B2B companies spend roughly 7% to 10% of revenue on marketing. In the 2026 edition of The CMO Survey (Duke Fuqua, Deloitte and the AMA), B2B product companies reported marketing at 7.0% of revenue and B2B services companies at 10.1%. Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey, which covers all sectors and mostly companies above $1 billion in revenue, puts the average at 7.8%.
Those averages hide a wide spread by industry and company size. This page breaks the numbers down by industry, explains why Gartner, The CMO Survey, Forrester, HubSpot and B2B Marketing’s Community Index give different answers, and turns the data into a budget you can defend. It covers B2B only. For the all-industry CMO picture, see our CMO and marketing budget statistics for 2026.
B2B marketing budget benchmarks for 2026
Here are the latest numbers from every source that publishes a B2B budget figure, side by side. Watch the second column. These sources do not divide by the same thing.
| Source and segment | What it measures | Latest figure | Prior edition | Who answered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The CMO Survey 2026, B2B product | Marketing expenses as % of company revenue | 7.0% | 6.4% (2025) | 61 US B2B product marketing leaders |
| The CMO Survey 2026, B2B services | Marketing expenses as % of company revenue | 10.1% | 9.0% (2025) | 41 US B2B services marketing leaders |
| The CMO Survey 2026, B2B product | Marketing expenses as % of overall company budget | 7.0% | 7.4% (2025) | 58 respondents |
| The CMO Survey 2026, B2B services | Marketing expenses as % of overall company budget | 9.2% | 6.7% (2025) | 39 respondents |
| Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2026, all sectors | Marketing budget as % of company revenue | 7.8% | 7.7% (2025) | 401 CMOs in North America, UK and Europe, mostly $1B+ revenue |
| Gartner 2026, “AI-ready” marketing orgs only | Marketing budget as % of company revenue | 8.9% | n/a | Subset reporting mature AI readiness |
| Forrester Budget Planning Survey 2025, Europe | Share of revenue B2B firms invest in marketing | 9% | n/a | B2B marketing decision-makers in France, Germany and the UK |
| Propolis Community Index (B2B Marketing) | Marketing budget as % of revenue target | 2% | n/a | Members from $20m+ UK and US B2B firms |
Sources: CMO Survey 2026 Firm and Industry Breakout Report and 2025 Breakout Report; Gartner 2026 and 2025 press releases; Forrester, July 2025; Propolis Community Index Report.
Read the spread, not just the mean. In The CMO Survey’s 2026 data, the standard deviation for B2B services is 13.4 percentage points and for B2B product 10.1 points. A 10.1% average with that much spread means plenty of healthy B2B services firms run at 4% and plenty run at 20%. The survey was fielded January 7 to 29, 2026, among 2,111 US marketing leaders, of whom 308 responded and 97% were VP level or above.
How much should B2B companies spend on marketing by company size?
Company size moves the number more than sector does. The CMO Survey only publishes size bands across all sectors, not B2B alone, so treat this as a size adjustment, not a B2B benchmark.
| Annual company revenue | Marketing as % of revenue (2026) | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Under $10 million | 13.3% | 20 |
| $10 million to $25 million | 17.4% | 15 |
| $26 million to $99 million | 11.1% | 18 |
| $100 million to $499 million | 5.9% | 34 |
| $500 million to $999 million | 6.9% | 17 |
| $1 billion to $9.9 billion | 5.7% | 33 |
| $10 billion and above | 9.5% | 15 |
Source: The CMO Survey 2026 Firm and Industry Breakout Report, all sectors. Small samples per band, so expect year-to-year swings.
This is also why Gartner’s 7.8% runs below The CMO Survey’s 9.0% all-company average. Gartner’s panel is mostly $1 billion-plus companies, and in The CMO Survey that tier spends 5.7% to 9.5% of revenue. Firms under $100 million spend more as a share because fixed costs like a website, a CRM and a first marketing hire weigh more on a small revenue base.
B2B marketing spend by industry
The CMO Survey is the only free source that publishes marketing spend by industry with sample sizes attached. The table keeps the industries where most firms sell to businesses. It adds the 2025 figure and a simple two-year average, because one year of a 12-person sample is not a benchmark.
| Industry | % of revenue 2026 (n) | % of revenue 2025 (n) | Two-year simple average | % of company budget 2026 | Spend change, prior 12 months | Expected change, next 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tech / software / platform | 10.6% (33) | 9.0% (28) | 9.8% | 8.8% | +0.9% | +4.9% |
| Retail / wholesale | 8.8% (10) | 5.5% (19) | 7.2% | 11.8% | +8.3% | +6.8% |
| Banking / finance / insurance | 7.4% (21) | 5.0% (19) | 6.2% | 9.5% | +6.0% | +9.1% |
| Professional services | 6.8% (12) | 4.2% (9) | 5.5% | 7.4% | +5.4% | +10.3% |
| Healthcare | 5.9% (17) | 7.6% (18) | 6.7% | 8.4% | +3.6% | +9.6% |
| Manufacturing | 5.6% (13) | 2.5% (16) | 4.1% | 5.9% | +0.3% | +10.8% |
| Pharma / biotech* | 6.8% (5) | 18.2% (11) | 12.5% | 10.5% | +0.7% | +3.6% |
| Energy* | 7.1% (4) | 1.0% (6) | 4.1% | 4.5% | -4.0% | +3.8% |
| Transportation* | 3.8% (3) | 1.1% (5) | 2.4% | 10.5% | +3.8% | +3.3% |
| Mining / construction* | 0.4% (3) | 1.1% (3) | 0.7% | 3.0% | +7.3% | +21.7% |
*Fewer than 10 respondents in 2026. Treat as directional only. Sources: The CMO Survey 2026 and 2025 breakout reports. Two-year average is our calculation, unweighted.
Three things stand out. First, manufacturing went from 2.5% to 5.6% of revenue and professional services from 4.2% to 6.8% in one year. Budgets did not double. The respondents changed. Second, tech and software is the only large B2B industry that sits near 10% in both years, so it is the most stable benchmark in the set. Third, the “% of company budget” column often runs higher than “% of revenue” for the same industry, because operating budgets are smaller than revenue for any company with a margin.
B2B manufacturing marketing statistics
- Manufacturers reported marketing at 5.6% of revenue and 5.9% of the company budget in 2026, from 13 and 14 respondents (CMO Survey breakout).
- Manufacturing marketing spend grew just 0.3% over the prior 12 months, but respondents expect a 10.8% increase over the next 12, one of the highest planned increases among the larger industries.
- Manufacturing scored digital marketing’s contribution to company performance at 4.25 out of 7, among the weakest of any industry; B2B product companies overall scored 4.83 (CMO Survey Highlights).
- Manufacturers put 16.4% of their marketing budget into social media, above tech and software at 11.2%.
- Buying cycles for physical goods ran 4.8 months shorter than for services in 6sense’s 2025 Buyer Experience Report, where manufacturing made up 14% of respondents.
If you run marketing for an industrial firm, our manufacturing marketing playbook covers how to spend a sub-6% budget where planned, committee-driven purchases happen.
Why Gartner, The CMO Survey, Forrester and B2B Marketing’s Community Index disagree
The sources are not contradicting each other. They are answering different questions. Three things drive the gap.
- The denominator. Gartner and The CMO Survey divide by revenue. The CMO Survey also asks about the overall company budget. The Propolis Community Index divides by the revenue target. A bigger denominator always gives a smaller percentage.
- Who answers. Gartner’s 401 respondents are mostly from $1 billion-plus companies across all sectors and three regions. The CMO Survey’s 308 are US for-profit companies of all sizes, split into B2B and B2C. The Community Index draws on 1,000+ marketing leaders at $20m+ UK and US B2B firms across five sectors.
- What counts as marketing. Gartner’s budget includes paid media, martech, labor and agencies; paid media alone was 30.6% of the budget in 2025. The CMO Survey asks for “marketing expenses” and leaves the definition to the respondent. The Community Index’s public pages do not say whether salaries are included.
Here is the denominator effect on one company. Take a B2B firm with $20 million in revenue, $18 million in total operating budget, a $24 million revenue target and $1.4 million of marketing spend.
| Denominator | Used by | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company revenue | Gartner, The CMO Survey, Forrester | $1.4M / $20M | 7.0% |
| Overall company budget | The CMO Survey (second question) | $1.4M / $18M | 7.8% |
| Revenue target | Propolis Community Index | $1.4M / $24M | 5.8% |
Same company, same spend, three different benchmarks. If your CFO compares a %-of-target number with a %-of-revenue number, you will look underfunded or overfunded for no real reason. Always quote the denominator next to the percentage.
| Source | Sample | B2B split? | Industry split? | Access | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The CMO Survey (Duke Fuqua) | 308 US marketing leaders, January 2026 | Yes: B2B product, B2B services | Yes, 15 industries plus revenue and headcount bands | Free PDFs, no form | Setting a US budget by sector and size |
| Gartner CMO Spend Survey | 401 CMOs, January to March 2026, mostly $1B+ | Not in the press release | Not in the press release | Headline free; full report for Gartner clients | Enterprise comparisons and line-item allocation |
| Forrester Budget Planning Survey | B2B marketing decision-makers; sample not stated in the public blog | B2B only | In client reports | Headline free; benchmarks for Forrester clients | Europe and APAC B2B comparisons, budget intent |
| Propolis Community Index (B2B Marketing) | 1,000+ leaders at $20m+ UK and US B2B firms | B2B only | Five B2B sectors | Members; demo on request | UK and US B2B peer comparisons, team structure |
| HubSpot State of Marketing 2026 | 1,500+ B2B and B2C marketers, global | Some results only | No | Free blog summary | Channel and AI adoption trends, not budget levels |
| IPA Bellwether | About 300 UK marketers, mostly from top 1,000 companies | No | Panel spans sectors | Headline free | UK budget direction each quarter |
We compare the methodologies of the three big all-industry surveys in more depth in Gartner vs Forrester vs CMO Survey.
Gartner CMO Spend Survey vs HubSpot benchmarks for B2B: which is more useful?
They answer different questions, so use both for different jobs. Gartner tells you how much large companies spend and where it goes: 7.8% of revenue in 2026, 15.3% of the marketing budget on AI initiatives, and 56% of CMOs saying they lack the budget for their 2026 strategy. HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing does not report budget as a share of revenue at all. It reports direction and behavior: 79.2% of marketers expect at least a slight budget increase in 2026, 6% expect a cut, 73% say their budget gets more scrutiny than before, and measuring ROI is the top challenge at 33%. For a B2B budget number, Gartner is more useful. For what peers are doing with channels and AI, HubSpot is. Neither splits budgets by B2B industry; The CMO Survey does.
B2B Marketing’s Community Index vs Gartner: which to trust for benchmarking spend?
Trust each for its own population. The Propolis Community Index is built only from B2B marketing leaders at $20m+ UK and US firms, and its metric is budget as a percentage of the revenue target. Its published average is 2%, which the Index report contrasts with a commonly cited 5% to 10% range. Gartner’s 7.8% is spend over actual revenue at mostly $1 billion-plus companies in every sector. A 2% and a 7.8% can both be accurate. If you sell B2B in the UK and want peers your own size, the Index is closer to you. If you report to a board that benchmarks against large enterprises, Gartner is the number they will recognize.
What do marketing leaders use to benchmark spend: Forrester, Gartner or B2B Marketing?
Most use whichever one their company already pays for, which is the wrong reason. A better rule, by decision:
| Your decision | Use this benchmark | The figure to quote |
|---|---|---|
| Total budget for a US B2B firm under $100M revenue | The CMO Survey sector plus size band | 7.0% (product) or 10.1% (services) of revenue, adjusted by size |
| Defending budget to a $1B+ board | Gartner CMO Spend Survey | 7.8% of revenue, 2026 |
| Splitting budget across paid media, martech, labor, agencies | Gartner | Paid media 30.6% of budget, 2.4% of revenue (2025) |
| European B2B budget | Forrester | 9% of revenue (France, Germany, UK) |
| UK or US B2B peer comparison by sector | Propolis Community Index | Your sector’s % of revenue target |
| UK budget direction this quarter | IPA Bellwether | Net balance of firms raising vs cutting |
Is there a benchmark dataset built from B2B CMOs rather than all-industry data?
Yes, three. The CMO Survey reports B2B product and B2B services separately in its free breakout report. Forrester’s Budget Planning Survey covers B2B marketing decision-makers only. The Propolis Community Index covers B2B leaders only. Gartner’s public release reports all sectors combined.
The most credible peer dataset for UK B2B marketing budgets
For UK B2B levels, the Propolis Community Index is the only one of these built from UK and US B2B firms, but its numbers are member-only. For direction, the IPA Bellwether Report surveys around 300 UK marketers each quarter. In Q3 2026, 25.6% of panellists raised budgets and 11.3% cut them, a net balance of +14.3%, InPublishing reported. Bellwether measures revisions, not budget size, and is not B2B-specific. Forrester’s 9%-of-revenue figure for France, Germany and the UK is the only public B2B level that includes the UK.
Turn the benchmarks into your number: a worked example
Take a US B2B professional services firm with $15 million in revenue. Here is how the benchmarks translate into dollars.
- Sector benchmark. B2B services at 10.1% of revenue: $15M × 10.1% = $1.52M.
- Industry benchmark. Professional services at 6.8% (2026, n=12): $15M × 6.8% = $1.02M. Using the two-year average of 5.5%: $825,000.
- Size benchmark. The $10M to $25M revenue band at 17.4% (all sectors, n=15): $15M × 17.4% = $2.61M.
- Enterprise check. Gartner’s 7.8%: $15M × 7.8% = $1.17M.
- Pick a point in the range and say why. The benchmarks span $825,000 to $2.61M. A firm defending its current position sits near the industry average. A firm adding a new service line or entering a new region has a case for the sector or size figure.
My view: start from the industry row, not the size band. The size band mixes in B2C and ecommerce firms, which spend more because they sell online. Then use the sector and size figures as the upper bound you justify with a growth plan.
Next, check how much of the budget has to reach people who are not buying yet. In a paper published by the LinkedIn B2B Institute in its series with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Professor John Dawes notes that corporations change providers such as their main bank or law firm about once every five years. That means about 20% of buyers are in the market in a year and about 5% in a quarter. He calls the 95% out-of-market figure a heuristic, not a precise rule. Apply his math to your own list: if you target 400 accounts that switch providers every five years, roughly 20 are in-market in any quarter. A budget built only for those 20 leaves the other 380 unaware of you when their turn comes. His paper also shows how to calculate it for your category: with a two-year purchase cycle, about 50% buy in a year and about 13% in a quarter.
Where B2B budgets are moving in 2026
| Metric (The CMO Survey 2026) | B2B product | B2B services |
|---|---|---|
| Overall marketing spend change, prior 12 months | -0.2% | +2.8% |
| Digital marketing spend change, prior 12 months | +4.1% | +7.1% |
| Expected overall budget change, next 12 months | +5.4% | +8.2% |
| Expected digital marketing change, next 12 months | +9.4% | +8.8% |
| Expected brand-building change, next 12 months | +5.1% | +8.3% |
| Share of marketing budget on social media now | 9.5% | 14.0% |
| Share on social media expected in 12 months | 11.7% | 19.2% |
| Change in marketing team size, past year | 0.0% | +3.9% |
| Share of marketing budget on training | 3.5% | 4.2% |
Source: The CMO Survey 2026 Firm and Industry Breakout Report.
Discount the forecasts. The CMO Survey’s own history shows 12-month social media projections have exceeded actual spending by an average of 2.1 percentage points. Overall marketing spending across all sectors grew only 1.7% in the prior year, the weakest since 2021. When profits miss, 53.1% of companies now focus on cutting expenses, up from 46.0% a year earlier, and marketing is cut 45.4% of the time over other categories.
Budget intent is positive but cautious. Forrester found 83% of B2B marketing decision-makers expect higher investment over the next 12 months, but only 37% of US respondents expect an increase of 5% or more. Gartner’s CMOs put 15.3% of marketing budgets into AI, yet only 30% report mature AI readiness.
Which B2B trends deserve budget shifts?
Follow the trends with buyer data behind them, not vendor hype. Three have it:
- Being found in AI answers. 94% of B2B buyers used LLMs during their buying process in 6sense’s 2025 study. Forrester’s recommendation is to reallocate at least 15% of content or digital spend to AI search visibility. That is advice, not a survey result.
- Brand building with out-of-market buyers. B2B services firms plan an 8.3% rise in brand-building budgets, and the 95-5 math above explains why.
- Retention. Across all sectors, customer retention grew 12.8% versus 7.4% for acquisition, yet acquisition budgets are 26.0% larger than retention budgets (CMO Survey 2026).
If you need numbers that persuade leadership to fund AI visibility, pair the 94% LLM-usage figure with 6sense’s finding that buyers rank their shortlist before first contact 94% of the time. Your brand has to show up during that research phase or it is not on the list. Present it as a reallocation inside a flat budget, which matches what Gartner reports CMOs are doing.
B2B buyer statistics that should shape the budget
Budget benchmarks tell you how much. Buyer research tells you where. These figures come from the primary studies, with sample sizes.
| Finding | Figure | Source (sample) |
|---|---|---|
| Point in the journey when buyers first contact a seller | 61% (down from 69% in 2024) | 6sense 2025 (about 4,000 buyers) |
| Buying groups that ranked their shortlist before first contact | 94% | 6sense 2025 |
| Deals won by a vendor on the Day One shortlist | 95% (85% the prior year) | 6sense 2025 |
| Deals won by the favorite at the end of the selection phase | 77% (83% in prior years) | 6sense 2025 |
| Vendors evaluated on average | 5.1 | 6sense 2025 |
| Average buying cycle | About 10 months (11.3 in 2024) | 6sense 2025 |
| Engagements initiated by the buyer, not the seller | 79% | 6sense 2025 |
| Purchases that included AI features | 89% | 6sense 2025 |
| Buyers who prefer a rep-free buying experience overall | 61% | Gartner (632 buyers, Aug to Sep 2024) |
| Buyers who avoid suppliers that send irrelevant outreach | 73% | Gartner (632 buyers) |
| People in a typical buying decision | 13 internal stakeholders plus 9 external influencers | Forrester, State of Business Buying 2026 |
| Buying cycles where procurement is a decision-maker | 53% | Forrester 2026 |
| Buyers using a trial; buyers of $10M+ purchases using a trial | More than 60%; 78% | Forrester 2026 |
| B2B marketers whose organization creates thought leadership | 96% | Content Marketing Institute (1,000+ B2B marketers, Oct 2025) |
| Marketers who say AI has improved performance | Fewer than 4 in 10 | Content Marketing Institute |
The budget implication is blunt: most deals are decided before your sales team hears about them, so the money that wins them is spent earlier than most attribution reports can see. With 13 internal stakeholders per decision, account-based programs have to reach a whole committee, not one champion. Our account-based marketing statistics cover ABM adoption and budgets, and the B2B sales statistics cover what happens after first contact.
How much do B2B buyers trust vendor-published content?
Enough to keep using it, not enough to stop checking. 6sense found that LLM use has not changed buyers’ reliance on vendor content or third-party experts, and 76% of buyers hired outside help such as analysts or consultants, up from 71%. Gartner found 69% of buyers see inconsistencies between a supplier’s website and what its sellers tell them. Make your website and your sales deck say the same thing.
B2B marketing ROI benchmarks: what the data can and cannot tell you
No credible survey publishes a cross-industry ROI ratio for B2B marketing, and you should be wary of any page that quotes one without a sample. What the primary data does show:
- Effects last longer in services. The CMO Survey’s median duration of marketing’s effect on customers is 6 months overall, about one year for B2B services, and several months for B2B product.
- Digital pays off less visibly in B2B product. B2B product firms rated digital marketing’s contribution to performance 4.83 out of 7; 73.2% of all companies scored it 5 or higher.
- Pressure to prove value is real but easing. 57% of B2B product marketers and 47% of B2B services marketers report rising CFO pressure to prove marketing’s value, versus 56% across all sectors in 2026 and 63% in 2025.
- Measurement is the shared problem. Measuring ROI is the top challenge for 33% of marketers in HubSpot’s 2026 survey.
So when a CEO asks for an ROI benchmark, give them your own payback by channel and the durability data above, not a borrowed ratio. Our guide to calculating and defending marketing ROI shows the math. If you want a second opinion on where your number should land against these benchmarks, you can book a consultation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average B2B marketing budget as a percentage of revenue?
In The CMO Survey 2026, B2B product companies reported marketing at 7.0% of revenue and B2B services companies at 10.1%. Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey, which covers all sectors and mostly $1 billion-plus companies, puts the average at 7.8%. Forrester reports B2B firms in France, Germany and the UK invest about 9% of revenue in marketing.
How much should B2B companies spend on marketing?
Start at 7% of revenue for B2B product firms and 10% for B2B services, then adjust for size and growth goals. Smaller firms spend more as a share: companies with $10 million to $25 million in revenue averaged 17.4% across all sectors in The CMO Survey 2026, while $100 million to $499 million firms averaged 5.9%. Quote the denominator with any figure.
What is B2B marketing spend by industry?
The CMO Survey 2026 reports marketing as a share of revenue of 10.6% in tech and software, 7.4% in banking, finance and insurance, 6.8% in professional services, 5.9% in healthcare and 5.6% in manufacturing. Samples are small, so check the 2025 figures too: manufacturing was 2.5% and professional services 4.2% a year earlier.
Gartner CMO Spend Survey vs HubSpot benchmarks for B2B: which is more useful?
For a budget level, Gartner. It reports marketing at 7.8% of company revenue in 2026 and how budgets split across paid media, martech, labor and agencies. HubSpot's 2026 State of Marketing does not report budget as a share of revenue. It shows direction and behavior, such as 79.2% of marketers expecting a budget increase and 73% facing more scrutiny.
What does B2B Marketing's Community Index reveal about average marketing budgets?
The Propolis Community Index, run by B2B Marketing, reports an average marketing budget of 2% of the revenue target. It draws on 1,000+ marketing leaders at $20m+ UK and US B2B firms across five sectors. Because it divides by the revenue target, not actual revenue, it reads lower than Gartner or The CMO Survey.
What did Gartner find about marketing budgets as a percent of company revenue in 2025 and 2026?
Gartner's CMO Spend Survey found marketing budgets at 7.7% of company revenue in 2025, the same as 2024, and 7.8% in 2026. The 2026 survey covered 401 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, mostly at companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. AI initiatives took 15.3% of marketing budgets.
Where can CMOs benchmark B2B marketing spend for free?
The CMO Survey publishes free PDF reports with B2B product, B2B services, industry, revenue and headcount breakouts. Gartner and Forrester publish headline figures in press releases and blogs, with full benchmarks reserved for clients. The IPA Bellwether headline covers UK budget direction each quarter. The Propolis Community Index is for members.