It’s now time to set your budget for digital marketing for 2019. Think of it as an opportunity to plan and ensure you have enough resources available to achieve your goals.
You’ll want to think about how much you spend, what channels to optimize, and whether or not to invest in new technology. The difference between failure and success can be determined by how well you set your budget. You’ll be ready for the new fiscal year if you follow the steps below.
Be Reflective
Human nature is to learn from both our successes and our mistakes. Reflecting on the past year, and even years prior to that, will help you to determine what to do in the future. What worked and what did not work for each channel? You should allocate more funds to email blasts if you find that they are effective in acquiring new customers. This is true even if your budget allows for more expensive contact methods.
You can create a digital marketing strategy and set realistic goals for next year once you identify areas that need attention and those that have worked well in the past.
Ask yourself the following questions to determine what you should do next:
When did the channel return?
Was it profitable?
What was the profit?
What was the return on investment?
How effective was the process for the channel?
Is the conversion process simple?
Can the process be optimized?
What areas should you focus on?
How important was this channel to your marketing funnel?
Was there a clear conversion path?
What is a roadblock for customers?
How can you make the conversion process easier?
It’s important to organize your finances once you’ve identified what’s working and what’s not. It’s impossible to set a realistic and accurate digital marketing budget when you are working with estimates.
You must determine how much your business makes each month and any other variables. This is known as reliable revenue.
Calculating reliable revenue is easy. As an example, if your monthly revenue ranges between $8,000 and $10,000, then your reliable revenue would be $8,000 per year. If you have a monthly revenue of $8,000 or more, it is not reliable and cannot be included in your budget.
Subtract your expenses
Business costs money. Plan for these expenses:
Visitor Acquisition Costs
What will it cost to get traffic? This is usually represented as a cost-per-click (or CPC) or cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), depending on the type and amount of advertising we are buying. Paid advertising includes online ads, banners, email marketing campaigns, PPC, blogs, and social media campaigns.
Production Costs
This can include costs for graphic design, writing, and photography, as well as other expenses required to create digital advertisements.
Technology costs
These costs cover all expenses related to building and maintaining a website.
Testing & Optimization expenses
Included in these costs are the costs of conducting competitive or industry research, including testing and creative production. These can be internal employees, consultants, or contract resources.
After determining your monthly revenue, subtract any expenses that your business must pay. This will help you create a budget for digital marketing. Realistic budgets always focus on the income that is greater than your expenses and not the total revenue. This is your disposable income.
Be Specific
The total marketing budget of a company should be between 5% to 15% of the total revenue. Digital marketing should be a significant part of your marketing budget. As a general rule, 10%-50% should be allotted to digital expenses.
You should now decide how to spend your money. It’s important that you clearly define your goals in order to achieve this.
Neil Patel is a digital marketer and the creator of Quicksprout, who says that “Marketing has to be strategic.” You need to have highly focused goals if you want to succeed. You need to create a replicable, scalable framework. This fact is true whether you are a novice or an advanced marketer. “If you don’t have a plan, you will waste time and money for your business.
Here are some examples of goals that successful companies strive to achieve with their digital marketing budget.
More revenue
Identifying customers and establishing customer acquisitions
Branding a business
Brand loyalty is important for building brand loyalty
It’s important that you dig deeper to create a system for tying specific budget portions to your main goals.
What you need to know is:
What will make this year successful? What will make the upcoming year a success?
What are the key indicators of success? What is the dollar amount? What is the dollar amount?
What must you do in Q1 and Q2 to ensure your success going into Q3 or Q4? What you do at the start of the year has a huge impact on what happens later. Decide what you need to accomplish early in the year to ensure your success.
We’re on the subject of specificity, so let’s examine some areas of your budget that you can use to get the most bang for the buck.
Make your presence known
Digital advertising requires exposure across all platforms. All devices must be able to access your content and messages. If you’re using social media ads, paid search, or organic search, your content should be able to reach users at any time.
Remember that your website will be the first thing potential customers see when they visit your site. It’s time for a website refresh if you haven’t updated it in three years.