Quick Summary

Marketing budgets in 2025 remain flat at 7.7% of overall company revenue, a historic low that mirrors 2024 levels, according to Gartner’s CMO Spend Survey. Despite tighter budgets, CMOs are doubling down on AI tools, performance marketing, and clear ROI strategies to stretch every dollar.

1. What Are the Marketing Budget Trends for 2025?

In 2025, the average marketing budget remains stuck at 7.7% of total company revenue, the same level seen in 2024 and a drop from 9.1% in 2023. This represents a 15% year-over-year decline and signals a longer-term trend of financial scrutiny in marketing departments.

2. Why Are Marketing Budgets Flat in 2025?

Budgets are not bouncing back due to several converging forces:

• Economic uncertainty post-COVID and amid global instability

• Shift in company priorities toward operational efficiency

• Heightened accountability for marketing teams to prove ROI

CMOs are under pressure to do more with less. Instead of lobbying for more budget, many are reallocating existing spend toward digital performance channels, AI tools, and internal talent development.

3. CMO Budget Allocation in 2025: Where Is the Money Going?

Marketing dollars in 2025 are being distributed with extreme precision. Here’s a breakdown of where the average budget is going:

CMOs are also reducing dependence on external agencies. Nearly 40% of marketing leaders surveyed plan to cut agency spending and renegotiate contracts.

4. AI in Marketing: The 2025 Reality

The adoption of AI in marketing has reached a tipping point. In 2025:

• AI tools are used for audience segmentation, message personalization, and campaign performance forecasting

• Generative AI is helping create email, ad, and web content faster

• AI-powered analytics dashboards allow marketers to attribute revenue with unprecedented precision

CMOs are treating AI investments as force multipliers, not just cost savers. The goal? Higher performance, not necessarily lower spend.

5. Digital Marketing Spend Benchmarks: What's Changing?

In terms of specific tactics, the top-performing channels CMOs are investing in this year include:

• Search advertising (Google Ads, Performance Max)

• Social media (LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok)

• Email automation

• Short-form video content

• Content hubs and thought leadership

Meanwhile, traditional brand advertising continues to lose budget share unless it directly supports a measurable business objective.

6. Featured Snippets Optimization for Marketers

Why should marketers care about featured snippets in 2025?

• Snippets drive higher visibility without clicks

• They increase brand authority

• They often appear in voice search and AI Overviews

How to Optimize for Snippets:

• Use question-based headers

• Include short, factual answers under 50 words

• Add bullet lists and tables

• Implement FAQ schema markup

7. AI Overviews and Zero-Click SEO in 2025

AI Overviews are now appearing above traditional results in Google for thousands of queries, making it harder for websites to earn clicks.

Zero-click SEO means optimizing content so that it becomes the source of the AI's summary.

What You Can Do:

• Structure content into clear sections with labeled headers

• Write intro blurbs that summarize answers

• Use authoritative language, stats, and sources

• Update content regularly to signal freshness

8. Industry Benchmarks for Marketing Budgets

Here’s how different sectors are budgeting in 2025:

These figures illustrate how industry type strongly impacts how aggressive your marketing investment can be.

9. CMOs Are Redefining Success

With shrinking budgets and rising pressure, CMOs in 2025 are focusing on:

• Revenue attribution

• Cost per lead/customer

• Pipeline contribution

• Marketing-influenced revenue

They’re building stronger cross-functional relationships with CFOs and CTOs, ensuring that marketing goals align with broader business objectives.

10. Takeaways: Winning in 2025 with Less Budget

Even with flat or declining budgets, marketers can thrive in 2025 by:

1. Investing in AI and automation to multiply results

2. Targeting featured snippets and AI Overviews with structured content

3. Focusing on performance metrics and full-funnel reporting

4. Eliminating waste—cut what doesn’t drive revenue

5. Staying agile and testing relentlessly

✅ TL;DR Summary 

• Marketing budgets are flat at 7.7% of revenue

• AI, automation, and analytics are central to success

• CMOs are reallocating spend to high-ROI channels

• Featured snippet and AI Overview optimization are critical for visibility

• ROI metrics and alignment with business goals are non-negotiable
   

Need help turning these trends into action?
Our team at ImageWorks Creative specializes in ROI-focused digital marketing strategies, AI integration, and performance optimization. Whether you're rethinking your budget, aiming for better attribution, or want to rank in featured snippets—we can help.