With many SMEs facing tight budgets and limited resources, formalizing a marketing spending plan becomes essential to maximize the value derived from marketing efforts.
CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on SME Today
As the new financial year begins, small businesses have an opportunity to create a robust marketing budget for the next twelve months. With most SMEs grappling with tight budgets and limited manpower, formalising your marketing spending plan is crucial for tracking and measuring your return on investment (ROI).
Robert Konzon, Finance Director at Climb Online, delves into the essential factors to consider when crafting an efficient marketing budget for the new tax year.
Align goals and budgets
Aligning your budget with your marketing strategy is essential for achieving your business objectives effectively. Before creating a budget, it’s crucial to define what you want your marketing efforts to achieve. Your specific aims will depend on your current business goals and the marketing activities that have historically yielded the best results. Whatever your goals may be, ensuring that your budget aligns realistically with your objectives is key.
Research costs
Once you’ve established your goals, you can begin to estimate the costs of your chosen activities. It’s crucial to delve into specifics when researching costs to minimise the risk of accidental overspending. Working closely with your marketing team is essential for obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the projected costs of a campaign or activity, as well as the potential effects of adjusting your spending in specific areas, such as social media advertising.
Understand the sales funnel
Budgets will vary from business to business and can depend on several factors. However, it’s essential to understand your sales funnel to allocate an appropriate level of budget to various marketing efforts effectively. Understanding the flow from one part of the sales process to the next and how it aligns with your marketing goals is crucial for effective budget allocation. Planning your spending allocation in line with peak times in the season is also crucial for maximising the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Return on investment
Tracking ROI for marketing activities can be challenging, so it’s essential to establish a robust reporting framework. This framework not only enables you to track the effectiveness of your campaigns relative to their costs but also provides valuable data for informing future marketing activities.
Crafting an efficient marketing budget for the new tax year requires careful consideration of goals, costs, and ROI tracking. By aligning budgets with marketing strategies, understanding the sales funnel, and establishing a robust reporting framework, businesses can optimize their marketing efforts to achieve their objectives effectively while maximizing ROI.
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