Finding
Whito's free UK marketing budget template comes prefilled with planning bands for nine channels. SEO, for example, runs £300 (low end), £1,500 (mid range) or £5,000 (high end) a month, from the Whito UK Marketing Cost Index, last verified 5 October 2026. Version 2026.10.
Source: Whito, whito.co.uk/guides/marketing-budget-template-uk, October 2026. Free to quote with a link to this page.
Last Updated on October 17, 2026
Short answer
This is a free UK marketing budget template in Excel that starts full, not blank. It comes prefilled with Whito planning bands for nine channels, from the UK Marketing Cost Index (last verified 5 October 2026), and the median prices that 47 UK providers publish on their own websites. Pick Low, Mid or High for each channel and it totals your month, your year and your spend as a share of revenue.
Get the template by email
Enter your email and we send you the Excel file straight away. Version 2026.10 (v1.0), issued 17 October 2026. Works in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice.
Why a blank template costs you money
Most free marketing budget templates are empty grids. Many are built for US prices. Some sit behind a login and show no figures at all.
So you fill the cells with guesses. Guess low and you hire the cheapest option, then pay twice. Guess high and you sign a retainer your margin cannot carry.
The fix is simple. Start from what UK marketing work actually costs, then cut to what your business can afford. That is what this file does.
What is in the template
| Tab | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start here | How to use the file, which band fits you, and where every number comes from. |
| Budget planner | Nine channels with Whito low, mid and high figures. Choose a band or type your own. Totals for the month, the year and year one as a share of revenue. |
| Monthly tracker | Twelve months of actual spend against your plan, with spent so far and left to spend per channel. |
| Service price ranges | The full Cost Index tables: what local SEO, a brochure site, a brand starter or a talking-head video typically costs. |
| Published prices | Median prices UK providers print on their own sites, from 128 prices in the Whito price file (June 2026). |
| Changelog | What changed in each version, so you know if your copy is current. |
The numbers it starts with
These are the planning bands prefilled on the Budget planner tab. They come from the Whito UK Marketing Cost Index and cover the middle 60% of prices found for UK businesses with 1 to 50 staff. All exclude VAT.
| Channel | Unit | Low end | Mid range | High end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | per month | £300 | £1,500 | £5,000 |
| PPC management fee | per month | £200 | £1,000 | £3,000 |
| PPC ad spend | per month | £300 | £2,000 | £10,000 |
| Social media management | per month | £250 | £800 | £3,000 |
| Email marketing | per month | £50 | £500 | £3,000 |
| Content and copywriting | per month | £300 | £1,000 | £4,000 |
| Website (build plus year one) | one-off | £2,000 | £5,500 | £17,000 |
| Branding | one-off | £1,500 | £5,000 | £20,000 |
| Video | one-off | £800 | £5,000 | £25,000 |
High-end figures are not ceilings. E-commerce SEO, for example, runs from £2,000 to £6,000 or more a month. The Service price ranges tab shows what each band buys.
How to fill it in
- Add your revenue. Optional, but it turns your total into a share of revenue, which is the number to sanity-check against your margin.
- Choose a band per channel. Low end suits one location and mostly do-it-yourself work. Mid range suits a growing business paying for steady monthly help. High end suits competitive, national or e-commerce markets. Choose None for anything you are not doing yet.
- Type a custom figure if you already pay for something. Set the band to Custom.
- Enter any quote you have. The budget-to-band check tells you where it sits.
- Track monthly. Log actual spend on the Monthly tracker so the plan stays honest.
Spend in stage order
A bigger budget on a weak base buys more of the same problem. Fund the stages in order.
| Stage | Channels in the template | Fund it when |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Website, branding basics | Always first. Clear offer, working site, Google Business Profile. |
| Build | SEO, email, content, social | The site converts and you can answer every enquiry. |
| Scale | PPC ad spend and management, video, several channels at once | Build channels already bring steady leads and you know your cost per customer. |
The budget-to-band check
The budget-to-band check is the column in the template that compares a quote with the Whito low and high end for that channel. It gives one of three verdicts.
- Below the Whito low end: ask what is left out. Cheap quotes often drop reporting, content or the work that takes the hours.
- Inside the Whito band: normal for the UK. Now compare what is included, not the price.
- Above the Whito high end: ask what the extra buys. Sometimes it is real scope. Sometimes it is a bigger agency overhead.
For a single quote you want to test now, the UK Marketing Cost Calculator does the same job in your browser.
Planning bands and published prices are different numbers
The template carries two kinds of figure, and they will not match.
| Service | Median published price | Prices in the file |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | £799 a month | 45 |
| PPC management | £470 a month | 24 |
| Social media management | £357.50 a month | 26 |
| Website build | £520 one-off | 28 |
A published price is what a provider prints on its own website, usually its entry package. A planning band is what UK businesses typically end up paying for the work. Use the published median to spot an inflated quote. Use the band to plan. Full working is in the UK Marketing Prices Study.
Versions and updates
Every copy carries a version stamp on each tab and in the file footer. The current version is 2026.10 (v1.0), issued 17 October 2026. We plan to reissue the file each quarter when the Cost Index is re-checked, with the next issue due in January 2027. If your stamp is older than the one on this page, download again.
| Version | Issued | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 2026.10 (v1.0) | 17 October 2026 | First issue. Planning bands from the Cost Index as verified 5 October 2026. Published prices from the June 2026 price file. |
Free to use
It costs nothing. Enter your email above and the file arrives in your inbox. Once you have it, copy it, change it and share it with your team or your clients. If you republish the figures, credit Whito and link to this page.
Common questions
Is the marketing budget template really free?
Yes. Enter your email and we send you the Excel file. You also join Whito Insights, our short emails for UK business owners, and can leave in one click. Once you have the file, you can copy it, edit it and share it.
What prices are in the template?
Planning bands for nine channels from the Whito UK Marketing Cost Index, last verified 5 October 2026, plus median published prices from 128 prices that 47 UK providers print on their own websites, collected June 2026. All figures exclude VAT.
Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. It also opens in Excel, Numbers and LibreOffice.
How much should a small UK business spend on marketing?
It depends on your margin and stage, not a fixed figure. The template shows your planned year as a share of revenue so you can test it against what your business earns. Fund Start basics first, then Build channels, then Scale.
How often is the template updated?
We plan to reissue it each quarter when the Cost Index is re-checked. Each copy carries a version stamp so you can tell if yours is current.
Takeaway
Do not plan your marketing on a blank sheet. Start from what UK work costs, cut to what your margin allows, and spend in stage order.
Get the UK Marketing Budget Template by email
- UK Marketing Cost Calculator
- UK Marketing Cost Index 2026
- UK Marketing Prices Study: 128 published prices
- How to create a marketing budget for your UK business
- UK marketing budgets by revenue
