3 Ways to Protect Your Marketing Budget
Marketing is chronically underrated.
Only about half of CEOs place great importance on the effectiveness of their CMO (according to a Deloitte study), which makes marketing departments more likely to suffer budget cuts than their counterparts.
During downturns or crises (oh, hi, pandemic), budgets are even more fragile: 90% of marketers said they had seen their budgets delayed or subject to review and more than half of global brands halted spending advertisements over the next few months (according to Marketing week and World Federation of Advertisers research, respectively).
Even in normal times, budgets are criticized quarterly and annually. As marketers, we might feel like we have to prove our worth.
Here are three great ways to communicate our value and ensure the success of our organizations:
Be a partner for all. Marketing sits at the intersection of customer and content, and from this vantage point, you can support the entire organization. Why not offer the gray matter of your team to help other departments?
If customer service reps need to boost net promoter scores, can you develop a loyalty or upsell campaign to help them? If operations want to reduce pitch expenses, can you bring in creative partners or new production teams? If finance is rolling out a new compensation plan for sales, can you create an internal campaign to engage them?
My favorite goal-setting framework is OKRs (or Key Objectives and Results) because these really ambitious goals have the power to unite departments. I love when my teams are dragged into other meetings to add perspective.
OKRs are also morale boosters: when teams feel like they’re part of a lunar effort, they learn to prioritize work and accomplish more than they ever imagined.
Remember that data plus history equals membership. When presenting to stakeholders and those pulling the purse strings, use statistics to present evidence and stories to present motives. Statistics are the “what” and history is the “why”. Stakeholders are also dreamers; if you can speak convincingly about their aspirations, you will gain their trust.
Take the time to discover the metrics your bosses care about and tailor your presentations (and the data you track) accordingly.
Membership also requires collaboration, so don’t give everything upfront. Give the decision-makers a solid, irrefutable framework, and let the interior take shape as you work together. don’t throw at them – throw with their.
Be the best sport in the organization. Even if you manage to prove your worth, this uncertain time will bring cuts.
Make sure to stay positive and respond to bad news with solutions. Are they asking you to do more with fewer resources? Ask yourself, “How can I do more with less?” Adapt your strategies to the new reality. Get ruthless with analytics, see where you’re reaching people, and double down on those channels. To inspire confidence, take good care of the little money you have.
The unique value proposition of marketers is creativity. Use it to find ways to extend your omnichannel expertise across departments and tell the stories that matter to stakeholders. Combined with your optimistic response to challenges, these approaches will solidify you as a valuable team player who can drive the growth that will save your business during crises.
Brit Booth is Vice President of Marketing for perfect day. Read more of his thoughts at MediaPost.
Making sure you’re getting the most out of your budget is essential if you really want to get ahead in business.