How much of your business budget should be used for marketing?

Running a small or medium sized business can sometimes feel like you are wading through dark water. When it comes down to how you run your business, there is never a definite and apparent answer as to how things should be done.

Not only are the Generate Your Audience team running our own business, but we are also a popular marketing firm, so we have a relatively deep understanding of how to split your finances.

What portion of your budget must be dedicated to sourcing new business?

In the initial start-up phase, it is important that more than half of your budget is committed solely to marketing. Do not fret if the first month or two seem out-of-control with marketing expenses – there will be high costs in initially creating certain aspects of your marketing, including your website and logo design. However, these are just once-off costs. The cost to maintain your website is going to be much cheaper than the original development of the site. Costs to create a logo should never have to be paid again (unless you re-brand).

While it may be tempting to set up a scrappy website, a quick logo and a simple company design with the thought that you can change it later, this is not a solid way to ensure you attain clients. To really kick off your business, you need quality clients… and considering you are reaching out to them cold, your website and other marketing materials need to be top-notch in order to encourage them to convert.

After twelve months in business, you should be seeing a steady flow of customers. If you run a product-based business, it is probable that you will need to continue with a high marketing budget to continue driving sales. Customers are less loyal in a product-based business, so you need to have good exposure to continually remind them to purchase from you, as well as to attract new customers all together.

Alternatively, if you run a service-based business and are happy with the size of your client base, you may reduce the portion of your budget that is being set aside to marketing. Clients will naturally fall away from time to time, so you might choose to increase your budget once the total client base drops in numbers. Though, if you are not yet happy with your client base size and growth is your trajectory, you are best to direct all profits into the marketing area.

Don’t forget the importance of marketing.

Many business owners forget how critical marketing is for both short-term and long-term success. Reducing your spend on marketing means the number of incoming clients will simultaneously reduce. Ultimately, your business is 100% reliant on the customers and clients that engage with it. If you have no customers, then you have no revenue, and your business will quickly flop. Allocate more money to effective marketing and you will give your company the opportunity to keep growing.

How does the marketing budget get split?

Traditional forms of marketing, such as advertising in newspapers or billboards, are demonstrating a significant reduction in return on investment (ROI) in recent years. Digital and progressive marketing methods are being proven as the best way to increase exposure and ensure business growth. This makes sense, as society is spending more and more time online, so this is the location that we need to be selling our services and products.

Within the realm of digital marketing is a variety of specialty areas that might be beneficial to you. Some of the main areas of digital marketing include:

• Google advertising
• Search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy
• Social media advertising, including Facebook advertising, Twitter advertising and Instagram advertising
• Website design and development

Depending on your business, you may find that some methods are more or less useful to you. As an example, businesses that are selling an already well-known and essential product will find that their audience is Googling for that product. Therefore, it is vital they have SEO in place, as well as strong Google ads. A different business that is selling a new, un-known product might benefit from advertising on social media where they can reach their audience even if they’re not specifically searching for that product.

Every business requires a slightly different plan for splitting their marketing budget. Spending time with one of the best digital marketing agencies in Australia will ensure that a tailored plan is being created to suit your needs. We can provide you with an accurate quote regarding the cost of your marketing needs or we can customise a plan to match your unique budget. Get in touch with one of our Generate Your Audience team members today. By working with us, you are guaranteeing that your money is being spend wisely and with a results-focused approach.