We get this question a lot—especially from business owners just starting out in Decorah, Cresco, or Waukon. Someone recently told us they were quoted  $2,000 to $4,000 per month for digital marketing by another agency. Sound familiar?

Is that too much? Surprisingly, there’s a clear way to figure out how much to spend on digital marketing—and it all starts with knowing your numbers.

If you’ve ever launched your business with a little help from us at RB Web Development Decorah, you’ve probably heard this already: never spend money on marketing you can’t track.

There’s no shortage of people offering to feature your business in their brochure, on their site, or on some directory—but if you can’t tell whether it works, don’t count it as marketing. Support them if you want, but chalk it up as a donation, not ROI.

LTV means the total amount a customer is worth to your business over time. Some businesses (like a local divorce attorney or a vasectomy clinic) tend to have one-off clients. In those cases, LTV is just the value of that single service.

Here are a few examples to help:

• Wedding cake decorator: 1.2 cakes per client, $800 each → LTV = $960
• Consultant: 9-month client average, $600/month → LTV = $5,400
• Mechanic: 12-year relationship, $1,200/year → LTV = $14,400

You don’t have to be exact—just make an educated guess and adjust it as your business grows. It’s a core part of any smart small business marketing budget.

Let’s say you’re a business consultant in Decorah with an average LTV of $5,400. Would spending $540 to acquire a new client be reasonable? Definitely.

That $540 is your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Knowing your CAC helps you reverse engineer your budget and set a marketing plan that actually makes financial sense.

Most businesses don’t convert every lead. Some leads aren’t a fit, others don’t follow through. Knowing your close rate is key.

Let’s say you book five consults and land one paying client—that’s a 20% conversion rate. That means you need five leads to get one new customer.

If you’re willing to spend $540 to get a customer and it takes five leads, then you can afford to spend $108 per lead.

This kind of simple math is often missed when setting up digital marketing services, but it’s essential for predictable growth.

Let’s say you need 20 new customers a month to hit your revenue goals:

• 20 customers × 5 leads each = 100 leads/month
• 100 leads × $108 per lead = $10,800 marketing budget

That could support $108,000 in new lifetime revenue if your LTV is $5,400. Not bad, right?

Say you’re a local crafter in Decorah who makes $20 profit per sale and can afford to spend $5 on marketing per order. If you want to bring in $1,000 profit per month, you need 50 sales. That gives you $250 in marketing budget. Simple and doable.

At RB Web Development, we help small businesses across Decorah and Northeast Iowa build websites and marketing strategies that work—and track.
Whether you’re just launching or trying to grow past a plateau, let’s talk about what makes sense for your business.

In a place like Decorah, every dollar matters—especially when you’re running a small business. Whether you’re offering local services, selling handmade goods, or building homes across Northeast Iowa, understanding how to calculate marketing ROI can be a game-changer. When you know your numbers—like customer lifetime value and acquisition cost—you stop guessing and start growing with purpose.

At RB Web Development Decorah, we help businesses in Decorah, Cresco, Waukon, and beyond turn smart numbers into smarter digital marketing. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions or wasting money on tactics that can’t be tracked. From lead-generating websites to targeted small business digital marketing strategies in Decorah, IA, we focus on what actually delivers results.

Want a digital marketing plan that fits your goals and your community?

Reach out to RB Web Development today for a free consultation. We’ll help you craft a strategy that’s rooted in your numbers—and built for where you want to go next.