Don’t make these marketing budget mistakes in 2022

The following is a guest article by Aimee Schuster, CEO and Founder of Bandwidth strategy. Opinions are those of the authors.

The difficulty with defining a marketing budget is knowing that it is almost never defined. As I have experienced throughout my career, marketing investments are the first to be cut when revenues decline. Or, the CEO decides that a favorite project should be funded and pulls resources from a different department to execute the idea. Although the situation is often fluid throughout the year, you have to start somewhere, and it is now somewhere: budget season!

Amid the global, local and industrial vortex – elections, supply chain disasters, market crash forecasts and pandemic realities – marketing managers must predict which channels will be successful in a unique and highly volatile business environment. With so many channels that are evolving, how can you capitalize on marketing budgets when the situation is constantly evolving?

Based on my years of planning and advising on global budgets, and with the nuances of this year’s market in mind, here are some pitfalls to avoid when planning a budget for 2022.

Stop trying to hire

The Great Resignation changed everything in the work environment and especially marketing. Massive job exodus has finally broken down localization barriers and made anywhere work a reality. It also created a salary frenzy unlike anything I’ve seen in 20 years. As a budget manager, I would advise suspending all hiring for the first six months of 2022. Paying astronomical rates for marketing talent coupled with long ramp-up times can be difficult in a good economy, let alone pay off. ‘an unstable economy. Instead, tap into the resources of freelancers, factions, and agencies to help fill in the gaps.

These skilled professionals know how to jump in quickly and get the job done without you having to assess them for their fit with the culture and their long-term potential.

Opt out of online advertising

The digital advertising market is changing rapidly. We’ve known for some time that Google plans to phase out third-party cookies for Chrome, and although it has pushed it back to 2023, that reality is coming. Additionally, the effectiveness of digital ads is largely oversold, according to an article by harvard business review which cites a large-scale analysis of Facebook ads and reports that the effectiveness of branded search ads has been overestimated by 4,000%. As these ads decrease in impact, more qualified experts may be needed to navigate the medium.

I recently looked at a growing organization specializing in online advertising that charges $ 6,000 in administration fees with a minimum spend of $ 25,000 on advertising platforms. To me, those numbers seem right, given their skills and the dollars it takes to ensure the campaigns are successful. But that kind of advertising money is beyond the reach of many small and medium-sized businesses.

Advertising can and should be part of the marketing mix and part of the budget, but for 2022 I would dramatically reduce that to drive first-party data acquisition for a more diverse digital portfolio.

Don’t ignore the new SEO

A good SEO strategy is the foundation of any content plan. Trying to help searchers find answers when they have questions is the best way to get the right traffic to your site and the right leads to your sales organization.

There is no secret recipe for SEO; good backend structure and solid content make it an effective, lead-oriented website. That said, there’s a new thing to consider: it’s not just the fingers that do the research anymore. Voice search is growing faster for e-commerce market than the B2B space, but it should not be ignored. These keywords will be more conversational and less robotic than the first generation of SEO.

Consider using part of your advertising budget to engage with an SEO expert and work to polish and optimize your existing site with things like a solid FAQ page, long tail keywords, and refocusing on it. mobile optimization, where a lot of voice search occurs.

Don’t just invest in long video

In a B2B world, the webinar often reigns supreme. The company can bring together experts in its own hosted forum or participate in another organization’s event. Regardless, the 45 to 60 minutes is often considered one of the gold standard for establishing and creating thought leadership.

Where many businesses fall for is putting the uncut video on their YouTube page and getting a lot of traffic there. Long-form video is great, but to get the most out of that investment, marketers need to recruit and spend money on video editors to create additional resources in short form: 20, 30, and 45 teasers. seconds that can be used on social networks. media; splices of individuals speaking for themselves to share with their own networks; put together a two-minute trailer that showcases the entire piece; add subtitles so viewers can understand without sound.

All of these require the skills of an editor who is comfortable creating professional intros and fades, adding music, or improving sound quality. Using all of these assets effectively will create great first party data and engaged leads.

Avoid assuming that events will return or be the same

This one is a wild card, as most of us assumed the pandemic was “almost over” only to see our plans dashed. For events that are not hosted by your company, I would recommend that you spend those dollars in the third and fourth quarters and assume that you may need to switch to the web. If your organization is very optimistic about hosting events in the first part of the year, make sure it is a true hybrid model.

It means more than just placing a laptop in a conference room and meeting via Zoom. Engage with a production team, invest in lighting, multiple cameras, and premium sets to make the experience great for those in the room and online. You might have to spend more on the hybrid, but you know you can host it no matter what.

The past few years have been tumultuous, and the scenery for the next year is sure to be unique in itself. If we’ve learned anything, it’s to assume that things won’t stay the same. But fluidity is where marketing shines: avoid pitfalls, set the budget, review, adapt and keep going!