When it comes to planning your marketing budget, the process can be daunting. Unfortunately, this leads many companies to fall back on reusing an old budget. But this is a big misstep. To maximize the impact of your marketing dollars, you must leverage a strategic approach to budgeting. In general, you can craft a strategic marketing budget in three steps.

Step 1: Reflect on the Past Year

The first step in crafting a successful marketing budget is a retrospective analysis of the previous year’s performance. Start by delving into your data. Where did your marketing budget go last year, and what were the outcomes? How many leads did you generate, and, more importantly, how many resulted directly from your marketing efforts?

Determine your cost per lead and the average revenue you earned per client. Once you know this, you can evaluate your ROI. Do this bycomparing the revenue generated from new SQLs to the budget spent by channel. Analyzing the past year’s performance empowers you to make data-driven decisions, paving the way for a successful year ahead.

Step 2: Set the Course for the Future

Now armed with insights from the past, it’s time to set your sights on the future. Define your growth goals for the upcoming year. How many new leads do you want to acquire? What is your overarching revenue goal? Given those goals (and your knowledge from the last year) how many new clients are needed to meet your revenue goal? Clear, measurable goals plus a data-driven approach ensures realistic and attainable objectives.

Pro Tip: This is also where you should consider seasonal variations. Some industries experience fluctuations at certain times of the year. Acknowledge any seasonality in your business and adjust your marketing budget accordingly.

Step 3: Chart Your Strategy

With goals in place, align your marketing budget with a strategic go-to-market plan for the coming year. Reflect on past marketing strategies. Identify what worked well and what didn’t. Consider your audience’s preferences. Using all the information you have, allocate your budget strategically. Whether it’s digital advertising, content marketing, social media, or traditional advertising, make informed decisions about where to invest your marketing dollars.

Remember, while your marketing budget is usually set, your allocations can have wiggle room. Regularly monitor campaign performance and be ready to adapt and reallocate your budget if something isn’t working as expected.

Marketing Roadside Assistance

Creating a marketing budget is a crucial aspect of planning for the future of your business. While the steps here provide a starting point, they’re not all encompassing. If you’d like to dive deeper, check out our “Roadmap to Your Marketing Budget.” This guide further elaborates on the three-step process we outlined here. It provides more detailed direction for each step and proposes specific action items for each. By following this roadmap, you’ll be better equipped to set a budget that aligns with your goals, optimizes your resources, and ensures the growth and success of your business in the coming year.