The most common question we get asked is “What should I be spending on Marketing?” For most companies, it is important to consider the costs that will and should be covered in the marketing budget. Marketing costs include strategy, SEO, branding, building and maintaining your website, public relations, social media, digital marketing, etc. Before considering a percentage of what your company should spend on marketing, planning for the marketing budget and comparing the marketing budgets to others in the same industry might help decide what is needed in your company. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to setting a standard percentage of what companies should spend on marketing.
As you try to decide what your budget looks like, take into consideration what the American Marketing Association gives as guidelines. A conservative spend will put you around 5-7% of your total revenue towards marketing. In the middle at a moderate spend, will be 7-10%, while many companies find themselves allotting for an aggressive marketing budget anywhere from 10-40%. If your company is selling multiple products or services, having a plan to allocate the marketing budget based on each product/service is important to maintain and continue to update.
Deciding what marketing channels will be used will affect the status of how much your company should spend on marketing as well. Publicly traded companies, such as Salesforce, Microsoft, Mindbody, Google, and Intel spend well over 10% of their revenue on Marketing and Sales. In the past there was no way of tracking your ROI; however, now with technology and marketing automation software, there are a wealth of ways to track your campaigns and know to the penny what you’re spending and receiving per dollar spent. While many companies lag on implementing this type of software, it can make or break dollars well spent and know what worked versus what did not.
If you are looking for more information as to how your company can implement marketing strategies that work, please reach out to us for a complimentary 1-hour consultation. Call 678-735-0493 or visit us on the web at www.ispeakbusiness.com
