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There’s a lot to do when you own a business. It’s not simply developing an idea and creating a product. It’s manufacturing, accounting, and human resources. It’s also marketing.
The last item makes a significant impact on any business. Revenue and clients don’t increase unless you make your company seen. This is why the average marketing investment can be as much as five percent of the total budget.
No matter if you own a company that’s been around for years or is brand new, it’s a must to understand how to budget for marketing expenses. Here are a few tips.
Create a Strategy
Like you did when you started your business you need to create a strategy for your marketing budget. Basically, you should determine how much you want to spend and where it should go.
For instance, will a majority be utilized for digital marketing or is it going to be an even split between the internet and brick-and-mortar operations?
Moreover, consider investing in printed marketing paraphernalia. From flyers to business cards, brochures, or custom box packaging, it’s imperative that you know which ones will be beneficial and effective for your business so you can strategize accordingly.
This is also where you determine if you want to go lean, maybe one or two percent investment, or big, which is five percent or over. This is a value you want to try to stick with at first. It can grow or shrink depending on what happens with your business.
At the same time, you want to establish a sales funnel. This determines the steps customers must take to purchase your products. Here, your marketing strategy needs to include ways the customer finds you, what they have to know before they purchase, and how marketing leads them to a positive decision.
Mobile Applications
If your company doesn’t have a mobile app yet, then it needs to happen now. Without one, you don’t have an extra revenue stream. Plus, after the COVID pandemic of 2020, more businesses moved toward eCommerce.
So, you have two things in the budget. First, money to create the app. Second, funds to promote it. For the former, you want to utilize an app cost estimator. App maker platforms provide this tool to let businesses determine how much their mobile package will cost. They can choose a variety of designs and modules to get something that fits their budget.
When that’s done, you need to determine where you want to promote the mobile app. Email campaigns and website updates add little or nothing to the budget. Banner ads on Google or Bing can cost more depending on what you need and how long you want to promote.
Social Media
On top of a mobile application, you also want to allocate some money for marketing within social media. This is not an area that has dried up. With the proper tools, you can still generate revenue and add new customers.
You want to focus on ads and boosts within these social media platforms. Facebook is still a good place to fine-tune an ad campaign directed at a certain portion of the population. Boosts also work to draw attention to a certain post or link to related content.
Marketing Team
If this seems like too much for you to handle, then you need to change the budget so most of the marketing funds are allocated for an outsourced team. While this may result in a large initial investment, what you get is a group of subject matter experts who know the world of brick-and-mortar and digital marketing.
As a result, your return on investment is greater than what you initially invested. Of course, you can make this happen without a good deal of research. You want to ensure the marketing team can do what they promise. Else, you may end up with a revenue loss that causes your marketing budget to be reduced to nothing.
Don’t skip a step in the course of setting up your marketing budget. Yes, it takes time to make this complete. However, the advantage is a complete marketing budget that’s a framework for your organization. Finally, don’t make investments without a marketing budget.
When you do this it reduces the working capital you have available to enhance the company’s infrastructure and even pay your vendors. Be selective with the options you select and don’t fall for any quick-money schemes. Take your time to complete the budget.