Budget Your Marketing Efforts

A budgeting process is the most effective way to keep your business and its finances on track. Likewise, all marketing efforts need to be budgeted beforehand because it suggests action plans to help you manage your business financial position more effectively and ensures that your plans are practical.

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Below are marketing efforts for which budget lines have to be developed.

1. Market research. You will have to conduct market research to identify and analyse market developments, customer needs, opportunities and competitor activity and strategies. You will use this information to create marketing strategies which take advantage of your competitors’ weaknesses and learn ways to improve your own business performance. This knowledge will help you to be realistic about how successful you can be. Therefore, market research needs to be budgeted.
2. Developing a marketing strategy. This will enable you target your customers and their needs effectively and efficiently. However both customers’ needs and the business environment are constantly changing. A marketing strategy will consider the changes taking place and opportunities and threats that are likely to emerge. Aspects to be included in your marketing strategy are: elements of a successful strategy; understanding your strengths and weaknesses; developing your marketing strategy, tips and pitfalls and, how to choose the right marketing strategy. Different strategies will have different budget implications.
3. Developing and implementing a marketing plan. A marketing plan builds on your own strengths and weaknesses to work out what your marketing strategy should be. Clear objectives are set out including how to achieve them. It also looks at how you can ensure your plan becomes a reality. A marketing plan will be built around a marketing mix of Product , Price, Place, Promotion. Decisions on the marketing mix will impact on the required budget.
4. Promotion campaign. You will have to determine a mix of promotional activities to reach out to potential customers. Direct marketing, e-mail marketing, advertisement, etc require budgeting. Not to mention participations in trade fars and exhibitions.
5. Innovation and product development. New products are the life blood of all businesses. Investing in new products is crucial to business growth and profitability. However it is a process that requires considerable planning and organization. A planned and phased out development process will help one make the wisest investment and budgeting decision.

In conclusion, a budget is a plan to control finances, helps you make confident financial decisions to meet your marketing objectives and ensures you have enough money for future projects. Budgeting helps to outline the marketing activities you will spend your money on and how it will be financed. It is important to note that budgeting is not a forecast. Forecasting is a prediction of the future but budgeting is a planned outcome of the future as defined by your plan.

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Frank Olok Asobasi is a CBI trained export coach. View profile