Learn From the Past
A new year is approaching, and that means it\u2019s time to start planning your new digital marketing budget. Before you plan for 2014, it's important to assess your 2013 results. What worked? What didn\u2019t? Why? By doing this, you\u2019ll start to paint a clearer picture on which channels you want to allocate more of your budget towards.
A good rule of thumb when setting aside your marketing budget is to take your total revenue and set aside 5% of that for marketing. For example, if your company generated 5 million dollars in revenue, $250,000 is a good budget to set aside. This is a common business standard, however depending on your visibility needs, you may want to allocate more or less. Every business is unique, after all.
Adapt and Survive
Although traditional marketing channels like print, radio, and television are still powerful vessels for conveying your message, it's on the decline. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering the rate in which consumers are turning to the internet to find the product or service they're looking for. A recent Forrester Research article states "Internet marketing budgets are set to increase by close to $30 billion. In the short term, much of this revenue will be shifted away from traditional media vehicles, such as Yellow Pages, magazines, direct mail, and newspapers, due to a much higher return from the web."
One of the biggest marketing mistakes a company can make is to neglect it. This can be either because business has been slow and there's no budget for it, or it could also be because business has been too busy and there's no time. This tends to create an endless cycle. If business has been slow, it makes marketing that much more crucial for increasing revenue through slow periods. In contrast, neglecting to set aside a marketing budget because things have been so busy could cause you to have a boom and bust cycle.
The main takeaway is this: a marketing budget and calendar should always be devised, regardless of how business has been. Staying proactive by keeping on top of it will decrease your chances of falling behind your competition. Budgets can always change based on results and success, but not marketing yourself at all is a dangerous game to play.
Marketing takes time. Plan out the next twelve months of your budget and hold yourself accountable for following through. Speak with one of our account managers if you would like to review or start a new plan.
