These benchmarks cover marketing spend as a percentage of revenue, budget allocation across channels and cost categories, and stage-specific investment guidelines. Marketing budgets flatlined at 7.7% of revenue for the second consecutive year per the Gartner 2025 CMO survey, with paid media growing its share while martech, labor, and agencies all declined. [src1]
Data vintage: Q1 2025 Gartner CMO Spend Survey (402 CMOs).
Key shift: Paid media now commands 30.6% of budgets while martech (22.4%), labor (21.9%), and agencies (20.7%) all lost share.
| Segment | Median | 25th %ile | 75th %ile | Top Decile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise ($1B+) | 7.7% | 4.0% | 10.5% | 14%+ |
| Growth SaaS ($20M-$100M) | 20-30% | 15% | 35% | 40%+ |
| Series A-B ($1M-$20M) | 25-40% | 20% | 50% | 60%+ |
| Pre-revenue/Seed | N/A | $5K/mo | $30K/mo | $50K+/mo |
Trend: Enterprise budgets flatlined at 7.7% for two consecutive years, down from 10-11% pre-pandemic. [src1]
| Industry | Median | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Technology/Software | 8-15% | 5-25% |
| Professional Services | 6-10% | 4-15% |
| Financial Services | 7-12% | 5-18% |
| Healthcare/Pharma | 5-8% | 3-12% |
| Manufacturing | 3-5% | 2-8% |
| Consumer Goods/Retail | 8-14% | 5-20% |
| E-commerce/DTC | 15-25% | 10-35% |
[src3]
| Category | 2025 | 2024 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid media | 30.6% | 27.9% | Up — largest and growing |
| Martech | 22.4% | 23.8% | Down — consolidation |
| Labor | 21.9% | 24.4% | Down — AI displacement |
| Agencies | 20.7% | 23.9% | Down — in-housing |
| Other | 4.4% | — | Stable |
39% of CMOs plan to reduce labor costs; agency allocations declining as AI replaces agency work. [src1, src6]
| Channel | B2B | B2C/DTC |
|---|---|---|
| Paid search | 20-25% | 25-30% |
| Paid social | 15-20% | 20-25% |
| Content & SEO | 25-30% | 15-20% |
| Email marketing | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Events & webinars | 10-15% | 5-10% |
| Display/programmatic | 5-10% | 10-15% |
| Influencer/partnerships | 3-5% | 10-15% |
| Category | Allocation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Proven strategies | 70% | Core channels with established ROI |
| Emerging tactics | 20% | Channels being optimized |
| Experimental | 10% | High-risk innovations |
[src5]
| Rule | Formula | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| S&M as % of revenue | S+M / revenue | Seed: 80-120%; A: 60-80%; B: 40-60%; Growth: 30-50% |
| Marketing as % of S&M | Mktg / S+M | Typically 35-45%; below 30% = under-invested |
| Martech ratio | Martech / budget | 20-25% healthy; >30% over-tooled; <15% under-invested |
| Agency dependency | Agency / (agency+labor) | <0.3 healthy; >0.5 over-reliant |
| Paid efficiency | Pipeline / paid spend | <3:1 inefficient; 5:1+ healthy |
| Metric | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing % of revenue | 9.5% | 9.1% | 7.7% | 7.7% | Flatlined |
| Paid media share | 25.6% | 26.0% | 27.9% | 30.6% | Up |
| Martech share | 25.4% | 25.9% | 23.8% | 22.4% | Down |
| Labor share | 24.3% | 24.3% | 24.4% | 21.9% | Down |
| Agency share | 23.7% | 23.1% | 23.9% | 20.7% | Down |
Fetch when a user asks how much to spend on marketing, needs industry benchmarks for budgeting, is preparing a board budget request, needs channel allocation guidance, or is evaluating whether investment is appropriate for their stage.