Everybody knows that a good marketing campaign does wonders for any business. And while there are many ways of expressing what makes a good campaign, what they all tend to boil down to is one simple data point: return on investment (ROI). The higher your ROI, the more sales impact your campaign has had. So how do you go about creating a top-notch marketing campaign capable of delivering a high ROI?
If there were a simple answer to that question, it would likely come in the form of a magic wand. And while we’re fresh out of hocus pocus, we do happen to know a few things about data, marketing impact, and ROI. Delivering a solid ROI, for instance, actually begins in the budget meeting—well before your campaign sees the light of day. Here are just a few ways that proper budgeting can be king when it comes to marketing.
Streamline execution across multiple channels. Traditional and digital platforms have wonderful visibility, but when marketing meets social media, it’s easy for a campaign’s message to get garbled. Budgeting for trained and on-message social media customer service representatives can extend both the life and impact of your campaign.
Manage cross-campaign success. Often, businesses aren’t managing just one campaign. When you’ve got multiple irons in the fire, it’s important to know what your expenses actually are and what you’ve budgeted for. If one of your campaigns is coming in under budget and another is generating a good number of leads but is out of funds, you can easily allocate your surplus funds to the top performer and boost those good numbers even further.
Take the guesswork out of ROI. A good budget can function much like a playbook. Throughout the life of a campaign, up-to-the-minute analytics will tell you just where you’re having the most impact. For instance, this recent Microsoft study looks at the relationship between digital marketing and offline sales in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. While many FMCG marketers have been hesitant to allocate funds to digital campaigns, the study actually showed online marketing to be the second-most efficient medium for driving short-to-medium term sales. Moreover, the retail ROI was consistently higher when online media was involved. When you know what funds are available and where they’re allocated, you can adapt your campaign to take advantage of these opportunities without breaking the budget.
By planning your campaign’s budget, tracking your success across multiple channels, and reallocating funds when necessary, you’ll foster a healthy ROI. Keeping a close eye on the numbers from the get-go also assures that your ROI is more accurate come campaign’s end.