In a landscape shaped by rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, and shifting buyer behaviours, marketing spend has never been more critical — or more scrutinised. According to Sopro's State of Marketing Spend 2025 report, businesses are recalibrating their budgets, with notable winners and losers emerging across channels.
For SMEs, the question isn't just "how much should we spend?" but "where should we place our bets?"
Marketing budgets are growing again
After years of cautious belt-tightening, marketing budgets are climbing back up. The report found that 65% of businesses plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2025. This optimism is a strong signal that investment in customer acquisition, brand awareness, and loyalty is back on the strategic agenda.
Standing still risks falling behind. If your marketing spend isn't keeping pace, you could lose ground to more proactive competitors.
Where are businesses increasing spend?
Not all marketing activities are treated equally. The channels seeing the biggest growth include:
- Events (+12.3%): After years of Zoom fatigue, face-to-face connection is back in vogue. Trade shows, conferences, and networking events are seen as critical for relationship building.
- Direct Marketing (+9.2%): Targeted, personalised outreach is regaining favour, likely driven by improved CRM and automation tools.
- Public Relations (+8.5%): In an era of trust and credibility, earned media is becoming more valuable than ever.
If you're not already building direct, human-centred marketing activities into your plan, now's the time.
Where spend is flat or falling
Interestingly, some "traditional" big-ticket areas are losing ground:
- Main Media Advertising (TV, print, radio): Static or slightly down.
- Sponsorships: Particularly in sports and entertainment, are seeing reduced investment.
This shift suggests that measurable, high-ROI channels are taking precedence over broad, brand-only initiatives.
Prioritise channels where performance can be tracked and attributed clearly to business outcomes.
It's not just about spending more
While overall marketing spend is increasing, the smartest businesses aren't just throwing more money at the problem. They are:
- Reallocating budgets toward higher-performing channels.
- Investing in measurement to ensure every pound spent can be justified.
- Building agility into their plans, ready to pivot as market conditions change.
A flexible, data-driven marketing budget will outperform a static "set and forget" plan every time.
So are you investing enough — and investing wisely?
Marketing in 2025 is about more than survival; it's about positioning for growth. If your marketing budget isn't keeping pace with industry benchmarks — or if it's spread too thin across outdated tactics — it's time to rethink.
Need help building a smarter, stronger marketing plan for 2025? Get in touch — we'd love to help you turn insights into action.
