Insight · StrategyTOFU
How to split budget across TOFU, MOFU and BOFU
The short answer
There's no universal budget split across the funnel — but there is a principle: the less demand exists for what you sell, the more you must invest in creating it. A brand in an established category with strong search volume can weight toward capture. A brand creating a new category must weight toward awareness and education.
Signals your split is off
- Rising CAC with stable creative — the pool of ready buyers may be shrinking
- Shrinking retargeting audiences — too little awareness investment
- Flat branded search — awareness isn't building memory
- High awareness, low conversion — middle and bottom of the funnel need work
Starting points by situation
How to adjust over time
- Set KPIs for each stage.
- Track pool sizes monthly.
- Move budget toward the stage with the best marginal return.
- Test before cutting — a holdout tells you what TOFU really contributes.
An example rebalance
A D2C brand spending most of its budget on retargeting and brand search sees CAC rising for three months. Retargeting audiences are shrinking. It moves a meaningful share of budget into prospecting video and creator content, accepts weaker last-click numbers for a few weeks, and watches branded search and retargeting pool sizes. Once those recover, BOFU efficiency usually follows.
Common mistakes
- Judging TOFU on last-click ROAS
- Cutting awareness at the first sign of pressure
- No retention budget
- Keeping the same split for years regardless of results
Example starting splits
| Situation | TOFU | MOFU | BOFU |
|---|---|---|---|
| New brand, new category | 50–60% | 20–30% | 15–25% |
| New brand, known category | 40–50% | 25–30% | 25–30% |
| Established brand with search demand | 25–35% | 20–30% | 40–50% |
These are illustrative starting points to test, not rules.
What to do next
- Measure current spend by stage
- Check retargeting pool trends
- Run a small upper-funnel test
- Review branded-search growth
Frequently asked questions
What counts as TOFU spend?
Campaigns aimed at people who don't yet know you — broad video, creators, reach and awareness campaigns.
How do we know if TOFU is working?
Branded search growth, larger engaged audiences, stable or improving new-customer CAC and positive results in holdout tests.
Should retargeting be part of BOFU?
Yes — but keep it capped and measure incrementality.
Is there a perfect funnel budget split?
No — it depends on brand awareness, category and goals; adjust based on results.
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