What are the best marketing budgeting and planning tools for small businesses?

1 Why you need marketing budgeting and planning tools

Marketing budgeting and planning tools are software applications that help you create, manage, and analyze your marketing plan and budget. They can help you align your marketing goals with your business objectives, allocate your resources wisely, and monitor your return on investment (ROI). By using these tools, you can improve your marketing efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.

2 What to look for in marketing budgeting and planning tools

When selecting a marketing budgeting and planning tool, small businesses should take into account the cost, features, ease of use, and scalability. Cost-wise, it’s best to look for free or low-cost options, or tools that offer a trial period or a flexible pricing plan. Features-wise, the tool should offer goal setting, scenario planning, forecasting, reporting, and integration with other tools. In terms of ease of use, the tool should be user-friendly with a clear dashboard and responsive support team. Lastly, scalability is key; the tool should be able to grow with your business and handle multiple users and projects.

3 How to use marketing budgeting and planning tools

Once you have chosen a marketing budgeting and planning tool, there are several steps you should take to make the most of it. Firstly, you should define your marketing goals and objectives, making sure they are SMART and have measurable indicators. Secondly, create a marketing plan and budget that takes into account your target audience, competitors, market trends, and external factors. Use your tool to create different scenarios to compare the expected outcomes and costs. Thirdly, execute your plan and monitor your budget with the help of your tool. Identify any gaps or deviations from the budget and take corrective actions if needed. Finally, evaluate your marketing results and ROI with the data and insights provided by the tool. Generate reports to share with stakeholders as well.

4 Some examples of marketing budgeting and planning tools

If you're looking for budgeting and planning tools suitable for small businesses, here are some examples to consider. Mintent is a content marketing platform that helps create, distribute, measure, and track content performance and ROI. Allocadia is a marketing performance management platform that enables you to plan, manage, and optimize your marketing budget and ROI. CoSchedule is a marketing project management platform that helps organize, execute, and report on marketing campaigns. It also provides features such as creating marketing calendars, managing tasks and workflows, collaborating with team members, and monitoring marketing results and analytics.

5 How to get started with marketing budgeting and planning tools

If you're looking to use marketing budgeting and planning tools for your small business, it's important to do your research. Compare the features, benefits, and prices of different tools and read reviews from other users. You should also define your needs and expectations, and have a realistic budget and timeline for implementation. Once you've chosen a tool, set it up and customize it to fit your business preferences. Train yourself and your team on how to use the tool effectively, and seek help from the provider or other users if needed. Finally, start using the tool to plan, budget, execute, monitor, and evaluate your marketing activities. Use the tool to improve your marketing performance, efficiency, and ROI.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?