Brand vs performance marketing budget split: what the surveys show and how to set yours

What is the typical brand vs performance budget split?

There is no single typical split. The three figures most often quoted as "the split" measure different things, so they cannot be averaged or compared directly.

What each denominator means for your plan

A worked example

On an example media budget of $10 million (an illustration, not a benchmark), a 60:40 split puts $6 million into brand and $4 million into activation.

Before taking that to your chief executive officer (CEO), write down three things next to the ratio:

1. The denominator: media only, or media plus people and production.
2. The definition of brand: which channels and campaigns count.
3. The adjustment you made from 60:40 and the reason, such as category or growth stage.

For the full survey context, see our Gartner CMO spend digest.

What does the 60/40 rule in marketing actually say?

The two jobs the ratio splits

Why return on investment misleads here

In our reading, this is the part to bring to a chief financial officer. Activation will usually win a channel-by-channel ROI comparison, because it catches buyers already in market. A budget optimized only on that metric drifts toward activation and away from the growth the ratio was built to protect.

Using the ratio as a starting point

Treat 60:40 as an opening position you then adjust. A simple sequence:

1. Set the starting split at 60:40 of the budget you defined, as in the worked example above.
2. Write down which brand, category and situation factors push your split away from it, and in which direction.
3. Agree with finance that brand spend is judged on growth measures such as brand tracking and share of search, not on short-term ROI alone.
4. Test the result with marketing mix modeling or incrementality work before the next planning cycle.

What split between brand and performance do B2B companies use?

How software companies have actually split it

How sales cycle and brand size move your starting point

In our reading, two factors decide where a B2B company starts. A long sales cycle means most buyers are out of market today, so brand spend works on the people who will shortlist you next year. A small brand has little memory to draw on, so performance spend converts a narrow pool and costs climb as that pool runs dry.

A worked example, not a benchmark: a smaller software brand still proving demand might invert the ratio on a $10 million budget, putting 40 percent of $10 million, or $4 million, into brand. It would then move toward 60 percent as incrementality tests show performance returns flattening.

How much of the media budget goes to awareness versus conversion?

Why a funnel-stage share is not a brand share

Gartner sorts media by funnel stage. Brand versus performance is a question about objective and time horizon. The two cut across each other: awareness money can be bought on click-optimized digital, and conversion money can run on emotional creative.

Here is an example, not a benchmark. Take a $10 million media plan that tags 40% as awareness, which comes to $4 million. If 60% of that $4 million is bought and judged on clicks, $2.4 million of the awareness line is performance spend. The brand money left in that line is the $4 million less the $2.4 million, or $1.6 million.

A reclassification template

Before you compare your plan with the survey, tag each media line twice: once by stage, once by how it is judged.

Total the right-hand column. That figure is your brand share of media, and it is the one to set against the earlier split benchmarks. Read it next to brand tracking and incrementality results, not against the stage share alone.

Why do performance budgets keep growing?

Three forces keep pulling money toward performance, and each one feeds the next. None of them shows that performance spend works better. They make it easier to defend in a budget meeting.

Flat budgets reward fast proof

Last-click attribution over-credits search

Here is a worked example. It is an example, not a benchmark:

• Last-click credits paid search with $10 million in sales.
• At 30%, the brand-driven share of that $10 million is $3 million.
• At 30% to 60%, the non-marketing share of the same $10 million is $3 million to $6 million.
• Subtract $3 million and then $3 million to $6 million from $10 million. That leaves $1 million to $4 million that search can plausibly claim.

We think this is why search looks indispensable on a dashboard. It collects credit for demand that brand work and the calendar created. A marketing mix model or an incrementality test separates the two.

The brand doom loop

The third move does the most work, in our view, because it gives the other two something to point to. For framing the case to finance, see our guide to CMO, CEO and CFO alignment.

How do I measure the return on brand spend?

A worked holdout example

These are round example numbers, not a benchmark. You run brand video in some regions and hold out matched regions that see none. If exposed regions average 60 orders per store and holdout regions average 40, the incremental lift is 20 orders per store. That 20 is the number the CFO cares about, because the holdout shows what would have happened without the spend.

Fund the measurement itself

Worked example: setting a split for a $300 million B2B software company

This is an example with round inputs, not a benchmark. The company has $300 million in revenue and a $23.4 million marketing budget, which is 7.8% of that revenue. Of the $23.4 million, $12 million is the media line. People, technology and programs stay outside this exercise.

Step 1: tag every line by objective

Ignore channel names. Tag each campaign by its job: reach buyers who are not in market yet (brand) or convert demand that already exists (activation). LinkedIn retargeting aimed at accounts with an open opportunity is activation, even if it sits in the social budget. A sponsored podcast series aimed at the whole category is brand, even if it is bought on a cost-per-click basis.

In this example, $1.2 million of the $12 million line, 10%, comes out as brand, leaving $10.8 million for activation.

Step 2: correct the paid search credit

Paid search takes 40% of the media line, which is $4.8 million of the $12 million. As covered earlier, part of that search demand starts with brand activity. Split your own query data into branded, competitor and generic terms.

In this example, branded queries carry 40% of paid search conversions, so 40% of the $4.8 million, $1.92 million, is reported as brand-assisted. The budget stays put. The credit moves. Replace the example assumption with your own incrementality tests or marketing mix modeling.

Step 3: set the target and write the reason

The target is 40% brand, $4.8 million of the $12 million line, and 60% activation, $7.2 million. The written rationale, which is our reading for this company, has three lines:

• Category: crowded software category where buyers shortlist vendors they already know.
• Sales cycle: long, with buying committees, so brand memory has to last months.
• Brand size: mid-sized, known in its core segment and little known outside it, which gives brand spend room to move results.

The one-page table for the CFO

Bring this as the opening page of your board deck, and agree the checkpoint metrics with finance first, using our CMO, CEO and CFO alignment guide.

How do I move budget from performance to brand without losing pipeline?

Move budget in steps, not in one reallocation. The risk in a shift to brand is a quarter where pipeline dips before brand effects show, and the board reads the dip as the verdict. The moves below are our method for keeping the shift visible, reversible and tied to pipeline.

Five moves

1. Set a brand floor first. Agree with the CEO and chief financial officer (CFO) on a share of budget that brand keeps even in a cut. On an example budget of $10 million with a 40 percent floor, brand keeps $4 million. Put it in writing before the next planning cycle (see CMO, CEO and CFO alignment).
2. Shift a few points a year. Take the points from the performance campaigns with the weakest incrementality, not from the whole performance line.
3. Hold out a test region. Raise brand spend in one region or segment and keep a comparable one flat. Compare marketing-sourced pipeline between the two over several quarters.
4. Report monthly. Put pipeline and share of search on the same page so the CFO sees both curves together.
5. Defend the floor in a downturn. Cut performance first if the total budget falls (see our budget cut playbook).

The case for move five comes from recession data.

Scorecard template

Copy this into your monthly report or our marketing scorecard template.

What this page does not cover

This page does not cover how to budget for people, technology and production outside the media line, or how to choose agencies, vendors or tools for measurement. It sets out planning methods and survey figures, not financial advice, and any split should be tested against your own data.

Related on CMO Tribune: Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue in 2026, by sector and business model; Average CMO Tenure by Index, Sector and Year; Marketing team size benchmark, as a share of headcount and by revenue band.