Question

Topic: Other

Benchmark % Of Sales Spent On Marketing/dg

Posted by steve.palmer on 4/21/2015 at 1:23 PM ET 25 Points
Looking for benchmarks for amounts spent by B2B technology companies on marketing generally or demand generation, ideally expressed as a percentage of sales. Any survey data available?

Thanks
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  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/21/2015 at 8:53 PM Moderator
    The range is enormous ... from less than 1% to more than 50%. It depends on a number of factors, including the industry, the company's goals, competition, distribution, sales geography, product uniqueness, target customers, etc. etc. The percentage can even be more than 100% for new companies.

    It's a little like asking "How much is dinner?" The answer could be anything from less than a dollar to several hundred dollars. If there is a whole family to feed, it could even be thousands of dollars.

    Sorry, Steve. Anyone who offers a number, or even a range, is likely to mislead you. It's best to figure out what it will cost to achieve your objective. Then divide that number by the projected sales to get the % of sales spent on marketing.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/21/2015 at 10:18 PM Member
    What kind of B2B technology companies?

    Offering what kind of technology?

    To whom?

    In which technology niches or markets?

    What kind of marketing?

    To whom?

    With what goal? Over what time period?

    Measured against what kind of outcomes, projections, or historic investments?

    Sales of what?

    Software?

    Products?

    Hardware?

    Sales to whom?

    Over what period?

    At what price points?

    Against how many competitors?

    To how many historic, current, or potential buyers?
  • Posted by steve.palmer on 5/1/2015 at 1:57 PM Author
    mgoodman and gary bloomer make good points. What I was actually looking for is some survey data, if it exists?

    Thanks.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 5/1/2015 at 2:05 PM Accepted
    I've seen some survey data, but what it shows is an AVERAGE for marketing as a percent of sales, so it's totally useless. It combines data from start-ups, dinosaurs, huge companies, mom-and-pops, and everything inbetween. It's like taking an average of temperatures in the world's 100 largest cities. What would you possibly do with it?

    And then there's the whole issue of what's included in marketing expense? Does it include sales commissions? Is it even consistent across the companies surveyed? And what about competitive environment?
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 5/1/2015 at 2:41 PM Member
    I'm still waiting for answers to my questions above.
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