Paid budget by stage
Purpose
A paid budget spread evenly across stages funds the stages with the slowest return and starves the ones that pay back fastest. This skill sets the split by stage, using each stage's audience size, return timeline, and difficulty, and says how the split should move as spend grows.
When to use
- A paid budget is being set for a new period or a new company.
- Spend is concentrated in one stage with no stated reason.
- Budget is growing, and the team needs to know where new money goes.
- A sales-led company and a product-led company are reading the same guidance and need separate splits.
Route elsewhere when:
- The question is the stage definitions. Use demand-lifecycle-model.
- The question is which channel carries each stage. Use paid-channel-selection.
- The question is when to scale a stage that is working. Use paid-scaling-quadrant.
Inputs
- The total monthly paid budget, and its expected change over the next two quarters.
- The sales motion: product-led, sales-led, or mixed.
- The market size and the number of accounts in the ICP.
- Any historical return data by stage.
Stage investment profile
These are default characteristics. Replace them with the company's own data as it builds up.
| Stage | Audience size needed | Typical return timeline | Typical difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create | High | Over 90 days | High: needs a strong content position and a distinct point of view |
| Capture | Moderate | Under 45 days | High: usually crowded and expensive |
| Accelerate or activate | Low | Depends on the sales cycle | Low: buyers already know the product |
| Revive | Low | Under 45 days | Low: buyers know the brand and have shown interest before |
| Expand | Low | Under 60 days | Medium: small audience, hard to scale |
Procedure
- Set the total budget and its expected change over two quarters.
- Identify the motion (product-led, sales-led, or mixed) and the stages it depends on.
- Allocate a starting split across the stages the motion needs, with a minimum for each stage so no stage is dropped without a decision.
- Set the return check for each stage: the metric and the date from the timeline above, adjusted for the company's own data.
- Plan the change as budget grows. Add money first to the stages that have shown return, and only then to stages with longer timelines.
- Review the split quarterly against the return checks, and move budget only where the check has passed or clearly failed.
Principles
- Work from the quickest return toward the slowest. Fund the stages that pay back fastest first, so the budget has a return to fund the slower stages later.
- Product-led companies usually spread budget across create and capture, because the product itself is the offer to people who arrive.
- Sales-led companies usually weight toward accelerate and account-focused stages, because buyers need a sales process and a named account list.
- Treat the split as a series of bets, each with a stated expected return and a date to check it.
Output
- A budget split by stage, with the reason for each line.
- A return check per stage: the metric, the date, and the threshold.
- A rule for where new budget goes as spend grows.
Quality bar
Every stage in the split has a stated reason and a return check. The starting split reflects the sales motion. Budget moves only on the basis of a check, not on instinct. Watch for an even split across stages, a create budget judged on a 30-day return, and a sales-led company funding create ahead of accelerate without a stated reason.