How much should a small business spend on marketing?

A percentage-of-revenue rule of thumb is a rough starting point, not a strategy. Set the twelve-month commercial goal first, cost what achieving it genuinely requires, and let the budget follow that, not the other way round. Spending less against a clear plan beats spending more without one.

Do I need a marketing agency or a marketing consultant?

They solve different problems. An agency executes within a channel; a marketing consultant for small business (or a fractional CMO) owns the strategy and the commercial outcome above it, and usually ends up briefing the agency rather than replacing it. If you can’t yet say what success looks like, that’s the gap to hire for first.

What does senior marketing leadership cost at this size?

It’s driven by days per month, scope and stage, not a price list; and it’s almost always lower than the fully loaded cost of a permanent senior hire, because you’re paying for decisions rather than a full working week. Scope and fees are agreed in advance. No retainer creep.

Where would you start with my business?

Almost always with the audit, because it tells both of us what we’re dealing with before you commit to anything bigger. What follows (the strategy, or senior hands on it) comes out of what the audit finds. It starts with a conversation.

Who I help // SMEs & small businesses

Marketing for small business and SMEs

Big-brand marketing thinking, at your size of business.

I spent twenty years running marketing at lastminute.com and Monster.com. I now bring that thinking to SMEs, because the strategic questions are identical, the budgets are not, and most small businesses are being sold tactics when what they need is a decision.

Sound familiar //

01
Turnover between £1m and £20m
02
Marketing is one person, a junior team, or an agency nobody is managing
03
You’re spending money and can’t see clearly what it’s returning
04
Growth has flattened and nobody can say precisely why
05
You know you need someone senior, but not five days a week

What’s usually going on //

Small businesses get sold execution because execution is easy to invoice. Ads, posts, a new website. But almost every SME marketing problem I’ve been called into turned out to be a positioning problem, a pricing problem, or nobody owning the number, and no amount of better advertising fixes any of those.

The work //

01Start with the audit.
An honest view of what’s working, what isn’t, and what to fix, with a prioritised plan your own team can run. Sometimes that’s the whole engagement.
02Then the strategy.
Positioning that explains why you, not a competitor, the channels that deserve money and the ones that don’t: sized to the budget you actually have.
03Senior hands if it needs them.
Fractional leadership on an agreed number of days a month: owning the number, managing the agency or the junior hire you already have, and reporting the board can trust.

Current and recent engagements at this size include full marketing leadership at GreenTech Industries, a strategic marketing and website audit for Mont Rose College (with a prioritised plan their own team could run with), and brand-and-website builds for The Galley Restaurant and The Ashbrook Foundation.

Most relevant

Where I’ve done it //

Education Student recruitment is a marketing problem with a very short window.
Green Tech & Clean Energy Novel technology that the market hasn’t got language for yet.
Tech & SaaS Technically complex products, buyers who don’t speak the language.
Independent restaurants The food is rarely the problem. Being found and booked is.
Charity & Purpose-led Small budgets, real constraints, and no room for waste.
Startups Most startups have a product. Fewer have a proposition.
Raising a round Investors buy the story and the plan. Not the product.

Straight answers //

How much should a small business spend on marketing?
A percentage-of-revenue rule of thumb is a rough starting point, not a strategy. Set the twelve-month commercial goal first, cost what achieving it genuinely requires, and let the budget follow that, not the other way round. Spending less against a clear plan beats spending more without one.
The full answer
Do I need a marketing agency or a marketing consultant?
They solve different problems. An agency executes within a channel; a marketing consultant for small business (or a fractional CMO) owns the strategy and the commercial outcome above it, and usually ends up briefing the agency rather than replacing it. If you can’t yet say what success looks like, that’s the gap to hire for first.
The full answer
What does senior marketing leadership cost at this size?
It’s driven by days per month, scope and stage, not a price list; and it’s almost always lower than the fully loaded cost of a permanent senior hire, because you’re paying for decisions rather than a full working week. Scope and fees are agreed in advance. No retainer creep.
The full answer
Where would you start with my business?
Almost always with the audit, because it tells both of us what we’re dealing with before you commit to anything bigger. What follows (the strategy, or senior hands on it) comes out of what the audit finds. It starts with a conversation.
Book a call

Worth reading //

Most SME marketing problems aren’t marketing problems Before you spend more on ads, agencies or a new website, it’s worth checking whether the thing that’s broken is marketing at all.
Why isn’t my website getting me any leads? The handful of reasons small-business websites fail to bring in enquiries, and how to check which one applies to you.
How to tell if your marketing is actually working A short guide to judging your marketing by real business outcomes, such as enquiries and sales, rather than likes or followers.
When does a business actually need a fractional CMO? The honest answer isn’t “always”. It’s a specific window: past the point where founder-led marketing is enough, and short of the point where a full-time CMO makes sense.
How small businesses can use AI in marketing, safely AI can do real work in a small marketing team. But only if you adopt it deliberately, with the guardrails a bigger company would take for granted.

Next //

Running a small business?

Start with a conversation.

Tell me where you are and what you’re trying to do, and we’ll work out together whether I’m the right person to help. No commitment, no pressure.

Book a call →Send a message →

[email protected]

Brighton · London · UK-wide and internationally · LinkedIn