Every industry professional knows that marketing is expensive. Both digital and physical marketing costs time and money, and when the results aren’t guaranteed, you might get doubts about its usefulness. However, marketing can be done on a budget. Not only that, but it can be done well. In fact, we’d argue that before you consider marketing your brand, business or products, you should set a budget. Constraints are important in this industry, as they allow you to set objectives and work towards realistic goals. It also limits unnecessary spending too, which often plagues marketers that don’t plan ahead, resulting in poor campaigns and unhappy clients!
According to webstrategiesinc, the average digital marketing budget made up 11.1% of a company’s overall spend in 2018. B2C businesses spend more on average, with this figure rising to 16%. As a result, the marketing spend also cuts into yearly revenue, accounting for 11.8% of total revenue. B2B marketing spend tends to account for less of the overall revenue, staying between 6.5% to 8.5%. This should give you an idea of how much you should spend on average for your business. Now, we’re not saying that the same applies to every business. It’s actually quite the opposite.
Ultimately, you’re only going to know how much you should spend after you begin and test a few strategies. Which is why we’re here to help. We’ve got 5 tips to make your marketing budget go further, and we’re eager to share them with you.
Set Marketing Goals Before You Begin
You might want to rush into your new marketing campaign now that you know your budget, but we’d ask you to remain calm for a few moments. (Maybe grab a cuppa too!) One of the most important parts of marketing is the measurement of success. You might have increased your site visits by 10% in the last month, but is that really a good thing? Ultimately, that’s up to you to decide.
First, you should identify why you want to run campaigns in the first place. Wanting website leads and visitors is one thing, but how many do you want? How many sales/leads do you need for this campaign to be successful? If you want to increase your organic rankings on Google, which keywords do you want to focus on? In many cases, marketing is a long-term process. You should identify how much revenue you want to make, how many sales/leads you need to generate to meet that goal, and what your current average conversion rate is. This will allow you to be realistic with your plan, and in turn, make the most from your budget.
Don’t Be Afraid to Make Changes
Change is scary, we get it. But in the big wide world of marketing, sometimes you need to make changes on the fly in order to succeed. Once you’ve set your budget and your goals, you should decide what platforms you’re going to use. Are you going to work on your organic rankings within search engines, or do you want to focus on paid advertising? Which social media platforms are you going to focus on? Or which works best for your business? You won’t get these decisions right first time, and there’ll be a fair bit of experimentation involved, but that’s ok.
There’s no point running a campaign that isn’t working. Your research may be telling you that it’s a dead cert, but practically, it may be a lost cause. If you’re running an advertising campaign, try out some new targeting options. If your social media strategy isn’t paying off, try some out-there ideas or boost your campaigns. Look at your competitors to see how they’ve used different platforms to succeed because they’ll be in the same boat as you. Change is scary, but in marketing, change often leads to a breakthrough. (Though don’t be disheartened if it takes a few attempts to get there.)
Invest In Email Marketing
It might sound crazy, but sometimes, if you ask for them, people just give their email address to you. Weird, right? It’s quite simple to set up too, with account creation and opt-in/out strategies the norm on many websites. You can even create advertising campaigns around getting new email addresses if needed too. There’s no need to worry if your email list is too small at first, as building one is a gradual process that takes time. Once provided, these emails are a direct show of interest from your audience, which you should capitalise on.
It’s a relatively cheap process that can result in a great return, as our email marketing services show. There are also plenty of successful examples of campaigns for inspiration, and while some of those may have a higher budget than your own, we believe that you’re only limited by your own creativity. If people willingly provide their details to you, you might as well use the platform to spread the word about your business.
Organic Is Great, But Don’t Be Afraid to Boost Your Social Profile
Social media can be your best friend and your worst enemy. Building up your profile organically on any social network takes time, but pulling it off results in a number of interested users that you can constantly create content for. You should never just advertise products/services to users all the time. Make sure that you’re sharing content that is related to your industry, but try to make it interesting too. Are there any facts or figures about your business that people may find interesting? Do you have any news to share about your employees? Brands are increasingly finding success in being human on social media, so you should too.
However, organic isn’t the only way forward, especially if you’re just starting out. Each social platform has the option to boost or promote specific posts, though they use different terminology. If your budget is on the smaller side, it might be a good idea to boost an organic post that showed promise. If it resonated with your existing user base, chances are, it’ll resonate with others too. You don’t need to place a large amount of funding behind these, and you can experiment with targeting too.
Let Your Imagination Run Wild
The key to a successful marketing campaign is creativity. You might have the facts, figures and information, but that doesn’t translate to success without an ounce of creativity. Take your own photos and showcase your day-to-day. It’s a cheap, cost-effective option to boost brand engagement. It doesn’t need to be picture perfect either, as viral or popular content tends to something that people can associate with. As long as you can relate your content to your brand, you should see positive changes.
If you do have facts or figures, even better! Create an infographic that showcases your facts, or grab some testimonials from your customers and use them in social media posts. In many cases, the wilder your ideas, the better. Initially, your marketing campaigns should be experimental to see what works, and what doesn’t.
Choose Colewood
If you’re struggling with advertising copy, confused about facts and figures, or sinking into a marketing lull, you might want to turn to a professional marketing organisation. We provide a range of advertising services, including SEO, PPC, Email and Social Media. If marketing is mixing you up, we’d be happy to help. Visit our contact page to start your journey.
