The 4-step marketing budget process that will win you in 2020

The marketing budget. You have it in your hand, you look at it, and you think of one of a few things.

If you’re lucky, you might think, “WOW! I have so much extra budget this year, what can I do with it? »

If not, you might be wondering “HOW can I get results like this year if I don’t have so much money to spend?”

Either way, you’re faced with a challenge: how can you make sure you’re dividing that marketing budget so that you — and your business — win in 2020? Here’s how to build a successful marketing budget:

1. Go back to historical data
2. Assess your current condition
3. Confirm your goals and objectives
4. Trace your route

Let’s unbox this.

1. Go back to historical data

Can you really understand where you are going if you don’t know where you’ve been?

Before you think about all the big, exciting ideas you’ll embrace in 2020, take some time to analyze what has gone well over the past year – and what hasn’t. When I analyze data, I have a three-question formula that almost always keeps me honest. I ask myself “What happened? then “Why did this happen?” and finally, “What should I do about this?”

Report on “What happened?” is usually easy. I can see in a graph that organic traffic is up 20% year over year. From there, the digging began. “What made organic search traffic increase 20% year over year?”

I will need various reports to get this information, but my end goal is to understand which keywords can drive this traffic, which pages this traffic lands on, and whether this traffic generated high-quality leads.

Finally, I have to ask, “What should I do about this?” 🤔

Let’s say I found that three blog posts drove a huge amount of our organic traffic – that’s awesome! Continuing to blog should be part of my 2020 game plan. But did that traffic turn into leads or customers? Otherwise, some conversion rate optimization should also factor into my plans.

Ready to start? I recommend starting by looking at:

• Traffic by source or medium: What pushed? What went wrong? What efforts did you undertake in 2019 that would have contributed to this growth? Should you repeat these efforts in 2020?

• Prospects by source or medium: Ask yourself the same questions as with traffic. As well find out about the overall quality of these leads. Were they skilled in marketing? Qualified sales? Opportunities? Clients?

• Customers by source or medium: Yes, the same questions apply here. As well take a look at the average transaction size for these customers. Are you generating high-value customers from paid search, but small offers from organics? Why could this be?

• Campaign analysis: For your traffic, leads, and customers, which of your marketing campaigns are driving volume and quality? Should you consider more campaigns like this in the new year?

• Overall spend broken down by source, channel, and campaign. You understand the results of your campaign – do you know how these expenses generated a return on investment?

• Is there any seasonality you haven’t noticed before? As a general rule, most companies understand the ups and downs of their sales throughout the year, but new changes may appear over time. For example, you may see a lot of sales after the holiday season each year, but have you also seen a smaller increase in sales around back to school this year? Is this something that can happen again? How does this relate to your current marketing and campaigns? These are important questions to ask.

When reviewing historical data, your goal is to understand and document:

• What worked well and bears repeating
• What did not work well and should be removed
• What are the intermediate areas that should be innovated and iterated.
• Seasonality which can affect how your budget should fluctuate throughout the calendar year.

2. Assess your current condition.

Of course, when you looked at the last 12 months, you included recent data. It’s an important part of the picture, but it may not tell you everything.

What changes have you implemented in the last three months that could affect your marketing in 2020? Maybe you launched a new website in early October, finalized a rebrand, or hired a marketing agency recently.

Looking ahead, what do you know is on the horizon for the first quarter of 2020? Consider these elements in your “current state”. These current state actions are the types of strategies and tactics that can be a force or a friction in your marketing trajectory.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re planning a major rebranding in early 2020. You’re not just updating colors, fonts, and a logo, but you’re actually reinventing the company name…and at in turn, completely blow your current domain name – and authority domain – off the map. If organic search is part of your marketing success (and if you do inbound marketing, it most likely is), that should translate into the need for a huge volume of content production once the change in mark will be put online.

3. Confirm your goals and objectives

It took me a long time not to put goals and objectives first in this list, but I did it for a reason: understanding the historical and current state of your marketing funnel is essential groundwork. , whatever your goals.

With these two areas documented, you’re probably overflowing with ideas of what to do next. That’s great – toss these ideas into a punch list right now, then come back to this list.

Already back ? Okay. Before deciding which of these goals should be included in your 2020 plan, you need to understand your goals. If you have goals as a marketer to increase awareness, traffic, or leads, this is a great place to start.

My challenge is to dig deeper: what are your company’s goals for the next year? As a marketer, how can your campaigns contribute to these goals? Say your business has revenue growth and customer retention goals. Looking at your past and current data, I would draw:

• Which campaigns or sources generated the biggest deals for your sales team?
• Which traffic sources generate the highest volume of leads?
• Which campaigns or sources lead to the longest customers?

Pro Tip: Always ask why. In fact, maybe consider taking a “five whys” approach at this point. Drill a little more, a little more, a little more. The deeper you dive, the more confident you can be.

4. Chart your course

At this point you have a clear picture of where you have been, where you are today and where you are looking to go in 2020. All that remains is to define how you will get there also known as : marketing budget? First, take out the “must haves” which may include:

• Website hosting and domain registration fees
• Basic marketing automation software (HubSpot or others)
• Critical peripheral software (e.g. Drift, if you see a lot of conversions from chat)
• Agency partnerships or freelancer/contractor fees
• Media budget paid if it has historically delivered results and ROI

Then, layer your goals for 2020. Where do you need to innovate? Maybe you need to minimize some seasonality at the end of summer and want to plan an in-person event or spend extra budget on a paid campaign during that time. Maybe your lead volume has grown so much that it makes sense to work with a team to develop lead scoring and sales automation. What initiatives will help you achieve your goals? What do you need to add to your budget to ensure these initiatives come to fruition?

From there, it’s time to add some fun stuff:

• New technology to pilot (with an integration plan)
• Additional team resources
• New agency relationship(s) (taken Shameless. Hi! 👋 We’re doing this!)
• New marketing channels (perhaps a PR strategy makes sense for your goals, or you want to leave a budget to test a paid social media strategy next year).

BONUS: Stay flexible

Of course, it’s the end of 2019 and you’re excited and ready to allocate funds. It’s good to have a marketing plan and spending roadmap, but remember to stay flexible. In a world of algorithm updates, buying processes that grow more complex every day, and new technologies emerging, locking yourself in could hurt you in the long run. Stay flexible, stay focused on your goals, and prepare to win in 2020.

What is your plan for allocating your budget next year? Let us know in the comments.