2025 Marketing Budget Planning & Allocation [Research Data]

Quick Stats: 2025 Marketing Budget Trends

• 70% of business leaders will spend the same amount or more on marketing in 2025.
• 54% of business leaders will spend $1,000-$10,000 per month on marketing. 
• 53% of business leaders agree that their ROI meets their expectations.

Whether you’re reviewing your quarterly budget or preparing for a new year — examining the current market and industry budget trends can help you make the smartest investments. Marketing budgets usually range from 5-15%, but that number depends on a series of factors and influences.

We surveyed 700 business leaders from over 12 industries to learn how and where they plan to invest their marketing budgets this year for the highest ROI. This data will help you allocate your marketing budget toward the right strategies.

Keep reading to learn more about how to allocate your marketing budget in 2025: 

• Research data: 2025 marketing budget (spend level & industry breakdowns) 
• FAQs: Answering your marketing budget questions 

How much will companies spend on marketing in 2025

1. 2025 monthly marketing budget

When asked how much respondents were planning to spend in 2025, this is how they responded: 

What does this mean for me?

Based on the data above, the average marketing spend ranges for small to mid-size businesses (SMBs) are: 

1. $10,000+ (20.43%)
2. $1000-$5000 (18.71%) 
3. $5000-$10,000 (16.86%)

So, what does this mean for you? Here are the main trends to take away from these results:

• Shift toward higher budgets: Compared to last year’s digital marketing investment, the percentage of people spending more is growing, and the percentage of companies spending <$500/month is getting smaller (from 23.2% to 6.57%).
• Inflation and raised marketing costs: Between inflation and rising costs around the world, the emerging trend could simply be that rising prices lead to higher investments. It also shows that smaller budgets are simply not as effective as they once were.
• Mature marketing strategies: Companies are moving away from single-channel marketing strategies (which cost less) and investing in more mature, complex marketing strategies to grow their business.
• Mid-range investment stability: The $1,000-$5,000 range shows a strong middle ground, representing companies who prioritize digital marketing but don’t have the funds to reach the top spend level. Companies are finding balance between impact and cost-effectiveness.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries with the highest reported spend:

• Banking/financial 
• Computer software
• Information technology/IT

 

Industries with the lowest reported spend:

• Non-profit/social services
• Government/Public sector 
• Retail

2. Marketing investment trend (2025 vs. 2024)

Next, we asked how much they plan to invest in digital marketing in 2025 compared to what they invested in 2024.

What does this mean for me?

The continued investment in digital marketing shows a confidence in digital marketing’s returns and stability. As more consumers become reliant on digital channels for decision-making, companies will invest more in advertising and marketing on those channels. 

There is also a plateau effect happening, which shows more of a “wait-and-see” attitude toward digital marketing in 2025. This effect could reflect negatively on experimentation and represent a more reserved approach to digital marketing. These companies are seeing positive returns on their marketing, but they delay decisions based on economic factors or their lack of updated technology.

Those who aren’t investing more or are undecided likely have lacking tools and resources for measuring the ROI of digital marketing, which can blur the benefits of digital marketing that other companies experience. Without the proper data, they choose to play it safe, which ultimately puts them behind other companies who are investing, creating a bigger gap between their investment and their possible returns.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries expanding marketing budgets the most in 2025:

• Information Technology/IT 
• Construction
• Banking/Financial  

Industries maintaining marketing budgets the most in 2025:

• Real estate/property
• Manufacturing
• Education

3. Factors impacting digital marketing investment

We wanted to understand what factors were most important to respondents as they built out their marketing investments. When asked, the top three factors were:

1. Budget and resources
2. Market trends and competition
3. Business growth goals

See the complete breakdown below:

What does this mean for me?

While budgets are increasing from this year to next, companies are still limited to what they can spend. Businesses are choosing proven strategies rather than experimenting with new marketing technologies or platforms. To help balance their investments, business strategies will likely target high-ROI channels like SEO, PPC, and email marketing, rather than risky or unfamiliar ventures. Companies are investing in what they know works for their business, rather than jumping into a whole new approach to marketing to maybe achieve growth.

Market factors are also playing their role in investments. Companies are monitoring their competitors and responding to new industry trends to avoid losing their market share. For example, companies face an increased focus on keeping pace with competitors while adopting new technologies like AI, automation, and omnichannel strategies. Investing in these strategies takes resources, and your available budget will dictate what you are able to spend to alleviate this pressure. 

Companies are considering their internal processes and competition to find the right amount to invest in marketing. To make the smartest investments, you should evaluate current and past strategies and prioritize channels that bring results. If you have room in your budget to experiment, you should, as it will definitely help you stand out from other companies who don’t have the ability or desire to do so.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries that are not prioritizing budget above all other factors: 

• Banking/financial respondents (current market trends and competition)
• Manufacturing respondents (business growth goals) 
• Construction respondents (economic conditions and forecasts)

 

4. Current marketing strategies

So, what marketing strategies are these budgets funding? Let’s take a look:

What does this mean for me?

Paid search marketing, social media, and email marketing are the top strategies that companies invest in, based on our research. Budget allocations are aiming to balance immediate returns with sustainable growth. Diversifying your budget will help you achieve both short- and long-term business goals. 

We can see an example of omnichannel strategies at work through the choice of top investment strategies:

• Paid strategies (like PPC and paid social media) drive immediate results
• Organic strategies (like organic social and web development) focus on long-term brand building.
• Email marketing bridges between these to nurture leads over time while driving conversions.

As businesses target these strategies, they are also paying their web design mind to make sure users are converting when they land on pages ready to convert.

These investments show a careful approach to spending, which makes sense given the current economy and market climate. Marketing budgets for 2025 are conservative, favoring strategies with a track record of success, likely due to economic uncertainties or pressure to justify spending.

With experimental strategies (e.g., emerging platforms, AR/VR, or even influencer marketing) missing from the top priorities, we learn that businesses are allocating budgets toward proven channels.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries prioritizing other channels:

• IT (paid social media)
• Retail (influencer marketing)
• Banking/financial (web design and development)

5. Investment amounts across marketing channels

To further understand how people spend their marketing budget, we asked them to rank the strategies by how much they invested in them. This graph shows how people ranked the amount they spend, with the lowest number representing the highest amount invested: 

What does this mean for me?

Paid social ads and paid search marketing are top-ranked, which means that businesses are investing more in short-term results and immediate ROI. This trend continues the idea from the previous question, but those long-term strategies are not completely removed. 

For example, while companies invest more in paid search, they are also investing in web design and dev, a more long-term strategy that impacts paid search directly. So, while short-term strategies claim the most budget, they aren’t the only consideration.

We can also look at the average prices of these services to understand why people are investing what they do. Social media ads, for example, can cost anywhere from $1000 to $25,000 per month, so it makes sense that this is the highest investment among our survey respondents. They have to invest more to stay competitive. 

Here are some other trends to note based on these rankings:

• Focus on performance: The priority placed on paid channels (social and search) indicates a preference for strategies with measurable impact.
• Push for long-term investments: High rankings for web design and email marketing suggest businesses are also focused on maintaining a strong digital foundation and nurturing relationships.
• Integrated marketing approaches: Companies are combining paid and organic strategies in their top investments, pointing to well-rounded strategies and educated marketing goals. They aren’t just opting for immediate results – they’re building a brand.

With a push for long-term strategies, it’s also clear that companies are looking at market insecurity and budget constraints and finding ways to make change for long-term efficiency. They spend where they can, but should they face budget cuts, they have cost-effective strategies that will still help them grow slowly over time. 

Industry Budget Trends

Industries who spend more on other channels:

• Energy/utilities/oil and gas (email marketing)
• Education (web design and development)
• Nonprofit/social services (video marketing)

6. Marketing channels by ROI

Once we established the channels respondents were investing in, we wanted to understand the ROI they were earning from those channels. 

What does this mean for me?

Interestingly, the amount invested does not equal the returns earned. While social media ads were a top investment and a top ROI earner, web design and development is near the bottom in terms of ROI. 

The major trend with this data is that people are either not investing in the right strategies, or they lack the right marketing technology and tools to close the loop on their marketing. If you feel like that’s where you struggle with your marketing strategy, tools like RevenueCloudFX bring your data together to help you centralize your results and inform your sales team. 

It’s also worth noting that SEO has higher ROI potential but lower budget priority. Companies might be investing less in SEO to use it as a long-term, slow-growth strategy, while focusing the bulk of their spend on paid search marketing. 

The lowest performing channels, video marketing and influencer marketing, are not low on the scale because these strategies are ineffective overall. Companies have to budget for the strategies that drive change, and if they have to make cuts, they will do it with strategies that cost more for external resources (like finding and contracting influencers or scripting, recording, and editing videos).

Industry Budget Trends

Industries that see high ROI outside the top-ranked channels:

• Energy/utilities/oil and gas (content marketing)
• Banking/financial (email marketing)
• Education (video marketing)

7. Percent of annual marketing budget designated for experimental strategies

Sometimes, you have to experiment with new strategies to see what will work best for your business. 

Here is the percentage of annual marketing budgets designated for experimental strategies: 

What does this mean for me?

As we’ve seen throughout this page, many (but not all) companies are playing it safe with their marketing budgets. That trend comes to a head here — over 42% of companies have a budget of less than 10% for experimental strategies, and 20% aren’t investing anything. 

Why? 

Economic pressures and ROI concerns likely drive this behavior. Very few businesses invest heavily in experimental strategies, which shows that they are hesitant to try unproven strategies and risk losing their investment. These respondents want to see returns so they can continue their investments without overhead interference.

To find some middle ground, you can balance risk by testing your investments and tracking performance, then opting for incremental increases as they prove their success.

The marketing landscape is constantly changing. Between new technology and algorithms on sites like Google, the strategies of even three years ago aren’t as effective as the ones today. To stay on top of your marketing budget and plan, you should be investing in new strategies, even if you only dedicate a small percentage to doing so. 

Industry Budget Trends

Industries that spend over 30% of their marketing budget on experimental marketing strategies:

• Banking/financial
• Computer software
• Healthcare and social assistance
• Hospitality and tourism
• Nonprofit and social services

8. Marketing spend compared to industry

So, how much are companies spending in relation to their industry average? Let’s look at how they responded when we asked:

What does this mean for me?

Most respondents (43.57%) feel they spend the same amount on marketing as other companies in their industry. Companies are analyzing their competition and paying attention to how much others are investing in digital marketing strategies. Their main goal is to keep pace with others in their industry to be competitive. 

There are also reasons why companies might choose to spend more or less than others in their market. You might have different business goals or budget constraints, making it more suitable for you to spend less. Companies who are spending more likely have aggressive growth goals, likely from being a new business or one in a challenging market.

Here are some overall tips and trends for finding a balance with what others in your industry are spending:

• Flexible budgets: Allocating a small portion of your budget for flexible use allows for shifts toward high-performing channels or reoptimizations during the year.
• Scalable strategies: Channels like SEO, content marketing, and email marketing scale well over time to provide long-term ROI. You can spend less or more depending on your available budget while still seeing results.
• Short- and long-term goals: Combine immediate impact strategies with long-term efforts like brand-building and customer retention.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries that don’t know how much other companies spend:

• Government/public sector
• Nonprofit/social services

Industries that spend more on marketing than other companies:

• Computer software
• IT

9. Expectations of current marketing ROI

For this part of the survey, we wanted to see how business leaders felt about their current marketing ROI:

What does this mean for me?

Overall, these answers reflect a positive impact from digital marketing strategies. Nearly 70% of companies agree that their marketing ROI meets expectations, pointing to the right strategies, investments, and tracking methods for these companies.

Those who are unsure (24.14%) might not be aware of their ROI or have the right tools to analyze digital marketing performance. These companies may not have robust analytics or clear benchmarks for evaluating performance. Though their ROI could be positive, they don’t have the right tracking tools in place to measure it, which can affect their investment decisions.

Only 7% of company respondents don’t agree that their ROI meets expectations. This selection signals a need for optimization, as these businesses may have issues with strategy and execution or unrealistic expectations for what their ROI should look like.

Again, tools like RevenueCloudFX make tracking your ROI easy. With campaign monitoring software, you can see what steps prospects take on the way to converting, and find the best strategies to invest in to grow your ROI.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries that are the most unsure of whether ROI meets expectations:

• Energy/utilities/oil and gas
• Government/ public sector
• Nonprofit/ social services

 

Industries that strongly disagree that their ROI meets expectations:

• Computer software
• Government/ public sector
• Hospitality/tourism
• Nonprofit/ social services
• Retail

10. Marketing measures of success

Below, we can see what companies look for to determine whether their marketing campaigns are successful. 

What does this mean for me?

Sales revenue and ROI are the greatest indicators of success. While the other factors on the list can lead to business success, they all contribute to revenue in the end. 

Ultimately, if your budget is the most important factor when it comes to marketing, you need the sales to have revenue to put toward marketing. Sales and ROI are the most tangible indicators of marketing effectiveness, and they tie directly to your bottom line and growth. They’re also the easiest to track!

For example, say you have a large budget for email marketing, and you currently only look at your open rate to determine your marketing’s success. You can have a high open rate, but that doesn’t mean your email marketing is driving revenue. You should be tracking your open rate, click-through rate (CTR), and conversions of leads from emails to see how your investment is generating revenue. 

Companies prioritize metrics that align with their overarching business objectives, whether that’s growth, profitability, or market leadership. You can so consider industry and business stage (startups might emphasize brand awareness, while mature companies focus on ROI) when thinking about why companies value the metrics they do. 

And, just because a metric isn’t the top priority doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. Lower-ranked metrics may still be valuable supporting indicators rather than primary measures of success.

Industry Budget Trends

Industries’ least important measures of success:

• Social media engagement and follower growth (8/14)
• Customer feedback and satisfaction surveys (3/14)
• Lead generation (3/14)

Industries that ranked brand recognition as the #1 measure of success:

• Education
• Government/ public sector
• Nonprofit/ social services

11. 2025 digital marketing provider

How are people planning to do digital marketing in the coming year? Here’s how they answered: 

What does this mean for me?

Nearly 34% of companies prefer to control their digital marketing in-house. Companies value control over their branding, campaigns, and customer interactions. And, in-house teams offer direct collaboration with other departments (e.g., product development, sales).

The challenges to this approach to digital marketing, of course, are building and maintaining in-house expertise through training, tools, and recruitment. You must also keep up with rapidly evolving digital trends. 

This focus on in-house marketing contributes to the overall push for bigger marketing budgets for [2025]. Many companies want to save and control their budget and marketing by operating in-house, but they then spend more money trying to maintain the same quality that an agency offers. 

We then have those companies that haven’t decided, which is the third-largest group. Companies in this group likely lack clarity about their needs, budget, or expected ROI. They may not have any internal expertise or confidence in external providers, like agencies and freelancers, for fear of brand misalignment. However, delaying decisions on digital marketing could result in missed growth opportunities and an ROI that does not meet expectations.

Companies who do not plan to do digital marketing are likely unaware of the benefits and reasons to invest. They risk losing out on valuable channels for customer acquisition, retention, and engagement. Even if they don’t jump into a strategy with an agency, understanding the benefits of digital marketing could change their approach for the following year. 

Industry Budget Trends

Most undecided industries:

• Manufacturing
• Nonprofit/ social services
• Energy/utilities/oil and gas

Industries most likely to not do digital marketing:

• Government/public sector
• Education
• Energy/utilities/oil and gas
• Nonprofit/social services
• Real estate/property

12. Biggest marketing challenges in 2025

Next, let’s take a look at the biggest marketing challenges for companies in 2025, as well as how those could impact their digital marketing budget:

What does this mean for me?

Above all, generating leads proves to be the biggest challenge companies are facing for 2025. Businesses need to invest more effort and resources to differentiate their messaging and offerings. Like we have discussed above, the problem with lead generation comes from a lack of resources, understanding of marketing strategies, and tracking capabilities.

While reaching a large audience is easy with digital marketing, identifying prospects likely to convert (high-quality leads) is much harder. If you rely on insufficient or outdated information, you will waste resources on low-quality leads. 

Generating high-quality leads often requires significant investment in tools and channels, so businesses with limited budgets may struggle to allocate sufficient resources to lead generation efforts. Those companies who are undecided on their marketing budget or unhappy with their ROI will feel the greatest stress from this trend in the coming year. 

Lead generation services and strategies that can help companies find and target those most likely to need their products and services. 

Industry Budget Trends

Industries that did not cite lead generation as their top challenge:

• Banking/financial (evolving customer preferences)
• Education (recruiting talent)
• Energy/utilities/oil and gas (marketing budget approvals)
• Health care and social assistance (increased competition)
• Hospitality/tourism (evolving customer preferences)
• Transportation and warehousing (increased competition)

13. Factors impacting digital marketing provider choice

When asked about the factors that impact digital marketing provider choice, respondents gave the following answers:

What does this mean for me?

Pricing is the number one factor impacting respondents’ digital marketing provider choice. The choice is practically unanimous, with 74.29% selecting this as a factor. 

As discussed, companies are looking to increase their budget for 2025. However, they are still concerned about pricing, as they want to make sure they are investing in a provider that will bring them greater returns than what they could do in-house.

Companies are budgeting for services and putting in effort to research their providers. As a business, you should be looking for agencies that give you the most bang for your buck and maximize the deliverables you get for the price you pay.

Also, you want to work with agencies that offer transparent, honest pricing for their services. You should know exactly what you’re getting for every dollar you invest. With that transparency, you can learn about an agency’s trustworthiness and expertise, all of which go into their pricing and your results!

14. Marketing trends ranked by importance

Finally, our last question aimed to understand the importance of different marketing trends to business representatives. Here is how they ranked them overall: 

What does this mean for me?

Data privacy is a leading consumer trend for 2025, and that is not lost on companies. The consumer demand for privacy has made data protection critical. Businesses need to adapt to privacy-first marketing strategies, such as relying on first-party data and consent-based targeting.

Companies must also allocate funds for privacy-compliant tools (cookieless tracking, consent management platforms, etc.). If you haven’t already, you should prioritize your marketing security to protect personal data to avoid losing sales and trust with your prospects. 

Outside of data privacy, the other core areas of focus should be sustainability, short-form videos, and AI. These trends speak to a push for experimental, new strategies in the marketing world, which you should be budgeting to explore safely before jumping into a new campaign or investment.

Social commerce, user-generated content, and CTV advertising are promising, but require strategic experimentation. These trends demand greater spending on high-quality, frequent content creation, which might not be sustainable for all businesses. That is why they are further down in terms of perceived important — while data issues can cause legal battles, you don’t need to invest in every single one of these trends.

Finally, omnichannel marketing and voice search will grow in importance as consumer habits evolve. Companies are already leaning into multifaceted marketing campaigns, likely because they know it’s best to target customers where they are online. These strategies should be part of your long-term marketing plan.