Feeling confused about what should (and perhaps more importantly, shouldn’t!) be included in your organisation’s marketing budget?
As businesses vary in size, industry, and goals, the marketing activities and services that might work for one company may not deliver the same results for another.
However, having a marketing budget example to refer to can help with the process of creating your own budget.
Whether you need support understanding which marketing activities you should be doing or are unsure which costs should be incorporated into this budget, the digital marketing professionals at Aqueous Digital can help.
What are the common marketing budget mistakes?
Keen to avoid running into marketing budget mishaps?
Discover some of the most common mistakes companies can make when creating a marketing budget below.
Failing to set clear goals
Every marketing budget should be specially tailored to align with the company’s wider business goals. Whether the organisation’s key aim is to sell more high-value services or to work on customer retention, the majority of your marketing budget decisions should be made with these objectives in mind.
Adapting last year's budget
While it’s often a good idea to continue to invest in some of the same marketing channels that proved the most effective from last year’s budget, merely tweaking the budget is often unwise. Though it may feel tempting to save time, marketing goals generally change every year, so your budget should be adjusted in accordance with any objective alterations.
Not liaising with the sales department
Having good communication between the sales and marketing department is essential to ensuring that the budget has a positive impact on revenue. Together, you can gain a better idea of your customer’s typical purchasing journey and use the marketing budget to streamline your sales funnel.
Experimenting too much (or not enough!)
Eager to try out as many marketing channels as possible to see which one is the most effective for your business? While this approach may seem tempting, it can be expensive and a waste of time if you’re not dedicating enough of your budget, time, or resources to any one of these channels.
However, it’s equally just as important not to play it too safe by sticking to the same old marketing avenues. New or different marketing channels shouldn’t be ignored completely – just because your existing approach is paying dividends, you could still be missing out on even more impressive results.
Not including all costs
Some marketing activities involve a myriad of costs which can mean that certain aspects are overlooked. For example, if you run a direct mail campaign, there’s many activities that you’ll need to budget for alongside the core design and printing processes, such as postage fees and cost of purchasing a mailing list.
All costs, no matter how minor, should therefore be included in your marketing budget. Once all these costs are added up, they can result in a significant overspend if you’re not careful.
Examples of what should be included in a marketing budget
Imagine you’ve set up a business in the largest city in Yorkshire (Leeds!), it’s vital that your marketing activities can deliver the kind of results that can help you to stand out from the crowd. To ensure you’re creating a comprehensive and accurate marketing budget, it should include:
- The different marketing services and activities you plan on using
- How many times you want to carry out certain marketing activities
- How much you expect each activity or service to cost
- Fees for marketing employees and contractors
- Annual salaries or costs for any in-house marketing staff
- Costs of attending marketing events, like trade shows and conferences
Examples of what should not be included in a marketing budget
Now you have a better understanding of what should be included in a marketing budget, you may be wondering what should be excluded. By touching on some of the common marketing budget mistakes explained above, we sum up a marketing budget example of what not to do!
- Everything from last year’s marketing budget
- A small amount of money dedicated to every type of marketing channel
- Marketing activities or services that don’t align with your business goals
- Marketing activities or services that haven’t been discussed with sales
The importance of correctly managing your marketing budget
Once you’ve determined the budget for all your marketing services and activities, it’s important that you measure and manage it correctly moving forward. This involves conducting regular reviews to ensure you’re not under or overspending, and tracking your results as you go to make sure they match up to your predicted metrics.
This will give you the opportunity to adapt your marketing budget approach if it’s not generating the desired results, rather than waiting until the end of the year to assess the damage and figure out where your plan went awry.
Ultimately, too much or too little spending on marketing activities can have a substantial negative impact on the company’s ROI (Return on Investment) – something you’ll want to avoid at all costs!
Contact Aqueous Digital for digital marketing expertise
Is your business struggling to generate the SEO results you’ve been hoping for? Specialising in online search and paid media, you can trust the digital marketing professionals at Aqueous Digital to support your online success.
Regardless of whether you want to increase your website’s organic traffic or build your online visibility in certain locations in and around Leeds (or even further afield), we offer comprehensive SEO packages for businesses of all sizes, geographical areas, and sectors.
If you’d like to benefit from the years of invaluable digital marketing experience and expertise at Aqueous Digital, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our knowledgeable team today.
Simply give us a call on 0800 285 1424!
Alternatively, we also welcome email enquiries sent to hello@aqueous-digital.co.uk as well as queries submitted using our online contact form.
