Rethink your marketing budget: what would you really pay for a client?

Let me guess. I mention “marketing budget” and you’re either:

Rolling your eyes so hard they’ve disappeared into the back of your skull
Suddenly finding your shoes absolutely fascinating
Confidently telling me you allocate 5% of turnover (because you literally just Googled it)

But what if we put those traditional numbers aside and told you there’s something you need to figure out first? Something that makes all those generic percentage formulas actually meaningless?

There’s another question that actually matters more….

What’s a client worth to you, really?

Not what you think you should pay. Not what some blog post told you the industry average is. What would you actually be prepared to pay, right now, for a new client walking through your door?

$500 sound like a lot? Not when they’re worth $10,000 a year, on a 3 year contract.

So, let’s do some marketing maths.

If you’d pay $500 for a client and you want 100 new clients, congratulations – you just figured out you need at least $50,000 in marketing budget. (ps. In the above formula that means that you’re bringing in $3mil of new clients).

Forget 5% of turnover – you’re not buying spreadsheets, you’re buying customers.

Flip the formula: start with value, not budget

Here’s where it gets interesting. What if you got braver with that first number? What if instead of thinking “I’d pay $500 for a client,” you thought “Actually, if I knew for certain I’d get a client, I’d pay $1,000”? Would that shorten your lead time, or would it bring you a higher value client?

If your budget has doubled, are you giving yourself the opportunity to be visible in a different, more creative, more memorable way than others? You’re playing in a different league entirely.

Your marketing budget isn’t:

Revenue × Random Percentage
Whatever’s left after expenses
The same as last year (but with inflation)

It’s: What you’ll pay for a customer × How many customers you want = Your marketing budget

Then you work backwards from there. If that number makes you uncomfortable, you have two choices: get comfortable with it, or get comfortable with fewer customers.

Everything else – the channel mix, the creative strategy, the measurement framework – that’s important too. But first, you need to know what you’re actually trying to buy. And what you’re willing to pay for it.

Want to book in a budget session and get your numbers right for marketing in 25/26?

You bring the number.
We’ll bring the ideas, strategy and coffee.
Let’s chat – book your discovery session.

What This Looks Like in Practice

For example, when working with Great Southern RV, the focus wasn’t simply creating more ads. The strategy centred on positioning their caravans and motorhomes around a clear lifestyle promise – the freedom to travel and explore Australia on your terms. That clarity shaped campaigns, show promotions and social content that resonated strongly with buyers already dreaming about the road.

With St Patrick’s Technical College, the challenge wasn’t marketing activity – it was perception. By repositioning the brand to highlight the strength of vocational pathways and industry partnerships, the messaging shifted from “alternative education” to a powerful career pathway, changing how the college is seen by parents and students.

And for Succoris Psychology, the work went beyond promotion. It involved clarifying how the brand speaks to both clients and clinicians across multiple clinics, creating a structure that supports long-term growth rather than just short-term marketing activity.

In each case, the goal wasn’t simply “more marketing”. It was better-aligned marketing built on clear strategy.

The Pitstop Approach

At Pitstop Marketing, we believe marketing should be a growth engine for the business, not just a collection of activities.

That’s why we focus first on understanding the commercial goals, the audience and the positioning — and then build marketing that supports those foundations.

If you want your marketing to stop feeling like guesswork, get in touch. We want to work with businesses who want to grow.