How do you create a marketing budget that is realistic, flexible, and scalable?

Whilst it can be tricky to do, try to illustrate where areas of your budget will contribute to or affect your ROI. In other words spending X on PPC advertising is forecasted to help us achieve Y. Working in these terms can help you spot inefficiencies, wasted budget, and sometimes encourage management to give you a larger budget in particular areas!

Creating a marketing budget that is realistic, flexible, and scalable involves several key steps. 1 - Define your objectives, which should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Your objectives will help you determine what you need to achieve, how much you need to spend, and how you will measure success.

Using a previously approved budget (or several) that also shows actual fiscal year expenses, will give you a great picture of what costs are probably recurring- such as software renewals, subscriptions or memberships, but also show you quickly what, based on your experience or perspective, might be missing. Also, include the perspectives of others that were in your role, or either report to you, or that you report to- you might learn some useful information, get a better understanding of the “why” behind a decision, and get some encouragement to keep course or change it up a little.

Next, you should determine your budget allocation strategy. This involves deciding how much you will spend on each marketing channel or tactic, based on their potential ROI, and how they align with your objectives. When creating your marketing budget, it's important to be realistic about what you can achieve with the resources you have. You should also be flexible, and allow for unexpected expenses or changes in your marketing strategy. Your budget should be scalable, so that you can increase or decrease spending as needed, based on the results you achieve.

If you don't have enough resources for your ideal plan...before you start to adjust your plans, consider if there are mutually beneficial brand collaborations that you can develop to bring them to life.

Start by listing all the potential marketing channels you can use, such as social media, email marketing, content marketing, paid advertising, events, and public relations. Then, consider which channels are most effective for reaching your target audience and driving the desired actions.

It's important to regularly review and adjust your budget as needed to ensure you're getting the most out of your marketing investments. Additionally, tracking and analyzing the results of each channel will help you optimize your marketing budget over time.

After allocating resources, it's important to continuously review and revise your marketing budget to ensure it remains effective and efficient. This involves monitoring your expenses and evaluating the results of your marketing campaigns against your objectives.

Overall, creating a realistic, flexible, and scalable marketing budget requires a deep understanding of your business, your audience, and your marketing channels. You'll want to determine your business goals, identify your target audience, determine the appropriate marketing channels, set a budget, and continually monitor and adjust. By following these steps, you can optimize your marketing spend and achieve your business goals.

I feel it is important to add a potential disadvantage of a flexible budget which surrounds the occurrence of delays: You may experience delays in issuing financial statements since you wait for the completion of actual activities to create financial reports that contain a comparison between budgeted and actual information. These delays can affect financial planning and other processes in a company. That said I have found the key to a successful flexible budget in my business is buffering: never be walking in the thin line. Leave a little wiggle room :)