Marketing Calculator: Find Your Marketing Budget

Your marketing budget shouldn't be based on an arbitrary percentage of revenue. Use your customer economics and growth goals to estimate what you can reasonably afford to spend acquiring new customers.

YOUR RESULTS

Leads Needed Per Month10025 customers ÷ 25% close rate

Marketing Budget Required$5,000 / month100 leads × $50.00 blended CPL

Projected CAC$200.00$5,000 ÷ 25 customers

Break-Even Gross Margin26.7%$5,000 ÷ $18,750 revenue

Break-Even CAC$300.00

Break-Even CPL$75.00

Approximate CPL at which estimated marketing spend equals gross profit generated.

Revenue & Profitability Breakdown

Potential New Revenue$18,750.0025 customers × $750.00

Gross Profit Before Marketing Expense$7,500.00$18,750.00 × 40% gross margin

Minus: Marketing Budget Required−$5,000.00100 leads × $50.00 blended CPL

Contribution After Marketing+$2,500.00$7,500.00 − $5,000.00

These numbers can work.

Based on the numbers you entered, the estimated gross profit generated by these customers is greater than the marketing spend required to acquire them.

Gross Profit Before Marketing: $7,500.00

Marketing Budget Required: $5,000.00

Contribution After Marketing: +$2,500.00

Break-Even Gross Margin: 26.7%

Want Help Hitting These Numbers?

Marketing spend may include advertising, SEO, referral programs, agencies, content, direct mail, and other customer acquisition costs. This calculator estimates the economics of acquiring customers based on the numbers you provide. Contribution After Marketing shows what remains after estimated business costs and marketing spend.

MARKETING CALCULATOR GUIDE

How to Use Our Marketing Calculator

Use our Marketing Calculator to turn your growth goal into a practical marketing budget for your business. Start by entering the value of a customer, your gross profit margin, the number of new customers you want, your close rate, and your expected blended cost per lead. Your results update instantly so you can see whether the plan supports a positive contribution after marketing.

Enter your customer economics

First, enter what one customer is worth to your business and the gross profit margin you keep from that value. Use the same time period for both numbers so your results reflect your real economics. Your gross profit margin is simply the percentage of revenue left after paying all the non-marketing costs needed to run and fulfill the business.

Add your growth goal and lead assumptions

Next, tell the calculator how many new customers you want each month, how often your sales team closes leads, and what your business expects to pay for a blended cost per lead. Your Marketing Calculator rounds up the leads you need so the budget is realistic.

Review what your results are telling you

Finally, use your results to check the marketing budget, projected CAC, and break even points. Pay close attention to contribution after marketing, as it shows whether your customer economics support the growth goal after overhead and other operating expenses.

How to Understand Your Marketing Calculator Results

Marketing budget and cost per lead

Your Marketing Budget Required shows the estimated monthly spend needed to generate enough leads for your goal at the blended cost per lead you entered. Treat it as the cost of pursuing your plan, not an automatic recommendation to increase spend.

Projected CAC and break even points

Your Projected CAC shows what your business may spend to acquire one customer. Compare it with "Break-Even CAC" and "Break-Even CPL" to see the maximum acquisition cost your current gross profit can support.

Contribution after marketing

Read this part as a simple sequence for your business: revenue creates gross profit, then your marketing budget is subtracted. Contribution after marketing is what remains, helping you assess marketing ROI after overhead and other operating expenses.