Small-business question
How much should a small business spend on marketing?
By Rick Hesse ·
Short answer
The short answer
There is no honest universal number. Start with an amount you can sustain long enough to learn, then use it to strengthen the foundation, measurement, and follow-up before scattering money across disconnected activity.
Where this fits in a real small business
The right amount depends on the business, its capacity, the customer it is trying to reach, and what already works. A smaller consistent investment that leaves something useful behind can matter more than a larger burst that disappears.
One useful next step
Before choosing a dollar amount, decide what part of the customer path needs the most help: being found, being understood, being trusted, being contacted, or being followed up with.
Go deeper
Explore the teaching behind this answer
These NTA resources explain the connected ideas without asking you to start over from the beginning.