5 Marketing Budget Must-Haves

Have you finalized your marketing budget for the new year? There are so many glorious options that we get kind of giddy when budgeting time rolls around.

Of course, where you ultimately spend your marketing dollars is completely dependent on what your goals are. And we believe in putting the words “goal-driven” in front of everything from design to digital strategy and everything in-between. So, if you don’t yet have a marketing strategy in place, that should be step one.

Whether you still have more to allocate or some wiggle room with what’s in place, here are 5 marketing budget must-haves to take your business to the next level.

Outsourcing

You know your business inside and out, and your time is valuable. There are things that only you can do, but there are definitely things that someone else can easily run with after a bit of a handoff. Consider what you might be able to get off your plate so you can devote more time to the things that need your attention most.

SEO and Quality Content

Unless you’ve figured out exactly how to manufacture the magic search crawl fairy dust yourself (in which case, we’d like to buy you a drink), there is always room for improvement when it comes to SEO. And you’re never done…to stay in the search engine game you must be vigilant about website improvements, link your site from outside channels and create quality, relevant content that people are actively searching for. And that is on top of anticipating and preparing for upcoming or continued trends such as voice search and brand as a ranking signal.

Communications Strategy Revamp

When was the last time you stopped to think about what you were saying and why you were saying it? Do your key messages still fit your brand? You might be too close to your verbiage to know. While this tried and true tactic may get skipped over in favor of hopping on whatever shiny new bandwagon rolls into town, it’s worth the investment. A solid communications strategy serves as the gut check of every word your business utters, whether by text, voice, smoke signal or carrier pigeon. If the words don’t align with the strategy, they aren’t worth saying.

Social Media

When you are low on time and resources, it can be easy to write off social media as a “check the box” tactic that gets whatever creative juice you have left over after everything else – merely dipping your toe in the waters to say you’re doing it. Well grab those swim trunks folks, because social media isn’t going anywhere and it’s time to immerse yourself. Between 2012 and 2017, the average time internet users spent each day on social media sites grew from 90 to 135 minutes worldwide. In 2023, the average person spends about 145 minutes on social media daily. That’s a captive audience that you can’t afford to miss engaging with, but it takes actual commitment to make an in impact this flooded space.

Digital Advertising

From paid search to social ads, digital advertising has become an increasingly important tactic. With the ability to target and scale ads across many different platforms, this is an efficient and cost-effective way to speak to the right audience. And this too, friends, is a phenomenon that isn’t set to fizzle anytime soon. In fact, for the first time ever, digital advertising accounted for half of total US advertising sales in 2019.

Not sure what needs the most attention? Let’s do a temperature check together to help you get started on your list. Request a complimentary discovery session today.