“How much should we spend on marketing?” It’s an easy question to ask, but not necessarily so easy to answer. Pick a percentage of revenue, plug it into the annual budget and move on, right?
Well, not quite.
There are plenty of benchmarks out there to help you do just that. According to Forrester, for example, the average B2B company dedicates 8% of annual revenue to marketing. Gartner, on the other hand, found that average to be slightly lower, at 7.8% in 2026. But averages aren’t exactly a solid recommendation of how much your company needs to spend.
Instead, they show you what companies in general are spending. Forrester noted quite a range in manufacturing marketing budgets when looking specifically at production and manufacturing companies, while coming to a similar average.
So, if there’s no magic marketing budget number, where do you start?
What Determines Your Marketing Budget?
Your marketing budget depends first and foremost on what you’re trying to accomplish. A manufacturer looking to maintain its current position has very different marketing needs than one planning to launch a new product, enter a new market or significantly grow sales.
Truth is, what it takes to support those goals can vary quite a bit. Company size and revenue certainly matter. So do your growth goals, market maturity, sales cycle and what you already have in place. A company with a strong website, established SEO presence and consistent lead-generation program isn’t starting from the same position as one whose website hasn’t been touched in over a decade.
Your sales cycle matters, too. Manufacturing purchases can take months, or even longer, and often involve multiple decision-makers. That means marketing may need to work well before a buyer is ready to request a quote and continue working throughout the decision-making process.
Then there’s the really big question: Are you maintaining or growing your business?
Maintenance vs. Growth Marketing Budgets
If you’re simply trying to maintain where you are currently standing, your budget should probably reflect that. Enough to keep your company visible, support existing customers, and continue programs that are working well.
If you’re looking to grow, however, you’ll need to spend more. Growing your reach into new markets, launching new products, and hitting ambitious revenue goals all require additional efforts, resources and investment.
Also keep in mind dollars that can fund your current marketing activities likely won’t be enough to achieve your growth goals. Trying to stretch a maintenance budget to support growth is where many manufacturers start to get frustrated.
Build the Budget Around Your Goals
Using a percentage of revenue isn’t necessarily a bad place to start. It can help you see how your spending compares with other businesses and act as a useful rule of thumb.
However, it shouldn’t make the full decision for you.
A goal-based approach flips the entire process around. Instead of asking, “What percentage should we spend?” try asking, “What are we trying to accomplish?”
Say you want to generate a certain amount of new business next year. How many new customers would that require? How many qualified opportunities does sales typically need to close those customers? And what kind of marketing activity will it take to generate those opportunities?
Working backward gives your budget a justified reason to be what it is.
It can also help you prioritize spending when your marketing budget isn’t limitless. Most manufacturers can’t, or really shouldn’t, invest equally in every available marketing channel. If the budget only stretches so far, spend where you need to reach your goals, and cut back where you can afford to do so.
Where Should Your Marketing Dollars Go?
Once you have a number in mind, the next question is where to put it.
Website and SEO
Always start with the foundation. Your website and marketing materials are often the first stop for customers researching you and your competitors. Invest enough in your website and supporting SEO to make sure they can actually find it.
Digital Marketing Channels
From there, your mix might include paid search, email, social media, video and other content designed to generate or nurture demand. The right combination depends on where your customers spend their time and how they make buying decisions.
Balancing your short-term and long-term needs matters as well. Paid search, for example, can put your company in front of buyers actively looking for a solution. SEO and content generally take longer to gain traction, but they can continue building visibility long after an ad campaign ends. A healthy manufacturing digital marketing budget usually needs room for both.
Trade Show Marketing Costs
And then there are trade shows.
The booth itself may be the most obvious expense, but it’s hardly the only one. Travel, hotels, shipping, staffing, displays, promotional materials and pre- and post-show marketing all contribute to the real cost of attending. Trade shows are important, but you should approach them as part of your marketing budget, not standalone expenses.
In-House vs. Outsourced Marketing
Finally, think about who is actually going to do the work. Will your internal team manage your own SEO, create content, design ads, and fly to trade shows? Perhaps, if you have the bandwidth. An in-house marketing team can be a great asset, especially when it comes to deep industry knowledge. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan to allocate budget towards outside vendors.
Your budget should account for outside help with strategy, web development, SEO, paid ads, video development, or any other tasks that require resources you don’t have.
Once the budget is set, there’s still the million-dollar question: Are you getting enough in return?
Is Your Marketing Investment Actually Working?
This, of course, brings us back to the question: How do you know if you’re spending too much or too little on marketing?
Traffic, impressions, clicks and engagement can all tell you something. But none of them, by themselves, tell you whether your marketing investment is paying off.
Are you generating qualified opportunities? Is marketing contributing to pipeline? Are the right prospects finding you? Are those opportunities eventually becoming customers?
The answers may take time. That’s especially true in manufacturing, where sales cycles tend to be longer and investments like SEO and content are built to compound rather than produce overnight results.
That doesn’t mean you wait a year and hope for the best. Track what’s working, connect marketing activity to business outcomes where you can and adjust the budget as you learn.
Because ultimately, the right manufacturing marketing budget is the one that supports what your business is trying to accomplish and gives your marketing enough room to actually accomplish it.
Spend With Purpose
There’s no universal percentage or silver bullet answer that can tell every manufacturer exactly what to spend on marketing.
Benchmarks can give you context. Your business goals should give you the answer.
At Cain & Company, we help manufacturers and industrial brands build marketing strategies around where they want to go and what they truly want to achieve, not just what everyone else is spending.
