Your 2027 Marketing Budget Is Set, What Should You Spend It On?

Start with last year’s spreadsheet. Increase a few allocations. Add a line for AI. Cut something else to make room. It’s a familiar way to budget. But does it address what your business needs to improve?

Before finalizing your 2027 marketing budget, review these five areas.

1. Organize your customer data before investing in AI

Budgeting for AI while your customer data is scattered across five systems?

Orders in one platform; Inquiries in WhatsApp; Email contacts somewhere else. Your team still needs a spreadsheet to work out who bought what.

Allocate budget to connecting that information. Start with a usable customer record: purchase history, relevant preferences, and permission to receive marketing. Your team should be able to act on it without piecing everything together each time. That also gives future AI tools a better foundation.

What to fund: data cleanup, system connections, and someone responsible for keeping records usable.

2. Budget for the second purchase, not just the first

Before spending more to acquire customers, allocate budget to bringing existing customers back.

What happens after someone buys? Do they receive a useful follow-up, or only hear from you during the next sale? A skincare customer might need a replenishment reminder. A new subscriber might need help using the service. A clothing customer might want to know about a relevant collection.

Review why customers aren’t returning, then fund improvements that address those reasons. Retention needs its own plan, budget, and owner.

What to fund: Post-purchase communication, relevant onboarding, and targeted repeat-purchase programs.

3. Give AI one problem to solve

Pick one business problem. Fund a focused solution before expanding.

“Use more AI” gives your team very little direction. “Reduce time spent answering repetitive product questions” is a clearer brief. So is “help shoppers find the right product.” Choose a problem worth solving. Measure the current situation, test a solution, and check whether the improvement justifies the cost.

Include setup and human review. Compare it with your existing process or a simpler automation before expanding.

What to fund: One defined pilot, an accountable owner, and a clear measure of success.

4. Fund social channels that bring business, not just engagement

Which channels contributed to revenue and what did those sales leave behind?

Review paid and organic activity separately. Count advertising, content production, creator fees and management costs. Then review the orders and qualified inquiries you can connect to each channel. Check whether sales depend on heavy discounts, and recognize that some customers discover you on one channel and buy through another.

Use that evidence to increase, maintain or reduce spending. Increase in stages and check whether the additional budget pays off.

What to fund: Better tracking, a channel performance review, and room to test reallocations.

5. Get pricing and promotions reviewed before repeating them

Are you carrying margin-eroding prices and discounts into another year?

Check what remains after product costs, platform fees, delivery subsidies, and discounts. What happens when vouchers stack? Allocate budget for an expert review. Look for products priced too low, bundles that give away too much, and promotions that require an unrealistic sales increase to pay for themselves.

Set clear limits before your team builds the campaign calendar.

What to fund: A pricing and promotion review, followed by practical rules for discounts, bundles, and vouchers.

Fund your biggest problem first

You don’t need to invest equally in all five. Choose the biggest gap in your business, assign someone to own it, and define what improvement would justify the spend.

Unsure where to start? Take The Morning Owl’s free marketing assessment to identify which areas need a closer look.

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