Part 3 of 3 for newly-minted, budget-responsible, B2B marketing professionals
In earlier posts, I addressed how you can cement your marketing department's relevance with good planning. And I explained a concrete method to use budget planning as a managerial tool. My final post on this topic addresses tactics to get the most from your budget.
Barring a new CEO with a disruptive strategy, don’t expect huge year-on-year marketing budget increases. Management needs a compelling “reason to buy” if you are requesting additional resources. “Data” and “trust” are your two best friends.
Let’s take trust first. It isn’t rocket science. The best way to earn trust is to be trustworthy. Say what you’re going to do. Do it. Report how it went. Over a series of budget cycles, show yourself as attuned to company strategy, realistic in your ask, and responsible in how you use resources to meet your stated (and approved) goals. Your budget should include a 5-year ambition, recent progress, and a concrete plan for the year in question.
If your budget grows, it’s a good idea to purposely divide the additional resources into long term branding and short term initiatives. The short term initiatives will give you measurable results you can bring to the table in the next budget cycle. You will have more success asking for an increased budget if your management sees concrete benefits of their past decisions to increase the marketing budget. Of course, you can measure anything that directly supports the sales funnel. But you can also measure “softer” benefits. For example, if you convert a freelance budget to a permanent headcount, your task will be to document the additional results this person accomplishes for the same amount of money. These are examples of “data.”
Good timing can enhance your budget cycle success. Be thoughtful about when you initiate market initiatives.
Months 1-6: Activities from which you need data for your next budget cycle. Examples could be:
Research, either purchased or conducted yourself.
Testing the value of digital ads on various platforms and investing time to make an overview of each platform's success.
An initiative designed to increase newsletter signups
Using three months to log the time it takes to manage freelancers (as opposed to having in-house staff) as part of your cost-savings overview of hiring headcount
Initiate newly funded activities as soon as possible so you’ll have data to report in your next budget cycle
Months 4-10: Branding activities or other long-game initiatives where you don’t expect to have or need results for next year’s budget cycle.
This blog series hasn’t touched much on branding vs marketing. Branding is a long game that is difficult to measure but must not be ignored. It is reputation building; every company needs it and knows they need it. Don’t shy away from championing it. Be sure to allocate budget to it. But don’t be a purist. It can be difficult for management to approve a large budget allocated to branding, so combine branding with other marketing activities. And document these for next year’s budget cycle. Examples:
a. In a large product launch, scope the campaign to have a primary message about the unique selling points of the product, and a secondary message that supports your brand. It could be something like “from the company with on-time deliveries,” or best quality or service or however your brand should be known.
b. Add a branding blurb to your regular newsletter.
c. Ensure exhibitions and events have a combination of product and branding strategy.
Months 11-12: Initiatives which may be underfunded. By the time you get to the end of the year, you will know if you need to cancel the initiative or de-scope it. The best case scenario is that you can allocate additional funds from next year’s budget to complete the original scope if it is still relevant.
To a marketing professional, budget planning can feel like a trip through a dry and unforgiving desert. It isn’t. It’s your camel’s hump, providing sustenance for the immediate future. Plan wisely and play a long game. Use two or three budget cycles if you need them. Move from oasis to oasis until you reach your final destination.
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