Your Content Marketing Budget: Balancing Investment, Engagement, and ROI

Is content marketing worth the money?

My simple answer? Yes.

My slightly more complex answer? Yes, so long as your content reaches and resonates with the right audience.

According to HubSpot’s State of Marketing in 2024 Report, 50% of companies planned to increase their marketing budget this year. With 40% of Gen Z, 40% of Gen X, and 43% of Millenials saying they’ve discovered new products through content on social media, this ongoing investment makes sense.

In fact, HubSpot dedicates a portion of its budget to creating content with the help of freelance writers. I’m a member of that team.

“We absolutely find content marketing to be a worthy investment,” says Kaitlin Milliken, who runs HubSpot’s freelance writing program. “We need to keep content fresh and showcase expert insights that our in-house team may not have. Finding experts, showcasing their work and paying them fairly is all part of the model.”

If marketers can engage with prospective buyers on the social platform of their choice, they can drive organic traffic to websites or ecommerce portals and increase the chances of sales conversion.

Perhaps more importantly, engaging content can set the stage for an ongoing relationship that sees customers coming back again and again.

Where are marketers spending on content creation?

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear me say that the global reach of social media sites makes them the primary focus for content creation spending. For example, Facebook has more than 3 billion active monthly users. Instagram boasts 2 billion, and up-and-comer TikTok recently passed the 1.5 billion mark.

In 2024, 76% of B2C small businesses were using Facebook as part of their content creation strategy, and 63% used Instagram.

LinkedIn, meanwhile, was used by 89% of B2B marketers to generate leads.

TikTok, meanwhile, was tied with YouTube and Instagram for delivering the biggest ROI of any marketing strategy, according to 67% of marketers.

In terms of content types on these platforms, video rules the roost. Consider that 89% of customers say that product explainer videos have influenced them to make a purchase, and 92% of marketers say that video provides positive ROI.

Emails also remain a popular content marketing approach, with some caveats.

First is that segmented emails outperform their generic counterparts, with marketers reporting 30% more opens and 50% more clickthroughs on segmented emails. In addition, GenAI is becoming a key component of email marketing strategies, with 95% of marketers using GenAI rating it as “effective.”

Content Marketing Budgets: How Much is Enough?

When it comes to content marketing budgets, “enough” is the amount that gets you the results you want without breaking the bank.

I know, I know — that’s not exactly helpful. There are two reasons for a lack of hard-and-fast rules in content marketing budgets.

First is the changing nature of content engagement. Look at TikTok. Five years ago, TikTok was primarily a platform for teenagers and young adults. While silly and funny videos drove views, they had little impact on purchasing decisions.

Enter the era of the social media influencer, and the TikTok shop was born. Creator funds combined with expanding demographic influence made TikTok a force to be reckoned with, even as other platforms saw a flattening of ad curves (looking at you here, Facebook).

All this is to say that there’s no such thing as a sure thing in content marketing.

Right now, it makes sense to ramp up spending on platforms like TikTok and YouTube and take it slower on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. It’s also worth remembering a simple mantra: Easy come, easy go. While TikTok is a social selling powerhouse right now, it won’t last forever.

So, in addition to the change in the landscape, markets looking to create a content marketing budget also have to consider how industry plays a role in setting content marketing budgets.

“When it comes to our budget for working with writers, our program is always looking at industry rates,” Milliken says. “We can’t make great content or work with great people if we’re paying below what’s standard. Oftentimes, you do get what you pay for.”

For example, businesses in the banking and finance industries often spend approximately 9.5% of total company revenue on marketing. Retail wholesalers spend 14.52% on average, while consumer packaged goods companies shell out just over 25% of total revenue on marketing.

How to Establish a Content Marketing Budget

While your content marketing budget will evolve and change over time, I’ve seen how you can establish a solid funding framework with these five best practices.

1. Pinpoint your target audience.

Don’t waste money on marketing to customers who aren’t interested in your product or service. While you may get the occasional unexpected conversion, I can tell you that the vast majority of prospective buyers outside your intended audience will either ignore your content or actively seek to disengage from it.

To prevent this from happening — and to find your funding sweet spot — I recommend ensuring you’ve pinpointed your target audience. Common customer factors can include demographics such as age, location, average income, and historic patterns of content interaction. This is always my first step.

At HubSpot, Milliken says her team’s writing focuses on specific personas. That laser focus on who the audience is makes sure the team’s content resonates with potential customers.

2. Calculate your current content marketing spend.

Next, I’ll calculate how much I should spend — but before I do that, I need to know how much I’m currently spending. It sounds simple enough, but I find this is a crucial first step.

This number includes money spent on creating social media posts, blogs, videos, and other content, along with any funds used for research and preparation. And don’t forget to include the cost of tracking content metrics as part of your larger budget.

Current spend provides a baseline for future content budgets. Even if your plan is to boost spending to increase your reach, knowing what you spend now helps you level set for new initiatives.

“I keep track of what I spend in multiple places,” Milliken comments. “I have a tracker that shows my team’s spend per month. Then, I put those numbers in Allocadia so leadership knows how much is spent on content marketing across programs.”

3. Define your strategic goals.

What’s the plan? If you don’t have one, don’t start spending that budget just yet.

While you could take a scattershot approach to content marketing, you’ll get out what you put in: Assets that occasionally hit the mark but mostly miss your target audience.

Instead of hoping for the best, I always build a budget plan. Identify content areas that have seen significant growth over the past year, and prioritize those efforts. Even better? I drill down into why they’re working with surveys or focus groups.

For example, if you’re seeing great returns on short-form videos, ask customers why they’re working so well. Sure, the smaller length plays a role, but what else stands out about the content? The visuals? The audio? The CTA? Play to your strengths to get the best return on your investment.

If you’re still developing and evolving your goals (and who isn’t!), HubSpot’s free content planning templates can also be a big help. And Content Hub, of course, is a great unified platform for creating and managing personalized content experiences across the customer journey.

4. Identify measurable outcomes.

I’m sure you’ll agree that conversions are the ultimate metric of content marketing success. The more prospects you convert into customers, the better for your bottom line.

But conversions alone don’t tell the whole story. You also need to track metrics that measure engagement, such as how long visitors stay on your webpage or how many click through on CTAs to sign up for newsletters or learn more about your newest product.

I also like to measure engagement through social interactions such as likes or comments, which indicates that users took the time to stop and interact with your content rather than scrolling by.

5. Regularly review your spend.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that content marketing spend isn’t static. As consumer preferences change, so will the way they interact with and consume content.

For example, if engagement on a specific social media platform begins to fall, and this decrease is paired with a larger drop in the platform user base, it may be time to shift marketing spend.

By the same token, if new approaches such as interactive chatbots or highly personalized advertising show a marked increase, it’s worth doubling down on ad budgets.

Content Marketing Types to Budget For

2024 was a year of social media spending for content marketers. What’s on deck for 2025? Here are four content marketing types you should consider budgeting for next year.

Short-Form Videos

In 2024, 56% of content marketers said short-form video was their top investment trend. “Short” in this context means less than 10 minutes long — 96% of marketers agreed on this number, and one in three said videos shouldn’t exceed the three-minute mark.

This particular content form continues to see significant growth across platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. Other social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram have also hopped on the trend — in many cases, videos are cross-posted between multiple platforms.

Informational Blogs

Despite the rise of multimedia, blogs continue to deliver content marketing returns. In 2023, 9 out of 10 marketers used blogs to help achieve their content goals, and companies using blogs generated 67% more leads each month than their non-blogged competitors.

The caveat? Gone are the days of keyword stuffing and backlink frenzies. Blogs aren’t simply promotional vehicles; they have to offer something of value to readers or they won’t get read.

Influencer Partnerships

Influencers continue to positively impact content marketing efforts. Statistics show that 69% of consumers now trust influencer recommendations over those directly from brands, and 36% of marketers say that influencer content outperforms typical marketing content.

GenAI Content

While it’s casting a broad net, companies can’t afford to ignore the impact of generative AI in creating personalized content. With 94% of marketers saying that personalization increases sales and 96% saying it encourages repeat purchases, it’s no surprise that GenAI is a priority in content marketing efforts.

Generative AI is also playing a bigger role in content creation as referenced in the graph above with 77% of marketers saying it helps them create more personalized content. Additionally, 71% of marketers claimed GenAI helped them better understand their customers and improve their overall experience.

GenAI continues to grow in popularity because it’s an effective way to personalize your marketing efforts at scale.

Content Marketing Budgets: A Moving Target

In this piece, I’ve offered some basic guidelines and best practices for marketing budgets and target content types to help you take your best shot at the moving target that is content spending. If you’re looking for more concrete applications of the concepts above, however, HubSpot has you covered. 

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in March, 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.