I was in a panel a few weeks ago where the commentator asked how much small business owners should allocate to marketing and on what type of marketing.
Great question, but the numbers are all over the board depending on who you talk to and what type of business you have.

marketing budget graphicI see recommendations anywhere from 5% to 20% of your revenue, but if you’re a new business you may have to do more marketing up front to gain brand recognition, so look at spending up to 20% to start. As you gain more recognition you can scale that back a bit but make sure you’re allocating 5-10% consistently. You can also consider doing some of your own marketing to save money if you’re new and still growing.

Low cost or Free ways to Market your business:

  1. Networking (in-person or online options)
  2. Do your own Social Media
  3. Write a blog
  4. Create a Google My Business Profile
  5. Email your customers yourself

 

Which Channels to Use?

marketing channel bubble chartBefore determining what percent of your budget to allocate to a channel, definitely think about how your business runs, who your audience is and where they spend their time.

  1. How old are your customers, do you have a large portion that are older? Then don’t start with TikTok, start with Facebook or optimize for search.
  2. Start with one social media channel, create some goals for what you want to come from your work like:
    • Number of Likes , Number of Followers
    • Social Traffic Visits to your website.
    • Perfect your message, track your goals and once you feel you’re reaching your goals and getting traction THEN it’s time to expand to a new channel.
  3. Wait to start with paid advertising until you have a good SEO score, an online presence with a website, google my business or a linktree.
  4. Focus on creating great value for your customers by creating content around the questions they’re asking.
    • Create a website
    • Add Google Analytics to track activity on your website
    • Create a great FAQ on your website
    • Write a blog on topics that are trending & related to your business
    • Repurpose your blogs by sharing them on social and through email.

marketing budget allocationPercent spend by channel

Now that you’ve thought about where to market to your customers, start with 3 marketing strategies.

  • 50% on Content Marketing  Site Content & Blogs, Emails, SEO & Competitor Research
  • 25% on Social Media: choose one channel and do it really well, make sure your creative is eye catching and your posts are what your customer is interested in, not what you’re interested in. Boost posts that perform well.
  • 25% on Creative and Brand: Make sure your message & visuals are compelling, simple and targeted to solving a problem for your customer.

If your business is more established  start to add different tactics.

  • 40% Content Marketing
  • 15-25% Social Media
  • 10% Creative & Brand
  • 20% Paid Advertising (Google Search, Facebook Ads etc)
  • 5-10% PR (Magazine Articles/Press, Influencers, Speaking Engagements, Reputation Management)

 

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