In the many conversations I have with would-be clients, it's very common that one of my usual questions about their marketing budget is met with the proverbial blank stare. In other words, when asked if they have thought about any kind of budget for their marketing, most people haven't given it any thought at all, or at least they pretend to.
Marketing requires resources to be done right and resources in this case are primarily time and/or money. Since man-hours cost money, we always end up circling back to some kind of dollar figure. The best marketing efforts require advance planning, in order to be able to take the right actions at the right time, so it makes sense that as part of the planning, a budget is established to enable that strategy for the upcoming months or years to be enacted.
While the figure of 10% of your revenue is often floated around, this guide is a great primer, that comes with complimentary budgeting tools to boot, if you've never established a marketing budget for your firm.
Doing so will help you understand what those resources enable you to do over a period of time and allocate them in the most efficient way possible. That way, when you hire people like me, you know exactly what you have available and these consultants can help you determine what you should do in which order of priority to maximize your efforts, according to the budget you've already established.
Any self-respecting professional will know if your pre-determined budget allows you to work with them and if not, will make recommendations as to what you can do within your budget. Otherwise, you're just going through an awkward courtship where everyone is wary of spitting out a figure first, for fear of looking silly, only to realize after investing time and effort that you can't afford their services.
While pricing shouldn't be the only dimension to consider when looking to hire help, a quick ball-park figure given to your would-be consultant will instantly uncover whether a relationship is possible. With that out of the way, you can still have your awkward 1st date if you'd like, but at least you know that you can make your budget work for that purpose, much like you don’t take your date to Mickey D’s when they’re expecting a 3-course dinner at the local fancy eatery.
A new client recently came to me for a photoshoot, well-prepared with a fixed budget and a desired scope of work. While the budget they had for the job was too low for the desired scope, I was able to come up with a creative solution that would still deliver the results they were expecting and just under their desired budget. Everybody wins. There was hardly any of the aforementioned awkwardness, no negotiation required and we could move on to shake hands and get going the job the day of the proposal being sent.
By thinking this way, your marketing efforts will be laser-focused on the best ROI activities and you will greatly benefit from it.
If you like what you read, click “>>subscribe” at the top left of this page, to get our daily (or weekly) updates straight into your inbox. You can also write me a little love note here. I truly enjoy having conversations with you about what I write.