How to work out what you can afford to spend on growth

Before you can choose a channel or launch a campaign, you need to answer a more basic question: how much traffic do you actually need — and can you afford it? This is the step most people skip. And it’s the reason most traffic strategies fail.

If it doesn’t work on paper, it definitely won’t work in your ads. That’s why this is where we start.

This isn’t about being perfectly accurate. Your assumptions will probably be too optimistic. But that’s fine — the goal here is to build a model that forces you to think clearly. If you can’t get it to work in a spreadsheet, it won’t magically work in real life.

Most marketers pick a channel or set a budget without ever working out if the economics make sense. They throw €1,500 at SEO or LinkedIn Ads and hope it delivers leads — without knowing how many leads they actually need or what a lead can cost.

This exercise helps you pressure-test your goals. You’ll see whether your budget fits your ambition — and what kind of performance your funnel needs to hit your targets.

Step 1: Choose one service and reverse-engineer your numbers

Don’t do this for your entire business. Start with one product or service — one customer journey. If you have multiple services, repeat the exercise. Different offers convert differently. There’s no such thing as an average funnel.

Start with the outcome: how many new clients (or customers) do you want?

Now work backwards:

• What % of meetings become clients? (e.g. 20%)
• What % of leads become meetings? (e.g. 25%)
• What % of sessions become leads? (e.g. 5%)
• What CTR can you expect on ads? (e.g. 1%)
• What’s the CPM for the platform? (e.g. €25)

Calculate what you’ll need at each stage. For example:

• 5 clients this month
• With a 20% closing rate: 25 meetings
• With 25% of leads booking a meeting: 100 leads
• With 5% of sessions converting: 2,000 sessions
• With 1% CTR: 200,000 impressions
• At €25 CPM: that’s €5,000 in ad spend

Now divide spend by output. That gives you:

• €25 CPM
• €2.50 CPC
• €50 per lead
• €200 per meeting
• €1,000 per client

Is that affordable? What’s your margin? That’s the question.

Step 2: Map your funnel as cost per stage

Use this structure:

1. Impression (CPM)
2. Click (CTR)
3. Session (landing page visits)
4. Lead (signup/form)
5. Meeting (for services)
6. Client (conversion)

Assign metrics and calculate cost per stage. This will help you spot where the funnel breaks — or where you need to improve performance.

Step 3: Run three scenarios

Model your numbers with three versions:

• Best case: conversions beat your expectations
• Expected: base case numbers
• Worst case: everything underperforms by 20%

If your plan only works in the best case, it’s too fragile.

Step 4: Pressure-test your goal

Does the math add up? If not, you either need better performance — or a smaller goal. This is where most traffic strategies fail: not because the tactic is wrong, but because the economics never worked.

You can also use this model to see what needs to improve. Want to reduce your cost per client? Improve conversion rate. Want more sessions from the same budget? Improve CTR. You can’t control CPM — but you can influence the rest.

Why this connects to audience

This whole exercise is powered by how much your audience wants what you’re offering. If the landing page doesn’t speak to them, they won’t convert. That’s why audience definition is the next step.

The sharper your audience and message, the higher your CTR and conversion rate. That drives your revenue per session up — which means you can afford to spend more, and unlock more traffic sources.

So define the funnel. Do the math. Check the assumptions. If it works on paper, move to the next step: who exactly are you targeting?

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