Budgets: A Marketer’s Best Friend.

Budgets: A Marketer’s Best Friend.

Yes,  you read that right. We love budgets. They help define our approach to challenges that must be overcome.In this blog entry, we are going to discuss budgets. Believe it or not, it is not just company owners, CFO’s and financial stake holders who like budget controls. Sure, BIG marketing budgets are great, but too much financial latitude does not always equate to high return on investment and positive brand performance. Ideally, budgets are developed and agreed upon through an interactive collaboration between client and informed agency team members. Ultimately, once project budgets are approved, they provide more than fiscal guardrails – they provide focus.

Some clients believe they want branding, promotion, digital outreach, traditional collateral, videos, social media, and (insert one of a hundred more tactics here). Budgets can and do help provide the much-needed direction to ensure that planning is focused on the best marketing mix, developing awareness / sales and moving the brand forward.

From large multi-national brands like Nike to smaller regional brands like Stag (shameless plug for a personal favorite) to startups like Zettie’s Confections (a local Columbia, Ill., start-up with huge potential), budgets keep everyone on task from executive management teams to CSRs.

The great motivator and entrepreneur, Napoleon Hill, said it best when he talked about limits in his best-selling book Think and Grow Rich. Hill said “limitations and challenges are needed as they require innovation to rise above them.”

Strategic and creative innovation is exactly what we do on behalf of our clients every day. Amazing ideas and results are born out of defined objectives and goals, researching potential barriers and possessing a drive and passion to overcome these challenges and deliver. Budgets provide key insights, not only as to what can be done but, more importantly, what can’t be done. So, share a challenge. Share a marketing, sales or lead generation goal. Share a budget. Then get on board and watch how we work together to move your brand forward.