Want more customers? Start with the right ad spend.
Here’s a budget calculator to figure it out:
So, you’re ready to run ads. Facebook, Google, maybe even both. You’re not afraid to invest—but you don’t want to light money on fire either. It has to work. Naturally, the first question that comes up is:
“How much should I spend on advertising?”
Short answer? More than zero. Better answer? Let’s figure that out based on your goals, not your gut. We always recommend starting by determining how many customers, or how much revenue you actually want to generate from digital ads. Then it’s important to evaluate how much each customer is worth to your business, both at the point of sale and their lifetime value. Once you know those numbers, you can calculate how much you can afford to spend to acquire a new customer, and then reverse-engineer a budget that actually makes sense. No wishful thinking. No “set it and pray.” Just clarity. This is how smart marketers (and agencies who know what they’re doing) plan profitable campaigns on platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and beyond. We built a free ROAS calculator/ad budget calculator that lets you plug in your goals and get a realistic view of what it takes to get there.
- Estimate how many clicks you’ll need to generate enough leads
- Estimate how many leads you’ll need to get enough sales to hit your revenue goals
- Calculate a budget recommendation
- Project your expected ROAS
Let’s calculate a budget for your goals:
Ad Spend Calculator
Results
🔴 Step 1: Enter Your Information
Fill in your data. New to running ads or aren’t sure what your metrics are? Check out the industry benchmarks below to see what’s normal for your vertical.
- Revenue Goal: The total revenue you aim to generate.
- Average Revenue per Sale: The amount you earn from each sale.
- Average Lifetime Customer Value: The total value a customer brings in their lifetime as your customer.
- Average Cost per Click (CPC): Your typical advertising cost for one click (calculated by dividing total spend by total clicks).
- Average Cost per Lead: The average cost of generating one lead from an ad campaign (calculated by dividing total spend by total leads).
- Conversion Rate (% of Clicks → Leads): The percentage of clicks that convert into leads online.
- Lead-to-Sale Rate (% Leads → Sales): The percentage of leads that your team converts into actual sales.
🟢 Step 2: Review Your Results
Once you enter your inputs, the calculator will automatically show:
- Required Clicks: The number of clicks needed to reach your sales goal.
- Required Leads: The number of leads needed to meet your revenue target.
- Sales Needed: How many sales you need to hit your goal.
- Average Cost per Acquisition (CPA): The average cost to gain one customer.
- Expected Monthly ROAS: Return on ad spend for the month.
- Expected Lifetime ROAS: The long-term return based on customer lifetime value.
🔵 Step 3: Find Your Recommended Budget
Check the output for your total recommended ad budget to meet your revenue goal. Enter your email address to have your results sent straight to your inbox to save for later.
Not Sure About Your Numbers? We’ve Got Benchmarks
If you’re not 100% sure what your cost per lead or conversion rate is (no shame), you can use our handy industry benchmarks below as a jumping-off point. These estimates are tailored for local service businesses and lead generation campaigns—a.k.a. businesses like yours. The data is calculated based on the average results across 3 channels: Google Search, Bing Search, and Meta Lead Generation Ads.
| Industry | Avg. Cost per Click | Avg. Cost per Lead | % of Clicks to Leads |
| Animals/Pets | $2.24 | $32.38 | 7.52% |
| Apparel/Fashion & Jewelry | $2.82 | $47.04 | 3.72% |
| Arts & Entertainment | $1.09 | $38.75 | 2.61% |
| Attorneys & Legal Services | $8.72 | $124.31 | 6.61% |
| Automotive (For Sale) | $2.29 | $43.40 | 7.06% |
| Automotive (Repair, Service & Parts) | $3.61 | $54.70 | 5.68% |
| Beauty & Personal Care | $3.00 | $45.26 | 9.45% |
| Business Services | $3.45 | $61.30 | 8.18% |
| Career & Employment | $3.63 | $70.58 | 8.76% |
| Dentists & Dental Services | $5.46 | $59.48 | 7.73% |
| Education & Instruction | $3.21 | $51.67 | 8.43% |
| Finance & Insurance | $3.79 | $57.02 | 4.38% |
| Furniture | $2.70 | $79.18 | 4.32% |
| Health & Fitness | $4.00 | $57.98 | 6.59% |
| Home & Home Improvement | $4.57 | $53.58 | 8.75% |
| Industrial & Commercial | $3.86 | $51.01 | 9.44% |
| Personal Services | $3.44 | $36.74 | 8.91% |
| Physicians & Surgeons | $3.80 | $59.86 | 7.95% |
| Real Estate | $1.73 | $50.62 | 6.31% |
| Restaurants & Food | $1.55 | $22.99 | 6.30% |
| Shopping, Collectibles & Gifts | $1.61 | $31.79 | 3.38% |
| Sports & Recreation | $1.77 | $32.25 | 7.11% |
| Travel | $1.28 | $44.26 | 4.09% |
And When You’re Ready for a Partner, Not Just a Platform…
The calculator is step one. But if you want real help setting goals, tracking results, and optimizing every dollar—you’ll want an agency that knows how to turn strategy into sales. Because let’s be honest: setting your budget is the easy part. Making it perform? That’s where the pros come in. 👋 Let’s talk when you’re ready.
There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Answer to Marketing Budgets
A common rule of thumb is that B2B companies should spend between 2 and 5% of their revenue on marketing. For B2C companies, the proportion is often higher—between 5 and 10%. This is because B2C companies typically need to invest in more marketing channels to reach various customer segments. A recent survey of chief marketing officers in the USA found that an average 7.7% of company revenue was allocated to marketing in 2024 — so, making sure your marketing budget falls around that range is likely a good idea.
| Industry | Marketing Budget (% of Company Revenue) |
| Consumer packaged goods | 18.09% |
| Education | 14.59% |
| Communications/media | 13.82% |
| Transportation | 11.67% |
| Consumer services | 11.25% |
| Banking/finance/insurance | 11.18% |
| Professional services | 11.06% |
| Mining/construction | 10.20% |
| Real estate | 9.82% |
| Healthcare | 9.31% |
| Tech software/platform | 9.16% |
| Pharma/biotech | 8.21% |
| Manufacturing | 6.67% |
| Retail wholesale | 5.46% |
| Energy | 3.21% |
Breaking Down Advertising Terminology
ROAS vs. ROI: There’s often confusion between calculating return on ad spend and return on investment as it relates to advertising. It’s important to clarify what ROAS is before diving into the elements to calculate it. While ROI calculates the profitability of all your digital marketing efforts, ROAS analyzes the total revenue of your digital advertising to give you a clear view of how your ads are performing.
ROAS Breakdown: Before we get to the calculator, it’s important to have a good understanding of the elements that go into it. This groundwork ensures you’re ready to make the most of our ROAS Calculator.
Unpacking Revenue
Revenue is the total income generated from your ad campaigns. For a service-based business, calculating the revenue from ads means tracking the customer journey over a longer period. We recommend finding the average revenue per lead before using our calculator for a more accurate outcome.
You can do this by collecting all the leads you’ve acquired directly from ad campaigns. Once you have this information, take a look at how much revenue your business gained from all of the leads together.
Ex. Last year’s Valentine’s Campaign generated 100 leads. 30 of those leads made a purchase. The total amount spent from all 30 purchases was $100,000.
Now that you have your numbers, divide the Total Revenue [$100,000] by the Total Number of Leads [$100]. This would give you an average of $1,000 in Revenue per Lead. This is the number you want to use when calculating ROAS.
The success of your campaigns may change over time, so it’s important to update these numbers regularly.
Decoding Ad Spend: Ad Spend is the specific budget you allocate to advertise on different platforms. It’s the amount you decide to invest in platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other channel of choice. This focused budgeting approach ensures you have clear control over where your advertising dollars go. Understanding Ad Spend is like managing your monthly expenses. You decide how much goes into each platform, similar to budgeting for bills or groceries. This tailored approach is crucial for businesses, allowing them to strategically distribute their ad dollars where they believe they’ll yield the best results. Despite the intricacies, tracking Ad Spend gives you precise control over your campaign’s financial allocation. This targeted approach empowers you to optimize your advertising strategy, ensuring you get the most impact from your chosen platforms.
Understanding Related Costs: When it comes to managing your ad campaign, understanding the costs involved can be a game-changer. Let’s explore the differences between handling things in-house and partnering with a marketing agency like CyberMark.
In-House Management: Running your ad campaigns in-house demands significant resources and time. A dedicated team is required to develop and oversee ad campaigns full-time. You’ll also need distinct tools to build creatives, test campaigns, and track leads. The time and expenses that come with in-house ad management may not be practical for a small business owner.
Agency Management: You can lower the costs and eliminate the guesswork of ad management by partnering with a digital marketing agency like CyberMark. With years of expertise, we use campaign strategies backed by data. We also have the tools and resources to test out creatives and optimize your campaigns. From templated landing pages that have proven successful to optimal keyword placement, you can elevate your ad campaigns with CyberMark.
So… What’s This Really About?
We’re all about helping brands make the leap from “Let’s try ads” to “Let’s run ads with a strategy that actually pays off.” If you’re a business owner or marketing lead trying to figure out how much to spend on ads before hiring a marketing agency, this is where your clarity begins.
Challenge: Take 5 minutes today to run your numbers. You might be surprised what’s possible once you break it down.
📚 Want to learn more? Schedule a free strategy call and let’s see how we can help. We’ll audit your ad accounts (if you have them) and give you our recommendations to meet your goals.
