Manage Your Marketing Budget for 2012

Just into the first quarter of 2012, you're probably thinking about how to do things better. Or how to do things differently. In today's tight economy, one thing many small businesses need to do is to learn how to manage their marketing budget. Because either you manage it…or it is going to er, "manage" you.

Fox Business.com reported recently that a 30-second spot at the Super Bowl cost $3.5 million. Now some companies are spending that much (and more) for their marketing budgets. But for more small companies, they may not even "have" a budget. So they spend money as they need to - on marketing. In the short term, this seems wise. But to help you plan long term, and to best understand your marketing needs, this is shooting yourself in the foot, over and over again. Save yourself the time & hassle, and learn to set a marketing budget, now.

How do you set a marketing budget? Every company's needs are different. Look at your business plan, goals for the year. Do you want to attract new customers? Have you opened new stores/locations in a new area? Basically, if you are looking for additional growth, you probably will have to spend more on marketing than you were planning to. Try to find what you've spent on marketing for the past two or three years, and why you chose to do marketing at that time (a sale, a promotion, bring in new business, etc.).

Not all marketing costs money. Some things, like social media and networking, often simply cost time and effort. Think about that for a moment. A successful small business I know does something about marketing every single day. You heard me: every single day. Like brushing your teeth. Even if business is so hectic, you couldn't imagine another customer or client walking through the door. But this example is helpful because doing regular marketing pays off. Even if you don't do things every day, if you do things every week, they will start to bring in results. But setting that marketing budget is helpful because you are planning for your success instead of going about it when you think about marketing occasionally, when you realize you "need" to market just before a sale or a promotion. You always need to be marketing!

Study your competition and learn from them. You may not want to do everything your competition does. And just because something is successful for your competition doesn't necessarily mean that it will be successful for you. You need to find what you would enjoy doing and what "fits" your small business to a "T." But by studying your competition, you can best create your marketing plan because you'll develop ideas and strategies for marketing. Instead of doing what you've always done, you'll find new tactics for marketing.

Now, you can ignore setting a marketing budget. Some small businesses do. But they wind up on that frantic treadmill, always thinking short term about their marketing instead of able to think long term. When you create a marketing budget and plan for your marketing, you offer your business the opportunity to grow and develop. It is like the difference between creating a business plan - and choosing to run your business without one. It's entirely your choice!

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Article written by Lawrence Reaves, writing on behalf of http://www.galorath.com - providing software estimation tools for complex business projects.

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