Unsure how much to spend on marketing?
Did you know that marketing is one of the most impactful investments you can make in your business? Why? For many reasons! With the right marketing strategy, you can reach the right customers ✅, create the right message ✅ and create the right path to success ✅.
The big question on everyone’s minds, especially as we start a new year, is “How much should I spend on marketing?” Here are some questions to ask yourself in order to help as you budget your business’s digital marketing needs:
What are your marketing goals? 💭
The goal is to get more out of your marketing strategy investment on a per-dollar basis: if you’re not getting back at least what you put in, then it’s time to sit back and re-strategize with the pros (us!).
Are you trying to get a start-up business off the ground? You will need to focus your marketing efforts on making your website and business presence stand out among your competitors in Google and social media ranks. Unfortunately what this means is that the less known your business is, the more money you will have to spend to get results.
Maybe you’re trying to reach a wider range of people? In order to successfully achieve this, you will need more advertising, rebranding and other marketing tools to extend your brand to new customers. Make sure you keep your projected sales and saturation goals aligned with your marketing spending. AKA the bigger the goals = the more you’ll need to spend! 💲
Make sure to budget a marketing strategy for your website and social media presence, alongside your brick-and-mortar (physical/in-store) business if applicable. Every sector of your company should have its marketing budget and plan as part of an overall strategy!
Once you reach the end of your budget, your marketing company will determine your ROI (return on investment) which will determine if you are succeeding or if you need to make changes to your strategy such as revamping your budget or rethinking your marketing strategy. Don’t stress if this happens – it’s normal!
It is important to remember that no marketing plan or technique will always give the same results, be prepared to change your budget and marketing tactics if needed.
What are you trying to correct? 💭
Ask yourself: What are your concerns with your current marketing ideas and budgets? Was your marketing plan a major bust last year and you’re still trying to recover? Did you maybe run out of funds before you could complete a big promotion? Or maybe you overestimated (or underestimated) a sales pitch’s success?
Marketing can be hit-and-miss, and if you don’t have a direction in mind, it really doesn’t matter how much money you throw at the problem.
Some important things to consider when creating this year’s marketing budget are:
- Your competition
- Your ROI
- Barriers to entry
- Social media losses
- Demographic changes
- Cultural diversity
- Popular culture
Every business is different and therefore, the level of investment will vary hugely however it is important to remember that if your competition is highly competitive across search engines and social media, you will need to invest more. You should know what problems to anticipate and navigate to get the most out of your marketing spend. Damage control is more costly than a well-planned marketing execution!
How much did you spend last year? 💭💲
When looking into your marketing budget for the coming year, make sure to use your marketing budget from last year as a guideline. This is crucial as you can focus on the areas it could have been spread a little further and put more of your money this year into the marketing strategies that worked best for you. However, if your company has different goals or has changed in some ways, don’t repeat the same budget!
If you ended up underspending last year then plan to double your marketing investments this year. If you put your money into the wrong marketing ideas, be prepared to brainstorm and change up your marketing plan! If your marketing plan worked out as expected, don’t stop there! Double that effort this year and put as much money into marketing as possible!
Remember, you have limited resources from which to pool your marketing strategy funds so if needed, cut corners where your business will not immediately suffer if you need to, but don’t underbudget your marketing needs due to lack of funds. Underbudgeting takes longer to recover from than pulling from business resources now.
How much do you want to spend? 💭💲
This may sound like a silly question but it’s extremely useful in realising how much about marketing and its associated costs you actually understand. If your answer is $0, you don’t understand what the right marketing plan will do for your business or have yet to find success with your marketing strategies. It’s not too late to change!
If you are seeing repeated success with a marketing investment, money is not an issue and your budget will only be limited by what you cap yourself to. Make sure to get out of the mindset of what you want to spend on your marketing strategies, and change into one of what you should spend. This will ensure you are better prepared to loosen your budget this year.
Ultimately, the choice is yours when it comes to selecting a budget for your marketing strategy however being open-minded and allowing more funds to be used in marketing efforts will often lead to great results so make sure to listen to your digital marketing expert when it comes to finalising a budget for your marketing strategy!
💥 Don’t forget – we can help! 💥
Here at Daisy Digital Marketing, we can help you meet your marketing goals, regardless of your budget. Our team of marketing experts and specialists are always available to answer any questions you may have and can help you see your marketing efforts in real-time. Don’t hesitate to reach out! 📞📧📱
