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Five ways to spend your reduced marketing budget wisely
20/05/2011
Business budgets are still being slashed from every angle and money allocated to marketing is sometimes one of the first to go.
And it's not just speculation as the most recent IPA/BDO Bellwether survey showed marketing budgets were reduced by an average of 5.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2011. But how else are you going to raise awareness of your
brand and increase sales?
At Boxed Red we believe marketing is a vital part of business success and think an integrated, long-term strategy is the best way to meet your objectives. Thinking through and setting up an integrated plan can ensure the most cost-effective route to market, delivering relevant and engaging sales messages directly to your target market, ensuring you get the results you want, time and again.
With that in mind, we've compiled a list of five ways you can make the most of the marketing budget you've been left with.
1. Use research to define your target market
How much do you know about your customers? Can you describe their lifestyle and age? What about their income, marital status and gender? These questions can be answered with some market research and the more you understand about your customers' lives and buying habits, the easier it will be to deliver relevant, targeted messages in places they are likely to notice them. Taking this route will ensure you do not waste any of your budget on those not in your target market.
You could use:
- Targeted direct response advertising in carefully chosen publications to penetrate your newly-defined target market
- A cost-effective, yet creative and targeted email campaign
- A CRM system to capture your customers' data
2. Add value at every opportunity
Once your customers have made a purchase, think about what else they might need. Up-selling and cross-selling are great ways to boost your sales, so make sure your customers know exactly what you can provide. It could alert your customers' attention to something else they need, but didn't know you sold.
Provide every opportunity for your customers to buy from you and not your competitors.
You could use:
3. Speaking of customers, treat them well and reap the rewards
Your happy customers are your biggest, free advert. Make sure you deliver what you say you will and contact your customers afterwards to see what they liked and didn't like about your service. Ask for testimonials and publish them everywhere. Get them on your website and literature to broadcast the independent verification that you're the best at what you do.
You could use:
- Testimonials published on your promotional literature or website
- A loyalty scheme for your existing customers to say thank you for their support
- Recommend-a-friend promotions, rewarding your existing customers and gaining new ones
4. Refine your product offering
Look at the range of products and services you provide, is every single one selling well? Or do you make the majority of your profit from one or two 'bread-and-butter' items? Don't waste money by advertising things that don't boost your business, prune your offering, make sure every item is working in a cost-effective manner and spend cash on telling your customers all about the products that bring you the most profit.
You could use:
- A CRM or accounting system to define your most popular products
- Brochures to communicate your new offering
- And make sure you update your website with your new offering as well
5. Be everywhere your customer looks
You know you're the best at what you do, but do your customers know you are there? Don't spend your limited marketing budget on a glossy brochure if the majority of your customers spend online, focus your efforts on your website and online advertising. And if you customers prefer printed materials, make sure you put your efforts into your brochures and promotional literature.
Go back to your market research and look at where your customers come from geographically, then focus your marketing efforts on those areas, there are likely to be even more people who could benefit from what you provide in that area.
You could use:
A long-term
integrated campaign to define your sales messages, penetrate your identified target markets for new business and encourage loyalty among your existing customer base.
Boxed Red Marketing can help you with any marketing services your business requires. Call our marketing consultants today on 01565 632 112 for a free, no obligation chat about what we could potentially achieve for you and your business.
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