How Much Should Businesses Spend on Marketing in 2026 If They Actually Want to Grow?

One of the most common conversations I have with business owners starts like this:

“We need to grow, but if we spend too much on marketing, we won’t be profitable.”

The problem with that thought process, is that growth and marketing investment are closely connected.

There is no universal percentage that every business should spend on marketing. Industry, margins, company size, existing brand awareness, customer acquisition costs and growth objectives all matter.

But if your goal is meaningful growth, rather than simply maintaining your current position, the data suggests that 10-15% of revenue is becoming an increasingly reasonable range to plan around. And if we really look at the data, this percentage range hasn’t really changed in the last decade. But don’t just take my word for it, let’s discuss why this is.

And in some cases, particularly for smaller businesses, digital-first companies, new brands or businesses entering new markets, that number should be even higher.

What are businesses spending on marketing in 2026?

Two major studies give us a useful starting point.

Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey found that marketing budgets average 7.8% of company revenue.

The 2026 CMO Survey, sponsored by Duke University, Deloitte and the American Marketing Association, reported an average of 8.96% of company revenue.

At first glance, that might suggest that 8-9% is enough, but there is an important piece of context.

Gartner also found that 56% of CMOs say they do not have enough budget to execute their 2026 strateg, while 73% describe the growth expectations placed on marketing as high, very high or overly ambitious.

In other words, the average amount being spent is not necessarily the amount required to achieve the growth businesses expect.

If your business wants to outperform the market, acquire significantly more customers or take market share from competitors, planning to spend materially less than the market average while expecting above-average growth is difficult to reconcile.

Smaller businesses often spend significantly more

Marketing budget percentages also change dramatically based on the size of the company.

According to the 2026 CMO Survey:

Annual company revenue	Marketing as % of revenue
Under $10 million	13.34%
$10 million-$25 million	17.40%
$26 million-$99 million	11.14%
$100 million-$499 million	5.86%
$500 million-$999 million	6.86%
$1 billion-$9.9 billion	5.70%

This makes sense when we think about a billion-dollar company already enormous brand awareness, an established customer base, strong organic search visibility, distribution channels, repeat customers and significant direct traffic.

A $5 million or $20 million business trying to double in size often does not have those same advantages and therefore has to actively create that demand.

That can mean investing in paid advertising, content, SEO, AEO and GEO, brand awareness, email and SMS, technology, conversion optimization, research, creative, customer retention and other growth activities.

That is why applying the marketing percentage of a massive established corporation to a growing small or mid-sized business can dramatically understate what is actually required for that individual business.

What percentage should a growth-focused business plan for?

Let’s break this down in simpler math:

5-7% of revenue: Protect the business

At this level, the priority is generally maintaining existing market presence, supporting retention and capturing existing demand.

Growth may still happen, but the business will likely depend heavily on referrals, repeat customers, organic demand, pricing or operational improvements rather than significant new demand created through marketing.

8-10% of revenue: Grow the business

This can be a reasonable range for an established company with existing brand awareness, proven acquisition channels and moderate growth expectations.

For many businesses, I would consider this the minimum range where marketing can begin to function as a meaningful growth engine rather than primarily a maintenance function.

10-15% of revenue: Accelerate the business growth

At this level of investment, you can create more room for customer acquisition while still funding the marketing infrastructure required to make customer acquisition work.

That includes strategy, people, content, creative, technology, measurement, SEO, conversion optimization, CRM, email, retention and brand development.

15% or above of revenue: Scale the business

Businesses may move into this range when they are:

• Entering new markets

• Launching new products or services

• Building a relatively new brand

• Pursuing aggressive market-share growth

• Highly dependent on digital customer acquisition

• Attempting to dramatically accelerate their existing growth rate

The right number still needs to be validated against the economics of the individual business, but a 15%+ marketing investment is not inherently excessive for a company aggressively trying to scale.

Customer acquisition continues to require investment

Businesses that want to grow need new revenue. If that growth needs to come from new customers, there is almost always a cost associated with acquiring them. According to research from Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer can cost between 5 and 25X more than nurturing an existing customer. So, if your business needs to grow, a larger marketing budget is absolutely a required investment.

The 2026 CMO Survey found that customer acquisition budgets are approximately 26% larger than customer retention budgets, with 66.1% of respondents spending more on acquisition than retention.

Gartner also found that awareness and conversion now account for 62.6% of total media spending.

This becomes particularly important when a business says:

“We want to grow revenue by 15%, but we don't want to increase our marketing budget.”

Those objectives may conflict. If most of the incremental revenue needs to come from customers the business does not currently have, the company needs to determine what acquiring those customers will cost.

The better way to build a growth budget is to work backwards:

Revenue growth target → incremental revenue required → customers required → customer acquisition cost → marketing investment required

That is very different from starting with:

“This is the amount we're comfortable spending on marketing.”

Your growth target should help determine your marketing budget, not the other way around.

The real question isn't “How little can we spend on marketing?”

It should be:

“What investment does our growth strategy require, and can the economics of the business support it?”

For some companies, 7% of revenue may be appropriate. For others, 12%, 15% or even more may make sense. There is no single percentage that should automatically be applied to every company.

But based on current 2026 marketing benchmarks, I would be cautious about positioning 5% of revenue as a serious growth budget for most businesses.

If maintaining your current position is the objective, a lower percentage may work.

If growth is the objective, businesses should generally be prepared to evaluate marketing investment in the 10-15% of revenue range, then validate that budget against their margins, customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value and growth targets.

Because the question isn't whether a business can afford to spend money on marketing.

The question is whether it can realistically achieve its growth objectives without making the investment required to acquire, retain and grow its customers.