How to Make the Most of Your Marketing Budget: 5 Tips for Saving Money Without Sacrificing Quality

 

If you’re anything like us, you love to get the most bang for your buck. Expenses within a company pile up quicker than that mountain of dirty laundry your old college roommate used to accumulate every. Single. Week. 

When it comes to your marketing budget, you really want to make the most of your spend and increase ROI. So much of your business relies on bringing in new leads, nurturing leads, and engaging with your target audience in a way that builds relationships and brings in more sales. 

But how do you get the most return out of your marketing budget? 

Well, it’s convenient that you should ask because we’re writing a whole blog about it…like…right now.

 

Where Do You Start?

To make the most of your marketing budget, you have to start with determining your areas of expense and prioritizing accordingly. 

Depending on your goals, budget, and strategy, you have a variety of options when it comes to marketing channels and expenses, including (but not limited to):

• Content creation (social media posts, blogs, videos, etc)
• Advertising (print, billboard, radio, TV, etc) 
• New hires/freelancers/current staff salaries
• Software/Hardware/Tools
• Outsourcing
• Events
• Swag

Everyone’s strategy and goals are different. Some aspects of marketing will be non-negotiable, while others might not be applicable depending on your stage of growth or business plan. Examine your company’s current and anticipated areas of expense and prioritize your marketing budget to fit the needs. 

Create a spreadsheet or use some other marketing budget template or program to map out your plan of attack. Include your allotted budget for each channel or item and track what you actually spend as you move forward to determine if you can get by with less or require a reevaluation.  

The K.I.S.S. summary: Align your marketing budget with your goals. 

 

Our Top Tips for Making the Most of Your Marketing Budget

1. Reuse and Repurpose Content.

If you really want to get the most out of your marketing budget, think recycle. You take something and use it in every way possible, extending its reach and lifespan. 

This is especially effective when used with social media platforms or other media channels, which are basically free advertising. Aside from the cost of a copywriter/content creator, social media manager, or gear/technician for video content, the channels through which you can post and promote your business are low to no cost. 

It’s a brave new digital world, and the vast majority of humanity is socializing on one platform or the other. Creating content that you can then tweak for each specific platform and repurpose is a smart way to stretch your marketing budget and encourage low-cost, high-return engagement. 

Edit long-form YouTube videos into shorts to be re-used for YouTube shorts, TikTok, Instagram, or LinkedIn posts. Paraphrase and reformat key blog points for Twitter or LinkedIn. Get creative!

2. Follow the Crowd.

…No, we’re not encouraging you to be a lemming. We’re saying if you want to reach your target audience, you have to understand them, know where they’re congregating, and follow them there.

Dedicate time and resources within your marketing budget to invest in your marketing channels, track metrics, and see what performs the best. You can even ask your audience through surveys to better understand their preferred modes of communication and interaction. 

Once you figure out the best ways to engage your target audience, go all in! Invest more time in the modes and methods that perform the best on your thriving platforms, and consider reevaluating your marketing budget and redirecting a larger chunk of your resources in those directions.

3. Measure ROI to Determine Effectiveness.

To further elaborate on a point we just mentioned, you want to pay careful attention to the data coming in across your marketing efforts as a whole. Maximizing your marketing budget (and any budget, for that matter) requires careful observation and consideration of how funds are being spent and if that money is bringing in a solid ROI. 

This is not a one-time deal. This is an ongoing process. The market is always shifting and changing, requiring constant monitoring and data collection to ensure you’re staying on top of things. 

Think of it this way. Your 5-year-old daughter claims she loves broccoli and consumes it with gusto whenever it is present for 3 weeks straight. So each week you buy a couple of good-sized heads to keep up with the demand. 

But after the third week, there is a shift in the dynamic and suddenly you notice the leftover broccoli piling up in the refrigerator. Consumption dies off as your daughter pulls a 180 and decides overnight that broccoli is no longer suitable to look at, let alone put in her mouth. 

If you continue to purchase broccoli at the same rate, you would be wasting money that could be spent on the newest veggie trend (or invested in the eternally necessary chicken nugget budget). The return on your broccoli investment would take a nosedive and you’d wind up with a refrigerator full of uneaten broccoli.

Instead, you change with the tide and invest in what IS being eaten to get the most bang for your buck. 

…TL;DR: Pay attention to the data you receive from your marketing efforts, change with the tides and trends, and use that information to guide and divvy up your marketing budget accordingly. 

4. Love on Your Leads.

You can’t ignore the value of lead nurturing when it comes to increasing the ROI of your marketing budget. The whole point of marketing is to draw leads in and make sales. People buy from brands they trust, and trust is grown through relationships…and those relationships develop through lead nurturing. 

• Make it Personal. Research your audience, engage with them on social media, and become invested in their journey.

• Create Content Strategically. What does your target audience enjoy reading, watching, listening to, or interacting with? Cater to their desires.

• Remain Receptive to Feedback. When you receive feedback with humility, grace, and a genuine desire to help your lead, it proves that you care more about people than making money.

• Offer Value. Show how you can solve a problem and save time, energy, and money.

Lead nurturing serves as a way to keep your company in front of your audience, and while it might not bring in a sale right away, you keep your leads warm and aware of your presence. When they ARE ready, you’ll be the first to come to mind.

5. Outsource.

In case you haven’t noticed, operating all the moving parts of a business takes a LOT of work. Time, energy, and resources are constantly pinched. And while allotting a chunk of your marketing budget towards outsourcing might feel counter-intuitive, it will actually save you money long-term. 

You know your company best. You know the tasks your team struggles to accomplish. There are always people to pick up the slack, but that kind of grind day in and day out only promotes a toxic workplace culture, causing stress and loss of revenue as your teams can’t do their own jobs properly. 

Investing in an outsourced partner for specific tasks changes that dynamic instantly and removes the weight from your team. They no longer have to waste time trying to do tasks they aren’t confident in or qualified to do. Everyone can focus on their OWN jobs, increasing satisfaction, productivity, and the overall efficiency of your company. This, in turn, increases revenue as your business stops faltering like an overheated car and start running like the newest model of (insert your favorite vehicle here). 

 

Squeeze is That Outsourced Partner You’re Looking For. 

It’s a bold statement, but one we truly believe in. We want to see you make the most of your marketing budget and increase efficiency in every area of your business. Our driving motivation is your success, and we’re ready to start TODAY.

What about you? Are you over the stress and burnout that comes from trying to do everything in-house? 

We don’t blame you. You can make all the difference in your company by simply dropping us a message today and letting us support you. Let’s get your company back on track and more profitable than ever before!