Guide · Strategy and Budget
What public manufacturers spend on advertising: a B2B marketing budget benchmark from 56 10-Ks
We pulled the advertising expense that 56 public manufacturers and industrial distributors reported in their latest 10-Ks. The median was about half of one percent of revenue. These are public companies that chose to disclose the number, not typical 50 to 500 person shops, so the pattern at the edges tells you more than the median.
The CFO has your 2027 B2B marketing budget request open and asks what companies like yours spend. The usual answers come from agency surveys with unnamed respondents. Public companies put the number in writing in their 10-Ks, so we went there.
Across 56 manufacturers and industrial distributors in our six industries that disclose advertising expense in their 10-Ks, the median company reported advertising equal to 0.47% of revenue in its most recent fiscal year. The middle half sat between 0.30% and 0.66%. Forty-five of the 56 spent less than 1%. Most of the companies above 2% sell online or to buyers who ask for the brand by name, and neither size nor industry moves the median much.
Who these numbers describe, and who they do not
Before you take any number to a budget meeting, note that the 56 companies are public companies that report an advertising figure. That is a narrow and unusual group, and it is not the same thing as the typical manufacturer with 50 to 500 employees.
They are bigger: only nine of the 56 have less than $100 million in revenue, and 33 have more than $1 billion.
They also chose to disclose the figure. Accounting rules ask companies to report advertising cost, but a company that does not consider the amount material can leave it out, and many public manufacturers report no figure at all. So the set leans toward companies that spend enough on advertising to mention it. The true floor across all manufacturers is likely lower than what you see here.
The figure covers advertising, which is narrower than marketing. Each company decides what goes in the line, and few explain it. Read it as the media and promotion part of the budget, without the people, the website or, in most cases, the trade show program.
The data is good for showing which kinds of companies spend almost nothing, which spend several percent, and why. That pattern holds at any size.
How we built the dataset
Public companies that disclose advertising costs tag the number in the structured data they file with their 10-K. We pulled every company that reported that figure for a fiscal year ending in 2025 or 2026, matched it to revenue from the same filing, and kept companies whose SEC industry codes fall in our six launch industries: metals and machining, plastics and rubber, industrial machinery, automation and industrial tech, building products, and industrial distribution.
That gave us 174 candidates. We removed consumer brands that happen to sit in manufacturing codes (Newell Brands, Goodyear, Logitech), home improvement retailers (Home Depot, Lowe’s, Tractor Supply), computer hardware makers, and very small or pre-revenue filers. We used each company’s latest fiscal year as of Oct. 26, 2026, and checked nine of the 56 figures against the advertising disclosure in the filing’s own financial statement notes; all nine matched. One company is no longer public: American Woodmark became a wholly owned subsidiary of MasterBrand in an all-stock merger completed May 28, 2026, and its Nasdaq listing ended, so its figures come from its last 10-K, for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2025. We kept it because that filing is still its latest disclosure. The full list, with revenue, advertising, fiscal year and a link to each filing, is in the table at the end of this piece, or you can download the dataset (CSV).
What a B2B marketing budget for advertising looks like at public manufacturers
| Group | Companies | Median advertising as % of revenue | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| All companies | 56 | 0.47% | 0.01% to 6.61% |
| Revenue under $100 million | 9 | 0.50% | 0.33% to 2.13% |
| Revenue $100 million to $1 billion | 14 | 0.43% | 0.02% to 2.87% |
| Revenue $1 billion to $5 billion | 27 | 0.47% | 0.01% to 6.61% |
| Revenue over $5 billion | 6 | 0.41% | 0.20% to 4.53% |
Size barely moves the median. A 98-person farm equipment maker and a $16 billion industrial conglomerate land within a few hundredths of a point of each other. Illinois Tool Works spent $62 million on advertising on $16.0 billion of revenue, 0.39%. Art’s Way Manufacturing, an Iowa farm equipment maker with 98 employees, spent $97,000 on $23.0 million, 0.42%.
By industry the medians are also close: 0.32% for metals and machining, 0.38% for automation and industrial tech, 0.43% for distribution, 0.45% for industrial machinery, 0.59% for building products and 0.84% for the four plastics companies.
The companies that spend more sell differently
Sort the list by percentage and a pattern shows up at both ends.
At the top are companies that sell through a website or catalog, or to someone who asks for the brand by name. Global Industrial, which sells industrial supplies online and by catalog, reported net advertising expense of $91.1 million on $1.38 billion of revenue, 6.61%. W.W. Grainger reported $813 million, 4.53%. Protolabs, which quotes and sells custom machined, molded and printed parts online, reported 2.87%. James Hardie, the fiber cement siding maker, reported 3.14%. Latham Group, a residential pool maker, reported 1.83%, and American Woodmark, a cabinet maker, 1.55% in its last 10-K before the MasterBrand merger.
At the bottom are companies that make what the customer specifies, or sell commodities to professionals. Mayville Engineering, a contract metal fabricator for OEMs with $546.5 million in revenue, reported $87,000 of advertising, 0.02%. Kaiser Aluminum and Worthington Steel each reported 0.01%. BlueLinx, a building products distributor that sells to dealers and pros, reported 0.06%.
In between are the engineered-product companies that sell through reps, distributors and direct sales to industrial buyers: Gorman-Rupp pumps at 0.59%, IDEX at 0.47%, Columbus McKinnon at 0.36%, Nordson at 0.32%, Cognex at 0.14%. Most of the list sits here.
That fits how these businesses win work. A build-to-print shop wins on quotes, quality and relationships with a known set of OEM buyers; advertising has little to do. A company that needs thousands of strangers to find a product page and check out has to buy that traffic.
The nine smallest companies in the data
Nine companies reported less than $100 million in revenue. They are the closest public comparisons for a manufacturer with 50 to 500 employees, with the caveat above: they are still public companies that chose to report the number.
| Company | What it makes | Revenue | Advertising | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electro-Sensors | Machine monitoring sensors | $10.1M | $39,000 | 0.38% |
| LiqTech International | Ceramic filtration systems | $16.5M | $105,847 | 0.64% |
| Sono-Tek | Ultrasonic coating systems | $20.9M | $445,000 | 2.13% |
| Data I/O | Device programming systems | $21.5M | $139,000 | 0.65% |
| Art’s Way Manufacturing | Farm equipment, modular buildings | $23.0M | $97,000 | 0.42% |
| Tecogen | Cogeneration and chiller equipment | $27.1M | $131,000 | 0.48% |
| Amtech Systems | Thermal processing equipment | $79.4M | $400,000 | 0.50% |
| Smith-Midland | Precast concrete products | $93.4M | $306,000 | 0.33% |
| Omega Flex | Flexible gas piping | $98.3M | $1.02M | 1.04% |
Smith-Midland reported 285 people, including 97 contract laborers, as of March 3, 2026. At that size, $306,000 of advertising is roughly what one paid search program, a trade publication schedule and some print would cost. That is a useful reality check if your plan assumes a much bigger media line.
In your industry
Metals and machining has the lowest median, 0.32%, and most of the group looks like Mayville, Kaiser and Worthington Steel. Its two exceptions both sell more like catalog or consumer companies. Protolabs wins work through online quoting and has to buy the traffic. Worthington Enterprises, at 2.20%, gets about 38% of its sales from consumer products such as Bernzomatic torches, Coleman camping cylinders and Balloon Time kits, sold mainly through mass merchants and retailers. If you are adding instant quoting, budget the traffic like a catalog seller would.
Plastics and rubber has only four companies, and Latham’s homeowner business pulls the median up. Rogers, which makes engineered materials, at 0.36%, and Advanced Drainage Systems, which makes pipe, at 0.47%, are closer to how most molders and compounders sell.
Industrial machinery is the tightest group in the data. All 14 companies sit between 0.16% and 0.64%.
Automation and industrial tech runs from 0.14% (Cognex) to 0.78% (Transcat), with one small exception, Sono-Tek at 2.13%.
Building products has the widest spread. Products sold to contractors and specifiers, like AAON’s HVAC equipment at 0.26% and Tecnoglass windows at 0.27%, sit low. Brands homeowners see and choose, like James Hardie and American Woodmark, sit high.
Industrial distribution splits on e-commerce. Global Industrial and Grainger spend 4.5% to 6.6%; BlueLinx and EACO spend about a tenth of a percent or less.
How to set your own advertising budget with these numbers
Start from your sales motion, not the median
If you build to print or sell metal by the pound, the comparable companies spend close to nothing on advertising, and your money belongs in sales support, quoting speed and a capabilities page that answers buyer questions. If you sell engineered products through reps and distributors, 0.3% to 0.7% of revenue is where most comparable public companies sit. If you sell online or need end users to ask for your brand, plan for 1% to 3% or more, and expect to justify it with tracked revenue. If you are adding a web store alongside distributors, our guide to e-commerce for manufacturers covers how to do it without a channel fight.
Turn the percentage into dollars before you present it
For a $40 million manufacturer, the middle half of our list works out to $120,000 to $264,000 a year in advertising. At the median it is $188,000. A smaller company carries fixed costs, like a minimum search program, that do not shrink with revenue, so check the dollars against what the work actually costs. The budget box in our one-page 2027 marketing plan for manufacturers shows where this line sits next to the rest.
Add what advertising leaves out
Your plan also needs trade shows, the website, CRM and marketing tools, content production and the people. Our breakdown of 2027 trade show booth costs from 12 exhibitor price sheets and our guide to marketing team structure for a team of one to three cover two of the largest lines.
Show the CFO the filings, with the caveat
A named public company in your industry with a link to its 10-K is a stronger argument than an anonymous survey. Pick the two or three companies in the table closest to your motion, and say plainly that they are larger public companies that disclose the figure. Saying so up front makes the comparison easier for a CFO to trust.
Spend above the range only for a reason you can measure
Moving into e-commerce, launching a product line that contractors or homeowners have to request by name, or entering a new end market are all reasons to spend more, but keeping up with a competitor’s ad budget is not.
The full dataset: advertising expense reported in 10-Ks
Revenue and advertising in millions of US dollars, latest fiscal year reported in each company’s most recent 10-K as of Oct. 26, 2026. Industry is our assignment. Each company name links to the filing.
| Company | Industry | Fiscal year end | Revenue ($M) | Advertising ($M) | % of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protolabs | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 533.1 | 15.30 | 2.87% |
| Worthington Enterprises | Metals and Machining | 2026-05-31 | 1,381.3 | 30.44 | 2.20% |
| Belden | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 2,715.2 | 17.00 | 0.63% |
| Gibraltar Industries | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 1,135.5 | 6.70 | 0.59% |
| Mueller Water Products | Metals and Machining | 2025-09-30 | 1,429.7 | 4.60 | 0.32% |
| CompX International | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 158.3 | 0.50 | 0.32% |
| Titan International | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 1,828.4 | 4.90 | 0.27% |
| Mayville Engineering | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 546.5 | 0.09 | 0.02% |
| Worthington Steel | Metals and Machining | 2026-05-31 | 3,443.8 | 0.40 | 0.01% |
| Kaiser Aluminum | Metals and Machining | 2025-12-31 | 3,373.0 | 0.30 | 0.01% |
| Latham Group | Plastics and Rubber | 2025-12-31 | 545.9 | 10.00 | 1.83% |
| Karat Packaging | Plastics and Rubber | 2025-12-31 | 467.7 | 5.67 | 1.21% |
| Advanced Drainage Systems | Plastics and Rubber | 2026-03-31 | 3,050.4 | 14.30 | 0.47% |
| Rogers Corp. | Plastics and Rubber | 2025-12-31 | 810.8 | 2.90 | 0.36% |
| LiqTech International | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 16.5 | 0.11 | 0.64% |
| Douglas Dynamics | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 656.1 | 3.92 | 0.60% |
| Gorman-Rupp | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 682.4 | 4.00 | 0.59% |
| Tennant | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 1,203.5 | 6.00 | 0.50% |
| Tecogen | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 27.1 | 0.13 | 0.48% |
| Gates Industrial | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 3,443.2 | 16.50 | 0.48% |
| IDEX | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 3,457.5 | 16.30 | 0.47% |
| Art’s Way Manufacturing | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-11-30 | 23.0 | 0.10 | 0.42% |
| Illinois Tool Works | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 16,044.0 | 62.00 | 0.39% |
| Columbus McKinnon | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2026-03-31 | 1,193.5 | 4.28 | 0.36% |
| Hyster-Yale | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 3,769.3 | 11.50 | 0.31% |
| Dover | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 8,092.6 | 23.83 | 0.29% |
| Standex International | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2026-06-30 | 891.6 | 2.20 | 0.25% |
| Astec Industries | Industrial Machinery and Equipment | 2025-12-31 | 1,410.4 | 2.30 | 0.16% |
| Sono-Tek | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2026-02-28 | 20.9 | 0.45 | 2.13% |
| Transcat | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2026-03-28 | 331.9 | 2.60 | 0.78% |
| Data I/O | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-12-31 | 21.5 | 0.14 | 0.65% |
| Amtech Systems | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-09-30 | 79.4 | 0.40 | 0.50% |
| Electro-Sensors | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-12-31 | 10.1 | 0.04 | 0.38% |
| Nordson | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-10-31 | 2,791.7 | 8.81 | 0.32% |
| AMETEK | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-12-31 | 7,401.1 | 15.00 | 0.20% |
| Littelfuse | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-12-27 | 2,386.3 | 4.00 | 0.17% |
| Cognex | Automation and Industrial Tech | 2025-12-31 | 994.4 | 1.43 | 0.14% |
| James Hardie | Building Products | 2026-03-31 | 4,835.8 | 151.70 | 3.14% |
| American Woodmark | Building Products | 2025-04-30 | 1,709.6 | 26.50 | 1.55% |
| Zurn Elkay Water Solutions | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 1,695.9 | 20.80 | 1.23% |
| Omega Flex | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 98.3 | 1.02 | 1.04% |
| JELD-WEN | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 3,211.2 | 22.80 | 0.71% |
| Armstrong World Industries | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 1,620.8 | 10.80 | 0.67% |
| Simpson Manufacturing | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 2,332.8 | 12.10 | 0.52% |
| Janus International | Building Products | 2026-01-03 | 884.2 | 4.40 | 0.50% |
| Cornerstone Building Brands | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 5,408.7 | 23.40 | 0.43% |
| Smith-Midland | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 93.4 | 0.31 | 0.33% |
| Tecnoglass | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 983.6 | 2.61 | 0.27% |
| AAON | Building Products | 2025-12-31 | 1,442.1 | 3.80 | 0.26% |
| Global Industrial | Industrial Distribution | 2025-12-31 | 1,379.1 | 91.10 | 6.61% |
| W.W. Grainger | Industrial Distribution | 2025-12-31 | 17,942.0 | 813.00 | 4.53% |
| MSC Industrial Supply | Industrial Distribution | 2026-08-29 | 4,009.7 | 24.79 | 0.62% |
| Pool Corp. | Industrial Distribution | 2025-12-31 | 5,289.4 | 22.88 | 0.43% |
| SiteOne Landscape Supply | Industrial Distribution | 2025-12-28 | 4,704.8 | 14.40 | 0.31% |
| EACO (Bisco Industries) | Industrial Distribution | 2025-08-31 | 427.9 | 0.44 | 0.10% |
| BlueLinx | Industrial Distribution | 2026-01-03 | 2,954.0 | 1.70 | 0.06% |
Source: our analysis of SEC EDGAR 10-K filings and the SEC’s XBRL financial data (us-gaap AdvertisingExpense, matched to revenue from the same filing). Public companies that disclose advertising expense only. Global Industrial reports its figure as net advertising expense. American Woodmark merged into MasterBrand on May 28, 2026 and was delisted; its row is from its last 10-K. Download the dataset (CSV).
Use our data
Free to reuse, including in your own reports and articles, under CC BY 4.0. Please credit Plant to Pipeline and link to this article.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR full-text search
- SEC XBRL frames API, us-gaap AdvertisingExpense, CY2025
- SEC XBRL frames API, us-gaap AdvertisingExpense, CY2024
- Global Industrial 10-K, fiscal 2025, accounting policies details (R42)
- Mayville Engineering 10-K, fiscal 2025, advertising expense details (R49)
- Art's Way Manufacturing 10-K, fiscal 2025, significant accounting policies details (R43)
- Illinois Tool Works 10-K, fiscal 2025, accounting policies narrative details (R43)
- W.W. Grainger 10-K, fiscal 2025, significant accounting policies details (R42)
- James Hardie 10-K, fiscal 2026, accounting policies narrative details (R54)
- Protolabs 10-K, fiscal 2025, significant accounting policies details (R42)
- Worthington Enterprises 10-K, fiscal 2026, accounting policies additional information (R49)
- Worthington Enterprises 10-K, fiscal 2026
- Smith-Midland 10-K, fiscal 2025
- Smith-Midland 10-K, fiscal 2025, accounting policies details narrative (R34)
- Protolabs 10-K, fiscal 2025
- Business Wire, "MasterBrand and American Woodmark Successfully Complete Merger Transaction," May 28, 2026
- SEC EDGAR submissions data for American Woodmark (Form 25-NSE May 28, 2026; Form 15-12G June 8, 2026)
See an error? Email editor@planttopipeline.com with what is wrong. We fix errors and log them on the corrections page.
Filed under
Filed under
