Marketing and sales go hand in hand, so marketing budgets alone do not tell the whole story. How salespeople participate in marketing has a direct impact on results and what can realistically be achieved with each investment.

This guide will explain what you can get at different monthly budget levels, how involved your sales team will be at each stage, and what kind of results SMEs can expect.

Budget: €300–700 per month

What does this get you?

This budget covers basic visibility and marketing. The content level is moderate, but advertising and optimization keep the company visible without completely collapsing sales.

Typical implementations for a budget of less than €700/month include:

• Lightweight Google or Meta advertising
• One piece of marketing content per month (blog post, newsletter, etc.)
• Basic reporting and light optimization

The role of sales at this level

At this budget level, sales have to do most of the work themselves. Salespeople independently follow up on contacts made through the website and ensure that no message goes unanswered. They also produce a lot of content themselves, especially for social media, because marketing is only able to generate light basic visibility. In practice, this means that salespeople share everyday news, customer stories, and their own observations on their own channels to keep the company visible.

Cold calling is still a big part of salespeople’s day-to-day work. Marketing can only support this a little bit, like with a few ads or some content, so salespeople have to find potential customers themselves and start conversations. When there are only a few contacts during the month, salespeople also need to respond to them very quickly—every lead is valuable, and there may not be another one like it for a long time. At this stage, marketing supports sales but does not yet drive it.

Marketing supports sales, but does not yet generate leads.

What can you expect with this budget?

• Light movement in the markets
• A few contacts per month
• Sales will have to do more themselves
• Marketing does not yet scale sales

Budget: €1,000–1,800 per month

What does this get you?

This is the level at which marketing clearly begins to facilitate the daily work of the sales organization.

There is already so much content and advertising that:

• the company appears organically on Google
• Consistent steam of content on social media (1-3/week)
• Campaigns generate some amount of leads
• Website starts to bring in contacts

The role of sales at this level

At this budget level, sales are already more closely involved in everyday marketing, even though a complete sales funnel or automation is not yet necessary. Sales receive the leads generated by marketing and contact them quickly so that good opportunities are not wasted. At the same time, salespeople provide marketing with continuous feedback on the topics and questions that really interest customers. This practical insight is valuable because it guides the planning of content and campaigns in the right direction.

Salespeople often comment on content ideas and topics in very concrete terms: they share what customers ask about in meetings and what obstacles stand in the way of purchasing decisions. These observations are converted into content, blogs, advertisements, and service pages on the marketing side. Salespeople are also active in sharing marketing-generated content on their own LinkedIn or Facebook profiles, which increases trust and grows the company’s visibility organically.

Overall, sales act as a guide for marketing. They provide direction, offer customer feedback, and help identify the types of messages and content that best support sales. This collaboration makes marketing more targeted and effective, even though the processes are not yet fully automated.

Marketing brings in more leads — sales take care of the follow-up.

What can you expect?

• Steady stream of leads
• Sales save time, when clients don’t need to be pulled out of thin air
• Salespeople see concrete results from content marketing
• Campaigns generate leads that sales can work from

Budget: €2,000–3,500 per month

What does this get you?

This is the level where marketing already acts as a driver of growth.
Many measures are taken, content is regular, and advertising is multi-channel.

Marketing does the following, among other things:

• 2–6 pieces of content/month (blogs, case stories, guides, service pages)
• Targeted Google + Meta + LinkedIn -marketing
• Automation and lead scoring
• Landing pages
• Analytics and constant optimization

The role of sales at this level

At this budget level, sales and marketing collaboration really starts to get organized. They no longer operate as separate silos, but play the same game—with shared goals, shared metrics, and a shared message. Marketing does not create content based on guesswork; instead, sales brings the topics that customers raise in phone calls and meetings directly to the table. In practice, customer questions are turned into blogs, advertisements, guides, and campaigns that directly support the sales process.

Salespeople also participate in the production of case videos, references, and demos, as they know the customer’s stories best. They are able to describe successes in concrete terms and help build content that increases trust and strengthens the company’s credibility. At the same time, sales utilizes the materials produced by marketing in their work—they have access to clearer presentations, guides, examples, and landing pages that help move the customer forward on their buying journey.

When marketing works at this level, salespeople start to get warm leads: customers come to meetings better prepared, more knowledgeable, and often already aware of their problems. Sales no longer have to “entice” the customer from the beginning, but can go straight to solving the need and moving the deal toward a decision.

This collaboration is also evident in meetings. Sales participates in monthly marketing meetings because their data—what works, who buys, what arguments are effective—guides the direction of marketing. In this way, marketing is built on a foundation of genuine customer understanding.

At this stage, the company begins to see concrete results of well-organized marketing and sales cooperation: less guesswork, more facts, and above all, more business.

What can you expect?

• Constant stream of leads
• Sales work is easier
• Sales and marketing are on the same page: same direction, same message
• Business is growing steadily

Budget: €4,000–7,000 per month

What does this get you?

This level is already a complete outsourced marketing team that builds the entire marketing machine for the company.

Marketing does the following, among other things:

• 6–12 pieces of content/month
• Multichannel marketing (Google, YouTube, Meta, LinkedIn)
• Re-marketing
• Building and maintaining automations
• Marketing funnels and customer journeys
• Continuous development of websites
• A/B testing and data-driven improvements

The role of sales at this level

At this stage, marketing and sales operate within a single, unified pipeline. Marketing no longer just supports sales, but builds customer journeys, content, and automations that prepare the customer before the salesperson makes contact. Sales, in turn, systematically utilizes these materials. Landing pages, guides, references, and other content are not just for marketing—they are concrete tools that salespeople use to move the deal forward.

Sales also receive significantly warmer and better-qualified leads than before. The customer is already familiar with the company, has seen its content, and often even understands their own problem better. The salesperson does not have to start the conversation from scratch, as the customer is more ready to hear about a solution.

This cooperation is also clearly visible in the development of automation. The sales team tells the marketing team what kinds of questions they ask during meetings, what arouses interest, and where customers typically hesitate. Based on these observations, automations are built that warm up the customer even before the first call.

The quality of leads is crucial at this stage. Sales provides feedback on where the leads come from, which ones are good, and which ones are not. Based on this feedback, marketing optimizes campaigns, target groups, and content to be even more accurate. Regular joint performance reviews ensure that both parties are looking at the same data and making decisions together — not in their own silos.

At this point, sales really begin to feel that marketing plays a big part in the preliminary work. The customer has been warmed up: they already know the value offered by the company, have seen references, and understand the principles of the solution. Many questions have already been answered before the actual sales meeting, which frees up more time for the salesperson and allows them to focus on what they do best—closing the deal.

What can you expect?

• Sales closes more deals when customers arrive “ready”
• Marketing and sales work seamlessly together
• The company can scale sales without a major need for new hires.
• The results are clearly visible from month to month.

Budget: €8,000 → upwards / month

What does this get you?

This level is equivalent to the company’s own marketing department, but without the recruitment risk and more efficiently.

The package includes:

• Strategy Director
• Project Manager
• Advertising and content specialists
• SEO specialist
• Web developer
• Possibly video production
• From individual campaigns to broad, comprehensive initiatives
• Year-round planning work

The role of sales at this level

At this budget level, the company’s marketing and sales are already genuinely integrated with each other through data. Operations are no longer guided by gut feeling, but both teams work around the same information, common metrics, and clear goals. Marketing does not create content “just in case,” but uses it to build precise customer paths that customers follow toward a purchase.

Sales constantly receives ready-made, segmented leads that are categorized according to industry, behavior, or purchase stages, for example. This way, the salesperson knows exactly what the customer is interested in and what content they have seen before contacting them. When automation supports the customer journey, sales can leverage it directly in their work: a customer in the research phase receives different content than a customer who is ready to make a purchase decision.

Leads are no longer “cold,” but ready to buy: the customer is familiar with the product, has seen references, downloaded guides, and received answers to their questions automatically. This frees up a lot of time for the salesperson and shifts the focus to the critical stages of the sales funnel—meeting, presenting the solution, and closing the deal.

Sales also participate in campaign planning. They highlight what materials, content, or arguments they need more of, and marketing builds these concretely to support sales. This can take the form of new landing pages, guides, price calculators, reference videos, or website improvements, for example.

At this stage, it is also common for CRM and marketing to be technically integrated. Salespeople receive automatic notifications when a customer returns to the website, opens an email, or clicks on a campaign. Marketing supports sales with data: what the customer has done before contacting them, where they are in the sales funnel, and how best to approach them.

In addition, daily sales work is supported by content, website development, and analytics. Salespeople have all the tools they need—references, landing pages, guides, and data—so they can focus on what they do best: high-quality encounters and closing deals.

This is the level at which a company’s sales shift from reactive to proactive, and marketing transforms from an expense item to a growth engine.

What can you expect?

• Continuous, predictable growth
• Leads come in consistently, without interruptions
• Sales can focus on what truly matters: closing deals
• Your marketing operates like an in-house department — without new hires

For most small and mid-sized companies, the most effective monthly marketing budget falls between €1,000 and €2,500. The reason isn’t that this is the lightest or cheapest option, but that it’s the first level at which marketing truly begins to generate results from a sales perspective.

At this level, marketing can do enough—not just maintain visibility, but build a whole that supports sales every day.

What happens when the budget is at this level?

Sales get time back.
Marketing does the groundwork, identifies the right customers, and guides them in. Salespeople don’t have to start every conversation from scratch, and no time is wasted on constant cold calling.

Leads are starting to come in steadily.
Not in huge numbers, but enough to keep sales moving forward. The contacts are clearly warmer than with small budgets.

The content supports sales meetings.
Blogs, service pages, guides, and landing pages give salespeople the tools to answer customer questions before the meeting—and, above all, shift the conversation toward solutions, not explanations of problems.

Customers come to the meeting better prepared.
Marketing “warms up” the customer. They have seen references, understand the value, and know why they are contacting you. In sales meetings, you can get straight to the point.

Marketing is visible in everyday life in concrete terms.
Sales are supported every day — not just when there is time to run a campaign or make an update.

This budget level is therefore the point at which marketing becomes an investment rather than an expense, and investment becomes results.

But most importantly: With Várri, you don’t have to commit to this level for years.

Many marketing agencies try to tie small and medium-sized businesses into long contracts—even 6–12 month commitments with difficult termination periods.
This creates uncertainty and makes marketing a risk.

Várri’s operating model is completely the opposite.

No long-term contracts
No three- to six-month notice periods
No mandatory minimum duration

We make agreements with a notice period of one month.
If the work does not produce results, it will quickly become apparent — and we stand behind that.

That is why we dare to say: let the work speak for itself.

This also makes the €1,000–2,500/month level safe and low-risk.
The company can start, test, and develop, and only then increase its investment when the results are actually visible.