Part 2 - Don’t Have A Business Budget? Start With This Instead.
This is Part 2 of a 2 Part Series on Budgeting. In the first part I explain why a budget is important and how if the thought of a BIG budget is overwhelming let’s start with a smaller part and focus on a marketing budget.
Marketing is the lifeblood of your business. Marketing is important because it allows you to maintain long-lasting and ever-present relationships with your audience of ideal clients. Your audience wants to form a relationship with your brand and you, and marketing can be used to do just that. Marketing is important because it helps you sell your products or services.
Knowing the different marketing vehicles available and then deciding on which are the best fit for you is essential to your success. Once that’s been decided then you must measure everything to see if you are getting the correct ROI.
Your annual marketing budget should track the spending of all your marketing initiatives for the year. This budget is essential as it give you the overview of every marketing expense.
Within an annual marketing budget you can get very granular and break down sections that are more specific by category or group some things together in bugger buckets.
Following are some categories and subsets:
Branding - this section of your marketing budget includes the costs that help you create and establish your brand. These expenses more mostly tied to marketing objectives to develop brand identity, logos and positioning and sharing that with your audience and customers and clients:
Design
Photography
Video
Printing
Equipment
Tools/Software
Paid Advertising - this includes any expenses related to paid promotion on search, social, display or traditional ads. You should also include the costs associated with creating and launching ads and can include creative costs, tools or fees to an agencies for execution.
Digital Ads
Paid Search
Display Ads
Retargeting Ads
Social Media Ads
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Twitter
Traditional Ads
Print
TV
Radio
Direct Mail
Execution
Creative
Agency/Management
Tools/Software
Public Relations - this will list any expenses related to growing your brand visibility, getting more publicity and securing extra partnerships.
Sponsorships
Content
Press Releases
Sponsored Content
Guest Posting
Attending Events
Tickets
Travel
Lodging
Per Diem
Execution
Creative
Management
Tools/Software
Website Development/Redesign - include the costs it will take to both plan your website updates as well as execute the work.
User Experience
Design
Development
Content Strategy
SEO Strategy
Website Management - track the amount of money it takes to keep your site up and running.
Domain Registration
Web Hosting
Maintenance/Security
SEO - this will be higher if you are just starting vs if you have an established site with strong rankings.
Keyword Research
On-Page SEO
Off-Site SEO
Local SEO
Tools/Software
Content Marketing - track expenses related to copy creation as well as the design and production of the content. If you sponsor posts or work with influencers you can track those costs here too.
Content Production
Blog Posts
Landing Pages
Emails
Case Studies
Whitepapers
E-Books
Videos
Downloads (Guides, Checklists, etc.)
Sponsored Posts
Influencer Promotions
Tools/Software
Social Media - this section is tied to the costs associated with content development and promotion.
Content Development
Graphics
Videos
Influencers
Sponsored Posts
Agency Fees
Tools/Software
Events - track both costs to put on the event as well as what you will need to spend at the event and for any support staff.
Venue
Hall Rental
Furniture
Equipment
Decorations
Signage
Refreshments
Drinks
Food
Speakers
Speaker Fees
Speaker Travel
Speaker Accommodations
Staff
Travel
Accommodations
Materials
Badges
Programs
Swag
Miscellaneous - this is where special items can be placed.
You want to track your marketing expenses - like all business expenses over different timelines from monthly, to quarterly and annually. The important thing is to keep reviewing.
Now that your head is ready to explode ;-) Sign up to download your free marketing budget template here. Adjust and use as it suits you. ----
Have questions? Come join the conversation in the Women’s Business Profit Lab where I share more ideas every week on how to keep more of the money you make.
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