How to Budget for Digital Marketing as a Perth Small Business

The most common question Perth small business owners ask before starting digital marketing is: “How much should I spend?” There's no universal answer: it depends on your industry, your margins, how competitive your Perth market is, and what you're trying to achieve. But there are sensible frameworks that help most businesses arrive at a starting number that makes sense.

The industry benchmark

The general benchmark for digital marketing spend is 7 to 10% of gross revenue for businesses in growth mode, and 3 to 5% for businesses in maintenance mode. For a Perth small business turning over $500,000 per year, that's $15,000 to $50,000 annually, or $1,250 to $4,000 per month. These are starting ranges, not targets: what matters is that every dollar spent has a measurable return. A business spending $500 per month on Google Ads and generating $3,000 per month in revenue from those ads is doing better than one spending $3,000 per month with unclear attribution.

Where to allocate your budget

For most Perth businesses starting out, the highest-priority allocations are: a professional website (one-time investment, typically $2,000 to $5,000), local SEO (ongoing, $500 to $1,500/month), and Google Ads for immediate lead generation ($500 to $2,000/month in ad spend plus management). Social media advertising and content production come next once you have the foundation working. Don't try to do everything at once. Spread across too many channels with inadequate budget, you'll see weak results from everything and conclude that digital marketing doesn't work.

MSA Digital helps Perth businesses plan and execute digital marketing strategies that fit their budget and their goals. Book a free strategy session and let's build a plan that makes sense for your business.