This small business marketing budget focuses on what can impact your marketing budget. It’s full of tips on how your can manage your marketing on a shoestring budget too.
Here is the full transcript/blog written and produced by Chartered Marketer, Tracy Heatley.
Your Small Business Marketing Budget
Your small business marketing budget doesn’t have to be massive. One of my marketing mentoring clients has recently done a testimonial video for me. At the start of the video, he talks about how he feared speaking to a marketing professional, like me, because he assumed that he would have to allocate thousands of pounds for a marketing budget that he just didn’t have.
This is not uncommon, and you may be able to relate to this yourself. Let me assure you that this client of mine trebled his turnover within six weeks of us working together with what started as a zero-marketing budget.
Marketing Strategy And Marketing Messages
For small businesses, especially those with a small or even no marketing budget, getting your marketing strategy and messages are vital. You can still reach out to your target market on a shoestring budget, if you get your strategy right.
There are all sorts of clever marketing techniques you can use to attract the right customers. Don’t put of your marketing for fear of cost. Just make sure you know what you need to say and who to say it too. Know your customer!
If you’re struggling with developing your strategy, then speak to a marketing professional like me and get the help you need. It’s far more costly to put things right than it is to get it right from the start. So, ask yourself can you afford not to get the help you need?
Don’t Be The Best Kept Secret In Town
There are so many businesses that invest time and money in products, systems, premises, operations, and staff, but dismiss marketing. Leaving little or no marketing budget at all.
In a world where we can get what we want almost immediately, customer demands are higher than every before, so if you don’t provide what your customers want, then your competitors will.
Plus, there’s no point being the best kept secret in town. Don’t let your potential customers go elsewhere because they didn’t even know you existed.
Eventually, you ought to have at least eight, nine or ten different forms of marketing activities that are working and getting results. However, you don’t need that right now.
You can build it up over time. Start small and use the resources that you have wisely. Whether you’ve got a £50,000 marketing budget or £500, every penny counts when you’re running a small business. Spend it wisely!
Monitor And Evaluate
Monitor and evaluate your marketing. With some larger organisations, a huge marketing budget may be allocated. Often, hundreds of thousands of pounds or even millions. As a Chartered Marketer, I’m of the opinion that all marketing should be monitored and evaluated to make sure it’s resulting in a return on investment. However, with some larger organisations this may seem less important. If the marketing department doesn’t spend the allocated budget, they’re unlikely to get to same desired budget the following quarter or year.
However, as a small business there will be no such luxury. Time and money are simply far too valuable to waste on ineffective marketing. So, allocate your marketing budget in a way to you can monitor the results and you get a more direct response. Direct response marketing is less costly and easier to monitor than brand awareness activities. I’ll talk about the differences between the two in a future episode.
How To Monitor, Evaluate And Develop Your Marketing Activities
Now, let’s move away from the thought of a quarterly and annual marketing budget, because for many small business owners, this will be unrealistic.
Your budget may depend on monthly sales and profits generated. Or you may be able to allocate a small amount each month right now. Like pay-as-you go marketing. That’s okay too. Like I said earlier, you don’t always have to spend a fortunate to get results.
Start off with one of the less costly marketing activities to begin with, then you can reinvest a proportion of the increased sales and profits generated from your marketing efforts, into even more marketing. Steadily introducing new forms of marketing communications and ways to reach out to your target market.
Carry on doing what works and ditch what doesn’t work. Therefore, increasing your return on investment. Remember, the future of your business will be directly correlated to what you do now. Sew the marketing seed, nurture it, and watch it grow.
Even if you start with one form of marketing communications, like social media, for example, which will get you off to a cracking start. One form of marketing is better than none!
As a small business owner, your marketing budget is not just how much you have to spend, it’s about how much time you must invest in marketing for it to be effective.
Plus, you need to make sure that you have the infrastructure in place to cope with higher demands, because if you don’t it could negatively impact the business. I would think about this as you’re allocating your budget too. Even if you have a healthy marketing budget to begin with, it may be prudent to spread it out over time, so that you don’t reach a point where you don’t have enough supply to meet demand.
What To Do Now
Whether you’re on a shoestring marketing budget or not, just do it! Get started! You must create ripples before a wave will form.
If you’re uncertain about how to develop your marketing strategy, you don’t know how to create your marketing plan, or you need some advice on allocating your marketing budget feel free to get in touch with me. You can contact me via my website or find me on LinkedIn.
There’s also a number of other free resources like more podcasts, blogs, book reviews and radio interviews that I’ve done with successful business owners. They are all on my website and they may be useful for you. Check these out for yourself at www.tracyheatley.com
To take part in this month’s podcast prize giveaway, just subscribe and leave me a review. Then, you’ll be added into the prize draw with the potential to have a free 40-minute one-to-one online marketing mentoring session with me.
To find out more about my marketing consultancy, marketing mentoring or outsourced marketing director services, all the information you need is right here.
Feel free to get in touch to find out more.
I’m Tracy Heatley and I thank you for listening to my Be Better With Tracy Heatley podcast.
Better Business – Better You!
