Marketing budgets… how much does a website cost?… How much is that logo?…..I WANT TO BE ON TV!!!!! 

All of these marketing efforts can do a lot for your business, but my first 2 questions for clients who we work with are:

‘What do you want to get out of marketing?’ and almost as important, ‘What is your budget?’

Let’s start with ‘What is your budget?’

Compared to tangible objects, marketing can be a very abstract entity. Our clients are not buying any physical widgets, but instead knowledge, creativity, and expertise. The costs in marketing budgets are specific to the clients needs. Dissecting a marketing budget is a complicated affair due to the amount of variables, discounts, competition, time of year, time needed, and so on. Even if you look at print materials the cost can be widely different per unit. If you spend $10 you may get 10 brochures. But if you spend $20 you may get 25 brochures. This may seem small, but when you are spending thousands of dollars these can variables stack up quick.

Some problems our clients present simply take more time to implement. Some of our clients are in very competitive fields such as finance or insurance – how much marketing happens in these segments? A Lot. To get these more competitive industries noticed, it takes more effort to get seen and heard.

It is essential for a marketing firm to know your budget to break down what all you can get accomplished.

Another benefit for reviewing the budget at the beginning is setting expectations… do you really think Radio commercials are a good fit if you want to spend $30 – maybe you will get A Commercial (1 commercial) played on the air… assuming you already had it made, and maybe two hundred people hear it. Would it be better to spend that same money and get three hundred people’s attention? Reviewing your budget allows our team to find the best way to connect with your audience for your budget.

If you look at the general rule of thumb for marketing – a budget should be

Total Revenue x 5% = Marketing budget required to maintain current awareness and visibility

Total Revenue x 10% = Marketing budget required to grow and gain market share

Some companies can use less – some can use more.

‘What do you want to get out of Marketing?

This is always a big question for clients, but it something that needs to be reviewed from the beginning as well.  What do you honestly expect from any marketing efforts? Do you think $100 dollars of advertising will convince people to buy you $10,000 service? Do you think $100,000 is a good investment for your lemonade stand?

Some common ways to measure a marketing campaign’s success:

  • Sales go up

  • Phones ring

  • Leads come in

  • Foot traffic increases

One major difference Plan Left utilizes in any marketing campaign, website development, or even social media management, is tying in analytics, metrics, and measurements in the marketing campaign. This allows our team to refine and focus the campaigns into more successful efforts. If a marketing campaign is getting phone calls in the afternoon and none in the morning, maybe we should cancel the morning advertisements? If all of your competitors are advertising for only one of your many services, would it be a better to advertise a unique service only your firm does?

Set your goals, set a budget, and track the results.

Explore Latest Posts