Around this time of year, we’re all looking at our 2018 stats – what we accomplished last year, what we could have done better – as well as our 2019 goals and which affective changes we can make that will allow us to reach them.
Money always seems to come up almost immediately.
How much are you going to allocate for your marketing budget this year?
How much within that budget is going to be spent on which marketing tactics?
Surprisingly, most people start going backwards…
The Backwards Budget Decision
Whether you’re a one man/woman marketing team for your business or you’re working with a firm, the first question that seems to be presented when discussing your yearly marketing goals is,
“What’s your budget?”
We like to call it The Backwards Budget Decision because it’s putting the cart before the horse.
The amount you come up with isn’t necessarily based on helping you achieve your marketing goals but, how much you can afford to allocate at the time.
The classic adage, “You’ve got to spend money to make money” comes to mind.
The best way to figure out your 2019 marketing budget is to think about your ultimate goals, not necessarily what’s in your comfort zone.
This brings us to the age-old question…
Where To spend or Not to Spend?
Is spending the money going to have a meaningful impact on my business?
It’s not a reasonable expectation to think you’re going to get 100% increases in sales using the same budget you did last year. It’s just not.
With an abundance of digital (Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), Radio and TV platforms to spend on (not to mention your marketing employee(s)) the temptation is to do a little in each bucket to reach the largest audience possible.
Are all the people you’re going to reach, ideal clients?
Think about advertising at a football game
100K people are in the superdome. Would you rather:
Have somebody run your ad around the entire stadium twice during game
OR
Have one person stand in a single section holding up your banner for the entire game?
Focusing your budgeting dollars on fewer more effective tactics will really hammer your message home at a much higher frequency – allowing you to hit you a more concentrated number of ideal future customers.
The Fun Part
In the video below we’ll elaborate on what we’ve discussed so far as well as get down to the brass tacks on these burning questions:
- How much are companies spending on marketing based on revenue?
- How much are companies spending on marketing on average based on industry or niche?
- How much are companies spending on a given tactic within that marketing budget?
- Where are people spending money going forward?
Contact Us
Look at your 2018 numbers as a baseline then, take goals for revenue/sales in 2019 and decide how you’re going to do it.
Or, if you’re the type of person who’d rather hire someone to get it done rather than investing the time and resources to become a marketing specialist, give us a call. That’s what we’re here for!
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation!
