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Stop guessing your marketing spend. This calculator helps small business owners, from medical practices to local shops, estimate an effective budget.
Your business's total revenue over the last 12 months. This sets the scale for your budget.
Default: 500000
The percentage of revenue left after deducting the cost of goods sold. This impacts how much you can afford to spend on customer acquisition.
Default: 40
How many new customers do you aim to acquire in the next 12 months through marketing efforts?
Default: 50
The average total revenue you expect from a single customer over their entire relationship with your business.
Default: 5000
How competitive is your industry or local market for new clients? Higher competition often means higher marketing costs.
Default: Medium
Enter what you are currently spending per month on all marketing activities. Use 0 if you are not spending anything.
Default: 0
Your marketing budget is calculated by first determining a target Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) based on your Average Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and gross profit margin. We then factor in your desired number of new customers and adjust for your industry's competition level. A baseline marketing spend percentage (based on revenue) is also considered, with a heavier weight given to your new customer acquisition goals.
A well-established dental practice ($1.5M annual revenue) aiming to add 10 new patients per month, where each patient has a high LTV.
Recommended Monthly Budget: ~$8,000 - $10,000
This practice has a high LTV, allowing for a higher CAC. To consistently acquire 10 new high-value patients monthly in a competitive medical niche, a significant budget is needed. This supports both SEO for long-term patient acquisition and targeted Google Ads for immediate bookings.
A new restaurant just opened ($300K projected annual revenue) needing to quickly build a customer base in a moderately competitive area.
Recommended Monthly Budget: ~$3,000 - $4,500
New businesses often need to spend a higher percentage of their revenue initially to gain traction. The lower LTV of restaurant customers means a tighter CAC, but aggressive new customer goals require a solid launch budget for local SEO and targeted social media ads.
A professional services firm ($1M annual revenue) seeking 2-3 new high-value clients per quarter, with a very high LTV per client.
Recommended Monthly Budget: ~$5,500 - $7,500
Even with fewer new clients targeted, the extremely high LTV in professional services justifies a substantial marketing investment. This budget would support sophisticated content marketing, programmatic SEO, and highly targeted LinkedIn Ads to reach specific decision-makers.
Skip the spreadsheet
Armitage tracks these numbers automatically across SEO and paid ads. One dashboard. Updated daily. No manual exports.
See your real numbersThis calculator uses industry benchmarks for marketing spend as a percentage of revenue, adjusted by factors like gross profit margin, desired new customer acquisition, average customer lifetime value (LTV), and market competition.
There's no single answer. It depends on your industry, growth goals, and current market position. New businesses often spend more (12-20% of revenue) to establish themselves. Established businesses aiming for steady growth might spend 6-12%. This calculator helps you tailor that percentage to your specific situation, factoring in your profit margins and customer value.
Highly competitive industries, like certain medical specialties or legal services, typically require a larger investment to stand out. Less competitive local markets might allow for a more conservative budget. The calculator considers industry competition to provide a more realistic estimate for your specific business.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) tells you how much revenue a customer brings over their relationship with your business. Knowing your LTV helps you understand how much you can afford to spend to acquire a new customer (CAC) while remaining profitable. If a customer is worth a lot over time, you can justify a higher initial marketing investment to win them.
Smart businesses don't choose one or the other; they combine them. Paid ads deliver immediate leads and sales, filling your pipeline now. SEO builds long-term organic authority and traffic, compounding over time. Your budget should reflect a balanced strategy, investing in both for immediate results and sustainable growth. This avoids the 'either/or' trap many agencies push.
You should review your marketing budget at least quarterly, if not monthly. Market conditions change, campaigns perform differently, and your business goals can evolve. Regular review allows you to reallocate funds to what's working best, stop spending on underperforming channels, and ensure your investment always aligns with your strategic objectives.
Many business owners share this pain. Often, it's due to agencies focusing on vanity metrics or pushing a single channel when a combined approach was needed. This calculator helps you set a budget that supports a holistic strategy, emphasizing measurable ROI. It's about investing in a system that compounds, not just spending money on isolated tactics.
Armitage monitors your marketing metrics across every channel, every day. Get a free growth audit to see where you stand.
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