Work back from the orders you need. Your average order value, win rate and the share of meetings that become quotes tell you how many meetings a year you need. Multiply that by what a meeting costs in each channel and you have a budget you can defend. Percentage-of-revenue surveys are a cross-check, not the answer.
Is there a percentage of turnover to aim for?
Surveys give one, but read it carefully. In The CMO Survey’s 2026 report, marketing leaders at US companies said marketing budgets were 9.0 percent of company revenues overall, and 7.0 percent at B2B product companies.
Source: The CMO Survey, Highlights and Insights Report 2026: 308 responses from marketing leaders at for-profit US companies, 97 percent VP level or above, fielded 7 to 29 January 2026. Checked 1 October 2026. cmosurvey.org
That figure describes US firms large enough to have a marketing leader answering surveys. It counts every kind of marketing spend, and it is what respondents said they spend, not what worked. For a UK switchgear service firm of 60 people it tells you very little. It’s a useful sense check if your own number comes out wildly different, and not much more.
The rest of this guide builds the number from your own sales instead.
Start with the order you need
Three numbers from your own records do most of the work. All three are in your quoting history if you have kept one.
| Number | Where to find it | Example used below |
|---|---|---|
| Average order value | Last two years of won orders | £40,000 |
| Win rate on opportunities | Orders won ÷ quotes or tenders submitted | 25 percent |
| Meetings that become an opportunity | Quotes raised ÷ first meetings held | 30 percent |
The examples are the pipeline calculator’s defaults. They are illustrations, not benchmarks, and your own figures will be better.
Then decide what the budget is for. Suppose the board wants four more orders a year from new accounts, about £160,000 of order value at the example rate.
How many meetings and accounts does that take?
Work backwards one step at a time.
- Four orders at a 25 percent win rate need 16 opportunities.
- Sixteen opportunities at 30 percent of meetings need about 53 meetings.
- If one reply in four becomes a meeting, 53 meetings need about 213 replies.
- At a 2 percent reply rate, 213 replies need about 10,667 contacts, or about 3,556 accounts at three contacts each.
Two things fall out of that. First, outbound email alone rarely carries a target like this, because many UK engineering niches don’t contain 3,500 suitable accounts. Second, every improvement in the rates is worth more than more volume. Raising the meeting-to-quote rate from 30 to 40 percent cuts the meetings needed from 53 to 40.
The pipeline calculator runs the same arithmetic with your inputs, forwards from an account list: 300 accounts, three contacts each, gives 18 replies, 4.5 meetings, 1.35 opportunities worth £54,000 in quotes and 0.34 orders at the default rates.
What does each conversation cost, by channel?
Once you know the meetings you need, the budget is the meetings times the cost of producing them, channel by channel. The figures below are worked examples from our two calculators, with the assumptions behind them stated.
| Channel | Example cost per meeting | Where the number comes from | How to measure it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outbound to named accounts, agency | £2,000 | £9,000 for a quarter at £3,000 a month ÷ 4.5 meetings, pipeline calculator defaults | Meetings held per account contacted |
| Outbound, in-house SDR | £2,500 | (£30,000 base + £15,000 commission) ÷ 4 ÷ 4.5 meetings, before employer’s costs, tools and data | The same |
| Trade show | £3,694 | £13,300 total show cost ÷ 3.6 meetings, ROI calculator example inputs | Meetings booked within 48 hours of the show |
| Technical content | Not a per-meeting cost | Writing time and engineer time; it works through the other channels | Enquiries that cite it; replies when it is sent to named accounts |
| Referrals and partners | Low in cash | Time spent on partners; can’t be switched on to order | Meetings introduced per partner |
How might the meetings split across channels?
Take the target from earlier, about 53 meetings a year, and see how far the examples go.
| Source | Meetings a year | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Outbound, one 300-account list a quarter | 18 | 4.5 meetings per list, pipeline calculator defaults, four lists |
| One trade show | 3.6 | ROI calculator example inputs |
| Total from these two | 21.6 | |
| Still to find | about 31 | Referrals, partners, inbound enquiries from content, existing relationships, or better rates |
On these assumptions, outbound and a show produce well under half the meetings the target needs. The gap can be closed three ways, and a real budget usually uses all three: add sources (referrals and partners, inbound enquiries from pages that answer buyers’ questions), improve the rates (a sharper message, accounts chosen on live signals, faster replies), or lower the target to what the budget can actually buy.
That last option is not a failure. A board that hears “this budget buys about 22 meetings, which at our rates is about 1.6 orders” can decide with its eyes open. One that hears “we’ll spend 5 percent and see” can’t.
A sensible budget mixes channels because each one runs out. A list gets worked through, a show happens once a year, a referral partner introduces a few firms and then goes quiet.
What do UK firms pay for the people and services?
Most of a marketing budget at this size is people, in house or bought in. The published UK anchors we could verify:
| Option | Published cost | What kind of source |
|---|---|---|
| In-house SDR | Median base £30k, on-target earnings £40k to £50k | A recruiter’s published figures, Coburg Banks, updated 13 July 2026 |
| In-house marketing manager | Median base £50k, typical range £40k to £60k | A recruiter’s published figures, Coburg Banks, updated 13 July 2026 |
| Fractional CMO | £1,500 to £6,000 a month | A supplier’s own price guide, McCracken Marketing, updated August 2026 |
| KS Media Pipeline Diagnostic | £2,500 founding rate, then £3,500, or £5,000 at £10m turnover and above | KS Media’s published prices |
| KS Media Pipeline Engine | From £3,000 a month, three months then rolling | KS Media’s published prices |
Salaries are before employer’s costs. Employer’s National Insurance in 2026 to 2027 is 15 percent on earnings above £5,000 a year, so a £50,000 salary carries £6,750 of it before pension, equipment, software and recruitment.
Source: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, checked 1 October 2026.
The side-by-side comparison, with what each option does in a week, is in our guide to a marketing hire versus a fractional CMO, an SDR or an agency.
Why does the first year look expensive?
Because orders arrive late. 6sense found the average B2B buying cycle was just over 10 months in 2025, across all B2B sectors, not engineering alone. Money spent in month one may show as an order in month eleven, or in the next financial year.
Source: 6sense, 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report, checked 1 October 2026.
So judge the first months on leading indicators, the numbers that move before orders do. We report four: accounts engaged, meetings held, opportunities opened and quote value. If those are moving at the rates the budget assumed, the orders tend to follow. If they aren’t, you find out in the first quarter rather than at the year end.
What does a budget the board will accept look like?
One page, with every assumption visible.
| Line | Example |
|---|---|
| Target | Four more orders from new accounts this year, about £160,000 |
| Rates used | 25 percent win rate, 30 percent of meetings to quotes, from our own history |
| Meetings needed | About 53 |
| Channels and meetings expected from each | Outbound, one show, referrals; split with a reason for each |
| Cost | People, fees, show costs, by channel |
| Leading indicators to watch | Accounts engaged, meetings held, opportunities opened, quote value, each month |
| Review points | End of each quarter: keep, change or stop each channel |
A board can argue with a line on that page, which is the point. A bare percentage of turnover gives it nothing to argue with and nothing to check.
Where to start
Run the numbers with your own rates. The pipeline calculator works forwards from an account list to orders and compares the cost per meeting of a hire with the Pipeline Engine; the trade-show ROI calculator does the same for a stand. If you want the inputs worked out from your own quote history, that is the first week of the Pipeline Diagnostic.
Quick answers
There is no correct percentage. In The CMO Survey 2026, marketing leaders at US B2B product companies reported marketing budgets of 7.0 percent of revenue, but that is a self-reported US average, not a target. A better figure comes from working back from the orders you need, through your win rate and the share of meetings that become quotes, to the cost of the meetings you need.
It depends entirely on your reply and meeting rates. In our pipeline calculator’s default case, 300 accounts and three contacts each at a 2 percent reply rate and one meeting per four replies give 4.5 meetings a quarter: about £2,000 a meeting at £3,000 a month, or £2,500 for an SDR on a £30,000 base and £15,000 commission before employer’s costs. Those rates are planning assumptions, not measured results.
Only if the conversations are followed up. Work it out as cost per meeting and break-even orders. In our ROI calculator’s example, a £13,300 stand that produces 3.6 meetings costs about £3,694 a meeting and breaks even at a third of one £40,000 order. The example inputs are illustrations; put in your own.
Usually longer than a budget year feels. 6sense found the average B2B buying cycle was just over 10 months in 2025, across all B2B sectors. Judge the first months on leading indicators instead: accounts engaged, meetings held, opportunities opened and quote value.
Sources
- The CMO Survey (Christine Moorman), The CMO Survey, Highlights and Insights Report 2026, checked 1 Oct 2026.
- 6sense, 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report, checked 1 Oct 2026.
- Smartlead, Average cold email reply rate in 2026, checked 1 Oct 2026.
- Instantly, Cold Email Benchmark Report 2026, checked 1 Oct 2026.
- Coburg Banks, Sales Development Representative salary UK 2026 (updated 13 July 2026), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- Coburg Banks, Marketing Manager salary UK 2026 (updated 13 July 2026), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- McCracken Marketing, Fractional CMO cost UK (updated August 2026), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- GOV.UK (HMRC), Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, checked 1 Oct 2026.