Over the years, we have seen so many marketing tactics put up by organizations of different sizes. Naturally, larger corporations have a bigger budget for marketing their products or services. Medium sized and small businesses may allocate their marketing budget differently than larger organizations. For better or worse, every business must include a budget for marketing to ensure the business will sustain in the long run.
DIFFERENT SIZE ENTERPRISE
For entrepreneurs, business is mainly about closing the deal and making sales and of course increasing revenues. But, when the business has quite the competition, entrepreneurs scramble to increase their sales via promotions and discounts or risk losing customers.
Whether you like it or not, marketing plays a big role in sustaining the business. Marketing is in fact a method of creating awareness of your business and its brand yo your potential customers. Promoting is the specific attraction created to obtain the attention of your customer.
THE RIGHT BUDGET
For a budding business, a marketing budget could be as much as 20%. Largely, brand building and awareness will make up the most activities in the marketing budget. As for businesses in the sustaining phase, the budget for marketing may only be 5-7%, yet it depends on how heated is the competition in your market or the industry.
EFFECTIVE RATIO
If you are tracking numbers that convert into ringgits, it is pretty easy. But if you are in the brand building phase and awareness, your ROI could be a little different. Hence, every business may approach the subject differently.
As a business owner that knows the innerworks of the business, you would also know what your customers want. By leveraging on your customers’ feedback, you could tailor your marketing activities to reach out effectively to your potential audience. Thus, part of your marketing activity should necessitate customer feedback. Their feedback is precious data in helping your improve your overall business operations. It can also help your allocate the appropriate budget for marketing you’ve always desired. But, keep in mind that your desires and the marketing budget should be realistic to limit wastage.
PRACTICAL RIGHT FROM THE START
- Outline your marketing costs
- Set a reasonable time frame to achieve it
- Track your ROI
- Measure it using Google Analytics
- Include several creative ideas that match your brand image
- Pick a niche target to focus and measure performance