Allocate your marketing budget across channels intelligently. Enter your total budget, business type and goals to see recommended channel splits, expected leads per channel and blended CAC at your budget level.
| Channel | Allocation | Monthly Spend | Est. Leads | Est. CAC |
|---|
Marketing budget allocation is part science, part test-and-learn. Industry benchmarks provide a starting framework — but the right allocation depends on your business model, stage, margins and channel-specific performance data. Understanding how different business types typically allocate spend, and what to expect from each channel, prevents the most common mistake: over-investing in low-ROI channels before validating performance.
| Business Type | Typical Budget (% Revenue) | Top Channel | CAC Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce / Retail | 8–15% | Paid Search + Social | £15–£80 |
| SaaS / Software | 20–35% | Content + Paid Search | £50–£300 |
| B2B Services | 5–10% | Events + Content | £80–£500 |
| Local Services | 3–8% | Google Local + Social | £20–£80 |
| Professional Services | 5–8% | Referrals + Content | £100–£400 |
General benchmarks: B2B companies 5-10% of revenue, B2C consumer brands 10-20%, SaaS high-growth 20-40% of ARR. Early-stage companies often invest more (20-40%) during growth phases; mature profitable businesses reduce toward 5-15%. The correct number depends on your growth ambitions, CAC payback period, LTV and competitive dynamics. Underspending vs market is a missed opportunity; overspending with poor unit economics is a cash drain.
Email marketing typically delivers the highest ROAS (£35-42 per £1 spent on average, per DMA data) because the list is an owned asset and operational costs are low. Referral programs also deliver extremely high ROI. For acquisition, Google Search typically outperforms social because of purchase intent. The best channel for your business depends on where your customers search, what they consume and at what price point your product becomes worth paid search.
Three essential tracking foundations: (1) UTM parameters on all paid links to identify channel source in Google Analytics; (2) Conversion tracking in Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager; (3) A CRM that records customer source from first touch to closed deal. For multi-channel attribution: GA4 uses data-driven attribution by default; tools like Triple Whale or Northbeam provide more sophisticated cross-channel attribution for DTC brands.