If your Marketing & Design Budget has Increased?

Luckily, your Marketing Budget didn’t end up on accounts cutting room floor, so now what do you do with the increased budget?

The natural tendency would be to make sure the budget gets spent, so you don’t lose it to another part of the business. However, before you run off and book next month’s ad or call in that PR expert to get media exposure, take a moment to think a little strategically about how you can leverage your marketing dollar further.

It is true that, generally, ‘marketing’ no longer has the big bucks thrown into it as it used to. With emerging technology, social media, a little bit of time, and an ingenious marketing idea – is all you need to take on your competitors (the ones with a marketing budget bigger than your turnover).

So, what are these differentiators that will help your marketing go further? Here are my top 3 tips:

Know who your marketing is targeting

This is often a statement that you read over and over again, but there are an alarmingly large number of businesses that can’t actually tell you who they target, at least not intimately. Get really intimate with who your product/service is suited for and start getting to know them intimately. Clearly define who is interested in your product/service, what do they want from your brand, how will your product fulfil what they are looking for, where will you find them and what price point are they willing to pay for it? All of the answers will set the strategy and overall direction for how and where you will market. It will also set the tone of language to use when communicating to them and the type of marketing activity that you will do.

Making your brand stick

Seems obvious doesn’t it? However how many of your competitors service or products sticks in your mind? How often do you recall their brand or refer to it? We call this a brands ‘stickiness’ (aka ‘brand awareness’). Often companies are so focussed on marketing their product/service that they forget to invest in a brand that will create the visual representation that many will remember you by. For this reason, your brand needs to be ‘unforgettable’.  A strong brand will be remembered and keep you in touch with your target audience. This is one area of marketing that you do not want to scrimp on.

Commit to getting real to get busy

This will mean that you will have to manage (or do) some of the communication involved in the marketing activities. Often we would suggest to commit to a set agenda of ‘doing the activity’ on a daily or weekly basis. This could include blogging, online forums or social media channels relevant to your product/service or where your target audience can be found. A little time investment each day will go a long way in creating a compounding effect with your target audience and making your brand ‘stick’.

With a little time commitment, an authentic idea about the use of your product/service and a strong brand will go a long way in yielding great returns on your marketing budget.

If you are still not sure where to start then Stella Design can help you develop a communication strategy that fits into your marketing efforts to achieve the sales and make your brand ‘stick’.

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