would rather start from the growth you want, the calculator works the budget back from customers, leads and the cost of a lead.
It then splits the budget over website, SEO, ads, content and measurement, and warns when a channel gets too little to do anything. The split exports as a CSV for any spreadsheet.
Marketing budget as a share of revenue
Two large surveys give a starting point. The CMO Survey, run by Duke, Deloitte and the American Marketing Association, asks more than 300 marketing leaders each year; in 2026 marketing came to a mean of 8.96 percent of revenue and a median of 5 percent. Gartner's CMO Spend Survey landed at 7.8 percent of revenue in 2026, up from 7.7 percent in 2025, among 401 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, most of them at companies above USD 1 billion in revenue. Neither measures European SMEs, so read them as a direction rather than a rule.
The spread by type of business is wide. These are the spring 2026 averages, and what they mean at EUR 500,000 revenue:
| What you sell | Average share of revenue | Per year at EUR 500,000 | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products to consumers | 12.0% | EUR 60,000 | EUR 5,000 |
| Services to businesses | 10.1% | EUR 50,500 | EUR 4,208 |
| Services to consumers | 7.2% | EUR 36,000 | EUR 3,000 |
| Products to businesses | 7.0% | EUR 35,000 | EUR 2,917 |
| Median, all companies | 5.0% | EUR 25,000 | EUR 2,083 |
Hold, grow or launch
The calculator fills in a share from your type of business and phase. To hold your position it starts at the 5 percent median. To grow it takes the average for your type. To launch a new offer, a new country or a new language, it takes one and a half times that average, capped at 20 percent. The phases are our rule of thumb, not a measurement.
Entering a new country is a launch in its own right. A business that sells well at home starts from zero in a new language: no reviews, no rankings, no one searching for its name. Budget that market on its own line rather than as a slice of the home budget. For Belgium that means two markets, Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia, with Brussels in both, and a multilingual website that serves each.
Marketing budget by company size
A percentage feels abstract until you see it per month. At a small revenue little is left per channel, and that is exactly where choosing pays.
| Revenue per year | 5% (median) | 7% | 10.1% | Per month at 5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR 150,000 | EUR 7,500 | EUR 10,500 | EUR 15,150 | EUR 625 |
| EUR 500,000 | EUR 25,000 | EUR 35,000 | EUR 50,500 | EUR 2,083 |
| EUR 1,000,000 | EUR 50,000 | EUR 70,000 | EUR 101,000 | EUR 4,167 |
| EUR 3,000,000 | EUR 150,000 | EUR 210,000 | EUR 303,000 | EUR 12,500 |
A sole trader with EUR 150,000 in revenue has EUR 625 a month at the median: enough for one channel that works, not for five that each get a little.
Spread thin or chosen
EUR 250,000 revenue × 5 percent = EUR 12,500 a year
Over five channels
The calculator's split for leads
Website2,500
SEO3,125
Ads4,375
Content and social1,875
Tools and measurement625
Three channels under their floor
On two channels
Ads off, SEO and content chosen
SEO7,200
Content and social3,600
Website and measurement1,700
Every channel at or above its floor
- reaches the floor
- under the floor
- floor per year
Amounts in euros a year, before VAT. The floor is 12 times the monthly minimum Belgian agencies and price guides name: SEO 500, ads 1,000 and content 300 euros.
What each channel costs a month in Belgium
A budget becomes a plan once you know what each channel costs. These are market prices from our price guides, on 22 October 2026, before VAT, mostly from Belgian and Dutch agencies. An agency in the UK or Germany tends to charge more, one in Central Europe less. The last column is the floor below which the calculator calls a channel too thin.
| Channel | What the market asks | Floor in the calculator |
|---|---|---|
| Building a website | With us from EUR 1,500 for a one-pager, EUR 5,000 or more for a large site, once | none |
| Running the website | A .be domain at Combell is EUR 46.99 a year outside promotions; hosting and changes come on top | none |
| SEO | EUR 500 to 2,500 a month in Flanders, 500 to 1,500 for a local SME | EUR 500 a month |
| Google Ads | At least EUR 1,000 a month in clicks in Flanders, plus EUR 500 to 1,500 for management | EUR 1,000 a month |
| Meta ads | From EUR 15 to 25 a day | counts under ads |
| Social media and content | EUR 300 to 2,000 with a freelancer, 500 to 5,000 with an agency | EUR 300 a month |
| One agency for everything | EUR 2,000 to 5,000 a month for full service | none |
The detail per channel sits in our guides to SEO cost, Google Ads cost, Facebook ads cost, social media management pricing and digital agency cost.
Count launch and upkeep apart
The first year almost always costs more than the second. A new site, a shoot or a rebrand is paid once; SEO, ads and content run every month. Enter a one-off cost separately in the calculator and you see your first year next to your normal yearly budget, so a new site does not quietly eat the ad budget.
Treat the build as an investment that lasts years and the upkeep as a fixed cost. A custom site without plugins needs little upkeep; a WordPress site with ten plugins needs updates every month. Choosing between the two is covered in Lovable vs WordPress.
Budget from a growth goal
Choose A growth goal in the calculator and it works bottom up. A worked example of our own for a service firm with EUR 500,000 in revenue.
- Extra revenue divided by what a customer bringsYou want EUR 100,000 in extra revenue and a new customer brings EUR 2,500 in the first year. You need 40 new customers.
- Customers divided by your closing rateIf one lead in four signs, 40 customers means 160 leads a year, about 13 a month.
- Leads times what a lead costsAt EUR 50 a lead, the worked example of our Google Ads calculator, acquisition costs EUR 8,000 a year.
- Plus what runs anywayWebsite, tools and a fixed SEO fee: at EUR 500 a month that is EUR 6,000 a year. Together EUR 14,000, or 2.8 percent of revenue.
- Compare with the share of revenue2.8 percent sits below the 5 percent median. If your cost per lead holds, the goal is cheap; if it does not, a month of measuring will tell you.
Three businesses, three budgets
Three worked examples of our own. Type them into the calculator and you get the same amounts.
A sole trader with EUR 120,000 in revenue
Services to consumers, phase grow: 7.2 percent, or EUR 8,640 a year. Split for leads, SEO gets EUR 180 a month, ads 252 and content 108. All three sit under their floor, and the calculator says so. With a website already in place, she switches off website, ads and content: SEO gets EUR 600 a month, measurement 120. One channel that works instead of three that do nothing.
An online store with EUR 800,000 in revenue
Products to consumers, grow: 12 percent, or EUR 96,000 a year. With the goal sell online, EUR 3,600 a month goes to ads, 1,600 to SEO and 1,200 to content. Every channel reaches its floor. What matters here is the margin per order: check it with the margin calculator and your ads with the ROAS calculator.
A B2B service firm of ten people
EUR 1.5 million in revenue. At the 10.1 percent average that is EUR 151,500 a year. From a growth goal it looks different: EUR 150,000 extra, EUR 10,000 per customer, one lead in five signs and a lead costs EUR 67, the cost per lead our Google Ads budget calculator gives for business services. That is 15 customers and 75 leads, or EUR 5,025 in acquisition. With EUR 1,500 a month in fixed costs it comes to EUR 23,025, 1.5 percent of revenue. The gap between the two methods is what you put into brand, content and the long term. Decide on purpose how much of it you want.
What the calculator leaves out
- Choosing your channelsThe split per goal is a starting point. Whether SEO or ads pay off first for you is covered in SEO vs GEO and in what a marketing agency does.
- Your own timeIf you post or write yourself, you pay in hours instead of euros.
- SalariesAn in-house marketer is not in the calculator; employer costs differ by country.
- The plan itselfPut your figures in the marketing plan template and plan the work with the content calendar template.
Budget per month and per channel
What percentage of revenue should go to marketing?
In The CMO Survey of 2026 the mean was 8.96 percent and the median 5 percent. Gartner found 7.8 percent among large companies. Companies selling products to consumers spent 12 percent on average, those selling products to businesses 7 percent.
How much does a small business spend on marketing per month?
At the 5 percent median, EUR 2,083 a month on EUR 500,000 revenue and EUR 4,167 on EUR 1 million. In Belgium an SEO retainer starts around EUR 500 a month and Google Ads around EUR 1,000 in clicks.
Is 5 percent of revenue enough?
To hold your position it often is: it is the median. To grow or to enter a new country, 5 percent is below what most companies in that situation spend.
Does the website belong in the marketing budget?
Yes. It is where your ads, your SEO and your posts send people. Count the build as a one-off cost in the first year and the upkeep every year.
Can I take the budget into a spreadsheet?
Yes. Download the CSV under the result. It holds the share, the amount per year and per month for every channel, with commas and decimal points.
Are my figures stored?
No. The calculator runs in your browser. Your figures only sit in the page address, so you can share the result.