We love the opportunities each New Year brings, especially strategizing the possibilities as we plan our 2014 marketing budgets – both for DMA and with our clients. The chances of a “miss” in our budgeting process are greater than before with the ever-evolving marketing landscape. Below we highlight some of the most common budgeting misses to avoid in 2014.
1. Skimping on Social Media Ad Dollars – Social media marketing has certainly become a lot more top of mind in recent years for fresh produce marketers attempting to reach consumer audiences. However, implementing a social media plan without proper allocation of advertising dollars is a sure fire way to miss the mark in 2014. Paid media on social networks helps to establish an appropriate audience for your channels. Plan to consistently spend anywhere from $250 – $750 a month in social media advertising to reap the most from your community harvest.
2. Skipping out on Sponsorships in your Tradeshow Budgets – Basic tradeshow expenses for almost every company are booth space, booth design and production, sales materials, giveways, and shirts. But at the very top of the priority list for brand exposure should be sponsorships. These are prime opportunities for branding and (sometimes) product sampling to a smaller, more qualified audience and provide a heightened presence both on and off the show floor.
3. Not Budgeting for Website Updates – Websites are like fresh produce…they begin dying the minute you launch them. That might seem a little overly dramatic, but the truth is, your company should be evolving at such a steady pace that your brand story is evolving throughout the year (product updates, expansions, new packaging, new employees, etc.). That means your website is telling visitors an old story unless you’re investing in regular updates and improvements to best represent your value at any given time. To maintain your budgeting sanity, allocate $250 – $500 a month to maintenance updates and don’t forget to think ahead to a particular month that you might need to do a more extensive refresh that will require a few extra dollars.
4. Forgetting to Account for New Product Launches – Done right, new product launches require a plethora of marketing assets…integration into the website, sales sheet development, product messaging development, packaging design and advertisements. Let’s say you have 2 or 3 of these happen next year. That will quickly consume a good chunk of your marketing dollars in several budget categories. Look ahead to what is coming in the next year and account for growth areas rather than just looking to last year as your guide.
5. Omitting Market Research – Marketing plans should be driven by market research that helps you better define your target audience, understand their pain points, learn how and why they use your products, and how you can become a true resource for them beyond a product purchase. Gut instinct is not enough; you must look outside your own knowledge and experience and build your plans around your customers’ wants and needs. Certainly many types of market research can be very costly, but consider more cost effective ways you can tap into your social media communities to help you gain insights. For example, you can offer consumers coupons or gifts in exchange for valuable information about them, like their buying habits and what types of content they are hungry for.
6. Overlooking the Benefits of A-B Testing – As marketers we are committed to balancing our creative passions with quantitative results. We want our brand to be clever and attractive, yet we need to connect and convert. There’s no better way to test your ideas against one another than with A-B tests – which of course add an additional layer of cost to any promotion. Generally you are making simple, affordable changes like a color or a tagline. Maybe you offer a QR code vs. a URL. Whatever your A-B testing looks like, plan ahead for double the assets at launch time and watch your success rate soar.
7. Discounting a Plan for the Unexpected – New opportunities are sure to arise at some point during the year, and if you don’t have some flexible budget set aside for an impromptu cross-promotion, a new event sponsorship or a last minute, discounted advertisement, you’ll lose out on valuable avenues for brand exposure. You may have a year when you don’t need to tap into your budget reserves, but when the right opportunity calls, you’ll be glad you thought ahead.
Feeling anxious about where to start? Don’t be! Start by outlining SMART goals and use your year-over-year performance metrics to guide your budget allocation and marketing decision. Read this article about how to get started with your planning and give us a call if you would like guidance to pinpoint a starting place. We’re here to help!