B2B Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2024

B2B Marketing Budget Statistics and Benchmarks 2024

B2B marketing budgets averaged 7.7% of company revenue in 2024, down from 9.2% in 2023, according to Forrester's 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Forecast (June 2024), based on a sample of 412 B2B marketing decision-makers across North America and EMEA.

Last Updated: October 2024. Next scheduled refresh: January 2025. Quarterly refresh cadence.

These are the B2B marketing budget benchmarks you need when the CFO walks into the room with a printout of your CAC trend and asks why. This hub aggregates 20 benchmarks across spend, CAC, content, channel mix, and pipeline ROI from Forrester, The CMO Survey, Demandbase, BrandExtract, SpotOn Digital Media, and primary research from The Starr Conspiracy. Vintage range is 2023 to 2024. Six publishers. Five categories: Spend Levels, Channel Allocation, Content Investment, Acquisition Efficiency, and Pipeline ROI. Use them for budget setting, mid-year reallocation, and defending spend under CAC scrutiny. Most benchmark lists give you one number from one source. This one gives you the full decision-relevant set, each with named publisher and date. For interpretation thresholds and budget defense narratives, see our companion analysis: What "Good" Looks Like vs "At Risk" in B2B Marketing Budgets.

Key B2B Marketing Budget Statistics at a Glance

• B2B marketing budgets averaged 7.7% of company revenue in 2024 (Forrester B2B Marketing Spend Forecast, June 2024, n=412).
• B2B product companies allocated 8.6% of revenue to marketing; B2B services allocated 6.9% (The CMO Survey, Spring 2024, n=292).
• B2B companies spent an average of 29% of marketing budget on content in 2024 (Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study, April 2024, n=480).
• Digital channels captured 57.1% of B2B marketing spend in 2024 (Forrester B2B Marketing Spend Forecast, June 2024, n=412).
• Average B2B SaaS CAC reached $1,634 mid-market and $5,841 enterprise in 2024 (SpotOn Digital Media B2B CAC Benchmarks, July 2024, n=320).
• Marketing-sourced pipeline contribution averaged 31% of total pipeline for B2B tech in 2024 (Forrester B2B Revenue Waterfall Benchmarks, 2024).
• Trade show and event spending reached 17% of B2B budgets in 2024 (The CMO Survey, Spring 2024, n=292).
• B2B firms planned a 7.7% budget increase for 2025 (Forrester 2024 to 2025 B2B Marketing Spend Forecast, June 2024).

Spend Levels

Spend Levels benchmarks describe total marketing investment as a share of revenue, segmented by company type, stage, and industry.

B2B Marketing Spend as Percentage of Revenue, All Industries

7.7% of company revenue (Forrester B2B Marketing Spend Forecast, June 2024, n=412 B2B marketing decision-makers, North America and EMEA).

Forrester reported 9.2% for 2023 in the same forecast series.

B2B Product Companies vs B2B Services

8.6% (product) vs 6.9% (services) of revenue (The CMO Survey, Spring 2024, n=292 marketing leaders).

The gap between product and services B2B is 1.7 percentage points.

B2B Marketing Spend by Company Stage

Caption: B2B SaaS marketing spend as a percentage of revenue by company stage, expressed as quartile bands. Source: BrandExtract B2B Marketing Investment Benchmarks, 2024, drawing on aggregated public filings and survey data.

B2B Marketing Spend by Industry Vertical

Caption: B2B marketing spend as a percentage of revenue by industry vertical. Source: The CMO Survey, Spring 2024, n=292 marketing leaders.

Projected Budget Change for 2025

+7.7% planned increase in B2B marketing budgets for 2025 (Forrester 2024 to 2025 B2B Marketing Spend Forecast, June 2024, n=412).

Forrester reported a 1.6% planned increase for 2024 in the prior year's forecast.

Channel Allocation

Channel Allocation benchmarks describe how B2B marketers distribute total budget across digital, events, search, social, email, and community.

Digital Share of B2B Marketing Spend

57.1% of total budget (Forrester B2B Marketing Spend Forecast, June 2024, n=412).

Forrester reported 54.9% digital share for 2023 in the same forecast series. See digital channel mix glossary.

Paid Search and Paid Social Combined

21.4% of B2B marketing budget (Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study, April 2024, n=480 B2B marketers).

Paid search accounts for 13.2% and paid social for 8.2%, per Demandbase.

Trade Shows and Field Events

17% of B2B marketing budget (The CMO Survey, Spring 2024, n=292).

The CMO Survey reported 11% for events in its Spring 2021 edition and 21% in its Spring 2019 edition.

Email and Marketing Automation

6.8% of B2B marketing budget (Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study, April 2024, n=480).

Marketing automation platform fees alone account for 2.9% of total budget among mid-market B2B firms in the same Demandbase dataset.

Influencer and Community Programs

4.3% of B2B marketing budget (The Starr Conspiracy 2024 B2B GTM Survey, October 2024, n=187 B2B tech marketing leaders, fielded August to September 2024).

The same survey reported 1.8% for influencer and community programs in its 2022 edition.

Content Investment

Content Investment benchmarks describe how much B2B marketers spend on content overall and how that spend distributes across formats, creation, and distribution.

Content Marketing as Percentage of B2B Budget

29% of total marketing budget (Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study, April 2024, n=480).

Demandbase has reported content allocation between 26% and 30% in each annual edition from 2021 through 2024.

Content Creation vs Distribution Spend Ratio

62% creation to 38% distribution (The Starr Conspiracy 2024 B2B Content Investment Study, August 2024, n=142 B2B marketing teams, fielded June to July 2024).

The split reflects median allocations across all surveyed teams.

Video Content Share of Content Budget

34% of content budget (SpotOn Digital Media B2B Content Format Report, September 2024, n=265 B2B marketers).

The same SpotOn report listed long-form written content at 28% of content budget.

AI-Generated Content Spend

11.4% of content budgets allocated to AI tooling and AI-assisted production in 2024 (The Starr Conspiracy 2024 B2B GTM Survey, October 2024, n=187, fielded August to September 2024).

The same survey reported 2.1% for AI content tooling in its 2023 edition. See AI in B2B marketing glossary.

Acquisition Efficiency

Acquisition Efficiency benchmarks describe what it costs to acquire B2B customers, how fast that cost is recovered, and how lifetime value compares to acquisition cost.

B2B SaaS CAC by Target Segment

Caption: Average customer acquisition cost for B2B SaaS by target client segment, July 2024. Source: SpotOn Digital Media B2B CAC Benchmarks Report, n=320 B2B SaaS companies.

CAC Payback Period for B2B SaaS

17 months median, 9 months top quartile (BrandExtract SaaS Unit Economics Benchmarks, March 2024, n=215 B2B SaaS companies).

Values reflect median and 75th percentile of the surveyed sample.

LTV to CAC Ratio for B2B SaaS

3:1 median, 5:1 top quartile (BrandExtract SaaS Unit Economics Benchmarks, March 2024, n=215).

Values reflect median and 75th percentile of the surveyed sample. See LTV:CAC glossary.

Marketing-Sourced CAC vs Sales-Sourced CAC

Marketing-sourced CAC is 24% lower than sales-sourced CAC across B2B tech (Forrester B2B Revenue Waterfall Benchmarks, 2024).

Forrester reported a 14% gap in its 2021 edition of the same benchmark series.

Pipeline ROI

Pipeline ROI benchmarks describe what marketing budget produces in pipeline, what share of pipeline marketing sources or influences, and how that pipeline converts to revenue.

Marketing-Sourced Pipeline Contribution

31% of total pipeline for B2B tech (Forrester B2B Revenue Waterfall Benchmarks, 2024).

Forrester reported marketing-influenced pipeline at 67% in the same dataset.

Pipeline to Spend Ratio

$4.20 in pipeline per $1 of marketing spend, median (Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study, April 2024, n=480).

Top-quartile B2B firms generated $9.80 per $1 of spend in the same Demandbase dataset. See marketing-sourced pipeline glossary.

Marketing-Attributed Revenue

26% of closed-won revenue attributed to marketing-sourced pipeline (Forrester B2B Revenue Waterfall Benchmarks, 2024).

The figure trails the 31% pipeline-sourced share in the same Forrester dataset.

Methodology

This hub aggregates 20 benchmarks from primary research firms and from The Starr Conspiracy proprietary studies. We name every source, every sample size, and every date. If a number cannot stand on its own attribution, it is not on this page. Vintage range is January 2023 to October 2024. Where multiple sources publish the same metric, the most recent primary source with the largest disclosed sample size was selected.

Primary sources used:

• Forrester B2B Marketing Spend Forecast and B2B Revenue Waterfall Benchmarks, 2024 editions.
• The CMO Survey, Spring 2024 edition, n=292 marketing leaders, conducted by Duke Fuqua, Deloitte, and the AMA.
• Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study, April 2024, n=480 B2B marketers.
• BrandExtract SaaS Unit Economics Benchmarks and B2B Marketing Investment Benchmarks, 2024 editions.
• SpotOn Digital Media B2B CAC Benchmarks and B2B Content Format Report, July and September 2024.
• The Starr Conspiracy 2024 B2B GTM Survey, October 2024, n=187 B2B tech marketing leaders, online survey, 95% confidence interval at +/- 7.1%, fielded August to September 2024.
• The Starr Conspiracy 2024 B2B Content Investment Study, August 2024, n=142 B2B marketing teams, online survey, 95% confidence interval at +/- 8.2%, fielded June to July 2024.

Verification process: every numeric value was sourced to the primary publication. Secondary citations were rejected unless the primary publisher was named and dated. Industry and stage segmentation was preserved from source; no statistical reweighting was applied.

Limitations: most sources skew toward North American respondents. Sample sizes for industry-specific cuts (e.g., manufacturing) are smaller than aggregate figures and are directional, not point estimates. SaaS-specific benchmarks reflect SaaS economics and have limited applicability outside that population.

Refresh cadence: The Starr Conspiracy refreshes this hub quarterly. Next scheduled update: January 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average B2B marketing budget as a percentage of revenue in 2024?

The average B2B marketing budget was 7.7% of company revenue in 2024, down from 9.2% in 2023, per Forrester's 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Forecast (June 2024, n=412). B2B product companies averaged 8.6% and B2B services averaged 6.9%, per The CMO Survey Spring 2024 edition (n=292). The year-over-year change was 1.5 percentage points.

How much should a B2B SaaS company spend on marketing by stage?

B2B SaaS firms benchmark spend by stage: early stage at 18 to 25% of revenue, growth stage at 12 to 18%, late stage at 9 to 14%, and public B2B SaaS at 6 to 10%, per BrandExtract's 2024 B2B Marketing Investment Benchmarks. For thresholds on when each band signals healthy investment versus over- or under-spending, see What "Good" Looks Like vs "At Risk" in B2B Marketing Budgets.

What is a good CAC payback period for B2B SaaS in 2024?

The 2024 median CAC payback period for B2B SaaS is 17 months, with top-quartile firms at 9 months, per BrandExtract SaaS Unit Economics Benchmarks (March 2024, n=215). The widely cited 12-month rule of thumb falls between the median and top-quartile values in BrandExtract's 2024 dataset.

What percentage of B2B marketing budget goes to content?

B2B firms allocated 29% of their marketing budget to content marketing in 2024, per the Demandbase 2024 B2B Marketing Spend Study (April 2024, n=480). Within that allocation, video captured 34% per SpotOn Digital Media (September 2024), and the creation-to-distribution split sat at 62/38, per The Starr Conspiracy 2024 B2B Content Investment Study (n=142). For our argument on why that 62/38 split is upside down, see The Starr Conspiracy's distribution-first content framework.

How often should B2B marketing budget benchmarks be updated?

The Starr Conspiracy refreshes this hub quarterly. Forrester publishes its B2B Marketing Spend Forecast annually with mid-year updates, and The CMO Survey publishes biannually (Spring and Fall editions, n=292 in Spring 2024). CAC and pipeline ROI figures move within 6-month windows, so any benchmark older than two quarters should be cross-checked against the most recent publisher release.

How reliable are these benchmarks?

Reliability depends on sample size and segmentation. Aggregate figures draw from samples between n=215 and n=480 in third-party studies, with The Starr Conspiracy's proprietary studies at n=187 (95% CI +/- 7.1%) and n=142 (95% CI +/- 8.2%). Industry- and stage-specific cuts often draw from sub-samples below 50 respondents and are directional. Treat aggregate medians as decision-grade and single-cell segmentation as directional.

Use These Benchmarks to Defend Your Budget

These numbers are the scoreboard, not the playbook. We don't sell AI experiments. We build the marketing systems that make these benchmarks achievable. If you need to defend spend under CAC scrutiny, we'll help you design the budget-to-pipeline system that holds up in the boardroom.

Talk to The Starr Conspiracy about budget-to-pipeline system design.