If you’re just starting out or are growing fast, you might not know how much you should be spending. From salaries to overhead, you need to make sure there’s enough money in the pot. However, how much should your marketing budget actually be?
Never underestimate the power of good marketing. We’re positive you have an awesome product or service, but without getting it in front of the right people, you might as well be selling nothing.
So, how do you find the right marketing budget for your business?
Simple
Marketing Budget Rules
While there are a few extra details to remember, there is one simple way to pick a number:
- B2B should be spending around 5% on marketing
- B2C should be spending around 10% on marketing
This isn’t exactly a catchall, but it’s a good place to start. New businesses will need to spend more to establish a foundation. Such as branding, strategy, and web development. Year to year, things also change and businesses need to stay proactive.
Measurable
Marketing Budget Goals
When thinking about your budget, you should always have goals in mind. These goals should be specific, and most importantly, measurable.
“Create brand awareness” should not be your goal. What does that mean? How do you know if or when you’ve achieved this goal? How do you know how much you fell short? Having a measurable goal allows you to budget more precisely. It also allows you to adjust your budget the following year.
Breaking Things Down
With an overall amount set, it’s time to allocate that budget to different marketing components. This part can be a little trickier. Choosing which channels to utilize is important, but your budget isn’t bottomless. Deciding where to spend less is just as important.
It’s all about maximizing your budget. Some of the choices you’ll make include:
- Website
- Social Media
- Traditional Advertising
- SEO
- Email Marketing
- SMS Marketing
- Video Content
Also, if you’re going to be doing your own marketing, don’t forget to allocate enough of the budget to training. Marketing is an ever-changing beast. If you don’t want to waste money, you’ll need to stay on top of new best practices.
Don’t Waste
Your Marketing Budget
Never put the cart before the horse. We mentioned this before, but it’s so important we’re talking about it again.
A new website is a fantastic idea. However, don’t spend 90% of your budget on it and ignore other channels. After all, what’s the point of having an awesome new website if you’re not properly funneling your target audience towards it?
You need to make sure you’ve identified weaknesses and have built a strong foundation before moving onto bigger and better things.
Marketing is complicated. Doing it right can mean the difference between treading water and creating a thriving business. Having to worry about the finer details of your marketing budget, while running every other aspect of your company, is a lot to handle.
That’s where we come in.
Siva is the best at what we do. We take a measured and data-driven approach to marketing, where the profitability of your business drives everything we do.
We have some awesome free tools for you too. Whether your website, social media, or both are lacklustre, we’ll audit them for free!
Stop micromanaging. Book a meeting with us and we’ll show you just how strong your marketing can be.
