The Australian B2C marketing budget equation.

Founder-led tier (roughly $50K to $250K monthly revenue)

Typical marketing spend: 6 to 10% of revenue. A capped-retainer pattern, retainer + ad spend at cost.

• Capped agency retainer: 100% of services budget
• Meta ad spend at cost: variable by brand cycle
• Google Ads spend at cost: variable
• Klaviyo subscription: $200-$700/month direct (separate from agency)
• Shopify or WooCommerce hosting: $79-$500/month direct

Mid-market growth tier (roughly $250K to $1M monthly revenue)

Typical marketing spend: 8 to 12% of revenue per month, split roughly:

• Meta paid social media spend: 40-50% of total marketing budget
• Google Ads media spend: 15-25% of total
• Pinterest paid (if applicable category): 5-15%
• Agency services retainer: 15-25% of total
• Klaviyo + tools subscriptions: 3-5%
• Production cost (creative + photography): 5-10%

Scale / multi-brand tier ($1M+ monthly revenue, multi-brand)

Typical marketing spend: negotiated at portfolio level, split roughly:

• Multi-channel paid media (Meta + Google + LinkedIn + Pinterest): 50-60%
• Agency services retainer (multi-brand engagement): 12-18%
• BigQuery + Looker portfolio reporting infrastructure: 3-5%
• Klaviyo + HubSpot + Salesforce tooling: 3-5%
• Production + creative + photography: 8-12%
• B2B wholesale portal management (where applicable): 5-10%

Where unit economics stress

• iOS-14 attribution loss: brands without CAPI server-side lose 30-50% attribution data, distorting CAC measurement
• Meta CPM increases: structural CPM inflation through 2024-2026 has compressed margin for brands without creative-volume discipline
• Shopify Plus pricing transition: brands crossing monthly revenue often face $2-5K/month Shopify Plus jump

Read more:

• Pricing →
• Mid-market B2C economics →