As we approach the start of a new year, companies start to undergo their budgeting for the upcoming quarters. Considering the economical environment we currently face, planning your budget is critical. This is especially true for your marketing budget plan. Understanding your company’s expenses can help you reduce costs in certain areas and maximize your return on investment. In this blog, we will provide a helpful guide to help you plan a successful marketing budget plan for 2023.
What is a Marketing Budget?
A marketing budget is a layout of all the money you allocate toward your marketing campaign strategies. You can break down your marketing budget into months, quarters, or the entire year. Either way, these efforts can help pinpoint your most effective and ineffective marketing channels, allowing you to use your resources to their fullest potential.
The size and complexity of your organization will determine the magnitude of your marketing budget, but it’s beneficial for businesses of all sizes to evaluate their budget. Constructing a marketing budget plan for your business will allow you to fulfill specific marketing goals without overspending.
Tips for Building a Successful Marketing Budget
Begin With Your Goals
It’s best to start by identifying your growth and promotional goals for 2023. Does your company want to focus on building relationships with existing customers? Does your business want to extend its community reach and make new connections? Determining your business goals for the following year will help you figure out where you need to invest to achieve them.
Conduct Resource Inventory
Identifying your business goals is a great first step, but you must figure out how you will achieve those goals. Take inventory of your company’s current resources to determine how you will allocate funds toward marketing strategies. Breakdown your resources into the following groups to see what your business has to offer:
- People: Is your team organized in the most optimal fashion to help achieve your marketing goals? You may need to reconsider your marketing efforts/team to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing expenses.
- Tools: Is your team equipped with the right marketing tools and software? It may be time to shop for some new tech such as Canva to create custom visuals or GetResponse to take care of your marketing automation.
- Strategic Partnerships: If your marketing goals can’t be easily satisfied with just one or two people, you should consider investing in a strategic partnership. A team like ours at Digital Mules can help carry the weight so you don’t have to!
These three groups end up being a large portion of your marketing budget, so it’s of the utmost importance to determine what your business already has and needs.
Start Allocating Your Budget
Once your goals and resources have been identified, it’s time to start allocating your budget. Remember to keep in mind that predicting the upcoming year’s economy is nearly impossible, so you must hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Look at the history of your marketing budgets and order your expenses from largest to smallest. Take into consideration the current state of the economy and future predictions. Will you need to cut down on certain areas? Will you need to relocate money from one expense to another? Although this seems like a daunting task, take it one step at a time and distribute your budget according to your highest priorities first.
Let Digital Mules Help You With Your Marketing Plan
There is a tremendous amount of effort that goes into a business’s marketing campaign. From creating content to planning a marketing budget, there’s lots of work that takes place behind the scenes. Luckily for you, our team of marketing experts is here to take care of the dirty work for you. We are an all-inclusive digital marketing agency that can create a cohesive message through all your marketing channels. To learn more about how we can help your brand grow, please contact us today to set up an appointment.