Though everyone in the marketing team wants a big share of the pie, sadly, there’s not enough pie to please them all.

With so much pressure from different departments, how do you go about allocating your marketing budget? Whether it’s running paid campaigns through Google ads or hiring Instagram influencers, you do need money to get your name out there.

If you are someone who is responsible for a company’s marketing budget and are struggling to make ends meet, let’s take you through some proven steps that make marketing budget allocation a breeze for companies of all sizes.

How to Allocate your Marketing Budget?

1. Decide your goal: Before launching a marketing campaign, it is important for you to define why you are doing this. Ask yourself what you intend to achieve with particular marketing activity. Is it lead generation or sales? Based on your goal, you will be able to allocate your budget better.
2. Create a list of advertising platforms: Once you have a rough idea of your advertising goals, you need to decide where you want to put your money. Instead of only restricting yourself to traditional media, think of digital and new media as well. More than anything, don’t just allocate resources because your competitor is doing it. Put your money on mediums where your target group spends most of their time. We would suggest starting with social media marketing and then moving on to SEO and on-site marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing and OOH media.
3. Costs and potential ROI: The number of advertising mediums available today can be quite overwhelming. Thus, before you divide up your budget, check the viability of the medium. Consider the expected costs and the potential ROI you can achieve. If it matches your goals, it’s a good idea to put money into it.
4. Track results: Whether you launch a marketing campaign with a luxury budget or a small-scale Facebook campaign, measuring results is invaluable. Check if your webpage visits have increased after the campaign or if there is a spurt in the number of app downloads. If you are familiar with Google Analytics, you can easily track your online conversions.
5. Optimise budget based on results: As you take baby steps into your first marketing campaign, you’ll already get a fair idea of what’s working and what’s not. This is when you can decide how you want to move forward with your future campaigns. If you discover that a digital campaign yielded better results than an offline campaign, then you must reallocate your budget from the latter to the former.

Marketing budget allocation is not about how much you can afford to spend but rather a process that helps you allocate your available budget across the best channels to yield fruitful results.  

The post Marketing Budget Allocation – All you need to know first appeared on Ginger Media Group.

Did you know? Even the best strategic management minds struggle against these challenges day in and day out. As a marketing manager, if you are facing certain challenges, it’s high time you identify and tackle them.

Not all marketing managers face the same challenges. However, there are a few generic ones which most managers have pointed out. Whether it’s the budget allocation or poor internal communication, find the problems and resolve them.

4 Problems faced by Marketing Managers

1. Challenge #1: Keeping up with New Marketing Trends

With new trends appearing in the marketing ecosystem every now and then, it can be difficult to keep track of the changes and implement them. Though these trends will prove beneficial to the marketing manager and his company in the long run, keeping up with new developments in social media, web design and advertising can be quite overwhelming.

To make the process less daunting, marketing managers should find the channel on which most of their target audience spends time. This will help them embrace trends specific to that channel thus saving a whole lot of time and energy.

2. Challenge #2: Poor Internal Communication

All too often, marketing managers have a unique role to play. They are required to wear many hats and bridge the gap between business operations, marketing and sales. In the quest of doing this, there is often a communication breakdown. From posting blogs to ensuring websites are updated and marketing strategies are in place, there are many responsibilities of a marketing manager. Since they are not equipped with a clear system to collect, organise, analyse and interpret data, it becomes difficult for them to provide clear, up-to-date reports.

The best way to deal with this is by defining communication and setting a particular standard for all project management processes.

3. Challenge #3: Budget Allocation

When it comes to using a budget, marketing managers are expected to be magicians. A lot of brands and employers expect marketing managers to be able to do their work with a little budget and yet drive the best results. Though it is not necessary for every brand to have the luxury of big budgets, it’s vital for them to be a little realistic with their goals.

If you’re a marketer on a shoestring budget, online marketing is the best channel you can resort to as it is cost-effective and trackable.

4. Challenge #4: Generating Quality Traffic

Solid lead generation is pivotal to marketing success. Don’t you agree? Generating quality leads helps you delve into the buyer journey and guide them to make a purchase decision. However, many businesses struggle with lead generation in the first place.

The best way marketing managers can solve the problem of lead generation is by reconsidering the content they post, resorting to friendly SEO practices, revisiting buyer personas and investing in paid search.

In a world full of sophisticated technology, these are just a few of the common challenges faced by marketing managers. The best way to overcome these problems is by identifying them and finding a viable solution.

The post Top 4 Challenges Marketing Managers face| How To Solve Them? first appeared on Ginger Media Group.