

Creating a marketing budget for your business is a critical step in your marketing strategy. Without a detailed budget and a well-thought-out marketing plan, you could end up spending more than you intended on your marketing efforts or spending less than you should have to get results.
This spreadsheet provides space to list your budget for brand development, public relations, advertising, website development, market research, sales and event support, and marketing travel.
How much should you spend on your marketing budget? That depends on several factors, including:
Keep in mind that marketing is an investment, not an expense. Marketing is how you let people know about your business and persuade them to buy your product or service, so it’s not something you can do without.
However, there are ways to reduce your marketing costs without shortchanging results. For example, you might decide to use a freelance marketing consultant rather than hiring a marketing or PR agency, or to focus your efforts on more affordable digital marketing tactics rather than pricey print marketing materials.
You can modify the Annual Marketing Budget template as needed to fit your business’s unique marketing situation.
Using our Quick Start Marketing Plan tool will help you compile a range of actions and solutions that you can tailor to your business.
Copyright © 2023 SCORE Association, SCORE.org
Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.