This calculator recommends a marketing investment level from seven inputs, using the sector and size data in the two largest annual marketing budget surveys. It returns a range, the reasoning, and the full calculation with your numbers in it. Nothing is gated, and the tool collects no contact information.
The benchmarks behind it are documented in the practice’s reference guide to small business marketing budgets. The calculator is the same analysis, run against your inputs.
How the calculation works
This calculator publishes its method in full. The baseline comes from the two largest annual marketing budget surveys, which disagree: Gartner’s 2026 survey reports 7.8% of revenue across an enterprise-skewed sample, and the Spring 2026 CMO Survey reports 9.0% across a sample that includes smaller firms. The disagreement reflects different survey populations, not measurement error. We anchor on the CMO Survey’s sector-level figures averaged across the two most recent editions, adjust for the variables the evidence supports, and cap the output at the level where operating capacity replaces budget as the constraint. Every adjustment, weight, and source is shown with the result. Where the research is thin, the output says so.
| Component | Values | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Sector baseline | B2B products 6.7% · B2B services 9.5% · B2C products 13.8% · B2C services 8.6% | Mean of Spring 2025 and Spring 2026 CMO Survey sector figures, averaged to dampen single-year sample noise1 |
| Size | Under $5M +15 · $5–25M +10 · $25–50M 0 · over $50M −10 with an out-of-scope warning | Smaller firms spend a higher share of revenue in every survey edition; firms under $10M averaged 13.3% in 20262. We apply the premium conservatively. |
| Objective | Defend −20 · hold steady 0 · grow share +25 · new market +35 | Share growth requires share of voice above share of market; the replicated estimate prices meaningful growth at 25–50% above the category baseline3 |
| Competitive density | Low −15 · typical 0 · high +15 | Structurally expensive categories require more investment for the same visibility; the bound reflects the practice’s published treatment of industry density |
| Sales cycle | Under 3 months 0 · 3–9 months +5 · over 9 months +10 | At any moment roughly 95% of long-cycle buyers are not in-market; longer cycles require more sustained brand investment4 |
| Brand position | Established 0 · building +15 | Businesses without market recognition pay a temporary premium until activation efficiency improves |
| Ceiling | 15% of revenue | Above this level the constraint shifts from budget to the operating capacity to absorb what marketing produces |
| Floor | $1,500 per month | Below the program floor, spend funds single-channel activity that does not compound |
The adjustments sum before they apply, rather than multiplying. Multiplicative stacking compounds to recommendations no research supports; additive composition keeps the result verifiable with mental arithmetic. The table above is the complete model. There is no hidden weighting behind it.
What this calculator refuses to project
Four situations fall outside what the evidence supports, and the calculator says so instead of guessing. Pre-revenue businesses have no denominator; the tool shows the 12–20% launch-stage convention and flags it as convention rather than research. Businesses above $50M in revenue are outside the small-business reference frame entirely. Subscription businesses should size marketing against the cost of new annual recurring revenue, not against trailing revenue, and the tool routes them to that framing. And when the percentage math produces a budget below $1,500 per month, the tool reports the program floor instead of a percentage, because below the floor the percentage buys scattered tactics.
Binary Glyph is a brand and marketing practice in Toledo, Ohio. Engagements run six months at $3,000–$5,000 per month, the level of investment that funds the integrated program the calculator describes. If your result raised questions worth a senior conversation, begin a conversation →
Binary Glyph does not provide financial advice. This calculator produces starting points for thinking, not formulas for any specific business. Data current as of the Spring 2026 CMO Survey and the Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey; re-calibrated annually. Consult an accountant or financial advisor for budget decisions specific to your circumstances.