Marketing budget ratio
During this time of the year, a lot of SMBs are trying to squeeze in some planning for their next fiscal year’s budget. At the same time, they are working to close what is in their pipeline to meet this year’s revenue targets. The resulting mad rush often means decision-makers are cutting corners to make marketing fit in. My experience has been that even though they had hired a Marketing Director (me), the tendency towards marketing planning based on “guesstimates” was deeply ingrained. Why? Because marketing due diligence takes time. Old habits die hard.
To counter old and hasty decision-making habits, I always started hunting around for current Marketing Budget Ratio (MBR) statistics right around mid-fall. Researching budget trends helped me rationalize and validate the numbers I knew I needed in order to create viable marketing programs. Without my due diligence, it would have been difficult to persuade the C-suite decision makers that my marketing strategies and budget were soundly based. I needed a baseline to make this happen.
Information = Power.
Even though this B2C article entitled: 5 Key Tips and Data Points to Defend Your 2015 Marketing Budget is a year old, it is still relevant because it surmises the key questions Marketing Directors need to be able to answer with solid conviction:
- How much should we spend?
- What should be the mix between program and people spend?
- Which marketing programs should we invest in?
- What is the expected ROI from our marketing investments, including social media?
For the latest 2015 MBR stats check out the CMO 2015 – August report.
Happy planning!
Donna