Blog

Marketing Budget - Money Well Spent?

14.04.11

As the new financial year begins, many of us will be busy putting together our new marketing budget for 2011. Budgeting can be a difficult process; many companies estimate or base their budget on last year. We feel there are more effective means but an estimate is better than nothing. Either route you take, it is important to review and evaluate what worked and what didn’t for your business in 2010. Any time and money you spend on marketing is an investment in your business, so you need to make sure it's time and money well spent.

When completing your new marketing budget, it is important to consider any changes that may have happened in your industry. Have there been any important innovations? What about the use of technology within your market? What about the distribution channels used to deliver your product or service? 

As well as looking outside the box, it is important to consider factors within your business. What were the most successful marketing activities last year? Can they be repeated? It might be an event your business ran or a successful lead generation campaign. Likewise, what are the failures that should be omitted all together this year? Did your advert generate any sales? What about the mailouts? Did you follow them up with a phone call? No? Perhaps that is why they weren’t more effective. When evaluating the relative success or failures from last year, it is important to ascertain whether it was the implementation of the campaign or the activity itself that was fundamental in the success or failure. Don’t make kneejerk reactions.

A new international survey from E-consultancy and SAS found that overall marketing budgets are up, with over 52% of UK businesses claiming to have increased their marketing budget for 2011. Digital marketing continues to be the focus for many marketing budgets, with 72% of companies investing online, compared to 26% purely on offline channels such as print and direct mail.

As an SME ourselves, we understand that marketing budgets can be tight. But that doesn’t mean you can’t budget. We’ve put together some effective, low cost activities that your business can do online in 2011. The success of these activities can be easily measured, helping evaluate the success of your activities when it comes time to define your budget for 2012.

• Web Content – Is your website up to date, do you spend time generating new and relevant content for your website? Keeping your content moving is a great way of getting the search engines to love your website and keeping your target audience fully informed. Do you use Google Analytics to review traffic to your website on a monthly basis? Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool for businesses to understand and measure the effectiveness of their marketing mix – a great way to determine appropriate areas for your future marketing budget.
• Social Media – Do you have a strategy in place? Have you set a target of likes/followers you want to reach in the next 6 months? Yes, you do have to invest your time in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, however, it’s a great way to showcase your business and keep customers up to date with your business activities and news.
• Email Marketing – Do you monitor who views and opens your email campaigns. E-marketing software is a great tool to measure how successful your emails have been. Integrate your email marketing with telemarketing; call the companies that are showing an interest in your emails.

Now is the time businesses need to look closely at their past, present and future marketing activities. Businesses need to create more revenue for less cost and this can take some creative thinking. If you are struggling to know where to spend your marketing budget most effectively on measurable solutions, click here to find out more about TLC Business FREE Marketing MOT. 

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April's Top Marketing Tips

13.04.11

1. A selection of SME apps for your blackberry. From a travel assistant that gives users instant access to travel and weather updates to an app to help you source the best place for a business lunch.
2. Mylikesbox - Facebook application that provides an easy way to view your Facebook likes.  Each page’s thumbnail image is shown for easy recognition. You can also filter your Likes by viewing pages according to their categories.
3. Do Less - Another eBook from Seth Godin. Learn how to be pickier about what you do and who you do it for so you can enjoy more of your life.

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Marketing for Dummies

05.04.11

MARKETING FOR DUMMIES
This was a very funny email a client sent us. Hope you enjoy it.

1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I'm very rich. Marry me!"

          -That's Direct Marketing

2. You are at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: "He's rich. Marry him."

          -That's Advertising

3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. Next day you call her and say: "Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me!"

          -That's Telemarketing

4. You are at a party and see a gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you go up to her and pour her a drink, you open the door (of a car) for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride and then say: "By the way, I'm rich. Will you marry me?"

          -That's Public Relations

5. You are at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: "You are very rich. Can you marry me?"

          -That's Brand Recognition

 6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I'm very rich. Marry me!" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.

          -That's Customer Feedback

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I'm very rich. Marry me!" She introduces you to her husband.

          -That's Supply and Demand Gap

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say anything, another person comes up to her and says: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she goes with him.

          -That's Competition Eating into your Market Share

9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say: "I'm rich. Marry me!" your wife arrives.

          -That's Restriction for Entering New Markets

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