formulas-budget-audience-ad-count-and-allocation.md

Formulas: budget, audience, ad count and allocation

Reverse-engineered from ZenABM's ABM Budget Calculator and LinkedIn Ads Count Calculator, and verified numerically against the live tools. Compute per audience / campaign.

Inputs

Input	Source	Default
`revenueTarget`	asked (annual; convert MRR→ARR ×12)	—
`ACV`	asked (annual; convert MRR→ARR ×12)	—
`qualificationRate` (demo→qualified)	asked	0.75
`closeRate` (qualified→won)	asked	0.15
`landingPageCvr` (visit→demo)	asked	0.008
`CPC`	asked, or ZenABM connector	8
`monthlyBudget` (their planned spend)	asked	—
`clicksPerAdPerDay`	fixed	3

Normalize first. Keep revenue and ACV on the same basis. If the user gives MRR, multiply BOTH by 12 to get annual before running the budget formulas (the calculator is annual). Report monthly figures by dividing by 12. Note: the calculator's CTR input is decorative — it is never used. Do not ask for it here.

Budget & funnel (run the funnel backwards)

dealsNeeded       = round( revenueTarget / ACV )
qualifiedDeals    = dealsNeeded / closeRate
demosNeeded       = round( qualifiedDeals / qualificationRate )
clicksNeeded      = round( demosNeeded / landingPageCvr )

accountsNeeded    = round( qualifiedDeals / qualificationRate / 0.0058 )   # 0.58% baseline account→qualified rate (hidden constant)

annualBudget      = round( CPC * clicksNeeded )
monthlyBudgetReq  = round( annualBudget / 12 )

ROAS              = round( revenueTarget / annualBudget )                  # e.g. 2 -> "2x"
pipelinePerDollar = round( (qualifiedDeals * ACV) / annualBudget )         # dollars of pipeline per $1 spend

Collapsed: annualBudget = CPC × (revenueTarget / ACV) / closeRate / qualificationRate / landingPageCvr.

Time to run the campaign (months to accumulate the required spend at the user's pace):

timeToRunMonths   = ceil( annualBudget / monthlyBudget )      # actual budget needed ÷ their stated monthly budget

If monthlyBudget ≥ monthlyBudgetReq, the plan runs within ~12 months; otherwise it stretches to timeToRunMonths. Surface this honestly — a small budget against a big goal just means a longer runway.

Defaults sanity-check (matches the live tool)

revenueTarget 800,000 · ACV 20,000 · qual 0.75 · close 0.15 · LPcvr 0.008 · CPC 8 → 40 deals → 356 demos → 44,444 clicks → $355,556/yr, $29,630/mo, 61,303 target accounts, 2× ROAS, $15 pipeline-per-$.

Audience / impressions layer (for "target audience size needed")

The budget calculator does not expose impressions. For the audience-size line, size it up from clicks with standard ZenABM planning defaults (state them as assumptions on the doc):

CTRplan        = 0.006      # ~0.6% blended plan CTR (image+TLA mix); override with connector/actual if known
frequency      = 7          # impressions per member
penetration    = 0.5        # share of the target audience you realistically reach

impressions    = round( clicksNeeded / CTRplan )
membersToReach = round( impressions / frequency )
audienceNeeded = round( membersToReach / penetration )   # LinkedIn audience size to build

Report audienceNeeded as the "target audience size needed" and accountsNeeded (from the funnel) as the "number of accounts needed." If the user gave a current list size, show the gap (audience implied ÷ current list).

Ad-count model (how many ads you can run at once)

From the LinkedIn Ads Count Calculator:

dailyBudget        = monthlyBudget / 30
minDailyPerAd      = max( CPC * clicksPerAdPerDay, 20 )         # hard $20/day floor
maxSimultaneousAds = max( floor( dailyBudget / minDailyPerAd ), 1 )

monthlyClicksPerAd = clicksPerAdPerDay * 30
totalMonthlyClicks = monthlyBudget / CPC

Algorithm-health badge (per-ad daily spend = CPC × clicksPerAdPerDay):

< $25/day → Too Thin
$25–49/day → Watch
≥ $50/day → Healthy

Subtext: "LinkedIn needs ≥ $25/day per ad to optimize delivery." (The tool's math floors at $20 while its copy says $25 — we surface $25 as the guidance threshold and note the health tiers above.)

Format allocation (how to split the affordable ads)

maxSimultaneousAds = the click-driving ads you can fund at once (image · TLA · video · carousel/doc). Text ads are excluded from this budget (set-CPC, ~free) and always included. Allocate like this:

Targets when budget allows (aim, per audience):

Format	Aim	Ad-set objective	Notes
TLAs	5	Website Visits	Best value; posted from a person's profile
Image ads	5	Engagement	The reach workhorse
Text ads	5	Website Visits	Always include; set-CPC, ignore budget
Video ads	1–2	Website Visits	Warm/nurture; 15–30s
Document / Carousel	1	Brand Awareness	Storytelling / lead magnet

Rules:

Always include 5 text ads (they don't consume the click budget).
Spend maxSimultaneousAds on click-driving formats in this priority: TLA → image → video → doc/carousel, up to the aims above.
If maxSimultaneousAds < 10 (can't fund 5 TLA + 5 image separately): group TLAs + image ads together and recommend the Brand Awareness objective for that combined set, then add video/doc as budget allows.
If maxSimultaneousAds comfortably exceeds the aims, keep the aims (5/5/1–2/1) — don't inflate; suggest raising clicksPerAdPerDay or splitting audiences instead.
Number of ABM campaigns = number of distinct target audiences the user named (1 market/ICP = 1 campaign).

Show the resulting per-format counts and objectives in the Campaign Structure section and in the flowchart.

Budget allocation per ad set (how much $ each format gets)

Split the spend across the click-driving formats by ad count (equal spend per ad = delivery-safe; each ad clears the ~$25/day floor before you add another). Text ads are excluded — they run on a small separate set-CPC bid, so show them as ~$0 of this budget. Show two columns: one at the user's stated budget, one at the budget required to hit the goal (monthlyBudgetReq).

clickAds        = N_TLA + N_IMAGE + N_VIDEO + N_DOC          # everything except text
shareFmt        = N_fmt / clickAds                            # per format (0 if that format has 0 ads)

# Column 1 — at the user's budget:
budgetFmtYours  = round( shareFmt * monthlyBudget )           # $/mo for that format
pctFmt          = round( shareFmt * 100 )                     # % of spend (same in both columns)

# Column 2 — at the budget needed to hit the goal:
budgetFmtRec    = round( shareFmt * monthlyBudgetReq )        # $/mo for that format

Render each cell as "$X/mo · Y%" (text ads: "~$0 · set-CPC"; formats with 0 ads: "—"). Add a Total (click-driving) row that sums to monthlyBudget (col 1) and monthlyBudgetReq (col 2). The % mix is the same in both columns — only the dollars change; the recommended column just funds the same mix fully so the plan lands in ~12 months instead of stretching over timeToRunMonths. Note in the allocation line that at the recommended budget the ad-count model affords more ads, so they can also un-group TLA+image and add video/doc.