Choosing a provider
How to set a marketing budget for a service business
A marketing budget for a service business should follow what the work is worth rather than a percentage rule. Start from the value of a typical job and work backwards to what the business can reasonably spend to win one.
Work backwards from the value of the work
Write down what a typical piece of work is worth to the business and how many enquiries become paying jobs. Those two figures show what a customer is worth and therefore what it is reasonable to spend to win one.
This beats any percentage of revenue rule because it is built on the actual numbers of the actual business.
Spend it where the demand already exists
Most service businesses already have demand arriving through referrals and repeat customers. The budget that produces the fastest return usually goes toward catching the people already searching for the service rather than toward creating demand from scratch.
That is why search and paid advertising tend to be the first sensible place for a modest budget.
Keep something back for the slow months
Marketing budgets that run only when business is good tend to stop exactly when they are needed most. Holding a little back for the quiet stretch keeps the pipeline moving through it.
The businesses that stay consistent through a quiet year usually come out ahead of the ones that stopped and restarted.
Questions buyers ask
How much should a service business spend on marketing
Work backwards from what a new customer is worth and what it costs to win one. That is more reliable than any percentage rule.
Where should the money go first
Toward the buyers already searching for what the business sells. That demand is the cheapest to convert.
Should I cut marketing when things get quiet
That is usually when it matters most. A small reserve held back for quiet months keeps the pipeline moving.
Where this fits
Where Monolith Media fits
Monolith Media runs SEO as one managed marketing service for established Australian businesses, measured to the enquiries it produces. The free check names the part worth fixing first before anything is quoted.
More on Choosing a provider
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Why agency reports lean on clicks and impressions and the questions that bring the conversation back to enquiries.
How to tie marketing spend to the enquiries it produces
Connecting marketing spend to real enquiries using records the business already keeps, without buying another tool.