For the rest of the world, new years resolutions are made in January. But business owners know that planning for a successful new year starts months before January 1st. If you’re going over the books to decide where to spend and where to cut in 2019, we’ve got some tips to help you create a successful marketing budget without overspending!
5 Tips On Creating A Marketing Budget That Will Make An Impact
#1: Define Your Goals
With marketing, it’s important to keep in mind where you want to go. An effective marketing strategy is built on well-defined goals. This will help you craft a budget that supports your goals, and will let you see what spend is going towards things that aren’t helping you make the kind of progress you want to make.
#2: Evaluate Last Year’s Data
When deciding what to do in 2019, it’s important to know what worked and what didn’t in 2018. Ask yourself what last year’s goals were, and whether or not you met them. If you met your goals, how? Which platforms brought in the most leads, for example?
You can use this information to define which aspects of last year’s strategy are must-haves going forward, and what can be scrapped in favor of trying something new.
For example, if your Facebook ads didn’t gain much traction, this would be a good time to switch some of that spend over to Google Ads.
If new customers went wild over your Instagram content, now might be the time to buckle down and invest more to create additional content for that platform.
#3: What’s Your Revenue?
The US Small Business Administration recommends that small businesses with revenues that add up to less than $5 million allocate 7-8% of their revenues to their marketing budget. This is a general rule of thumb – if things are tight you may need to spend less, or if you’re looking to grow fast then investing more may help. Make sure your budget fits your unique situation.
#4: Prioritize
Marketing is exciting, we get it. There’s a lot of new stuff to try, new platforms to explore, and a lot of possible lead gen strategies you could use. But if your wish list is getting longer than your budget can support, it may be time to prioritize.
When making cuts, look at what you really want to achieve. If you’re looking to generate leads, then focus on the advertising and marketing options that support that main goal first.
#5: Make An Appointment To Go Over Your Marketing Budget
Not sure how to create a realistic marketing budget based on what you want to do next year?
Let us help you lay everything out! Sitting down with a marketing agency to discuss your budget will allow you to work with people who have experience achieving goals like yours and can help you create a winning strategy.
Don’t wait until you realize that you desperately need to bring in new business or that your website is down – start planning for 2019 NOW!
Ready to plan out how you’ll achieve your marketing goals next year? Book a meeting.