How Much Should a Landscaping Business Spend on Marketing? (2026 Australian Guide)

Short answer: Most established Australian landscaping businesses should invest 5–10% of annual revenue into marketing, while newer businesses chasing growth often push to 10–15% to build momentum. A landscaper turning over $500,000 a year should therefore budget roughly $25,000–$50,000 annually (about $2,000–$4,000 per month) across ads, website, and lead-follow-up systems. The exact number depends on your profit margins, how fast you want to grow, and how competitive your local area is.

Below is how to land on the right figure for your business, where the money should actually go, and how to know whether it's working.

How to set your marketing budget

The percentage-of-revenue rule is the simplest starting point, but it's a guideline, not gospel. Three things move your number up or down:

1. Growth stage. If you're trying to grow fast or you're newer and still building a reputation, you sit at the higher end (10–15%). If you're established with steady repeat work and referrals, you can run leaner (5–8%) and still stay booked.
2. Profit margin. Landscaping margins vary widely between maintenance work and high-ticket design-and-construct jobs. The higher your average job value and margin, the more you can afford to spend acquiring each customer.
3. Local competition. In capital-city markets with lots of competing landscapers bidding on the same Google searches, you'll pay more per lead and need a bigger budget to stay visible. In regional areas, the same money goes further.

Where the budget should actually go

A common mistake is dumping the entire budget into ads and ignoring everything that turns a click into a booked job. A healthier split for most landscapers looks like this:

• 50–60% — Paid advertising (Google Ads to capture people actively searching "landscaper near me," plus Meta/Facebook ads to generate demand and retarget). Your fastest lever for new leads.
• 15–20% — Website and conversion. A fast, clear website with strong before/after photos, real reviews, and an easy quote-request form.
• 10–15% — Lead follow-up systems (CRM). The most underrated line item. Most landscaping leads are lost not because they were bad, but because nobody followed up fast enough. A dedicated CRM solves this.
• 10–15% — Content, SEO and reviews. The long game that lowers your cost per lead over time. Professional SEO services are crucial here.

A worked example

Say you run a landscaping business turning over $500,000 a year and you want steady growth. You settle on 8% of revenue = $40,000/year, or roughly $3,300/month. Split that:

• ~$2,000/month into Google and Meta ads
• ~$600/month into website and conversion improvements
• ~$450/month into a CRM and automated follow-up
• ~$250/month into reviews, photos and content

If your average landscaping job is worth $8,000 and that $2,000/month in ads generates 4 quality leads, and you close just one, you've turned $2,000 into an $8,000 job. That 4:1 return is the number to chase — and the reason marketing should be treated as an investment with a return, not a cost.

How to know if it's working

Track these four numbers every month:

• Cost per lead — total spend ÷ number of leads.
• Cost per booked job — total spend ÷ jobs won.
• Average job value — so you can compare against your cost per job.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS) — revenue from won jobs ÷ ad spend.

If you're spending $2,000 to win $8,000+ in work, your budget is working and you should consider increasing it. If your cost per job is creeping above your profit per job, the problem is usually weak targeting, a website that doesn't convert, or slow follow-up — not the budget itself.

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