Most of what gets published about small business marketing budgets is national. Austin doesn’t have its own version of this survey, so here’s the national data (LocaliQ’s 2026 Small Business Marketing Trends Report, 300+ owners) and what it actually means if you’re running a business in a market this competitive.
What businesses are actually spending
Just over half of small businesses, 52%, spend under $1,000 a month on marketing. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees were 55% more likely to land under $500 a month specifically. For a lot of owners, marketing budget is closer to a rounding error than a line item.
Budget size changes what you get, not just how much you spend
Only 37% of businesses spending $1,000 or less a month called digital marketing a top lead source. Among businesses spending $10,000 or more a month, that number was 71%. Search advertising specifically was in use at only 30% of businesses in the lowest budget tier. That gap says less about whether money fixes things and more about a spending floor: below it, a lot of channels never get enough budget to generate a real signal either way.
No Fluff · No Long Contracts
Skip the Agency BS.
Get Real Results.
Let’s see if we’re a fit.
Where the increases are going
Among businesses planning to spend more in 2026, video marketing led the list at 53%, with search and social advertising tied at 47% each. Traditional media saw the opposite trend: 24% plan to cut it, up from 16% the year before.
What this means if you’re competing in Austin
Austin isn’t in this survey specifically, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. What’s true generally is that a fast-growing, competitive metro means more businesses bidding for the same search terms and the same social audience, which tends to push the cost of the same result higher than it would be in a less contested market. A budget that clears the bar nationally may not clear it here. What digital marketing actually costs a small business in 2026 walks through that math, and our guide to what an Austin marketing agency should actually do covers the local-market specifics further.
If you want a read on where your budget should actually go instead of guessing from a national average, Digital Strategy is where that conversation starts.
Feeling Overwhelmed by your Marketing?
You don’t have to figure out the tools alone. Tell us where you’re stuck.
Let's Make Marketing Work
Ready to skip the agency BS and get results? We’re taking on new clients who want straight-shooting digital marketing that actually drives growth.
And hey, if you’re in Austin, TX and want to talk strategy over a pint, we’re down for that too.