With so many different digital advertising platforms available, it’s easy to spend a lot of money just to get a little engagement. Fortunately, there are some smart strategies you can use to get the most out of your limited budget.
If you're struggling to keep advertising costs within your desired range, here are a few ways to manage your advertising budget.
Create an advertising strategy
Organizations often try every different type of advertising tactic without considering which ones will be most effective for their business needs. Developing a solid advertising strategy allows your organization to invest only in platforms that have the most impact. For some companies, it might be investing in blogs and digital content; while for others, it may be more beneficial to create paid, targeted social media ads.
There is no one strategy that works best. Decide with your team where everyone thinks resources will be best allocated and invest time, energy and finances into that strategy.
[Read: How to Build an Effective Marketing Strategy]
Set clear campaign goals
Instead of running numerous campaigns at once, focus on only one or two at a time and set clear, defined goals for what you want to get out of each. Clearly define who the target audience is, how the campaign is going to reach them and what measurable success looks like. At the end of each campaign, assess your goals to see how successful you were at achieving them.
Having a clear visualization of your budget and expectations trickles down into the rest of your processes and success.
Use an advertising budget template (and keep it updated)
The best way to manage your ad budget is to use a budget template. Having a clear visualization of your budget and expectations trickles down into the rest of your processes and success. Once your company knows how much it expects to earn and spend on advertising, you can then allocate the proper funds to those expenses and strategies.
There are many types of advertising budget templates that cater to your needs and size of your budget. Try out different templates to see which work best for your business.
Once you’ve landed on a template that works, make sure you revisit it regularly and keep it updated. An out-of-date budget can harm your advertising strategies, as you’ll either spend money you don't have or sit on capital that is not being used.
Track your expenses
All marketing expenses, including your advertising budget, should be reviewed on a quarterly or even monthly basis to reflect your organization's spending and return on investment. This can get complicated and tricky if multiple people, such as employees or contractors, have access to your company card for ad expenses. To more accurately and effectively track ad spending, organizations can consider using a dedicated accounting or financial tool that your whole marketing team can access. Certain programs and applications can make it easier for employees to invoice expenses and have senior management oversee and approve them. This streamlined, organized means of data input makes it easy to efficiently spend and identify overall trends.
[Read: How to Boost Sales on a Tight Budget]
Select media carefully
If your business is prioritizing a media-based strategy, you'll need to determine which type of media is the best to reach your audience. Options can include print, radio, television, podcasts, web and social media. Not all media sources will be the best to reach your audience. While some, like television for example, can target the largest viewership, they may not get you as much engagement as more specific types of media, such as targeted social media ads.
Make data-based decisions
Using data analytics is a powerful way to leverage information that you already have. Once you know how much money your business can spend and the best ways to reach your goals, based on your strategy, use that information to effectively spend your advertising budget. Analytics can tell you what has worked in the past and what you're wasting your advertising dollars on.
[Read: How to Advertise Online]
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