Problem · Owners
We do not know what we should be spending on marketing and sales.
Every proposal you have received says it depends. It does depend, on your stage, your deal size, and your market, but the ranges are known, and the vendors who will not name them are protecting a sales process, not you. Here are the numbers, including ours.
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Four published tiers on a 12 month term: Baseline $2,500, Catalyst $5,000, Kinetic $10,000, Critical Mass from $25,000, all per month, plus ad spend in your own accounts where the tier runs ads. Month to month runs 20 percent higher and the term includes the $15,000 website. Every add on is priced on the pricing page. No discovery call required to learn a price.
The channel prices, 2026
SEO retainers at credible quality: $2,000 to $10,000 a month. Google Ads management: $1,500 to $7,500 a month plus spend, with spend from $3,000 to $50,000 depending on market. Appointment setting: $3,000 to $8,000 flat, or $150 to $800 per meeting on performance models, with dedicated senior teams at $10,000 to $25,000. Connected TV media: about $26 per thousand impressions with 10 to 20 percent managed service fees on top. Buy them separately and you own the seams between them.
The in house prices
A marketing manager at $110,000 to $140,000 loads to $140,000 to $175,000. An SDR loads to $70,000 to $90,000. Tools and data add $20,000 a year. Ramp takes a quarter or two, and B2B sales hiring misses near half the time. One marketing lead plus one agency retainer runs $160,000 to $190,000 a year with the seam still unowned.
A budget by stage
Under $1 million: $2,500 a month on content and a site that says something, and the founder sells. That is Baseline. $1 million to $3 million: $5,000 a month plus $3,000 to $10,000 in ad spend for content, one campaign, and a landing page per audience. That is Catalyst. $3 million to $10 million: $10,000 a month plus spend for the full pipeline with an outbound seat and a meeting number in writing. That is Kinetic. Past $10 million or more than one brand: from $25,000 with TV, two seats, and a board ready quarterly review. That is Critical Mass.
As a share of revenue, those land between 3 and 8 percent for most companies, which matches what growing B2B companies spend when they are actually growing.
The number that makes the budget a decision
Divide everything by qualified meetings. Kinetic at $10,000 producing ten meetings a month is $1,000 per meeting before spend. At a one in five close rate and a $25,000 deal, that is $5,000 of cost against $25,000 of revenue. The same program producing three meetings is $3,333 each and the math argues. A vendor who will not commit to a meeting number will not let you run this calculation, which is the whole point of refusing.
Questions on this problem
Because our buyer is a founder who hates a wasted discovery call as much as we do, and because the page that answers the question everyone types and nobody answers is the page that ranks.
No. Landing pages and campaign builds inside the ramp are included. The website build is included on a 12 month term at every tier, or $15,000 up front month to month. The term costs what ten months cost month to month, so the site and two months come free with the year.
Ad spend and media, which go to the platforms in your own accounts. Add ons like the MLR gate, the HIPAA stack, and extra outbound seats are priced individually on the pricing page.
George Stoff, Founder and Lead Engineer
Thirty years building software, brands, and demand. On every account.