If the 28th February is your financial year end, then it’s high time to start planning your digital marketing budget.
Research shows that most companies allocate between 9 – 12% of their total revenue as a marketing budget of which, 35 – 40% is allocated to an online marketing budget and digital advertising which is spread over various faculties.
That’s quite simple maths, but how do I know which online marketing channels I must invest in to get the best results for my company’s needs?
Start off by identifying what your online marketing goals are.
Online marketing budget GOALS could look as simple as this:
–Goal 1 – Create brand, product or services awareness
–Goal 2 – Generate sales online and generate leads to be used for sales and future marketing
–Goal 3 – Generate traffic to my website and improve client engagement and repeat purchase
Once you have determined what your goals are, you can now target the online marketing channels that would be best to allocate a portion of your online marketing budget to in order to achieve your desired outcome.
Most companies need to allocate a portion of their online marketing budget to most of these elements below:
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- Website redesign and SEO strategy budget
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- Branding and creative budget for graphics and artwork
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- Public relations budget for newsletters, press releases, trade shows
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- Social media and paid advertising or pay-per-click budget
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- Content marketing to include content curation, writers, designers, developers
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- Event marketing
- Agency retainers
Let’s have a look at some of these different online marketing components in detail:
Website redesign: It’s no longer just about having a website. It’s about having a website that actually works! For that, you will not only need analytics to track your results but you will also need an expert to look at it and write an SEO strategy for you (to get your website ranking on Google). You will also need them to build a user retention and conversion mechanism into your site and you might need some advanced customisation on your existing website theme. You might also like to have a CMS implemented to help you manage your clients and enquiries. Marketing automation too can help to ease the management processes. Then there will also be copywriting, design and of course domain and hosting fees to consider.
Branding and creative: This portion includes the designing of banners, animations, social media artwork, sliders, possibly video (for which you will need cameras, actors, microphones) and perhaps even premium fonts or typefaces.
Public relations: In a digital world, we are talking less about trade shows but more about email marketing and newsletters which has become an indispensable tool for user engagement to distribute information about your products and services to a database of new and existing clients. You will also need to consider agency fees, market research costs, write press releases, moderate guest posts and also budget for networking events, dinners, awards and their associated award entry fees.
Social Media and paid advertising: Everyone with a smartphone can access social media which makes it the most popular medium to create awareness or advance your brand image. It’s also a powerful utility to build trust and share information about your products and services, which from there can be shared to a wider audience, creating further reach to a wider spectrum of users. Paid advertising is divided into search, display and re-targeting through Google Ads as well as affiliate marketing and lead generation. On top of that you have your social media budgets to consider for posting on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter & Pinterest in line with your strategy which should also include a portion for social media “listening” and engaging with your audience by reacting to their likes, comments and posts.
Content Marketing: Your content has the most impact on your online marketing efforts’ success rate. It is the backbone that all marketing strategies depend on and drives both social media and SEO processes. High quality content is what is going to ensure user engagement, drive traffic to your site and ultimately attract potential clients.
Events: When planning events there are many hidden costs that are often not budgeted for. Consider venue rental, microphones and projectors, presenters costs, refreshments, chair and table hire, special offers & giveaways, name tags and badges, printed agendas, stationary and don’t forget the all important web development costs and promotional work needed for a successful event.
Agency retainers: Online marketing companies will usually charge per project, or for their time depending on the nature of the job for once-off tasks. Commonly the ongoing marketing work is then billed every month in line with an agreed online marketing strategy which clearly indicates the scope of works, a retainer to manage the project for you and usually it allows a contingency for items that cannot be scheduled in advance for new news and current events that need to be shared.
Our job is to facilitate & accelerate all aspects of a visible, successful and measurable digital presence for your business.
CONTACT US HERE to discuss your individual needs so that we can tailor make an online marketing solution for you, write your online marketing strategy and help you to prepare your online marketing budget.