Missing the Budget Number?

Whatever the goal, also known as a Key Performance Indicator, your marketing campaign should be generated to affect progress toward that goal, and results measured. Our clients come to us with all different kinds of needs. Sometimes, that need looks like an increase in truck sales. Other times, tickets sold for a series of athletic events. In some instances, a certain number of form-fills on a website or downloads of a mobile app.

Once it’s been determined how much change is required over a designated period of time, a marketing strategy is deployed. Depending on the goal, a variety of tactics may be required.

The campaign may require a content and display strategy, supported by social media and search. Or, if awareness tactics are also required, the use of traditional media. These activities must each be measurable so that data can guide each step of your journey. Once the planned mix of media is developed and the strategy is tested and sound, you’ll be looking at your budget to measure affordability of the plan.

It’s at this stage when approvers are tempted to peel back layers of tactics to achieve affordability.

If your strategy has been tested and is sound, it isn’t the strategy that’s too expensive. Instead, the goal is the wrong size. As the expert, you know that social media or search are necessary elements to achieve your goal. But instead of trying to generate enough activity to get 1,000 new conversions, your campaign may only be able to bring in 800. Adjusting the goal to the budget is a smarter way to right-size your campaign. Remember, if the strategy is sound but isn’t affordable, it’s not the strategy that’s wrong, it’s the size of your goal.

At MLive Media Group, we develop goals for campaigns and other marketing activity before doing anything else. Only after we know what the marketing activities should do or achieve is it possible to develop the road map to get there. With well-established goals that include the percentage of growth required and in a specific time span, your campaign can be effective, measurable, and productive. You’ll also be able to articulate to others the optimizations made and why, as you journey to your goal.