by Michael Delpierre and Scott C. Margenau
http://www.brandsthatsell.com

One of the most important decisions that a small to medium-sized business has to make is how much money to spend on a marketing budget. Prospects often ask, "How much should I spend on marketing?" The answer is, "It varies by industry and business size." It is also based on how much you want to grow, and how fast.

Both SCORE and USSBA define the variable for a proper marketing budget to be between 2% and 10% of sales, noting that for B2C, retail and pharmaceuticals can exceed 20% during peak brand-building years.