How to Spend Marketing Budget in an Online World

Many professional marketers feel they don’t have the budget they truly need to accomplish everything they want to do. In most cases, you’ll simply need to make do with whatever you’re given from management. Even if you feel it isn’t enough, knowing how to spend a marketing budget properly will help you. That’s why you need a marketing budget plan.

What is a marketing budget plan?

A marketing budget plan tells you how you’ll spend the funds you’ve been given. The budget you’re given outlines what funds you have to spend on marketing. It may break down the funds somewhat, allocating some funds to certain initiatives, or it may give you more free rein.

This can help you visualize how funds are spent. It can also help you make better plans for how to spend your marketing budget.

How exactly should you spend a marketing budget in an online world? There are many ways to spend the funds you’ve been given. Here are a few ideas that make a lot of sense.

How to Spend a Marketing Budget

The biggest problem with the online world for marketers is the sheer number of choices available. You can spend a marketing budget in many different ways. Not every option available to you is a good one. Some plans are obviously better than others, just as some marketing methods are more effective than others.

This is why you need a marketing budget plan. The plan allows you to strategize your marketing budget spend. You can allocate particular percentages to certain kinds of marketing initiatives, and you can analyze how much you’re spending on particular activities and why.

Which Activities Are Best?

The next question you likely have is which online marketing activities are actually worth your investment.

The answer is a bit complex. There’s merit to many, if not most, of the online marketing and advertising options available. Some may be better than others depending on your industry, audience, and budget.

You’ll want to invest in initiatives such as social media marketing, paid search, and search engine optimization. You might also look at video advertising and content marketing, such as blogging or how-to videos. Email marketing should form another portion of your budget.

Obviously, these various marketing options have different costs. Social media marketing can be very cost-effective, but it doesn’t always have the highest ROI. You’ll want to carefully evaluate costs versus value of any marketing tactic you choose.

Creating the Right Marketing Mix

When you ponder how to spend a marketing budget, you’ll want to be sure you’re creating the right marketing mix. This means you shouldn’t put all your money behind one option. Instead, carefully allocate your funds to the highest value activities.

Email marketing, for example, is still incredibly effective. It can be somewhat more costly than organic social media posting, but it has a higher ROI. Paid search can be a good option, but it can become too expensive if it’s not done correctly.

How do you decide the right mix? Think about your ideal buyer. Where can you reach them, and how do they want to interact with you? If you’re marketing to business people, then you might find Twitter or LinkedIn are better options than Instagram or YouTube ads.

How Much Should You Spend?

This is another important question to ask. How much should you spend on any online marketing activity? The answer depends a bit on the value of the activity. You can justify spending a bit more on high-value activities.

Carefully review the ROI of various initiatives as you create your marketing budget plan. Learning how to spend a marketing budget effectively will help you succeed in this online world.