Current marketing budget trends prioritize AI, martech, omnichannel strategies, and events. Understanding these trends helps you identify opportunities early and allocate resources strategically for improved ROI.
What are the current marketing budget trends? Key trends include increased investment in AI platforms and marketing technology, omnichannel strategies for unified customer experiences, revival of in-person event marketing like pop-ups and workshops, and continued digital marketing dominance
Why is omnichannel marketing becoming more important? Omnichannel marketing delivers a unified brand message across multiple platforms and channels throughout the customer journey, allowing businesses to prioritize channels that drive results while creating a more cohesive and effective customer experience.
How much should businesses allocate to their marketing budget? Small businesses should allocate 7–8% of revenue, mid-sized businesses 10%, and enterprise businesses 15% to marketing—though these percentages may vary based on industry, specific strategies used, and business goals.
What role does martech play in modern marketing budgets? With 72% of businesses now using AI for business functions, marketing technology and AI tools have become essential for creating data-driven, personalized campaigns that yield higher returns through improved efficiency and automation.
Why is digital marketing spending continuing to grow? Worldwide digital ad spending is expected to reach over $730 billion by 2025 (up from $549 billion in 2022) because digital strategies offer businesses more control over budgets, targeting, and ad timing while delivering measurable ROI.
Current marketing budget trends prioritize AI tools, omnichannel strategies, micro-events, and digital channels. Understanding where the industry is investing helps you allocate resources strategically.
Smart marketing budget planning combines industry insights with your performance data. This approach helps you allocate resources confidently and maximize returns.
Let’s explore the key trends shaping marketing budgets this year!
Perplexity AI is experimenting with ads on its platform via “sponsored follow-up questions.” While we’re not saying it’s something you need to invest in right this moment, it’s certainly a marketing budget trend to keep an eye on and consider if you’re looking to expand into new marketing channels.
Expert insights from
Trevin S.WebFX VP of Marketing
“With more users, particularly Gen Z, turning to AI-based tools for information retrieval, improving visibility on these emerging platforms (through ads or organically) gives you a nice early mover advantage. There is a lot of innovation in the space right now. OpenAI just released SearchGPT, for example, so I’d expect continued momentum and user growth for those platforms in 2025, which makes it a smart target for marketers looking for new channels to invest in.”
How to allocate your budget for this trend
Our advice? Monitor AI advertising trends closely to determine if it’s the right move for you. Perplexity’s ad program is still new, so now is the best time to observe and evaluate if it’s a profitable investment for your business.
Meanwhile, consider investing in AI optimization strategies to boost your business’s visibility in AI results. With the launch of SearchGPT and more people relying on AI platforms as search engines, they’re a great place to generate visibility and establish yourself online.
2. Omnichannel strategies are becoming more commonplace
Another key marketing budget trend is the growing emphasis on omnichannel marketing. In other words, using a mix of marketing strategies across different channels and platforms to deliver a more unified, robust campaign.
Omnichannel marketing is a balanced approach to marketing that delivers a quality customer experience to people throughout each stage of the customer journey. Whether through social media, video marketing, AI chatbot optimization, or something else, it’s all about cultivating a unified brand message across the channels that matter most to your target audience. As a result, you can prioritize channels that drive results for your business and avoid the ones that don’t.
🎥Video: What to include in your marketing budget
How to allocate your budget for this trend
So, keep an eye on your campaign analytics and monitor which ones bring in results. Explore social media advertising costs, be flexible with your marketing budget, and anticipate when you may need to shift your investments to best support your marketing efforts.
You can also consider how you will allocate marketing budgets across different channels. An example of a marketing budget, based on the average price of marketing services, could look like:
SEO: $2,500 per month
PPC advertising: $100 – $100,000 per month
Email marketing: $51 - $1,000 per month
Social media marketing: $100 - $5,000 per month
3. Event marketing is on the rise
Real-world experiences are in demand again, and with that, offline advertising methods like event marketing are on the rise.
Expert insights from
Trevin S.WebFX VP of Marketing
“We’re a few years post-COVID now, and there’s been a big upswing in event spending. Folks are eager to get back to pre-COVID event schedules, so marketers are seeing nice ROIs right now from those more traditional channels. It can give people a nice break from Zoom fatigue and allows organizations who were successful with events as a marketing channel in the past to flex those muscles again.”
Specifically, micro-events are becoming a big trend for brands looking to connect with their audience and reach new customers in an interactive and personable way.
Micro-events like pop-ups and product demos create an intimate, personalized experience for attendees. For brands, they’re much easier to plan and execute compared to traditional, large-scale events.
How to allocate your budget for this trend
First, see what events competitors in your market are using to draw traction to their brand. You can use their past experiences to give you ideas for adding micro-events to your budget.
Some other ideas for micro-events include:
Pop-ups in cities
Workshops on a skill or hobby related to your product
Community fundraisers
4. Martech and AI are must-use tools
As technology advances, AI and marketing technology use continues to increase. 72% of businesses use AI for one or more functions within their business. With this adoption rate, it’s imperative businesses that aren’t utilizing AI and martech do so.
Why? AI and martech have revolutionized digital marketing and how we create campaigns. These tools have helped marketers and businesses realize the true value of data and analytics, and they’re using this information to create more data-driven marketing campaigns.
As a result, campaigns are more personalized to audiences, yielding higher returns. Allocating a portion of your budget to AI and martech is a major marketing budget trend that can’t be overlooked. Data- and impact-driven marketing are on the rise, and technology is playing a significant role in this. Without AI and martech, your campaigns could fall behind.
How to allocate your budget for this trend
Many companies are using marketing automation tools that rely on AI to streamline processes and improve efficiency. One major way to integrate this trend is by finding a tool that works for your workflow and including it in your marketing budget.
5. Digital marketing is still a priority
Current marketing spend trends show that businesses continue to see the value of digital marketing — worldwide digital ad spending is expected to reach over $730 billion by 2025. In 2022, ad spending capped off at $549 billion. These numbers are only expected to grow in the coming years.
With a digital strategy, businesses have more control over their budget, who they target, and when they run their ads. It’s a solid investment that, if used properly, will drive growth.
Plus, digital strategies such as SEO and content marketing can be done without additional ad spend (with an exception for the cost of your time or hiring an agency), allowing you to shift additional marketing spend to other areas.
How to allocate your budget for this trend
Evaluating your marketing strategy, finding a plan that works for your business, and tracking your results all help you stay up on digital marketing. You should evaluate your budget regularly and find new ways to improve your spending for target strategies.
While these current budget trends in marketing are top priority, we can also look ahead at some predictive trends to see what could affect your budget in the future:
Economic factors affecting marketing budgets: Inflation and possible recession could have an effect on company revenue and available marketing budgets. This possible trend makes having real-time data on your marketing return on investment (ROI) essential.
Emerging marketing channels requiring more investment: New marketing channels, such as podcast advertising and virtual reality (VR) experiences, may play a bigger role in your marketing budget in the future.
Marketing budgets for sustainability initiatives: Sustainability is on the rise in all industries. Many businesses are allocating budgets to sustainable marketing initiatives, such as eco-friendly packaging and carbon-neutral campaigns.
Typical marketing budgets for businesses
Current marketing spend trends show that what a business allocates to marketing depends heavily on its size and the strategies it uses. While we can’t give you a specific dollar amount for what your business should spend, we have a general idea of what percentage of your revenue should go toward your marketing spend.
Here’s a potential marketing budget based on the percentage of revenue:
Small business: 7–8% of your revenue
Mid-sized business: 10% of your revenue
Enterprise business: 15% of your business
Remember: These numbers from a typical marketing budget are not set in stone. You may need to adjust your marketing spending to help meet your goals and accommodate the specific strategies you’re using. You may also need to spend more depending on your industry.
Ultimately, the most important thing to remember is that you want to see a positive ROI from your marketing spend and budget. Using your performance data and finding the strategies that drive the most revenue should be a priority for your marketing team.
We regularly learn about the industry and pass that expertise on to you so you can grow your business. With our talented team of experts, we’ll do everything we can to get you the results you want to see from your marketing investment.
