Читать книгу 99 Marketing Mistakes - Kenyon Blunt - Страница 8

Mistake #2

No Marketing Budget

Most small business owners won’t admit it; they don’t have a marketing budget. If pressed, they don’t have any budget. Furthermore, most small business CEO’s don’t look at what their competitors spend, what’s normal in their industry or any other rationale. A new 1survey from Clutch revealed that close to two-thirds of 61 percent of small businesses didn’t have an official budget of any kind.

Small business owners wing it. It’s a haphazard approach to marketing and one that leads to a lot of wasted money.

Why Budget?

Businesses of all sizes should create a budget if they don’t want to risk the future of their companies. Without a budget, you don’t have a measuring stick against which you can judge performance. A budget gives you a clear picture – you’re able to see how your actual results varied from the budget you established. More importantly, a budget allows you to make decisions so you can turn the ship around before it’s too late.

How to Budget?

The truth is, nobody knows what to spend on marketing because every business and industry is different. Most can’t agree on what expenses to include in a marketing budget. Should the website be part of marketing or separate? How about PR and promotion? This lack of definition shouldn’t discourage you. You still need to do it.

The most common method of developing a marketing budget is to base it on a percentage of revenue. It’s usually between 3-5 percent for small businesses. But the correct allocation depends on several factors like what industry you’re in or your current capacity.

A good rule of thumb for small businesses with less than $5M in revenue is to spend 7-8 percent of revenues on marketing.

Spend Your Budget Wisely

Don’t beat yourself up over not having a budget. My advice is to accept where you’re at and work from there. Focus on improving the efficiency of your marketing and concentrate on spending your precious marketing dollars wisely. It’s easier to do if you review your marketing expenditures monthly. While I recommend a quarterly marketing plan, waiting this long to consider your budget increases the chance of spending more than you planned.

1 https://clutch.co/accounting/resources/why-small-businesses-need-budgets