$12,000 a month
This is your total marketing and advertising budget, not just ad spend.
$12,000 a month
How it's worked out
Here's how we get from your annual revenue to a monthly budget, one step at a time.
- Your revenueThis is what your business brings in each year: $2,000,000.
- 7.2% goes to marketingThat's the average for businesses like yours, so we take 7.2% of your revenue.
- Spread across 12 monthsWe divide the yearly budget of $144,000 by 12.
- One monthThat comes to about $12,000 a month.
Your revenue of $2,000,000 times 7.2% is $144,000 a year. Divided by 12, that is about $12,000 a month.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure on this page comes from one of two sources, and you can read both.
Your sector's share
The share for each type of business comes from the CMO Survey 2026. Companies in each sector told the survey what share of their revenue they spend on marketing.
- Edition
- The 35th, Spring 2026
- Published
- March 2026
- Run by
- Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Deloitte and the American Marketing Association
- What we use
- Its "% of revenue" answers for each business type
The growth range
When you choose Actively grow, we add 2 to 3 points to your sector's average. That's RainChekk's own method, and it's based on the gap between the two Gartner figures below.
- Holding steadyabout 7.7%of revenue
- Growing10 to 11%of revenue
These Gartner figures cover all sectors, so they won't match your own share exactly.
Gartner CMO Spend Survey, reported by Stephen Spratley in Forbes (June 2025)
How the four sectors compare
Two businesses with the same revenue can need very different budgets, because the share of revenue they spend on marketing depends on what you sell and who buys it.
- Products sold to consumers12.0%
- Services or software sold to businesses10.1%
- Services sold to consumers, your sector7.2%
- Products sold to businesses7.0%
Companies with under $25M in revenue tend to spend more than these sector averages. Those under $10M averaged 13.3%, and those between $10M and $25M averaged 17.4% (the CMO Survey 2026).
Channels that suit your business
Every type of business has a few channels that tend to work best. Choose yours below to see where we'd look first.
Meta ads
Meta ads put your product in front of buyers before they start searching.
Google Ads
Google Ads reaches people who are already searching for what you make.
SEO and AI search
SEO and AI search help you appear in the answers buyers read on Google and ChatGPT.
Retargeting
Retargeting brings back the people who looked at your product but didn't buy.
Organic social
Organic social keeps your brand in view between purchases.
How to split your budget across these is what the discovery call is for.
Google Ads
Google Ads puts you in front of buyers when they search for a supplier or a fix.
SEO and AI search
SEO and AI search put you in the results when a yard manager or captain researches their options.
LinkedIn reaches the people who sign off, by job title, so you can start the conversation.
Meta ads
Meta ads reach crew, captains and owners in the feeds they scroll every day.
Retargeting
Retargeting keeps you in front of people through a long buying cycle.
How to split your budget across these is what the discovery call is for.
Google Ads
Google Ads shows your business when someone searches for a charter, a broker or a yard.
SEO and AI search
SEO and AI search help you appear when owners and guests ask Google or ChatGPT who to use.
Meta ads
Meta ads show the charter, the detail or the refit before people start searching.
Retargeting
Retargeting brings back people who looked at a date, a yacht or a quote.
Organic social
Organic social shows the work you do every week, which is what builds trust.
How to split your budget across these is what the discovery call is for.
LinkedIn finds buyers, specifiers and dealers by job title.
Google Ads
Google Ads reaches engineers and buyers who are searching for a part or a spec.
SEO and AI search
SEO and AI search put your specs and datasheets in front of engineers researching online.
Boat shows
Boat shows give you face time with dealers and buyers, and the rest of the plan keeps the conversation going afterward.
Retargeting
Retargeting keeps you in mind while a purchase works through sign-off.
How to split your budget across these is what the discovery call is for.
Plan your marketing budget with Justin
This is a free 30-minute call. Justin will look at your business and talk you through how to split your budget across channels.
Your numbers
- Revenue
- $2,000,000 a year
- What you sell
- Services sold to consumers
- Goal
- Maintain
- Budget
- $12,000 a month
Questions about the numbers
About the data
Sector averages. These come from the CMO Survey 2026 (Spring 2026, edition 35), run by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business with Deloitte and the American Marketing Association. We use its "% of revenue" answers for B2C product, B2B services, B2C services and B2B product companies. The survey covers all industries, not only marine.
Growth range. This is RainChekk's method: your sector's average plus 2 to 3 points. It's based on Gartner CMO Spend Survey figures reported by Stephen Spratley in Forbes (June 2025).
Rounding. Yearly figures round to the nearest 1,000. Monthly figures are the unrounded yearly figure divided by 12, rounded to the nearest 100, so 12 months can differ slightly from the year.
Currency. We only change the symbol, and nothing is converted.
Next update. The next CMO Survey is expected around spring 2027.
Disclaimer. These are published averages, not financial advice, and no budget guarantees a result. The right number for you depends on your margins and what's already working.
