The 70/30 Rule in Marketing Explained (What It Really Means)
A Derbyshire manufacturing client asked me recently how much of their marketing budget should go on "safe" activity versus trying something new. They had heard of a "70/30 rule" and wanted to know if they were following it correctly.
Here is the honest answer. There is more than one version of this rule floating around, and most articles online blur them together. After 18 years planning marketing budgets for SMBs across Derbyshire and the East Midlands, I would rather give you the accurate picture than repeat a soundbite that does not hold up.
In this post I will explain where the 70/30 rule comes from, how it differs from the closely related 70-20-10 rule, and how to actually split your marketing budget as a small business.
Not sure how your marketing measures up right now?
Run your business through our free BIG12 Scorecard and see where your budget is working hardest, and where it is not.
Get your BIG12 ScorecardWhere the 70/30 rule actually comes from
The simplest version of the 70/30 rule says this: put 70% of your marketing budget into proven activity you already know works, and keep 30% aside for testing new ideas, channels or messages.
It is a two-way split, and it is easy to remember, which is why it has stuck around. But you will also come across a more detailed version of the same idea called the 70-20-10 rule, which splits the same principle into three: 70% to proven tactics that reliably deliver, 20% to promising ideas that are not fully proven yet, and 10% to genuinely experimental, untested ideas.
Both versions are trying to solve the same problem for a business owner: how do you protect the marketing that is already paying your bills while still leaving room to grow into new channels? I would not get hung up on which exact numbers are "correct". The principle is what matters.
"I have never met a Derbyshire business owner who got into trouble by protecting their proven marketing while testing something small on the side. I have met plenty who got into trouble putting everything into one untested idea." Stuart Baddiley, Optimise Your Marketing
Why the exact split matters less than having one at all
Some marketers argue that rigid budget ratios like 70/30 or 70-20-10 are the wrong way to think about this altogether, because they focus attention on hitting a spending ratio rather than on the actual outcome, whether that is enquiries, bookings or sales.
I agree with that criticism up to a point. The number itself is less important than the habit behind it: deliberately setting aside a portion of budget for testing, rather than spending everything on what already works and never finding out what could work better. Without that habit, SMB marketing tends to stagnate, because nobody is ever trying anything new.
This is where test and measure becomes essential. A 70/30 split only works if you are actually measuring the 30% properly, rather than trying something once and quietly dropping it.
What this looks like for a typical SMB
For most of the Derbyshire and East Midlands businesses I work with, a practical version of the 70/30 rule looks something like this. Around 70% of the marketing budget goes into what is already reliably generating enquiries: an established Google Business Profile strategy, a working SEO approach, or an ad campaign with a track record.
The remaining 30% is where genuine growth tends to come from. That might be testing a new social media channel, trying influencer marketing for the first time, or experimenting with AI tools in your marketing process. The point is that it is ring-fenced, measured properly, and not allowed to quietly eat into the 70% that is keeping the business running.
A Nottinghamshire retailer that protected its budget while testing
A retail client in Nottinghamshire was nervous about trying anything beyond their long-running Google Ads campaign. We ring-fenced a small share of the monthly budget to test a local social media campaign alongside it, tracked both properly, and found the new channel was bringing in enquiries at a noticeably lower cost within three months. The original campaign was never put at risk.
See our pricing and plansWorking out your own split with real numbers
Say a Derbyshire SMB has a monthly marketing budget of £2,000. Under a 70/30 split, £1,400 stays with the proven activity already generating enquiries, whatever that happens to be for the business, and £600 is ring-fenced for testing something new.
That £600 should still be spent with a plan, not scattered across five untested ideas at once. Pick one new channel or one new approach, give it the full amount for a set period, usually a minimum of one to two months, and measure the result against the same goal you use for the proven 70%. If it starts performing well, it graduates into the protected 70% next quarter and something else takes its place in the testing pot.
The exact percentage matters less than having named, protected amounts for each purpose. A round number like 70/30 or 80/20 is far less important than actually reviewing the split every quarter and adjusting it as your proven channels change.
Common mistakes when applying a budget rule like this
The most common mistake is letting the testing budget quietly disappear into the proven budget the moment cash flow gets tight, which means the business never actually finds its next channel. Treat the testing amount as a fixed cost, in the same way you would treat rent, rather than a discretionary extra that gets cut first.
The second mistake is testing without measuring properly. Spending £600 on a new channel and judging it purely on gut feeling defeats the entire purpose. You need the same rigour applied to the 30% as the 70%, otherwise you are simply guessing with a smaller amount of money.
The third mistake is never revisiting what counts as "proven". Channels that worked well two years ago can quietly decline as customer behaviour shifts, and a proven budget that never gets re-tested can end up propping up something that has actually stopped working.
Where budget splitting fits into the bigger picture
Budget discipline like the 70/30 rule sits inside the test and measure pillar of our BIG12 framework, alongside things like lead generation and understanding how platform algorithms change over time. Getting the split right protects what already works while giving your marketing room to grow.
See where your budget should really be going
Score your business across all 12 marketing pillars, including test and measure, and get a clear list of what to fix first.
Take the BIG12 ScorecardQuick questions about the 70/30 rule
Is the 70/30 rule the same as the 70-20-10 rule?
Not quite. The 70/30 rule is a simpler two-way split between proven and experimental activity. The 70-20-10 rule breaks the same idea into three bands, adding a middle tier of promising but not yet fully proven tactics.
Should every SMB use exactly 70% and 30%?
No. Treat the numbers as a starting principle rather than a rule to follow rigidly. A more established business might comfortably test with 20%, while a newer business finding its feet might need closer to 40% to find what works at all.
What counts as "proven" activity for a small business?
Anything with at least a few months of consistent data behind it showing it reliably generates enquiries or sales at an acceptable cost. Anything without that track record belongs in the testing portion, however confident it feels.
The challenge is never learning. It is doing.
Understanding that you should ring-fence a portion of your budget for testing is the easy part. Actually doing it, month after month, when cash flow is tight and it feels safer to spend everything on what already works, is where almost every SMB I meet struggles.
Over 18 years working with businesses across Derbyshire and the East Midlands, I have seen that the businesses which grow fastest are rarely the ones spending the most. They are the ones with the discipline to keep testing a small, protected slice of their budget every single month.
That discipline is exactly what we help build into a business's marketing, so it survives busy periods rather than disappearing the moment things get hectic.
Book a free 90-minute audit with Stuart
We will look at your current marketing, benchmark it against the BIG12, and give you a practical set of actions to take. No sales pitch. No fluff. Just 18 years of honest advice applied to your business.
Book your free audit