Developing a Small Business Marketing Budget

Dec 15, 2021

Many of the small businesses we work with are mystified by the idea of creating a small business marketing budget, and we understand why the task can be so daunting. It’s true now more than ever that businesses need to spend money to make money, but ROI is increasingly difficult to calculate. 

Your business growth goals and needs are as unique as your business itself, so it’s ideal to work with a marketing professional to drill down the numbers. That said, there are some universal truths that businesses of all sizes across all industries can depend on when working on a marketing budget that offers that sought-after ROI.

Begin With a Plan

The most successful marketing works by helping your business stand out from its competitors, and without a plan, you won’t know how to do that. Understanding customer demographics, spending habits, and media consumption patterns will give you a much clearer picture of allocating line items in your budget. You wouldn’t go on a road trip without a map, would you?

Drop In on Competitors

Think about your industry peers and competition. Where are they spending most of their time and money when it comes to marketing? You likely won’t get a close look at exact numbers. Still, you can easily stay updated about their efforts by doing what their customers do – following them on social media and signing up for email newsletters.

Factor In Acquisition Costs

Be honest and ask yourself if you know how much it costs your business to acquire new customers. Once you know that number, you can plug it into an equation that helps you understand how many new customers you can bring in based on marketing budget projections. This estimate alone can quantify the methods you outlined in the plan you made at the outset of the process.

Don’t Forget the Website

It’s easy for small business owners to overlook their website’s role in an overall marketing strategy, but it’s now a necessary inclusion in every business’s marketing budget. Not only do you need a professionally designed site that works with your overall branding identity, but it also needs to be consistently optimized to turn visitors into customers.

Reputation Management Matters

While your business can easily guide marketing messages and track ROI through content, it’s also important to know what customers are saying about you on areas of the internet aside from social media. Online reputation management ensures that you stay on top of your reputation, getting your name out there in positive ways and dealing with any negative reviews as they show up to minimize their damage. 

Pay to Play

Organic content (like social media posts) offers a high ROI, but online advertising has quickly become one of the top advertising methods for small businesses. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads can be one of the most effective, affordable ways to get your phone ringing. Of course, as with any tactic that works well, you’re not the only company in your niche using PPC ads. The competition means that small businesses can easily get lost in the crowd. 

Package It Up

Ultimately, the easiest way to see a return on your marketing budget is by working with a partner that can tailor-make a package to fit your small business’s needs. Digital marketing, content marketing, SEO, website creation, social media, and email can be confusing and overwhelming. So why add in the need to manage different vendors across every channel?

All of our programs include fundamentals like building or redesigning a new website. Most importantly, we also nurture and maintain your site for you with ongoing new content, technical and security updates, testimonials, and SEO best practices to continuously improve your search results.

We also link your site to the rest of the top online platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (plus others like Pinterest and Instagram if relevant for your business). We nurture those accounts with a steady stream of original content.

Whether you want to look professional to prospective customers or employees who are “kicking your tires” or if you also want to gain a steady stream of new leads and phone calls generated from Google searches that lead to your website, we can help. Get in touch today to get started!

Forecasting the Next Ten Years of Marketing

10 Apr, 2024
Marketing is gearing up for significant changes as we enter the new decade. With new technologies, shifts in buyer behavior, and changes in consumption culture, the way businesses reach out to customers will look very different in the coming years. While we can't say what marketing will look like in 10 years, we can examine emerging trends and strategies to forecast its future. Here are some predictions experts are suggesting could take shape moving forward. Increasing Personalized Advertising Personalized marketing should undergo even more profound transformations in the coming decade, leveraging advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics to forge deeper customer connections. With the ability to glean insights from vast amounts of data, companies will craft highly tailored ads and messages that resonate with individual preferences and behaviors, fostering stronger brand-consumer relationships. From dynamic content customization to predictive marketing algorithms, the era of hyper-personalization will redefine how businesses engage with their target audiences on a one-to-one level. Advanced Device Communication The proliferation of voice-enabled devices and virtual assistants heralds a new era in consumer engagement, requiring marketers to adapt their strategies to communicate effectively through these mediums. As voice technology continues to gain traction, companies must anticipate the rise of voice commerce and tailor their approaches to accommodate this emerging trend. By leveraging conversational AI and natural language processing, brands can deliver seamless, personalized experiences that resonate with consumers, whether shopping, seeking information, or interacting with digital assistants. Wider Use of Virtual Reality Virtual reality (VR) is poised to become a ubiquitous tool in the marketer's arsenal, offering immersive experiences that transcend traditional advertising methods. With VR, brands can transport consumers into captivating virtual environments where they can interact with products and services unprecedentedly, fostering deeper engagement and brand loyalty. As VR technology becomes more accessible and sophisticated, expect to see a proliferation of immersive marketing campaigns that leverage the power of virtual experiences to captivate audiences and drive conversions.

The Power of Storytelling

12 Mar, 2024
Marketing tends to focus on analytics and systems, but we sometimes forget about one powerful tool that has existed since the beginning: storytelling. From our ancestors telling ancient myths to be passed down for the generations to come to modern-day brand narratives, stories have held the power to inspire and connect in all different ways. Today, consumers face a constant bombardment of advertisements and catered content; using the power of storytelling in marketing campaigns has become critical for businesses, especially smaller firms aiming to create meaningful connections with their target clients. Why Storytelling is an Effective Strategy When a brand uses storytelling to convey its message, it connects with the audience emotionally. By telling a compelling story, marketers can create a memorable experience for consumers, making them more likely to remember and engage with the brand. Additionally, storytelling allows marketers to communicate the brand's values and personality more authentically. Instead of bombarding consumers with sales pitches, storytelling enables brands to share their stories and build trust with their audience, increasing brand loyalty and customer engagement. The Emotional Resonance of Stories At the heart of storytelling lies its ability to bring out emotions and create profound connections on a human level. Unlike traditional marketing messages focusing solely on product features or sales pitches, stories can engage the audience's imagination, stir empathy, and spark genuine interest. By weaving narratives that resonate with their target audience's hopes, dreams, and challenges, small marketing firms can create a powerful emotional bond that transcends transactional relationships. Building Brand Identity and Authenticity Storytelling is a potent tool for small businesses to authentically define and express their brand identity. Through compelling narratives that reflect their values, mission, and vision, small firms can differentiate themselves from competitors and carve out a distinct identity in the minds of consumers. Whether recounting the founder's journey, highlighting customer success stories, or showcasing the company's commitment to social responsibility, storytelling allows small businesses to humanize their brand and foster customer trust and loyalty.

A Guide to Employee-Generated Content

13 Feb, 2024
In a world of "influencer marketing" and brand deals, companies can easily overspend their marketing budgets and get caught up in the frenzy. An influencer may feature your product or brand only for their videos to perform poorly. At best, you lose out on the money spent sending the product to the influencer and whatever you spent on hiring them. At worst, your business gets a bad reputation online, and customers don't take your brand seriously. Consider that influencer marketing is just the "shiny new toy" in marketing. In that case, companies should continue to produce consistent, cost-effective outcome. One source for this? Your Employees. Employee-generated content refers to any videos, pictures, or copy that employees publicly post about their position and the company. Find out the benefits of employee-generated content (EGC), what this content can look like, and how to implement EGC into your overall strategy. What Does Employee-Generated Content Look Like? The beauty of employee-generated content is that it can take many forms. Any content your employees make that involves details about their role, the company itself, or the relationships they've developed with coworkers or customers/clients can be EGC. A simple, straightforward EGC piece can be an employee spotlight for new hires or veteran employees. You can choose to craft employee spotlights as infographics with a picture of the employee along with some fun facts about them, write a long-form piece from an interview with the employee speaking about their time at the company, or even long or short-form videos with the employee speaking on their experiences. While these methods may require the help of a graphic designer, copywriter, or videographer, the idea is that the employees generate the content by speaking about their experiences and introducing themselves. Other ideas for EGC pieces might be "day in the life" videos following a specific employee throughout their day, reflections employees have from conferences or professional development opportunities, employment milestones or recognitions, or even just pictures employees take with each other or showing what happened that day. There are limitless options and iterations for employee-generated content, and the key is to find out what works well for your business and why.
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