In your first year, you’re not building a brand—you’re building a proof point.
That means your marketing budget shouldn’t be about scale. It should be about speed to insight.
What works? What doesn’t? And where’s the fastest path to revenue?
Here’s how to approach Year 1 budgeting with clarity—and confidence.
Principle 1: Optimize for Learning, Not Just Leads
You’re not Coca-Cola. You don’t need brand reach—you need signal.
Start with:
- $1K tests across 2–3 channels
- Clear hypotheses (“LinkedIn cold ads convert for mid-market SaaS founders”)
- Real-time feedback loops
Your goal isn’t volume. It’s validated direction.
Principle 2: Reverse Budget from CAC and LTV
Don’t follow made-up formulas like “10% of revenue.”
Start with your numbers:
- What’s your average deal size?
- What’s your gross margin?
- What can you afford to pay to acquire a customer?
If your CAC target is $500, every test should have a path to prove it—or get cut.
Principle 3: Separate Growth From Brand (But Do Both)
Allocate:
- 70% to short-term, measurable outcomes (demos, trials, opt-ins)
- 30% to long-term trust-building (content, founder POV, audience-building)
Brand doesn’t show up in attribution—but it drives conversion.
Don’t starve it.
Sample Year 1 Budget Allocation
Use this as a launchpad—not a blueprint:
- Content & SEO (30%) – Write 2–3 deep posts/month. Focus on pain > product.
- Paid Testing (25%) – LinkedIn, cold email, retargeting—small batch tests with clear goals.
- Email/CRM (15%) – Nurture sequences, newsletter, pipeline touchpoints.
- Founder-Led Channels (10%) – LinkedIn posts, podcast clips, video snippets.
- Tools + Analytics (10%) – Attribution, lead tracking, A/B tools.
- Misc + Experiments (10%) – For the stuff that doesn’t fit… yet.
What to Do This Week
- Sketch your CAC + LTV math (even if it’s rough)
- Pick 3 core channels to test in Q1
- Write a “fail or scale” goal for each: e.g. 10 calls booked from cold email in 30 days
- Allocate monthly spend to each test—and lock it in
- Block Friday mornings for weekly performance reviews and reallocation
You don’t need a massive budget to win Year 1.
You need speed, signal, and discipline.
