Preparing the Marketing Budget

The Value of Marketing is a year-round subject, so it's a good idea to prepare our 'Marketing Budget ideas well ahead of time.

As of 2Q2024, the economic indicators for European Manufacturing and for Machinery Exporting look flat, at best.

Before year-end, an Accountant in sabre-swinging mode may try to make a slash-and-burn attack on your budget. If you're not fully prepared, they'll succeed and your marketing machine will not be fit-for-purpose in 2025.

Two Ansaco articles offer suggestions for managing budget discussions; three articles from the Harvard Business Review also present methods for managing Marketing Budgets.

Andrew Sanderson

Contents

EXTERNAL ARTICLE ... "Making the Business Case for Your Marketing Budget" by Christine Moorman and Jennifer Veenstra.

ANSACO INSIGHT ... "Budgets for B2B Marketing"

EXTERNAL ARTICLE ... "Holding Onto Your Marketing Budget in a Downturn" by Janet Balis.

ANSACO INSIGHT ... "Proving the Value of Marketing"

EXTERNAL ARTICLE ... "Don’t Cut Your Marketing Budget in a Recession" by Nirmalya Kumar and Koen Pauwels.

BOOKS ... "Negotiation" by Gavin Kennedy

CONSULTING ... Marketing means: "Setting up the Sale"

EXTERNAL ARTICLE

Making the Business Case for Your Marketing Budget

In 2021, 50% of CMOs said they faced pressure from non-marketing leaders who “tend to focus on the short-run effect of marketing spending” and are “not patient for the long-run effects of marketing spending.” If you face the same issue, this HBR article suggests 10 Key Actions.

Read the article here.

ANSACO INSIGHT

Budgets for B2B Marketing

Budget meetings can be the low point of the corporate calendar; the impact on the Marketer can range from mild discomfort to enormous stress. To be perceived as a key contributor to business strategy, marketing directors need to re-frame the budget discussion.

Read how here.

EXTERNAL ARTICLE

Holding Onto Your Marketing Budget in a Downturn

When the economy is uncertain, the marketing budget is an easy target for cuts. And yet the costs of re-acquiring a customer can be five times the cost of keeping the ones we already have. In this HBR article, Balis suggests six ways CMOs can hold on to their budget.

Read the article here.

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ANSACO INSIGHT

Proving the Value of Marketing

Marketers need a better way to explain the Value of Marketing to non-marketing business managers like the CEO and CFO. Especially when it comes to all the sensible activities that absorb resources and budget, but aren’t directly connected with revenue generation.

Read how here.

EXTERNAL ARTICLE

Don’t Cut Your Marketing Budget in a Recession

Companies that maintain their marketing spend during a recession typically fare better than firms that cut their marketing investment when the economy returns to growth. The key however is intelligent re-allocation. Authors Nirmalya Kumar and Koen Pauwels offer suggestions under four headings.

Read more here.

BOOKS

Author Gavin Kennedy describes the process of negotiation as "the search for a shared solution on which we can both agree". This fourth edition includes chapters on 'making your offer count', 'dealing with intimidation' and 'getting it in writing'. Valuable hands-on advice from an acknowledged expert.

Check out the updated 2nd Edition on amazon here.

CONSULTING ... Marketing means: "Setting up the Sale"

Marketing means: "Setting up the Sale"

If you're producing hi-tech B2B investment goods with long decision cycles, and promoting them in international markets, to strategic Buying Committees who face complex business issues, I'd like to hear from you.

My focus is to support and facilitate the collaboration between Marketing and other internal Teams (Product Management, Sales, Senior Management, IT, legal, etc.). Hands-on help within a strategic context, is how we making Change work, and get stuff implemented, so that your team gets the credit it deserves.

Let's talk

If you're serious about going beyond optimisation within current parameters, and you want to reach the next level of Marketing effectiveness, feel free to contact me via LinkedIn.

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