What should marketing cost?
You want a straight answer, not a shrug and an “it depends.” Type in your revenue and pick your stage. You’ll get a monthly range with the math written out, so you can check it yourself. Free. No email. No login. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Where the percentages come from
The anchor is SBA guidance. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends that businesses with under $5 million in annual revenue put 7–8% of gross revenue into marketing. Every result above is compared against it.
The stage bands are ours: steady is 5–7%, growing is 8–10%, new or turnaround is 10–12%. That’s a judgment call set around the SBA anchor, not a published standard.
What counts as marketing? All of it. Our fee if you hire us, ad spend, software, photography, printing, sponsorships, and the slice of someone’s salary spent on it. Don’t get us wrong, this part is boring. Do it anyway, because owners tend to compare a retainer against a budget that never included the other half.
Here at CPC, we aren’t afraid of a hot take: most small businesses should start at the low end of their range and move up only when the calls and booked jobs show it’s paying back.
Two places to take the number
The longer explanation
How owners usually get this number wrong, what belongs inside it, and when to spend less than the range says.
What marketing should cost a small businessWhat working with us costs
Three monthly retainers, a one-time strategy engagement, and a nonprofit rate. All published on the site, with what each month includes.
See the pricing pageThe number takes a minute. Where it goes is the work.
Bring your range to a 30-minute discovery call and we’ll sketch a first-pass split together. And if the honest answer is “spend less, or do it yourself for now,” we’ll tell you plainly.