How much should you be spending on B2B marketing this year?

Focus on SaaS budgets

There’s a huge disparity across the SaaS landscape where marketing is seen as the engine that drives growth. The average marketing spend is 8% but that can be misleading. Away from the cautious bootstrap companies with their emphasis on consolidation and lifetime value, the picture is far more dynamic.

Equity-backed SaaS firms are averaging 15–16%, while some high-growth firms are spending as much as 10–20% of revenue. These budgets reflect the need to aggressively claim market share and build communities.

US / European difference

US SaaS companies tend to be more conservative than their European counterparts but still outspend most other B2B verticals. Scale is key. Firms with revenue of between $1M and $5M spend 15% on marketing in early growth. But this figure declines steadily to as little as 4% as they mature. The only exception is a slight rise for companies in the $50M to $100M range as they expand and explore new markets.

Focus on Industry 4.0 budgets

In comparison to SaaS, marketing spends are usually more modest for Industry 4.0 and manufacturing companies. Here the average spend is 4.7% of budget with some firms allocating just 2.5% – a throwback to their reliance on sales-driven relationships and product reputation. But digital transformation is steadily pushing market spend upwards. For example, in the Pharma & biotech sectors it’s already 10.9% while healthcare is 8.3%.

US / European difference

In the US, the average figure is closer to 8-10% reflecting a more established online marketing environment.

Focus on Automotive budgets

At first glance the B2B automotive vertical has one of industry’s more prudent allocations for marketing. But really that’s an indication of the size of these companies.

Typical percentage spend of revenue is between 2-4%, rising towards 7% in launch years or during brand repositioning. The CMO survey reports transportation average budget spend is 3.9%.

US / European difference

US automotive marketers face higher digital media costs per lead, driven by competition. European firms tend to favor organic, event-led strategies that stretch budget efficiency.

Focus on Connectivity budgets

It’s no surprise that tech and software platform companies are among the big marketing spenders with an average allocation of 12.9% on average. For IoT and telecom firms the range is 4-9%, rising to over 15% during product launches or new platform rollouts.

US / European difference

In the US, martech, data, and analytics companies often invest 1–2% more than their European counterparts, driven in part by a heavier reliance on paid performance media and influencer-led content.

Where should you be spending your money?

Hopefully that round-up gives a clearer idea of how much you should be spending. The question now is where should you be spending it?

For B2B marketing, the mix continues to lean towards digital. According to Gartner, digital channels now command 57.1% of paid media budgets through search, social and display. The CMO Society reports a 7.3% increase in digital spend YoY, with digital allocation in 2026 and beyond predicted to grow 11.9%. The IPA Bellwether shows Q2 2025 growth led by sales promotions (+9.4% net) and direct marketing (+9.1% net), while main media remains constant. A majority of B2B teams plan to increase investment in both digital video (61%) and thought leadership (52%) – channels that are becoming more influential.

Digital divergence

But there is a growing place for offline media too. In the US digital is becoming increasingly expensive, particularly CPC – and everywhere digital saturation is rising with cut-through becoming ever more elusive. This is making offline media more potent and credible – particularly for events, sponsorship, OOH, direct mail and ABM. So, whatever you’re planning to spend, we recommend reserving 10% to 20% of your spend for offline.

Our best B2B marketing budget advice

OK. So that’s a lot of figures to digest, because as we said there’s no single magic number. However, there is a formula for smarter allocation:

• Make your budget make financial sense. When selling-in to your CFO and other internal audiences, pitch it in terms of their priorities not the marketing department’s.
• Think in ranges, not absolutes. Identify a baseline, but be prepared to flex higher for aggressive growth, sales cycles or other pipeline goals.
• Good marketing pays for itself. Always view it as a growth driver, never just a cost center.
• Invest in insight. More accurate targeting is key. You need to truly understand your audience.
• Use your agency. A good partner will help optimize media spend, reduce wastage, and identify where automation or content atomization can amplify ROI. Your agency can also help with AI discoverability, aligning digital, content and PR to perform more efficiently and effectively.

Looking ahead

There’s no rest for the B2B marketer. Just as you decide upon a number for 2026, economic surprises, geopolitical shifts and rising costs will inevitably cause disruption. But if you’re prepared to be flexible, diversify channels and align your marketing closely to your commercial strategy then you’ll be in the strongest possible position for success.