What to put into marketing & growth
How much should go back into growth?
Your Marketing Efficiency Ratio is the amount of gross revenue you put back into marketing and growth. It is the one number that sets how fast you grow — under-fund it and the pipeline thins out quietly.
The answer
20% of gross
$50,000/mo revenue
$10,000
back into marketing
$100,000/mo revenue
$20,000
back into marketing
$200,000/mo revenue
$40,000
back into marketing
Your number
Three examples isn't your business. Find yours.
Your numbers
Move the sliders. The answer follows.
Growth· Recommended
Market norm for scaling
Back into marketing & growth
$20,000/month
$240,000 a year
What it buys, in the order we switch it on
Paid search
$6,000
Google Ads and Service Ads — the demand that already exists
Paid social
$4,400
Meta and AI-surface ads — the demand you create
Organic & AI search
$3,600
SEO, Google Business Profile, and being citable by assistants
Creative & video
$3,200
The asset every channel spends against
Site, email & retention
$2,800
Where the traffic lands, and what happens after the first sale
A typical agency relationship runs around an 8% ratio — $8,000 a month at your revenue — and buys you one channel run by one specialist. The same money here is spread across the whole stack, in-house.
Where that puts you
An 8% MER normally buys you one channel. Here it buys nine.
Ten services, one senior in-house team, one invoice. Nothing subcontracted, and nothing sitting idle because it belongs to a different agency.
The objection
"That comes out of my margin."
Customers already pay for marketing — it sits in the price, the same way overhead and insurance already do.
Every business already pays for marketing. The ones without a ratio pay for it in slow months, in discounting to fill the calendar, and in the jobs that went to whoever showed up first in the search results. The ratio just makes it deliberate.
Under 10%
The quiet failure
Nothing dramatic happens. The pipeline thins, the phone rings a little less, and you find out a quarter later when the numbers come in.
15%
Holding position
Enough to stay where you are. Not enough to take share from anybody who's investing more than you.
20%
Growth
The market norm for a business that intends to be bigger next year than it is now. This is the number we build plans against.
Before you set the number
Know what you're spending it on top of.
Traffic bought against a site that can't convert it is the most expensive mistake in this whole business. The free audit reads your page and tells you what's leaking before you turn the taps on — about thirty seconds, no charge.
Questions
Asked on nearly every call.
What is a Marketing Efficiency Ratio?
It's the share of gross revenue you put back into marketing and growth. At $100,000 a month in revenue, a 20% MER means $20,000 a month going into marketing.
How much should a business reinvest in marketing?
20% of gross revenue is the market norm for a business that wants to keep growing. Below 15% you're holding position rather than gaining it; below 10% the pipeline thins out quietly and you usually notice a quarter later.
Doesn't that come straight out of my margin?
It sits in the price, the same way overhead and insurance already do. Customers already pay for marketing — the question is whether it's priced deliberately or absorbed by accident.
Build the plan
Let's set the number, then spend it properly.
A free 30-minute call.A free 30-minute call. We'll work out the ratio for your revenue, and what the whole stack looks like at that budget.
or email hello@click-brand.com
✓ Zero outsourcing, ever