Early-stage B2B SaaS companies often spend 20–40% of revenue on marketing, while growth-stage ones aim for efficient CAC payback. Budgets should prioritise channels that drive pipeline (like content, SEO, and paid social), not just leads. Align spend with your sales cycle, pricing model, and traction stage – there’s no one-size-fits-all, but clear benchmarks help avoid under- or overspending.
Ask ten SaaS founders about their B2B SaaS marketing budget, and you’ll hear ten different answers.
That’s because there’s no one-size-fits-all number. A bootstrapped SaaS company isn’t spending like a Series B team. Your stage shapes how you budget, pick channels, and track success.
But even with good intentions, it’s easy to get it wrong. Some SaaS companies overspend on paid ads before they’ve nailed messaging. Others publish content without a distribution strategy. Retention gets left out, and SEO is treated as a side project.
So, what should your annual marketing budget look like?
That really depends on your growth stage, target audience, market and product and how quickly you need results. In this guide, we’ll break down the marketing budget for SaaS companies at each stage, flag the common mistakes, and help you build a more thoughtful, sustainable marketing plan.
How Much Should a B2B SaaS Company Spend on Marketing?
SaaS marketing budget allocation looks different at every stage. Here’s a rough breakdown based on industry benchmarks:
| Stage | % of Revenue Spent on Marketing |
| Pre-Seed/Seed | 40–50% |
| Series A | 30–40% |
| Series B/C | 25–35% |
| Mature SaaS | 15–25% |
Early-stage companies need to spend more to get noticed. Without a reputation, you buy traction through content, paid ads, outbound, whatever moves the needle. A SaaS startup marketing budget often has to cover a lot before something sticks.
Later-stage SaaS businesses scale what works and improve retention, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and paid performance.
But growth doesn’t happen for free. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) won’t rise without a clear SaaS marketing budget tied to goals, backed by data, and spent where it counts.
SaaS Marketing Budget Breakdown by Growth Stage
How you calculate your SaaS marketing budget should reflect how fast you need to grow. A bootstrapped startup and a Series A company don’t have the same needs or spend on marketing. The earlier you are, the more each dollar has to work.
Here’s SaaS company marketing budget examples by stage:
Bootstrapped SaaS (No VC Funding, Early Revenue)
Marketing Budget: $0–$5K/month
Main Focus: Organic growth, BOFU content, referrals, and tightly focused paid ads
With a limited budget, every dollar counts. Prioritize content that attracts high-intent leads, build SEO early, and lean on outreach and partnerships to create traction without heavy spending.
| Category | % of Budget | Focus |
| Content & SEO | 40% | Drive organic traffic through helpful, conversion-focused content. |
| Cold Outreach | 25% | Reach out directly with targeted, personalized messages. |
| Ultra-Targeted PPC | 15% | Run small, BOFU-focused paid campaigns for decision-stage keywords. |
| Partnerships & Affiliate | 20% | Collaborate with aligned companies to grow your reach affordably. |
What works
Start with bottom-of-funnel content. Add in low-spend, high-intent PPC. Don’t do too much too fast; just keep it focused and track what’s working.
What to avoid
Spending on broad ads when your site isn’t ready. If you’re paying for clicks, make sure they lead somewhere useful.
Pre-Seed / Seed
Marketing Budget: $5K–$20K/month
Main Focus: Awareness, channel validation, market share, customer success, and demand generation
Suggested SaaS Budget Allocation
| Category | % of Budget | Focus |
| Content & SEO | 35% | Build trust early with comparison pages, BOFU content, and keyword blogs. |
| Paid Acquisition | 25% | Test high-intent keywords on Google Ads and LinkedIn. Keep spend tight. |
| Brand & Design | 10% | Improve messaging and boost CRO across landing pages. |
| Tools & Analytics | 10% | Set up GA4, CRM, and attribution to track ROI. |
| Outbound & Events | 10% | Drive leads through targeted outreach, webinars, and small events. |
| Partnerships & Affiliates | 10% | Grow reach with co-marketing and referral programs. |
What works
The average marketing budget for bootstrapped SaaS should start small with paid ads and invest in BOFU content that converts. Remember, organic growth takes time and marketing investment, but early SEO and content marketing build a strong foundation.
What to avoid
Don’t overspend chasing quick wins. Without clear, consistent data, wasting your marketing budget on the wrong channels is easy.
Series A SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR, Growth Mode)
Marketing Budget: $20K–$100K/month
Main Focus: Grow pipeline, expand reach, and put structure around what’s already working
Now, your SaaS marketing strategy shifts from testing to scaling. You’ve seen what works; it’s time to build those wins into a predictable marketing machine.
Suggested Budget Allocation
| Category | % of Budget | Focus |
| Paid Acquisition | 40% | Ramp up Google Ads, LinkedIn, and retargeting. Scale what’s already working. |
| SEO & Content | 30% | Invest in high-quality content, BOFU assets, and deeper keyword coverage. |
| CRO | 15% | Improve landing pages, CTAs, and user flows to reduce acquisition cost. |
| Outbound & ABM | 15% | Reach high-value accounts with targeted content and email campaigns. |
What works
Blend paid and organic. Use ads to test offers and speed up results, but keep investing in content marketing for long-term, compounding growth.
What to avoid
Over-relying on paid traffic. If leads dry up when you pause spending, your B2B SaaS marketing budget needs rethinking. How equity-backed companies spend should be tied to scalable channels that support predictable pipelines and create long-term annual revenue, not just short bursts of traffic.
Mistakes to Avoid in B2B SaaS Marketing Budgeting
Even when you figure out how much to budget for marketing B2B SaaS, it’s still easy to burn through cash without results. The problem isn’t the amount you’re spending but how that money gets used. Let’s look at some common mistakes SaaS teams make.
1. Investing in SEO Without Securing the Investment
The average SaaS company often invests heavily in SEO and then forgets about it, which can have some pretty serious consequences.
Say you publish weekly at $500 per post and build 50 backlinks at $350 each. That’s about $45K out the door annually. It may sound like a solid SaaS marketing budget on paper, but the plan will start to fall apart without upkeep. Rankings drop. Backlinks break. The content gets stale. Traffic fades, and no one knows why.
How to make the most of your spend:
- Check backlinks regularly. Lost links = lost authority.
- Update existing content with fresh stats, tighter copy, and better structure.
- Fix internal linking to strengthen SEO across your site.
- Prioritize content that aligns with search intent, especially for high-converting BOFU queries.
- Review performance data and optimize underperformers before creating more.
We see this a lot at SaaStorm. SaaS companies invest in content, but the value fades fast without a clear SaaS marketing strategy. To combat this, we build systems for every client that improves customer acquisition cost, extend content lifespan, and drive steady inbound growth without constantly increasing the marketing budget.
Advice from Romana: If your agency isn’t revisiting old content, you should ask them why. Your marketing dollars should compound, not vanish.
2. Underestimating the Lagging Effect of Organic Growth
Most SaaS companies expect SEO to deliver fast. However, organic growth takes it’s sweet time and usually you’re looking at three, maybe even five months before anything really happens. That delay throws people who expect instant returns on their SaaS marketing spend off
We’ve seen this happen firsthand. A client doubled their content marketing efforts and link building. For months, nothing changed. Then traffic took off, until they paused their marketing efforts. A few months later, traffic tanked. If SEO is in your B2B SaaS marketing budget, give it time to do its job. That’s where real revenue growth comes from.
What to do instead:
- Set realistic expectations, organic results take time to generate
- Keep publishing, even when it feels slow
- Use paid ads to stay visible while your content gains traction
- Look at what’s working before creating more content
- And treat SEO as a central part of the core plan, not a side hustle
3. Overspending on Tools Instead of Growth
You start with one tool. Then you add a few more because they’re cheap and sound helpful. Suddenly, you’ve got tools coming out of your ears and a monthly subscription bill that’s out of control.
At SaaStorm, we’ve built a lean, high-impact stack that powers our day-to-day. And our clients get access to all of it, without paying extra.
Here’s what that looks like:
| Category | Tool | Monthly Cost |
| Operations & Productivity | Slack | $89 |
| GSuite | $26 | |
| ClickUp (Free) | $0 | |
| 1Password | $4 | |
| ChatGPT | $60 | |
| Calendly | $12 | |
| Claap | $30 | |
| Tella | $19 | |
| WPEngine | $30 | |
| SEO & Content | Surfer | $219 |
| Semrush | $505 | |
| Grammarly | $15 | |
| Byword | $99 | |
| AirOps (Free) | $0 | |
| Figma | $45 | |
| Google Search Console | $0 | |
| Google Analytics 4 | $0 | |
| Sales & Outreach | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | $120 |
| Instantly.ai | $125 | |
| Expandi.io | $120 | |
| AuthoredUp | $17 | |
| Total Monthly Spend | $1,426 |
That’s more than $15K per year in software spend.
Most startups won’t have the SaaS marketing spend for all of these tools, let alone the time it takes to figure out which ones actually move the needle. But when you work with an agency like SaaStorm, you skip the learning curve and get an already proven stack. No waste. No fluff. It’s just the stuff that drives results.
What to avoid
- Paying for tools you barely use
- Buying before you have a clear strategy
- Thinking more software = more growth
What to do instead
- Audit your stack every quarter
- Cut what’s not tied to pipeline or revenue
- Work with partners who already have systems in place
- Redirect that spend into content, outreach, or paid campaigns
4. Setting a Budget Without a Clear Strategy
Plenty of SaaS companies have the tools and marketing budget, but no clear plan. They copy competitors, spread marketing spend across too many marketing channels, or chase marketing trends, without knowing what drives revenue.
That’s not strategy. It’s guesswork.
How to fix it
- Know what you’re aiming for, leads, MRR, lower CAC, better retention
- Spend where it moves those goals. Budget should back outcomes, not just activity.
- Check performance monthly and adjust. Stick to what’s working, not just the plan.
5. Chasing Vanity Metrics
Big numbers are fun. But if you’re focused on the wrong metrics you won’t have a clue what’s going on under the hood. Metics like page views and impressions look great in a report but if leads are not turning into pipeline then you have a problem. No one pays the bills with impressions, unfortunately.
How to fix it
- Forget feel-good metrics. Instead, focus on what drives growth, like lead quality. Are you getting MQLs? Are they turning into SQLs? What’s that conversion rate actually look like?
- Your strategy should point straight at pipeline and revenue, not just surface-level clicks.
At SaaStorm, we focus on what moves revenue for software companies: qualified leads and conversion. That’s how we see successful companies build B2B SaaS marketing roadmaps that scale.
6. Ignoring Customer Retention
Most teams focus on getting more customers in the door. That’s fair take but if you’re not thinking about how to keep them, you’ll eventually feel the churn.
Retention doesn’t get much attention in early-stage SaaS marketing plans. It’s not as exciting as launching campaigns or driving traffic. But if your existing customers start slipping away, all that top-of-funnel effort starts to feel like running on a treadmill that you can’t get off.
How to fix it
- Implement retention strategies by opitmizing onboarding flows, check-ins, or customer-only content.
- Don’t wait for churn to find out what went wrong. Track patterns. Look at when people drop off, not just that they did. Then, fix the gaps.
7. Lack of Alignment Between Sales and Marketing
If you notice that you’re generating a lot of leads but deals aren’t closing and your pipeline isn’t growing, this is usually down to a disconnect between your sales and marketing teams.
It’s rarely one team’s fault. The fault usually lies in not having a shared definition on what good lead actually look like. Or no agreement on when to pass them over. No visibility into what happens next. So marketing keeps delivering names, and sales keeps ignoring them. That’s where your B2B SaaS marketing budget gets wasted.
How to fix this:
- Agree on what makes a lead qualified.
- Set a single point where marketing hands off to sales.
- Have quick check-ins like a morning stand up to spot what’s working and what’s not.
- Marketing needs to give sales context and let them know where each lead came from.
8. Not Adapting to Market Changes
Market share shifts all the time. What worked yesterday might fall flat today. But a lot of SaaS teams keep running the same campaigns, targeting their target audience with the same personas and using old messaging, long after it stops being effective.
That’s where growth stalls. Because the competitive landscape moved and your strategy didn’t.
How to fix it
- Monitor market changes like competitors, customer behavior, and trends. Engage with customers and keep an eye on what prospects are asking to capture more market share.
- Leave room in your go to market strategy to adjust course. Ditch what’s not working, test new ideas, and be ready to adjust when needed. No need to overhaul your plan, just shift when the signals say it’s time.
9. Relying Too Much on Paid Advertising Without an Organic Strategy
Having paid ads as the foundation of your marketing strategy is an common trap to fall into. But it’s easy to see why, ads offer fast results, they’re great for testing and lead gen. However, they stop the moment your budget does.
Without a strong organic base, like SEO, BOFU content, and targeted pages, customer acquisition cost stays high, and every lead becomes a new expense.
How to fix it:
- Put part of your budget into SEO and BOFU content. It takes time, but it compounds and lowers CAC.
- Focus paid campaigns on high-intent, decision-stage keywords.
- Retarget warm traffic. It’s cheaper and converts better than starting cold.
SaaS companies that combine content marketing with controlled paid spend see total revenue, stronger ROI and more stable, annual recurring revenue and revenue growth over time.
10. Not Adjusting Budget Based on Performance Metrics
Too many teams set a budget and stick to it, no matter what the data says. That’s a fast way to waste money.
If a channel isn’t working, don’t wait it out. And if one’s clearly performing, give it more fuel. Your budget should shift with performance, not sit still.
How to fix it
- Track marketing attribution with tools like GA4, HubSpot, or Segment to see what’s driving real results.
- Double down on what works, so move your budget into a few core channels and campaigns.
- Cut what’s not converting. Don’t hang on to underperforming tactics. Reallocate and keep moving.
Best Practices for Structuring Your SaaS Marketing Budget
Now that we’ve covered the mistakes, how to get it right. These rules aren’t set in stone but we’ve noticed that they tend to work.
1. Align Budget with Business Growth Goals
The way you spend should match what you’re trying to achieve.
- Brand awareness? Focus on content, PR, and events that put your name in front of the right people.
- Lead generation? Lean into SEO, PPC, and outbound. Go where intent lives.
- Customer expansion? Prioritise retention, upsell campaigns, and marketing to users who already know you.
Start with your goals, then build your budget around them. Not the other way around.
2. Follow the 40/40/20 Rule
If you need a starting point, this framework works well for most SaaS teams:
- 40% on demand generation – SEO, content, paid acquisition, ABM
- 40% on retention & lifecycle – email marketing, customer education, referral loops
- 20% on brand & experimentation – PR, social, events, and trying new things
It keeps you balanced across the funnel without stretching too thin.
3. Invest in High-Quality BOFU Content First
Top-of-funnel content builds reach. But bottom-of-funnel content drives revenue. Think: case studies, feature comparisons, pricing breakdowns, or “vs” pages, anything that helps people choose. Like what we did for Reditus with Top B2B Affiliate Marketing Networks: SaaS-Only and Beyond
Skip the basics like “What is SaaS?” unless you’re already ranking on page one.
4. Start with Controlled PPC Spend
If you’re early stage, $200 to $500 a month is plenty. Start small, stay targeted, and only bid on keywords with real purchase intent.
Instead of broad terms like affiliate software, go narrow. Reditus did well targeting “best SaaS partner program software”. A query from someone ready to buy, not just browse.
Let results guide your next move. Not a gut feeling.
Case Study – How SaaStorm Helped Reditus Scale with a Minimal Budget
Budget: Under $4K/month
Main Focus: SEO and BOFU content
When Joran Hofman, founder of Reditus, reached out to SaaStorm, everything was on his shoulders; content, strategy, outreach. The site was split between two CMS platforms, blog content wasn’t converting, and their SEO visibility was close to zero. Growth had hit a ceiling.
With a monthly budget of under $4K, Reditus needed a clear, efficient B2B SaaS marketing strategy that could bring in qualified leads, without wasting money on ad channels that wouldn’t scale.
What we did
We stepped in with a lean, focused plan built around organic growth that would move the needle:
- Rebuilt the site on a single, SEO-optimised CMS
- Cleaned up existing content and fixed cannibalisation
Built a BOFU-first strategy with how-to guides and comparison pages - Created topic clusters focused on affiliate marketing
- Produced interactive content like calculators and product demos
- Set up tracking in GA4, HubSpot, and Databox for lead and funnel insights
- Embedded directly into their team for strategy, content, and reporting
Reditus grew in traffic, and most importantly, pipeline. Every piece of content we created pointed to one thing: qualified, sales-ready leads.
In 12 months, here’s what changed:
- 128% inbound pipeline growth
- $1.3M ARR pipeline created
- 100+ sales opportunities
- 50+ featured snippets and top-3 visibility for core affiliate marketing keywords
- 100+ keywords ranked in Google’s top 20 – without any external link-building
“SaaStorm became part of our team. They didn’t just help us grow — they owned our marketing like it was their own.”
— Joran Hofman, Co-founder at Reditus
Summary & Key Takeaways
Your SaaS marketing budget should reflect your current company size, not where you hope to be. Bootstrapped SaaS businesses must lean into organic growth, referrals, and content that drives action. Expand into paid channels, outbound, and more structured lifecycle marketing as you grow.
You can avoid the usual traps. Don’t chase empty metrics that don’t lead to revenue. Don’t rely on ads without a strategy. And don’t invest in SEO unless you’re ready to maintain it.
Instead, focus on what works. Marketing combined with clear goals and tight execution gets results. Laser in your customer marketing on content that converts, like BOFU guides, comparison pages, and referral programs, will bring better leads at a lower cost.
Lastly, regarding marketing costs due to paid ads, start small, stay focused, and only scale what’s proven.
Want to start growing your SaaS? Let’s talk!
Schedule a CallFAQs
It depends on your growth stage and goals. According to industry benchmarks, early-stage SaaS companies typically allocate 40-50% of annual revenue just toward their marketing budget, while mature companies spend closer to 15-25%. Your B2B SaaS marketing budget should align with business objectives, company size, growth capital, and your target market.
For early-stage startups, it’s smart to start with content marketing, SEO, and BOFU content to build long-term traction. A small, controlled PPC budget (around $200–$500/month) can help test high-intent keywords. However, your SaaS marketing strategy should prioritize compounding channels first, such as search engine optimization and referral marketing.
Common pitfalls include spending too much on paid advertising without a solid organic strategy, ignoring content optimization, chasing vanity metrics, or failing to track customer lifetime value or acquisition cost. Many SaaS and companies spend on marketing, without clear attribution, which leads to wasted marketing dollars and poor ROI.
Focus on high-leverage, low-cost tactics like SEO, BOFU content, partnerships, and outbound email. Use free tools where possible and track performance closely. Even with a tight SaaS marketing budget, you can drive revenue growth by focusing on conversion-ready leads and building systems that scale.
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