Flat navy line illustration of a white brick comedy club storefront: a lit COMEDY marquee with glowing bulbs, a Laugh more, worry less poster in the window, a standing microphone on the dim lavender stage inside, and a red velvet rope on brass stanchions by the door
The Mettle comedy club storefront illustration.

Marketing, unpackaged

Mettle marketing packages and budget calculator

Sike! We don't sell pre-packaged marketing plans, because no two businesses need the same thing. We figure out what's worth doing for you, then price accordingly. 

We take your business seriously, but we don't have to be so serious about ourselves.

Budget Calculator

Marketing budget

So, how much should you be spending on marketing?

There's no universal number. It's whatever the work in front of you requires. A business launching from scratch usually needs to spend more upfront, and an established business with steady word of mouth can often spend less.

For established businesses, 6 to 10 percent of annual revenue is a reasonable starting range for total marketing investment. For scale, Intuit's 2025 Small Business Advertising Trends Report found an estimated $78,000 average annual advertising budget among surveyed small businesses, with advertising accounting for an average 37 percent of total marketing budgets.

  • Paid media
  • Brand and creative
  • Website and SEO
  • Email and CRM
  • Technology
  • Events and sponsorships
  • Print and signage
  • Freelancers and agencies

Nobody is suggesting you hand 10 percent of revenue to Mettle. The point is how fast marketing turns into a real line item, and how rarely anyone is watching whether the pieces work together.

$100K$10M

Conservative, 6%

$60K

about $5K per month

Aggressive, 10%

$100K

about $8K per month

That is total marketing investment, not a Mettle fee. It covers media, creative, site, tech, events, signage and outside help. Benchmarks are directional, not prescriptions.

A marketing plan that fits your business.

Bring your goals and whatever marketing you're running now. We'll tell you what we'd do first, and roughly what it should cost.

Schedule a time

References

Benchmarks point a direction. Your margins, your stage of business and how much work you can absorb decide the number.