How to Allocate Your SaaS Marketing Budget for 2026

January rolls around, leadership asks for next year's marketing budget, and suddenly you're staring at a spreadsheet wondering if you should dump everything into paid ads or finally hire that content person you've been putting off.

At Aimers, we work exclusively with SaaS and tech companies, so we've helped everyone from scrappy startups to eight-figure ARR platforms figure out where to put their marketing dollars. There's no magic formula, but there are some pretty reliable patterns once you've done this enough times.

Why B2B SaaS Marketing Budget Planning Matters More Than Ever in 2025

The SaaS landscape in 2025 isn't what it was even two years ago. CAC is up across the board. Buyers are more skeptical. And frankly, everyone's gotten pickier about where they spend money.

We're seeing companies that used to grow on product-led growth alone now needing real marketing muscle. Meanwhile, the ones who've been throwing money at Google Ads for years are realizing that, well, maybe there's a smarter way to do this.

Your 2026 marketing budget isn't just about spending money. It's about making strategic bets on channels that'll actually move the needle for your specific business. And this is happening while Gartner research shows marketing budgets dropped to 7.7% of company revenue in 2024, down from 9.1% the year before. Everyone's being asked to do more with less.

SaaS Marketing Budget Benchmarks: What Companies Spend on Marketing by Growth Stage

We pulled data from our clients and industry benchmarks. The numbers tell a story, but context matters way more than the percentages themselves.

Early-Stage SaaS Companies: Investing Aggressively for Market Entry

If you're pre-Series A or just getting started, you're probably looking at somewhere between 80-120% of revenue going into sales and marketing combined.

Wild, right?

But it makes sense. You're buying your way into the market. You need to prove that customers exist, that they'll pay, and that you can acquire them at a reasonable cost.

We've worked with early-stage SaaS companies spending north of 100% of revenue on marketing alone because they're backed by investors who get that land-grab mentality. One of our clients in the project management space spent 95% of their ARR on marketing in their first full year. Sounds insane until you realize they 5x'd their customer base and proved out their ICP.

Scale-Up Phase: Balancing Growth and Efficiency

Once you hit that $2M-10M ARR range, the game changes. You can't keep burning cash at the same rate, but you also can't take your foot off the gas.

We see B2B SaaS companies in this growth stage spending 40-60% of revenue on sales and marketing. The split between the two depends heavily on your motion. Is it PLG with a sales assist? Enterprise with long cycles?

According to SaaS Capital's 2025 benchmarks, equity-backed companies spend about 89% more on sales and 100% more on marketing than bootstrapped companies. That gap shows how much growth strategy impacts budget allocation.

You're trying to prove that your customer acquisition model actually scales. Testing different channels, building out your content engine, maybe experimenting with account-based marketing if you're going upmarket.

This is the hardest phase, honestly. You're past the scrappy startup stage but not yet at the "we've figured it out" stage.

Mature SaaS Businesses: Optimizing Marketing Spend for Profitability

When you're past $10M ARR and heading toward profitability, marketing spend drops to 20-35% of revenue.

You've figured out what works. You've got brand recognition. A chunk of your growth comes from expansion revenue. But mature SaaS companies mess up all the time. They cut marketing too aggressively. They see that they can coast on brand and existing customers for a while, so they slash the budget.Then 18 months later they're wondering why their pipeline dried up.

SaaS Marketing Budget by Growth Stage

Budget as a Percentage of Revenue: Finding Your Right Number

The percentage-of-revenue approach is probably the most common way to set a marketing budget. It scales with your business, which is nice.

But the numbers don't tell you everything. Are you in a crowded market where you need to outspend competitors just to be heard? Your percentage might be higher. Are you in a niche where you're the clear leader? You can probably spend less.

We worked with a niche API company that spent just 25% on sales and marketing combined but grew 80% year-over-year because they dominated their category. Meanwhile we've got clients in competitive spaces spending 70% because that's what it takes to break through.

Your actual question shouldn't be "what percentage should I spend?" It should be "what do I need to acheive, and what will it cost to get there?"

The Marketing Budget Calculator Approach: Building Your Budget Based on CAC and LTV

Instead of just looking at revenue percentages, you can reverse-engineer your marketing budget based on your unit economics. We do this exercise with almost every client because it forces some conversations. The kind that make you realize maybe you don't know your numbers as well as you thought.

Start with your growth target. Say you want to add $2M in new ARR next year. Your average deal size is $20K. That's 100 new customers.

But hold on. What's your LTV? If your LTV is $60K and your CAC is $8K, you've got a healthy 7.5:1 ratio. You could actually afford to spend more on acquisition if it means growing faster. Most SaaS companies target an LTV:CAC ratio of 3:1 or higher, which gives you room to invest aggressively while maintaining unit economics.

Something we tell clients all the time: marketing rarely fails because of low traffic. The real leak is often deeper in the funnel. We've seen companies spending $50K/month on Google Ads wondering why they're not growing, when the actual issue is a landing page that converts at 0.5% instead of 3%. That's a budget allocation problem disguised as a traffic problem.

How to Allocate Your Marketing Budget Across Channels

So you've got a number. Now what? Most companies either spread themselves way too thin or go all-in on one channel and pray it works. We actually wrote about the biggest mistakes SaaS companies make with their marketing budget, and spreading too thin is number one.

Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing: The Foundation of B2B SaaS Growth

Content is almost always the right foundation for B2B SaaS marketing. Not because it's trendy. Because it compounds over time.

For most of our clients we recommend putting 25-35% of the saas marketing budget toward content and inbound. That includes everything from blog posts and SEO to case studies, webinars, and thought leadership. Content is one of the few marketing investments that gets more valuable over time.

We've got clients who invested heavily in content two years ago and are now seeing it drive 40% of their pipeline. But it takes time, consistency, and better content than most companies are producing.

Paid Acquisition: When B2B SaaS Companies Should Spend More

Paid ads get a bad rap in SaaS circles, but they work when you use them right.

We see saas companies spend 20-40% of budget toward paid channels. Google Ads, LinkedIn, maybe some display or retargeting.

Paid is the fastest way to test messaging, validate ICP, and generate pipeline when you need it. Early-stage companies often lean heavily on paid because they need results now, not in six months.

But paid is also a treadmill. The minute you stop spending, the leads stop coming. That's why we always recommend pairing paid with longer-term plays like content and SEO. We break down how to build a full-funnel PPC strategy for SaaS in more detail if you're trying to figure out which campaigns belong where.

Even the best ad campaign can't save a broken landing page or bad analytics.

Account-Based Marketing for Enterprise SaaS

If you're selling to enterprise or going upmarket, ABM needs to be part of your saas marketing budget allocation. We're talking 15-25% for most companies doing this right.

ABM is expensive on a per-account basis. But the economics work when you're closing $100K+ deals. We've helped clients build ABM programs that target just 50-100 accounts but generate millions in pipeline.

Email Marketing and Customer Marketing: The Often Underfunded Channels

Almost everyone underspends here. Email and customer marketing. Most saas companies allocate less than 10% of budget toward this.

Crazy when you think about how much easier it is to expand existing customers than acquire new ones. We push our clients to think about customer marketing as a growth channel, not just a retention play.

Email marketing (when done well, not the spammy stuff) also delivers insane ROI. But it requires actual marketing investment in tools, strategy, and content.

Recommended B2B SaaS Marketing Budget Allocation by Channel

Sales and Marketing Alignment: Why Your Budget Planning Should Include Both

Your marketing budget needs to be planned alongside sales. In fact we usually talk about "sales and marketing spend" as one number because they're so interconnected in B2B SaaS.If you're running an outbound sales motion, you might need 60% sales and 40% marketing. If you're more product-led with an inbound motion, it could flip the other way.

The companies that grow consistently? Marketing and sales are actually working together. Sharing goals. Planning budgets as a team.

When to Partner with a B2B SaaS Marketing Agency vs. Building Your Marketing Team

We're an agency, so yeah, we think agencies bring value. But we're also honest about when it makes sense to build in-house versus partnering with experts.

Go in-house when you've got product-market fit and a proven playbook. When you're at scale (usually $10M+ ARR) and can afford specialists. When your marketing needs are stable and predictable.

Partner with a B2B SaaS marketing agency when you need specialized expertise you can't afford to hire full-time. Or when you're scaling fast and need to move quickly.

Most of our clients do a hybrid approach. They've got a small internal marketing team (maybe a VP of Marketing and a content person) and they partner with us for specialized stuff. Paid ads, conversion optimization, strategic guidance.

At Aimers we work exclusively with SaaS and tech companies, which means we've seen what works across different growth stages and market conditions. That pattern recognition is hard to build with an internal team that's only ever worked on one product.

Common Budget Allocation Mistakes SaaS Companies Make

Let's talk about where companies screw this up.

Spreading Your Marketing Investment Too Thin Across Channels

This is the biggest one. Companies try to be everywhere at once and end up doing nothing well.

We had a client come to us running Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, doing SEO, content marketing, podcasts, events, and ABM. With a team of two people and a $150K annual budget. Nothing was working.

We helped them cut back to just three focus areas. Content/SEO, LinkedIn Ads, and email nurture. Within six months they were seeing real traction because they could actually commit resources to doing those things right.

Pick 3-4 marketing channels max, fund them properly, and execute them well.

Ignoring Customer Acquisition Cost When Setting Budget Benchmarks

The other huge mistake is setting budgets without understanding your CAC and how it's trending.

We've seen saas companies proudly announce they're "only spending 30% on marketing" without realizing their customer acquisition cost has doubled in the last year. That's not efficiency. That's just under-investing and watching your growth stall.

On the flip side, we've worked with companies spending 80% on sales and marketing who freak out because it seems high. But when you dig into the numbers their CAC is decreasing and their LTV is growing. They're crushing it, they just didn't realize it.

Sometimes what looks like a budget problem is actually a conversion problem or a targeting problem. That's why we always recommend starting with a PPC audit if you're spending serious money on paid channels. It helps you see where the actual leaks are before you make budget decisions.

Warning Signs Your Marketing Budget Needs Attention

How Much Should You Spend? Building Your 2025 Marketing Budget Effectively

So after all this, what should you actually do?

Get crystal clear on your growth goals. Not vague "we want to grow" stuff. Actual numbers. Understand your current CAC and LTV. If you don't know these numbers you're flying blind.

Model out what it'll take to hit your growth target. How many customers do you need? At your current CAC, what does that cost?

Look at your channel mix. What's working? Where are you seeing the best returns? Double down there.

Build in testing budget. Set aside 15-20% for experimentation. New channels, new messaging, new approaches.

Get buy-in from leadership. Show them the math. Connect the marketing budget directly to revenue goals.

For most B2B SaaS companies in 2026, we're seeing effective budgets in these ranges:

• Early stage (pre-$2M ARR): 80-120% of revenue
• Growth stage ($2M-$10M ARR): 40-60% of revenue
• Mature ($10M+ ARR): 20-35% of revenue

These are starting points, not rules. Your specific situation matters way more than any industry number.

Ready to Build a Marketing Budget That Actually Drives Growth?

At Aimers we've helped SaaS companies across every growth stage figure out not just how much to spend, but where to spend it for maximum impact. We work exclusively with SaaS and tech companies, with a team of 40+ specialists and over $30M in managed ad spend.

If you're wondering where your ad budget is silently leaking or want a second opinion on your marketing budget planning, book a short strategy call with our team. We'll help you allocate your marketing budget effectively.