Budget For Marketing

By Kevin Nunley
Posted Saturday, September 4, 2004

Even those of us who don't consider ourselves big planners have systems for budgeting for marketing.

Some spend as much as they can each month. That seems to make sense, but you often wind up spending too much money in inefficient ways.

It is popular to spend a percentage of sales, but it is hard to budget much when you are just starting out and sales are slow. That is when you need marketing the most.

Other businesses wait until sales slow down before pouring on the marketing. Often, that is too little too late.

What is the top method for planning marketing, the one used by marketing experts?

Invest a percentage of projected sales in your advertising effort. Look at each of your major products and services as a separate project requiring its own ad budget.

You will need to do some testing to get a good estimate of how well sales will do over several months.

Classified ads and radio commercials are great for getting a feel for how well a product will do. Code ads so you can track results.

About the Author
Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing for businesses and organizations. Read all his money-saving marketing tips at (http://DrNunley.com/). Reach him at kevin@drnunley.com or (801)253-4536.