How To Create Your 2026 Marketing Budget
Copy and pasting your budget from last year? Throwing out a random number? Randomly hiring here and there until you can't afford it anymore?
Creating a annual marketing budget is key for any business, big or small. With small-to-medium size businesses, especially with a tight budget at the end of the year, it can be challenging to build a budget for the new year.
When it comes to where to start with building a budget, this blog will walk you through it all.
Step One: Review Your 2025 Metrics
What worked in 2025? What didn't? Go over the amount of time, money, and effort you spent this year, and what you got back from that. Here are a few key metrics that can be helpful to pull:
Revenue attributed to marketing.
Cost per lead (CPL) and cost per acquisition (CPA).
Website traffic sources + conversion rates.
Email list growth + engagement.
Social media performance tied to conversions, not vanity metrics.
Identify channels that gave the best ROI.
Step Two: Outline Your Business Goals
Your budget should be directly tied to your goals. Ensure that you are starting off the year on the right note with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals.
Step Three: Think About The Stage of Your Business
Where is your business at currently? Not only the age of your business, but your brand recognition, growth, and/or anything you are launching soon can be important components of your marketing strategy and budget in 2026.
Beginning Stages or Launching Something New (Rebrand, new products)
It's typically recommend to have 12–20% of gross revenue attributed to your marketing budget. Your goals are likely brand recognition, establishing trust, building your audience and focusing on community.
Established & Growing
It's typically recommend to have 8–12% of gross revenue attributed to your marketing budget. Your goals are likely growing your audience, segmenting your audience, and scaling your platforms.
Stable businesses
It's typically recommend to have 5–8% of gross revenue attributed to your marketing budget. Your goals are likely audience retention, brand authority, and continuing to foster your community.
Step Four: Break It Down by Category
Where are you focusing your efforts? Think about all the marketing categories you are currently doing, or want to put focus in the future — content Marketing, paid ads, email & CRM, branding, website, and the tools, tech, and team that aligns with each, too.
Step Five: Break It Down By Quarter
If you are in Q4 right now with no budget left...that's your sign that you need to allocate funds per quarter to ensure you are creating a cash-flow friendly plan. Consider seasonal launches and shifts and make sure that aligns with each category.
Step Six: Set Up Tracking
All of your marketing channels should have tracking systems and processes in place. To make it easier on your future-self, make sure you take the time to set up this step so you can make adjustments during the year where you see fit.
We hope you found this guide helpful! The holidays and the start of a new year can be crazy, but taking the time to plan your marketing budget now will pay off all year long. Without a clear plan and goals in place, your business can be a stressor.
