#1 – Planning
Planning is essential to any marketing campaign, and knowing exactly where your dollars are going to be spent helps effectively increase your chances of reaching a successful ROI.
Using the good ol’ Excel spreadsheet can still help you effectively plan your marketing budget, but today a bunch of great tools exist to help you out as well. We suggest trying PlanGuru or Tagetik to get you started.
#2 – Testing
To have an effective marketing budget, it is important to test where the most success for your campaigns will lie. Allocating small amounts of ad spend in various areas will allow you to test where you can best pick up traction.
#3 – Goals
Goals for your budgets are a must. It is important to know what you are working towards with your marketing budgets. This can include your ROI, growth analysis, reach, and response rates.
#4 – Implementation
Creating an action plan will allow your team to know exactly where your budget will be applied to. Whether it is PPC, SEM, Social Media or any other form of marketing, an action plan correctly outlines the strategy for implementation.
#5 – Distribution
Where will you get the best bang for your buck? This is the age-old question. Having at least one solid distribution channel for your business is vital to creating a successful marketing campaign.
#6 – Analytics
Google Analytics, Raven Tools, and Sprout Social all offer great ways to track the performance of your marketing budget. Having eyes on the data that indicates success can help you increase your ROI.
#7 – Create Effective Messages
More direct messages in your creative will allow you to attract more relevant customers. This helps raise your conversion rates and increase sales to the right people.
#8 – Doubling Down
If you see an area that is working, double down! Putting more ad spend behind a marketing dimension that is seeing growth and market response is a great way to get the most out of your budget.
#9 – Repurpose Content
If you are spending money on good content you should repurpose it and share it multiple times online. Get the most mileage out of it and use it to engage users.
#10 – Pivot or Cut Your Losses
Don’t be afraid to pivot or change direction if a marketing tactic is not working. Also, retiring ads or cutting funding to a certain area is something every business must do, don’t grow too attached to something if it is not working out!
Effective marketing is what sets you apart from your competitors in this day and age. The subject comes up in my Bristol business mentor office almost on a daily basis