I'm not going to make this sound like some fluffy exercise. Setting a realistic marketing budget that is capable of delivering results for your business can be a very in-depth process. You will need to have an understanding of your goals, what types of campaigns you want to launch, how much you can spend, and how much return you need to see.

To simplify this process I am going to show you a way to calculate your overall budget. You will have to determine what percentage of marketing cost you're able to withstand for your specific product or service.

1. Determine (from your goals) what your projected growth will be. Let's say you want to sell 1000 more Widgets to customers in 2015.
2. Each widget produces an average profit of $100 and you've determined that your marketing cost can equal 10% of your selling price.
3. For every widget sold you're willing to spend $10 on marketing cost. You want to sell 1000 more widgets, so your budget for this growth should be $10,000.

This is a very generic example. Actual calculations of marketing budgets are more complex than I can easily articulate in this guide. I'm always happy to consult with your business - just get in touch.