Any business owner will understand the importance of maximising your marketing budget to drive growth and success. With the new year fast approaching, now is the perfect time to reevaluate your marketing strategies and make the most out of every penny you spend.
In this blog, we’ll look at some savvy ways on how you can stretch your marketing budget effectively into the new year. With these cost-effective digital marketing strategies, you’ll be able to achieve your marketing goals without breaking the bank.
What is a marketing budget?
In simple terms, a marketing budget is a financial plan that outlines how much money you plan to spend on marketing your products or services. Usually created on a yearly, quarterly, or monthly basis, it serves as a roadmap for all the different types of marketing activities you intend to carry out such as paid advertising, social media campaigns, and promotional events.
You’ll need to factor in your marketing staff or consultants as part of your marketing budget too so you can clearly see where you’re investing your money. Having a well-thought-out marketing budget is key to ensuring your business, regardless of size, is investing in resources effectively and efficiently.
When it comes to budgeting for marketing, setting clear objectives and tracking your expenses enables you to stretch your budget as far as possible and maximise your return on investment (ROI).
What should I spend my marketing budget on?
What you’ll spend your marketing budget on will usually depend on the industry your business resides in, what products or services you’re selling, and who your target audience is.
Your business should aim to get the best value for your budget and to do this, you need to be experts in your customer base. The best way to do this is to conduct audience research but some common questions you could ask yourself include:
- Who is your audience?
- What are their interests?
- What are they looking for?
- What channels do they use the most?
It’s important to take time and research what channels your audience are most interested in and invest in those areas. If your business regularly appears in places that are relevant to them, potential customers are more likely to remember and develop trust with your brand.
How to stretch your marketing budget into the new year
We know that stretching your marketing budget may be easier said than done, however it’s essential for maximising your efforts and reaching your target audience effectively. Below we share some cost-effective and savvy strategies you can take advantage of to make the most of your budget.
Email marketing
Not only is email marketing a cost-effective tool to use in your digital marketing strategy, it’s also a very powerful tool. The reason why email marketing is so powerful and successful is because you can directly target your market. Once you’ve targeted the right people, it’s a matter of delivering your message professionally.
For an email campaign to be successful you must have captivating subject lines, engaging content, strong call to actions (CTA’s), and outstanding creatives. You should also incorporate personalisation where you can and target your audience with a relevant message to help drive conversions.
Ultimately, email marketing can be a game-changer for businesses looking to make a big impact without breaking the bank.
Social media
Utilising social media for your business is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to market your brand. You can post organically for free, and with billions of active users across various platforms, social media provides a powerful way to reach your target audience without spending a lot, if any, of your marketing budget.
As your business grows, you could also take advantage of running paid ads where you can determine the amount you spend. Remember consistency is key to succeeding on social media so be sure to post regularly and ensure you’re posting engaging and relevant content so you can make the most out of each post.
It’s also worth monitoring your performance regularly so you can adjust your strategy and your budget based on valuable insights.
Content marketing
Often overlooked, creating a content marketing strategy is another fantastic way of stretching your marketing budget. Content can come in many forms such as blogs, articles, videos, and infographics for example, and can be shared across almost all digital platforms, such as your website, social media, and email marketing.
Creating high-quality and engaging content is a great way of attracting your audience, keeping them invested, and generating leads as it showcases your expertise in your industry. And when you optimise your content for search engines, you can improve visibility and reach a wider audience without it costing the earth.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
This leads us nicely onto the next cost-effective tactic to utilise; SEO. Spending some of your marketing budget to increase your online visibility and organic traffic to your website is vital to remaining competitive and drawing in your target audience. Through optimising your content with relevant keywords and user-friendly design, you can improve your rankings and attract more potential customers without having to fork out on paid advertising.
As well as this, regularly updating your website with fresh content and building quality backlinks from reputable sites can further enhance your SEO efforts and result in long-term success in reaching your target audience. Investing in your SEO strategy now will lead to significant benefits in your business’s growth and profitability in the long-run.
Need help with budgeting for marketing?
As you can see, creating a marketing budget will help you make a plan for your efforts in the new year, allowing you to really provide value for money. Investing this time into planning can also help you be more efficient and maximise your chances of success with your chosen campaigns.
We hope our cost-effective and savvy ways to stretch your marketing budget have helped give you some inspiration for your digital marketing strategy for the new year. If you’d like more expert advice on where best to spend your budget, or to learn how we can help elevate your marketing efforts, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
