How Much Should Financial Planners Budget for Marketing? A Complete 2025 ROI Analysis

"How much should I spend on marketing?"

It is one of the most critical questions a financial planner can ask, yet it is also one of the most difficult to answer. The financial services industry is notoriously underserved when it comes to effective marketing, leaving many planners to guess. Spend too little, and your efforts will fail to gain traction. Spend too much in the wrong places, and you risk a significant financial loss with little to show for it.

This guide provides a clear framework for setting a marketing budget for your firm in 2025. We will show you how to shift your mindset from viewing marketing as a "cost" to treating it as an "investment". More importantly, we will teach you how to calculate the potential Return on Investment (ROI) for that investment, giving you the confidence to grow your firm predictably.

Shift Your Mindset: From an Expense to an Investment

Before setting a budget, you must make a crucial mental shift. Marketing is not a cost centre like your office rent or your compliance fees. It is the primary engine for client acquisition and the only investment you can make that directly leads to AUM growth.

To view marketing as an investment, you need to understand two key metrics:

• Client Acquisition Cost (CAC): This is the total cost of marketing and sales required to acquire a single new client. Knowing this number is the key to scalable growth.
• Lifetime Value (LTV): This is the total revenue you can expect to generate from a single client over the course of your relationship with them.

A successful marketing system is one where the LTV of a client is significantly higher than the CAC. The goal is not just to spend money, but to invest it in a system where every pound you put in generates several pounds back in long term revenue.

Common Budgeting Models (And Their Flaws)

Many firms fall into one of three common budgeting traps. While they might seem logical on the surface, they are often ill-suited for a growth focused financial planning firm.

The "Percentage of Revenue" Model

This common business advice suggests allocating 5 to 10 percent of your total revenue to marketing. The problem is that this model is backwards looking. It bases your future growth on your past performance, which can stifle ambitious firms and provide too little fuel to make a real impact.

The "Whatever's Left Over" Model

This is the most dangerous approach. When marketing is funded with whatever cash is left at the end of the month, it leads to inconsistency. This creates a "famine and feast" cycle where you only market when you are quiet, which stops as soon as you get busy, causing the pipeline to eventually run dry again.

The "Traditional Agency Retainer" Model

This involves paying a marketing agency a fixed fee, perhaps £2,000 to £5,000 per month, for a list of "activities". The flaw here is the lack of a direct link between cost and results. You pay the agency the same retainer whether they generate two new clients or zero, making your ROI unpredictable and putting all the financial risk on you.

A Better Approach: Outcome Based Budgeting

Instead of focusing on arbitrary percentages or fixed costs, a far more powerful method is to budget based on your desired outcomes. This approach involves working backwards from your specific growth goals.

• Step 1: Define Your Goal. How many new clients do you want to bring on each month? Let's say your goal is 1 to 2 new clients per month.
• Step 2: Know Your Numbers. You need to know your average close rate from a qualified first meeting. A common rate is around 30 to 40 percent.
• Step 3: Calculate Required Appointments. To get 1 or 2 new clients with a 33 percent close rate, you will need approximately 4 to 5 qualified appointments per month.
• Step 4: Set Your Budget. Your budget is now simple to calculate. It is the cost required to generate those 4 to 5 qualified appointments.

This model aligns your spending directly with your growth objectives and gives you complete control over your client acquisition cost.

A Real World Example: The Intently Model ROI

This outcome based approach is the exact model our Intently service is built on. Let's use our transparent pricing and a realistic forecast to run a complete ROI analysis.

The Investment

Let's say your goal is to generate 4 qualified appointments in a month.

• One Time Setup Fee: £1,000 (To build your client acquisition machine).
• Performance Cost: 4 Appointments x £300 per Appointment = £1,200.
• Recommended Monthly Ad Spend: £700 (Paid directly to Meta).
• Total First Month Investment: £1,000 + £1,200 + £700 = £2,900.
• Total Ongoing Monthly Investment: £1,900.

The Return

This forecast is based on typical marketing conversion rates and our real client data.

• Appointments Delivered: 4 qualified appointments booked in your calendar.
• New Clients Won: Based on a 30 to 40 percent close rate from qualified appointments, this would result in approximately 1 to 2 new clients.
• New Potential AUM: Based on our case study data, this level of activity can generate an estimated £250,000 to £300,000 in new potential AUM per month.

The ROI Analysis

With this model, you have a predictable ongoing investment of £1,900 per month to generate 1 to 2 new, high value clients. This gives you a clear and manageable Client Acquisition Cost (CAC) of approximately £950 to £1,900 per client.

When you compare this defined CAC to the potential lifetime value of a new client, the return on investment is clear, powerful, and predictable. You are no longer just "spending money on marketing"; you are investing in a system with a measurable and scalable return.

Stop Guessing, Start Investing

The most effective way to budget for marketing is to tie your spending directly to the outcomes you want to achieve. An outcome based model gives you the clarity and predictability you need to grow your firm with confidence.

If you are ready to stop guessing with your marketing budget and start investing in a system that delivers a measurable ROI, then it is time to consider a performance driven partner.