April 12, 2022
Digital marketing is a vital part of standing out in the modern world. People spend longer on screens than ever before, both for work and leisure. Promoting your business through online channels is vital to building your profile, with avenues like SEO, social media content production and PPC/PPL all known as important methods for doing so. However, it’s hard to know how to budget time and money for digital marketing on top of everything else.
This guide will offer insights on partitioning your working hours and finances to maximise your digital marketing impact, while also highlighting the benefits of engaging with performance marketing services.
Your marketing budget should be determined by your overall business goals. The promotional efforts of one business will not be the same as another's, so it’s important to let your ambitions guide your decisions.
Some approaches include:
This stage should also be used to take stock of the industry around you and your target audience. What are your competitors doing and why is it working? Similarly, you should also base your approach on your business stage, with newer businesses generally having to invest more into marketing, at least on a percentage level.
Budgeting money can generally be based around percentage guidelines, with the bare basics generally looking something like this:
These are guidelines for overall marketing, but in today’s landscape, digital channels generally account for more than 50% of that budget.
You can reverse engineer your budget by defining your goals and working backwards. For example:
If you’re a much smaller business, you can focus on highly cost-effective strategies, like social media marketing, email marketing, local SEO and content marketing.
Costs within your marketing budget will include:
It’s worth noting that working with a performance marketing agency can consolidate some of these costs.
DIY marketing is going to make time your largest investment. It’s an ongoing process, not a set-and-forget type of situation. You need to consistently apply effort, learn and roll with the punches of the industry if you want to make an impact.
Some principles to keep in mind include:
Short-term improvements are likely to be seen in terms of social media posting and email campaigns, whereas longer-term checks should show you the results of SEO and brand authority building.
You need to understand that spending more time will allow you to save money. DIY marketing can actually be quite cheap; however, it will cost you a lot of power hours. On the other hand, spending more on consolidated services from a digital marketing agency could save you masses of time, allowing you to spend more time on your core business operations.
Consider the weight of your time and money spent and strike a balance that suits your goals.
Begin by clearly defining your business goals. Your marketing efforts should align with these objectives, whether you are aiming for rapid growth, maintaining an existing audience, or generating specific leads.
Established businesses often allocate around 5-10% of their gross annual revenue to marketing. Newer businesses focused on growth might spend 10-20%. Digital channels usually make up more than 50% of this overall marketing budget.
Smaller businesses can focus on highly affordable strategies like social media marketing, email marketing, local SEO, and content marketing. These methods can deliver good results without requiring a large financial outlay.
If you are handling your own digital marketing, especially as a startup, aim to spend at least 1-2 hours a week. Consistency is more important than short, intense bursts of activity. Allocate time across various tasks like content creation, social media, and SEO.
Doing it yourself can save money but demands a significant time investment. Hiring a performance marketing agency can save you a lot of time, allowing you to concentrate on your main business operations. The best choice depends on your specific goals and available resources.
