sarojkjha Marketing Budget Planning
Decide how much to spend on marketing overall — the question that comes before how to split it across channels. The answer is set by stage, model, growth ambition, and cash runway, expressed as a percentage of revenue and then divided across functions.
When to use
The user needs a total marketing budget or wants to check whether their current spend level is reasonable for their stage and model.
Before you start
- Read the brand/product context (
.agents/product-marketing.md/.agents/aaj-brand.md) for model and stage, if present. - Gather: business model (B2B SaaS / ecommerce / services / marketplace), stage (pre-seed → mature), annual revenue (ARR or revenue), and growth ambition (conservative / balanced / aggressive).
- Have unit economics handy. A budget is only affordable if the implied CAC clears LTV:CAC — run the
unit-economicsskill if unsure.
Method
Marketing spend as a share of revenue is highest early and falls as you scale (you're buying growth and learning), and varies by model (SaaS and marketplaces spend more than services). Growth ambition flexes it up or down; runway caps it. This produces a budget; affordability is confirmed against unit economics.
Run the engine
Paths assume you installed with
npx skills add. From a clone of this repo, useskills/marketing-budget-planning/resources/…instead.
node .agents/skills/marketing-budget-planning/resources/budget-planner.js # demo (B2B SaaS, Series A, $3M)
node .agents/skills/marketing-budget-planning/resources/budget-planner.js '{"model":"ecommerce","stage":"growth","annualRevenue":8000000,"growthTarget":"aggressive"}'
node .agents/skills/marketing-budget-planning/resources/budget-planner.js --help
It returns the recommended % of revenue, the annual and monthly budget, and a split across functions (demand gen, content/SEO, brand, etc.), plus JSON.
Interpret & connect
- Treat the % as a starting benchmark, then adjust for runway, payback tolerance, and how much demand actually exists to capture.
- The demand-gen / paid slice flows straight into the
paid-media-budget-allocationskill for the channel split. - If LTV:CAC won't support the implied spend, fix economics or lower the budget before scaling.
Present the result
Lead with the headline budget (% of revenue, $/yr, $/mo), then the function split, then the affordability check against unit economics and the handoff to channel allocation.
Guardrails & common mistakes
- Benchmarks aren't targets. A % of revenue is a sanity check, not a mandate — demand and economics decide.
- Runway caps ambition. Aggressive % with thin runway is a fast way to run out of money.
- Spend follows ability to absorb it. Doubling budget overnight wastes money if the funnel and team can't scale with it.
- Total budget ≠ paid budget. This sizes all marketing; only the demand-gen slice is paid media.
Related AAJ resources
- Interactive tool: https://aajconsult.com/tools/marketing-budget-calculator
- Guide: https://aajconsult.com/blog/how-much-should-a-startup-spend-on-marketing
Related skills
unit-economics (affordability) · paid-media-budget-allocation (split the paid slice) · campaign-orchestrator (the strategy the budget funds).
Credits
Original AAJ skill. The Agent Skills format and Corey Haines' coreyhaines31/marketingskills (MIT) were references for structure and coverage; this skill is independently written. See the repository README.