How to Spend $1K vs $10K Per Month (Easy)

You’re going to be shocked at how I spend $1,000 vs $10,000 per month on marketing.

Just like grandma said, "don't spend it all in one place." So I don't. I spend it all in 3.

Investment categories:

• Build

• Growth 

• Testing

But, before we talk about spending, let's figure out how much you can spend.

First, how to budget

"How much should I spend on marketing?"

I'm sorry. I have to hit you with the worst response to a question - ever.

It depends. 

But, there are two rules of thumb I go by:

• 10-25% of profit

• 10% of revenue

Whether it’s profit or revenue depends on your financial situation.

That’s it. That’s how I budget. Then I re-access quarterly assuming my investment will produce:

• Growth

• More money

• Higher monthly marketing budgets

Now, let's spend that money.

How I spend $1,000 / mo. 

Like I said before, there are three categories I invest in:

• Build

• Growth

• Testing

At $1,000 / mo, I would spend the first 1-3 months of a new campaign building.

Building means:

• Getting a website

• Hiring a photographer / videographer

• Setting up ads

Or whatever one time thing I need to launch a marketing campaign

Whether it’s 1 or 3 months depends on the things that need to be built.

Once the build phase it over, I move to the growth phase.

There are three marketing strategies anyone can choose from in the growth phase.

• Google Ads + SEO

• Social Media

• Both

Don't know which strategy is your fit? Good news! I built this quiz to help. Enjoy.

Unfortunately, $1,000 won’t allow you to do everything at once.

Here’s how I would split it up:

Google Ads + SEO:

Month 1: Hire a photographer (build)

Month 2: Build a website (build)

Month 3-5: Invest in SEO (~$1,000 / mo.)

Month 6+: Google Ads (~$1,000 / mo. in ad spend)

Goal: You should see a return on your Google Ads investment within 2-3 months of starting. Invest those profits into starting SEO back up again when you can.

Social Media:

Month 1: Hire a videographer (build)

Month 2: Get as much video content as you can for $1,000. (build)

Month 3: Meta Ads ($1,000 / mo. in ad spend)

Goal: Spend as much as you can on Meta Ads so long as profit exists. 

Both:

Ugh, I have to say it again. If it makes sense to run both strategies for your company, which strategy you start with - depends. 

You should not start with both. $1,000 will spread too thin. 

My default recommendation is to start with Google Ads + SEO then go Social.

Once profit is predictable in the growth phase, I’ll begin the third phase. Testing:

• Ads targeting (different states / cities)

• Unique content styles

• Influencer marketing

• And more…

With 10-20% of my month budget.

Okay. I think that about covers the $1,000 budget. Let’s crack open a bottle of $10K/mo.

How I spend $10,000 / mo. 

You might hate me for this. 

How I spend $1K vs $10K is exactly the same. $10K just gets me through the three phases (categories) quicker.

Let me show you:

Google Ads + SEO:

Month 1: Hire a photographer + build a website + invest in SEO (yep, usually all at once. It’s a busy first month)

Month 2: Google Ads (~$8K / mo. in ad spend then ~$1-2K for SEO)

Social Media:

Month 1: Hire a videographer 

Month 2: Meta Ads ($6K in ad spend, $1K-2K on content creation, $1K-$2K on social media management labor)

Note: I won’t go from $0 - $LIMIT in ad spend right off the bat. There is a ceiling to ad spend. So I’ll build up to that ceiling starting at $2K-4K / mo.

Both:

$10K is plenty to start on both:

• Google Ads + SEO

• Social

However, your ad spend will be lower. Monitor both channels to find the highest ROI. Then put more money there.

Your move

Before you start spending, take this quiz. It will give you a great starting point.

Then, invest.

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.

P.S. Here’s some news. In two weeks I’m moving to Boston. If you’re local or one of the 22.7M annual tourists and want to play pickleball, hit me up. I think I could go pro in that sport. My sister thinks I’m average at best.

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Links you might like:

1. How to make $50K before someone clicks “book now” (The Lodge Social)

2. Content production hack (LinkedIn)

3. Do this! and get more bookings ASAP (YouTube)

4. The more reliable short term rental markets in 2025 (Wander)