Many marketers have less marketing budget to spend right now. Yes, this is a sad fact even if sales are currently buoyant following the relaxation in restrictions. Naturally, there are a lucky few with increased budgets where supply scales to meet increasing demand. Some are tentatively waiting on approval from the board, owners or CEO/CFO after returning from a summer break. As a result, we ask the question with less marketing budget, where are the right places to spend it?
Less marketing budget is a challenge
Although you may have tried your hardest to get your budget approved, many found the reality was underwhelming. Last year’s brand building budget was a gangbusting £10m and you could only spend £5m due to the pandemic. Now, your request for another £2m to make it £7m came back with a lower still £2.5m brand budget. Oh dear. How are we expected to work with one quarter of the amount?
Unfortunately, most third-parties have not reduced their prices by 75% and so you are forced to think about doing less. Alternatively, you may do different things or bring some activities in-house. The strategic view is to transform how you do what you do but can you really achieve the same with 25% of the previous year?
We previously wrote about getting back to business as usual after the pandemic for some tips on your approach.
Less is not always more
Looking at the FMCG world, a sizeable cut to brand budgets may mean abandoning entire channels. Glitzy TV advertising? Next year. Nationwide radio campaign? Side-lined. Doubling-down on pay-per-click? Think again.
Not only may your hand be forced in terms of channels but also the scale of what you do. Last year’s omni-channel campaign and £1m budget to launch a new product went down well but didn’t deliver the sales uptick you desired. How would you do the same with £250k? That 30 second ad may be reduced to 15 seconds. That radio campaign perhaps becomes a regional push. The paid ads become social media posts.
Ironically, a lot of the pressure that we have seen has come from either insourcing work or automation. The best copywriters, creatives, videographers and techies may no longer be on the roll call and some had to fend for themselves. This can be a short-sighted decision, most keenly seen in B2B services, where prospects and customers can tell the internal from the external content.
Key point: “prospects and customers can tell the internal from the external content”.
Furthermore, automation is not always a silver bullet because not all tools allow the automation you need. Sometimes, it requires further investment in knowledge and development during thrifty times.
Where do you spend what marketing budget you do have?
The first ports of call may seem obvious. Social media marketing is often viewed as a low-cost, democratised and even ‘free’ way of marketing your wares. There was a time when around 6% of your organic posts would be seen in someone’s social feed. Now, according to Hootsuite, that statistic is about 1 in 20 on Facebook. Yes, less than 5% of your organic posts are seen by page fans. As social media feeds become saturated, and the effort to post is certainly not free, getting the message across becomes harder.
Key point: “less than 5% of your organic posts are seen by page fans”.
Alternatively, you may decide to look at an SEO strategy. Unfortunately, improving your search engine marketing is far from a quick win. Both solutions suggest paid advertising but you may have less budget for this. Given the answer is often digital, digital, digital, the temptation is to invest in a platform that does what people would do. The reality is that investment in digital is often on top of your already stretched team.
So, what’s left that will have an impact? There is no single answer because it will be different for every business in every industry. However, what we do know is that good marketing research and planning is a great place to start. Why not check out some of our suggested trends for next year to give you some ideas.
Planning right so that you spend it wisely
Researching where the opportunities are and planning on how to tackle them will give you credence when asking for budget. Better still, a keen focus on data, attribution and return on investment will help. But if you have a large amount of planned activity to deliver with a smaller purse, should you just do the same but a little less of it? Ultimately, it depends if what you were doing before was working.
Key point: “it depends if what you were doing before was working”.
Brand budgets are most likely to fall into the latter category. Most people understand that removing a brand from public consciousness is a bad idea, especially in the cut and thrust of B2C. B2B budget holders tend to face greater scrutiny over results and hence are more likely open to finding where biggest bang for buck will result.
All marketing planning exercises require research to underpin your strategic choices. From diversification to product launches to entering new markets, significant investment and results are riding on it.
Helping to identify the most effective places to spend
One of the advantages of being a consultancy is having a broad range of experiences and expertise. With a variety of corporate clients across different industries, we are well placed to help you identify the right solutions. You might ask why spend on consultancy when budgets are tight? Put simply, we help you do more with less or help you devise new strategies and plans to achieve them. In summary, we help you to think differently and to think beyond what you do today.
If you would like to discuss your marketing challenges, simply email us at sales@think-beyond.co.uk.
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Finally, check out our other articles on news, advice and tips.