How to Plan a PR Budget for 2027: Benchmarks and Allocation

To plan a 2027 PR budget, start with the business outcomes coverage must support, cost the work required to earn that coverage, and then check the total against your marketing budget. Benchmarks help with the second check: marketing averages 7.8% to 9.4% of revenue in the major 2025 and 2026 surveys. No credible survey sets a standard PR share, so build up, not down.

Most PR budgets are set the other way around. Someone takes last year’s number, adds a few percent, and divides it among agencies and tools. That works until the year includes a raise, a launch, or a category shift, and the plan has no money where the stakes are.

This guide covers the benchmarks worth trusting, an allocation model we use with CMOs and CEOs, a worked example, and the mistakes that waste the most money.

Photo: Scott Graham on Unsplash.

What do 2026 benchmarks say about marketing budgets?

Marketing budgets are roughly flat as a share of revenue, and most CMOs feel underfunded. The two most cited surveys measure different samples, so treat them as a range rather than competing answers.

Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey, published in May 2026, found marketing budgets average 7.8% of company revenue, up from 7.7% in 2025. Most of the 401 respondents work at companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. The same survey found CMOs allocate an average of 15.3% of their marketing budget to AI initiatives, and 56% say their organization lacks the budget to deliver its 2026 strategy.

The CMO Survey, run by Deloitte, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and the American Marketing Association, covers U.S. companies of all sizes. Its 2025 report put marketing at 9.4% of company revenue and 11.4% of overall company budgets, with marketers expecting spending to rise 8.9% over the following 12 months.

Benchmark	Figure	Source and sample
Marketing budget as % of revenue	7.8% (2026)	Gartner, 401 CMOs, mostly $1B+ companies
Marketing budget as % of revenue	9.4% (2025)	The CMO Survey, 281 U.S. marketing leaders
B2C product companies	15.5% of revenue	The CMO Survey 2025
B2B product companies	6.4% of revenue	The CMO Survey 2025
Share of marketing budget on AI	15.3%	Gartner 2026
CMOs who say budget is insufficient	56%	Gartner 2026

The sector split matters most. A consumer brand spending 15% of revenue on marketing and a B2B infrastructure company spending 6% will build very different PR budgets, even at the same revenue.

What share of the marketing budget should go to PR?

There is no reliable industry standard for PR’s share of marketing spend, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes one. The public surveys measure total marketing, not PR as a line item, and companies define PR differently.

The better question is what PR has to do in 2027. Earned media is getting harder and more valuable at the same time. In Muck Rack’s State of PR 2026, 71% of PR professionals cited low journalist response rates as a top challenge, and only 2% said earned media has not become harder to secure. Meanwhile, Muck Rack’s Generative Pulse research found earned media accounts for about 84% of the sources AI engines cite. Coverage now does two jobs: it persuades the people who read it, and it shapes what ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity say about you.

That combination argues for funding PR by outcome. If the 2027 plan includes a Series B or C raise, a flagship product launch, or a push into enterprise accounts, PR is carrying weight that a percentage formula will not capture.

How should a 2027 PR budget be allocated?

Allocate most of the budget to the work that earns coverage, then fund the work that makes coverage compound. The model below is a starting point we use in planning conversations. It is a recommendation, not a measured industry average.

Budget line	Suggested share	What it pays for	Cut it if
Media relations (core)	40 to 50%	Story development, pitching, exclusives, interview prep, tier-one and trade outreach	Never cut below the level needed to pitch consistently
Executive thought leadership	15 to 20%	Bylines, podcasts, speaking, LinkedIn programs	Executives will not commit the time
Original research and data	10 to 15%	One or two proprietary data stories a year	You have no data access or no analyst capacity
Amplification of earned coverage	10 to 15%	Paid social and newsletter promotion of coverage, sales enablement	Coverage is not landing yet
AEO, GEO, and measurement	5 to 10%	AI visibility tracking, owned-page updates, reporting	Never cut to zero: you need a baseline
Reserve for news and crises	10 to 15%	Rapid response, unplanned announcements	You have a separate crisis budget

A few principles behind the split:

• Media relations stays at the center. Coverage is the asset everything else depends on. Our guide to earned media amplification shows why amplification without coverage is just advertising.
• Research earns its line. A credible data story often produces more coverage per dollar than a product announcement. See our playbook on data-driven PR and original research.
• AI search visibility needs an owner and a budget. In the same Muck Rack survey, 73% of PR professionals said GEO is at least somewhat important, yet 29% said no one owns it at their organization.
• The reserve is not optional. Every year brings news you did not plan for. Without a reserve, the money comes out of the program that was working.

What is the step-by-step process for building the budget?

Build the budget in six steps, starting with outcomes and ending with a quarterly review rhythm. The whole exercise takes two to three weeks with finance and the executive team involved.

1. Define the business outcomes. Write down the three to five things coverage must do in 2027: support a raise, launch a product, open enterprise doors, help recruiting, or correct how AI engines describe you. Each outcome gets a quarter and an owner.
2. Audit 2026 spend and results. List what you spent, by agency, tool, and internal headcount, against what it produced: placements by tier, share of voice, AI citations, inbound pipeline influenced, and executive opportunities. Our guide to measuring PR ROI has a framework.
3. Set the total envelope. Cost the work each outcome requires, add the always-on program, and compare the total against your marketing budget and the benchmarks above. If PR exceeds a share your CFO will accept, cut outcomes, not quality.
4. Allocate core and support. Use the table above as a starting split, then adjust for your stage. A pre-IPO company needs more advisory and financial media; a consumer brand needs more product seeding and creator work.
5. Fund measurement up front. Set baselines in January for share of voice, AI citations, and referral traffic, so you can show change by June.
6. Review every quarter. Move money toward the stories and channels that earned coverage. Release the reserve deliberately, not by default.

Hypothetical example: a Series B software company plans 2027

This is a hypothetical scenario to show the math, not a client story.

A B2B software company has $40 million in annual revenue and plans a Series C in the third quarter of 2027. Its marketing budget is 8% of revenue, or $3.2 million, close to the Gartner benchmark. Last year PR received about $250,000, mostly for an agency retainer focused on product announcements.

The 2027 outcomes are clear: build investor-grade credibility before the raise, establish the CEO as a voice on the category, and fix AI answers that still describe the company’s old positioning.

Costed by outcome, the plan looks like this:

• Media relations retainer focused on business and trade press, with a launch campaign in Q2: about $230,000.
• Executive thought leadership for the CEO and CTO: about $80,000.
• One original research report timed for Q2, ahead of the raise: about $50,000 including data analysis.
• Amplification of the best coverage to target accounts and investors: about $50,000.
• AEO and GEO work and measurement: about $40,000.
• Reserve: about $50,000.

The total is around $500,000, or roughly 16% of the marketing budget. That is higher than last year, and it should be: PR is carrying the raise narrative. The CMO presents it to the board as a cost per outcome, not a percentage, with quarterly checkpoints tied to the same outcomes.

What do most teams get wrong about PR budgets?

The most common mistake is funding activity instead of outcomes. The second is spreading too little money across too many things.

Mistake	Why it hurts	Do this instead
Last year plus 5%	Ignores what changed in the business	Start from 2027 outcomes
Paying for press release distribution as “PR”	Wire distribution rarely earns coverage on its own	Fund pitching and story development
Splitting across three agencies	No one owns the narrative	One lead partner, specialists only where needed
No measurement budget	You cannot defend the budget in June	Fund baselines in January
Cutting PR first in a downturn	Coverage and AI citations decay slowly, then all at once	Protect the core media relations line
Buying placements	Paid content contributes little to credibility or AI citations	Earn it, or buy clearly labeled media

The pay-to-play point deserves emphasis. Muck Rack’s Generative Pulse research found paid and advertorial content made up a tiny fraction of AI citations, and sophisticated buyers and journalists recognize sponsored placements. Our guide to choosing a PR agency covers how to spot vendors selling placements as earned media.

How do you defend a PR budget to the CFO and board?

Defend it with outcomes, leading indicators, and a clear link to revenue events. CFOs do not need PR to be a direct-response channel. They need to see what the money buys and how you will know it worked.

A one-page budget memo should include:

• The outcomes, each tied to a business event (raise, launch, expansion).
• The targets, by tier: for example, two features in outlets such as Bloomberg or Forbes, ten trade stories, and a measurable lift in AI answers that mention the company accurately.
• The leading indicators you will report monthly: pitches sent, briefings held, coverage earned, share of voice, and AI citation tracking.
• The cost per outcome, compared with what the alternative would cost, such as paid media to reach the same audience.
• The checkpoint at which you will cut or reallocate if results do not appear.

For a deeper method, our resource on measuring PR ROI and earned media value covers which metrics hold up in a board meeting and which do not. If your company is approaching a raise, our guide to Series B PR strategy shows how the budget maps to the fundraising calendar.

What does a realistic agency fee look like in 2027?

Agency fees vary widely by scope, seniority, and market, so compare them by what is included rather than by the headline number. A retainer that includes partner-level strategy, story development, and tier-one pitching is a different product from one that sends releases and reports clip counts.

When comparing proposals, ask each agency:

• Who will lead the account day to day, and how senior are they?
• How many hours of senior time are included each month?
• Which outlets and reporters have they worked with in your category in the past year?
• How will they measure results, including AI visibility?
• What is the minimum term, and what happens if results do not appear by month four?

For reference, our own engagements start from $15,000 a month for an ongoing Authority Retainer and from $25,000 for a Tier-One Launch project, as listed on our pricing page. Those are “from” numbers; scope sets the final figure.

Frequently asked questions

How much should a company spend on PR?

There is no reliable industry percentage for PR. Start with the outcomes coverage must support in the year, cost the work required, and check the total against your marketing budget. Major surveys put total marketing spend at 7.8% to 9.4% of revenue, with large differences between B2B and consumer companies.

What percentage of revenue goes to marketing in 2026?

Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey found an average of 7.8% of company revenue, mostly among companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. The 2025 CMO Survey from Deloitte, Duke, and the AMA found 9.4% across U.S. companies of all sizes, ranging from 6.4% at B2B product companies to 15.5% at B2C product companies.

Should PR have a budget for AI search visibility?

Yes. Earned media makes up most of the sources AI engines cite, so PR already influences AI answers. A modest line for AI visibility tracking, owned-page updates, and reporting makes that influence measurable. Muck Rack’s 2026 survey found 29% of PR professionals say no one owns GEO at their organization, which is the gap a budget line closes.

When should we plan the 2027 PR budget?

Plan it in October and November, alongside the overall marketing budget, and lock it before January. Many first-quarter opportunities, including CES, early-year industry reports, and Q1 launches, need work to begin in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Is a PR retainer or project fee better?

A retainer suits ongoing media relations and thought leadership, where relationships and momentum compound. A project fee suits a defined event such as a launch or a funding announcement. Many companies use both: a retainer for the always-on program and a project budget for the year’s biggest moment.

How do we measure whether the PR budget worked?

Compare results against the outcomes you set in January: coverage by tier, share of voice against named competitors, accuracy and frequency of AI answers about your brand, and pipeline or investor conversations influenced by coverage. Report quarterly, and move budget toward what worked.

If you are building a 2027 plan around a raise, launch, or category push, our media relations team can pressure-test the budget against the outcomes it needs to deliver. Start a conversation.