How To Create A Marketing Budget

As a business owner, you know you need to spend a portion of your budget on marketing in order to get the results you want.

But how much should you spend? Does it vary depending on your industry? And what should you be spending your marketing dollars on?

Whether you’re launching a new business or have been in business for years and are ready for a fresh approach to marketing, knowing your budget is the best place to start.

Industry Statistics

Marketing spend stats are tricky, since they vary so much based on your industry, location, and ideal audience. However, there are some basic percentages to keep in mind as you craft your marketing budget.

• B2C (Business To Consumer) companies that provide services and sell products spend 13.9 – 15% of their annual revenue on marketing.
• B2B (Business To Business) companies that provide services and sell products spend 11 – 12% of their annual revenue on marketing.

Keep in mind that your company’s industry, size, maturity, and sales goals should play a role as you determine the best budget for your marketing.

Managing An Existing Marketing Budget

If you already are spending money on marketing, can you pinpoint your return on investment? How can you know if you’re spending marketing money on the right tactics?

If you already have a marketing budget, now is a great time to analyze it to see if you need to make adjustments.

Audit Your Existing Marketing Expenses

Consider what you spend each month on marketing, being sure to categorize your spending by channel (i.e. website hosting, paid advertising, billboards, content creation, etc.).

Analyze Your Results

Is your marketing working for you? You can set up analytics dashboards to determine your ROI for each tactic or channel.

At 1Eighty Digital, this is something we set up for our ongoing marketing clients so we can always see how their marketing efforts are performing.

Optimize Your Spending

During your audit, if you discovered channels where you’re spending money and aren’t seeing a return, it might be time to shift your marketing tactics and move those dollars elsewhere.

For example, if you’re spending money on radio ads or billboards but aren’t seeing much of an ROI, it might be time to shift that spending to a different platform such as digital advertising.

Create A Marketing Budget For The First Time

If you’ve never created a marketing budget before, here are a few things to consider as you get started.

Understand Your Ideal Customer

Knowing the journey your typical customer takes as they move from a prospect to a paying customer is vital.

If you don’t know this, you won’t understand how to best market your products and services to your audience. Learn more about the buyer’s journey in this article by Hubspot.

Sync Your Marketing Spend To Your Goals

Different marketing tactics will align with different goals. How much you spend and what you spend it on depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

Keeping this in mind is a great way to ensure you aren’t wasting money on marketing tactics that don’t actually further your current marketing goals.

Remember, marketing goals aren’t set in stone, they will change depending on your business growth and the products you offer.

Example

If you are launching a new product and want to attract customers that may have never heard of your brand before, using display ads, sponsored social media posts, and fresh blog content to boost organic search traffic could all help accomplish that goal.

Always Track Your Results

Whether you’re new to setting a marketing budget or have created one before, remember to measure your ROI. You can’t know if your marketing is working or if you’re spending money in the right areas if you don’t track your results.

Ask Professionals For Help

Whether you’ve tried digital marketing and haven’t been able to get the results you need or are new to digital marketing, we can help! 

If you have an amount in mind that you want to spend on marketing, reach out and we can develop a customized marketing plan designed to get the most out of your marketing budget in Warsaw.

Click below to start a conversation with us so we can help set your website and your business up for growth and success today!