by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Strategy
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
You’ve heard it before, and we’ve said it before: You have to spend money to make money. But one of the biggest struggles we see from our clients is figuring out exactly where to spend their money to get the highest returns.
Properly allocating your marketing budget can be crucial for seeing growth within your organisation. Without the right budget you may not be able to appropriately execute the marketing strategies and tactics that you need to attract and retain customers and clients. Or putting it another way, drive revenue.
When developing your marketing, make sure you are viewing marketing and sales as an investment, not an expense. As such, investments are predicated on their returns.
However, with the number of marketing areas you could invest in, it can be difficult to know what the right strategies are. To help you identify where your marketing budget could best be used, here are a few tips based on our experience.
- Set your goals
As you enter the new year, think about what your marketing and overall business goals are. The direction you want to move will influence where you should consider investing your money.
If you are just getting your business off the ground it makes sense to focus the majority of your marketing budget on attracting and converting new leads. Your main priority should be building a customer base. However, as you become more established, those goals will change. You still need to focus on attracting new leads, but you also need to allocate some of your budget to retaining the clients you already have.
Before you start deciding where to spend your marketing budget, identify your priorities and what you’d like to accomplish. This should help you decide where to spend your money.
- Find the right marketing avenues
The next step is deciding which avenues are the most deserving of your budget. This is where things can get tricky. Your marketing budget is like a pavlova at Christmas, and each of your strategies is a hungry family member. Each person might easily consume the entire pav if you let them, but you want to make sure each of them gets a share. I mean it’s a pav, who doesn’t want some of that!
However, you shouldn’t just divide your marketing budget equally. Instead, consider which strategies can bring the highest return on that investment and bring you closer to reaching your goals.
Reducing customer churn and taking care of your customers is becoming more important than ever. Acquiring new customers costs more than nurturing your existing customers, so when you create your marketing budget make sure your focus is on both engaging existing customers and attracting new ones.
Here are a few areas to consider when determining where to allocate your 2019 marketing budget.
- Marketing software:Marketing automation and organisation software can make your life much easier. Email marketing tools or a customer-relationship management system can help you plan, track and implement your marketing strategies much more efficiently. Invest in marketing software first if it will help you execute your campaigns faster and cheaper. Having the right foundation can improve your return on investment throughout multiple campaigns.
- Content marketing:Your content can be the base of any and all marketing strategies. Whether you’re working with social campaigns or you’re running paid ads, you should have strong and compelling content to push your audience to. Consider making content creation a focus of your marketing budget. With the right information to share, your campaigns could run smoother. Your content should underpin your PR strategy too. And just to be clear, content includes blogs, whitepapers, infographics, video, podcasts, webinars.and the list goes on. So, make sure you also include production costs in this budget.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO):Having the right search engine optimisation efforts in place can make a major difference in how you attract and connect with customers. However, SEO extends far beyond just keywords and content and should also include maintaining your website. It’s important to include SEO in your marketing budget to account for algorithm changes or website updates.
While marketing software, content marketing and SEO are only fractions of your marketing strategy, it’s important that they’re well supported within your budget. When you’re using the right software, you have strong content and your website is properly maintained, then social media strategies, email campaigns and paid advertisements can bring higher returns.
Don’t forget to incorporate the human resource costs into your budget too. It’s all well and good to spend money on technology and tools but they won’t run themselves – whether those resources are internal to your business or external (contractors, consultants, agencies) include it in your budget – it will make the ROI (return on investment) evaluation more accurate and determine the skills you require to deliver outcomes.
- Monitor your budget and adjust if needed
It’s not uncommon to create a budget and find that it just doesn’t work. Problems can arise, plans may become obsolete or you may meet your goals sooner than you expected.
If you find that your proposed marketing budget just isn’t getting the returns you hoped for or that you need to move some of your funds around, don’t hold back on making adjustments. While you want to stay within budget as much as possible, be flexible enough to continue moving toward your goals. Sometimes hard decisions need to be made to ensure you set yourself up for future growth and success.
Conclusion
Staying current on what is important to your customers and what keeps them loyal should drive all budget decision factors.
Properly allocating and spending your marketing budget is important for growing your company, but we have found that it’s better to treat your budget as an outline rather than a set-in-stone plan. Keep your goals top of mind throughout your planning process and do what you think is best for attracting and retaining your customers to ensure revenue growth.
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Content, Strategy
We are often asked if there is a standard template to develop a marketing plan or what is the best template to use. When it comes to developing a marketing plan, substance over form is our advice. So, before you head off to Google to find your favourite format, here are some tips on what to include in your marketing plan and how to implement it.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
– Benjamin Franklin
As marketers, we know Ben was on to something here. It seems like marketing budgets and resources for businesses of all sizes are being stretched to breaking point. As that occurs, expanding social media outlets and digital marketing platforms offer marketers seemingly limitless opportunities to reach target audiences. It’s an inverse relationship that compels marketers to choose their tactics wisely. That makes not only the planning of your marketing more important than ever, but the implementation, crucial.
You also want to prove return on investment (ROI) for your marketing spend, so you need an established plan in place to measure and show results. A successful marketing plan will address your biggest business and marketing challenges and deliver solutions via a holistic approach. It will also keep your team aligned and focused on the same goals — and, it’s instrumental in helping you establish your budget.
Far too often, though, the time and effort you and your team invest in marketing planning is either abandoned to fulfil last-minute requests, or wasted by resorting to tried-and-true tactics.
The case for a marketing plan is strong, so here, we offer 7 tips to help you and your team build a successful marketing plan for your organisation.
- Define your challenge(s)Begin with the end in mind—what problem(s) do you want to solve? What challenges must be met? What opportunities should be seized? What threats should be confronted? Yes, this is a thinly veiled SWOT but it’s important to address these issues as you move along with your plan…don’t get too tied down in tactics at this stage.
For example, a key challenge of your organisation could be a lack of leads for your sales team, or a company website that’s outdated and losing traffic due to the new Google algorithms. Whatever the issues are, identify them up front.
It’s important to know your business and your competitors well, as once you do this, you are better placed to determine or understand your target market.
If you are just starting out or launching a new product or service, your challenge could be understanding your target customer/client. Narrowing down and defining your target customer allows you to focus your efforts. Answer the question, “Who do you serve?” to help you identify your target market.
- Define your SMART goals and objectivesIt’s important to use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Based) goals to keep you and your team on track and accountable. Once defined, they should be linked to your challenges, opportunities and threats outlined above.
Goals are generally broad in nature, while objectives should still be SMART and should clearly state the initiative to be accomplished (e.g., secure 10 leads through digital marketing efforts each month; build a responsive website in the next four months). By setting SMART goals and objectives, you are making it possible to show quantifiable evidence that the business’ marketing spend is delivering ROI.
- Set your strategyYour strategy supports the reasoning for tactics and marketing spend. This is where you will define how you plan to solve your challenges and meet your objectives. Try to think like your target audience here. What avenues should you pursue to get your message in front of them, and ultimately, how will you solve their problem? Your strategy should drive creative, messaging, channel selection and other key variables.
Finally, look back at past campaigns to see what worked and what didn’t.
- Outline your tacticsThis is where you hammer out the details of your plan. Your tactics are the steps and tasks you need to complete to achieve your goals and objectives.
One tip to consider: To assist with accountability, you should assign team members to manage specific tasks (e.g., develop a new e-book in Q1, launch a new AdWords campaign with a $500 monthly budget, develop a wireframe for our new responsive website).
- Establish time framesSet short- and long-term milestones to keep yourself (and your team) motivated, while still staying focused on the big picture. Be sure to set deadlines to non-tangible milestones as well, like meetings and distribution times. Finally, get feedback from your team on realistic time frames for certain tasks and keep them updated frequently on your progress as you execute.
- Assess your resources
These include people, technology and marketing budget. Questions relevant to each could include:
- People:Do you have enough people with the right skill sets? Do you need to look for outside resources for portions of your plan…like a PR agency, graphic designer, or maybe a full marketing agency to take items off your hands while you focus on other initiatives?
- Technology:Is your technology up to date? What technology is needed to make your marketing tactics successful and are the associated costs feasible within your budgetary parameters?
- Budget:Is your marketing plan driving the budget, or do you have to work within the constraints of a previously determined budget?
- Measure and analyse
According to inbound marketing and sales software developer HubSpot, 40 percent of marketers say proving marketing ROI is their top marketing challenge. There’s no disputing the need to quantify ROI these days or the challenge in doing so; but you can’t prove ROI if you aren’t measuring your results. Therefore, be sure to set key performance indicators (KPIs) to track important metrics to your business/campaign (e.g., number of leads, web traffic, revenue).
ROI is more than a one-time exercise. Rather, to meet your goals and objectives, you should be constantly analysing your efforts, and optimising and updating your plan.
- Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture
Always keep the bigger picture in mind by making sure your marketing plan is part of your overall business strategy. Don’t be afraid to re-adjust your goals and objectives if required. Your marketing plan is there to support your business growth, so if it is not doing that, change it and improve what is not working.
Always keep the bigger picture in mind by making sure your marketing plan is part of your overall business strategy. Don’t be afraid to re-adjust your goals and objectives if required. Your marketing plan is there to support your business growth, so if it is not doing that, change it and improve what is not working.
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Strategy, Training
If I were to come into your workplace and ask the general question of “How are you?”, what do you think I would hear? Whilst Janet from HR might have my ear for 10 minutes updating me on her best friends’ nephew’s cousin, the other 99% would most likely respond something along the lines of “I’m so busy.”
So why exactly is this our automatic response? Well, generally, it is because we ARE! But there is also that cultural expectation that if we are not “busy”, we are bored. Or even worse, slacking off.
So, instead of saying you’re “busy” or “stressed” (which will, in turn, make you feel busier and MORE stressed), try one of these instead:
When your boss asks, say:
“I’m having a productive day.”
This response will let your boss know you are not slacking off, but also has a positive spin to let them know you are still enjoying work. Depending on your workload, you can also add a comment about whether you have the capacity to take on any new projects.
When a colleague asks, say:
“I’m working on {insert project} and I’d really love your input!”
Sometimes, you get stumped. When a colleague asks how you’re going, don’t automatically go into ‘whinge’ mode – this not only makes you appear negative, it may also prevent them from offering assistance. Instead, let them know that you value their thoughts and ask if they have a few spare minutes to review your work.
When a client asks, say:
“We have a lot on, but always looking for new opportunities and new quality projects to work on.”
This not only shows your existing or prospective clients that you are a reputable company, but that you are always willing to engage new work. It also highlights that you hold their company in high regard.
When a friend asks, say:
“I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, but I’m so excited to see how it all pans out!”
By replying with this level of positivity and excitement, you will automatically inflict excitement onto your friends, who will be more then happy to come along for the ride, especially if they get to see you succeed.
When a loved one asks, say:
“I’m really stressed.”
I know, I know – this isn’t exactly a positive substitute. But sometimes, it is the truth and it is important to remember to speak up and seek help when you are stressed or struggling.
In this day and age, it is becoming harder and harder to find someone who is not “busy”, so by choosing one of the alternative responses above, people will not only take you more seriously but you will also appear calmer and more capable of life’s “busyness”.
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Strategy, Training
Recently, I read a comment about sleep deprivation.
“Sleep deprivation is an illegal torture method outlawed by the Geneva Convention and international courts, but most of us do it to ourselves.”
As business owners, we lie awake at night thinking over things we couldn’t find time to think about during the day.
On one of my own sleepless nights, I posed the question in my head “What is the one thing in marketing keeping you awake at night?” I surveyed some business colleagues the next day. The answers, while not surprising, made me sit up and start to think how we can help our colleagues in business answer these questions.
“I am not sure how to differentiate my business in the market.”
This is a familiar story from many small business owners. I am sure we know why we are better than our competition, but we are not sure how to clearly spell it out. You have a great product but trying to cut through crowded markets means spending some time trying to understand what it is you are best at. Where you are emotionally or financially invested in your business, it can be hard to be objective. Having someone to offer you a pragmatic view can be a great help.
“I am really busy with the ‘doing’ part of my business.”
More often than not, we forget we have to be bold enough to understand our niche, and to build our marketing efforts around it. The niche is often the reason we create a new business. We identify a market gap or believe we can do something better or differently. Having the temerity to be bold and really make the effort to stand out can sometimes be sidelined by making a living or paying the rent. Being reminded why you initially went in to business is important for success.
“I seem to struggle to find the time to do the marketing, to know what I have time to do and how to go about it.”
This is not an unusual response and we see it often. When you are busy making something, doing something or putting your very best skills to use, finding the energy to market really well is hard. Finding the right support is a wise investment in your success.
“Making the time to sit down and write content.”
When you are a one-man band, or a small business where time is limited, making the time to write content or creating a schedule and sticking to it can be challenging. When more pressing needs present themselves, or clients have new deadlines, we often put our own tasks on hold. Making the decision to bring in a marketing partner now can save money in the long run – you can get it right the first time.
“I don’t know if I can afford to pay for help.”
This is probably the most challenging of all questions. How much should you spend on marketing? There are many experts who suggest between 7%-20% of your annual turnover should be spent on marketing. We suggest you should consider a spend around 10% of your annual turnover. Some organisations benefit from a full audit and update of their marketing collateral and tools, others need a website update, while some businesses are better served by spending their marketing budget in the social and digital space.
We will be exploring these subjects more thoroughly in future posts. As a business, we have been through each of these challenges ourselves. Knowing you are choosing the right marketing partner is important. You don’t want someone to dump and run but a longer term, strategic relationship to partner with you. We choose to invest in our clients, to support them in the whole process. Whether you are a start-up needing good advice from day one, an established brand contemplating a brand refresh, or if you simply can’t find the time to invest in your marketing, we can help.
The solution to not keeping yourself awake at night worrying about marketing is simple. Pick up the phone and ask us how we can help you sleep better. We don’t charge for phone calls.
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Strategy, Training
We recently moved offices approximately 500m down the road to South Brisbane. It wasn’t a massive move but it did give us an opportunity to declutter ten years’ worth of nostalgia. Boy did we find some gold. My favourite was an old email that I had printed back in 2011 called ‘proofreading is a dying art’. Here are a couple of excerpts:
“Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says”
“Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures”
“Kids Make Nutritious Snacks”
“Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead”
You can see why I kept it right!
On a more serious side, it was an ideal time to reflect on the business. Where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, who we’ve connected with and where we are going.
During the 10 years there have been plenty of highs and lots of challenges. I often refer to it like raising a child. Just when you think you’ve cracked it something else happens and you go back to the drawing board…
So how are we fairing? Here’s my checklist:
- Highly creative team who are genuine and lovely to work with
- Happy clients (long term and new) who are genuine and lovely to work with
- Exciting projects
- Great networks and prospects
- Stunning brand refresh
- Growth plans
I think we are doing pretty damn good. Does that mean I get to put my feet up now. Hell no…
As Michael Bell quite rightly said, “Passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”
Sir Richard Branson once said, “Right now I’m just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath.”
I’m still working on that last one.
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
