To compete in your industry, whether it’s law, real estate, or professional services, you need an online presence. Moreover, you need to actively participate in the online spaces where your clients spend time, effectively advertise your services, and make the most of all the amazing opportunities the internet provides for growing your business.
However, most of these opportunities aren’t free.
That’s why it’s crucial that businesses budget for digital and social media marketing. Here’s everything you need to know about creating your budget.
- What Should You Budget For?
- Budgets for digital marketing strategies can vary based on what they include. Contrary to what you might think, a marketing strategy consists of more than just throwing money into Facebook ads and hoping you garner some leads. Every aspect of your marketing strategy should be intentional, well thought out, and budgeted for.
- Here are some of the costs that might need to be included in your budget:
- Website hosting platform
- Social media content creation, management, and ads
- Google ads
- Email campaign software
- Branded video content
- Staff training for maintaining an online presence
- An expert digital marketing agency
- You may be asking, “should I really pay an agency to market for me when I could do it myself for free?” Although you might save money by not hiring a team of experts, you’re actually costing yourself much more in the long run. Not only will you need to spend ample time doing market research and understanding different marketing tools and tactics, but you’ll be taking time and energy away from actually running your business and focusing on your clients.
- We highly recommend you budget for a professional digital marketing team to save you time and money in the long term.
- Decide How Much Your Budget Is
- The BDC published an article with general guidelines for helping you decide how much to budget for digital marketing. If you have a B2B business, they recommend spending 2-5% of your revenue on marketing. If you have a B2C business, they recommend spending 5-10% of your revenue.
- That article also shared results from a 2019 study that found that small Canadian businesses spent, on average, $30,000 on marketing per year. Companies with 20-49 employees spent, on average, $60,000 per year.
- Choose Your Marketing Goals
- The amount you allocate to your marketing budget should be driven by your marketing goals. What do you want to accomplish through your marketing? Here are some common marketing goals:
- Find X more high-quality leads
- Increase website traffic by 20%
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase customer retention
- Increase revenue
- An expert marketing agency can help you decide which goals are most important and how to achieve them in the most cost-effective way.
Are You Ready to Invest in a Customized Digital Marketing Strategy?
SocialEyes Communications handles everything from market research and content creation to marketing plan strategizing and execution. We’ll take care of your online marketing so you can focus on your business.
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