The good news is that following a simple process can help you determine how to allocate budgets for digital marketing, particularly when it comes to a marketing budget for startup brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, we\u2019ll walk you through the process as well as take a look at some benchmarks and basic costs you\u2019ll want to account for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Marketing Budget Importance: Why You Need It<\/a><\/li>
- What Your Startup Marketing Budget Needs to Account For<\/a><\/li>
- Startup & B2B Marketing Budget Benchmarks<\/a><\/li>
- How to Allocate Your Budget for Digital Marketing<\/a>
- 1. Know What You Can Afford to Spend<\/a><\/li>
- 2. Break Down a List of Known & Expected Expenses<\/a><\/li>
- 3. Organize Your List by Priority<\/a><\/li>
- 4. Look At What Fits Into the Budget & Trim Accordingly<\/a><\/li>
- 5. Try to Leave Room for Flexibility<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
- Final Thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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Marketing Budget Importance: Why You Need It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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It\u2019s so crucial to not only have a dedicated marketing budget but to also understand how it will be divided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can always make changes later, shifting ad spend from one platform or another, or realizing that you want to invest more in video content as opposed to outsourcing custom-made graphics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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That being said, having a baseline is good, especially because marketing has so many expenses and that can really add up if you\u2019re not careful. Knowing where your funds need to go (and where they can<\/em> go if there\u2019s any leftover) is mandatory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What Your Startup Marketing Budget Needs to Account For<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A marketing budget<\/a> for startup businesses needs to account for a pretty long list of costs, including the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Any ad spend for PPC platforms, including Google Ads costs<\/a> or other PPC ads costs<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The rates paid to marketing freelancers<\/a>, consultants, or new employees that you add to the team to do any marketing-related work<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Training costs for your marketing team, which may include launching online courses<\/a>, webinars, formal education, or digital marketing conferences<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The marketing tools your staff needs to manage campaigns effectively, including marketing automation software<\/a>, social media scheduling tools<\/a>, and keyword research tools<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fees for influencer campaigns<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Paid software you need to reach your audience, like email marketing software<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The cost of gifts for social media contests and giveaways<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The costs of affiliate fees, referral fees\/discounts, and other acquisition costs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Ongoing branding and site maintenance <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Website fees <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Potential third-party independent research or leads <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
And that just may be the start, depending on what you\u2019re choosing to outsource and to whom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Startup & B2B Marketing Budget Benchmarks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Wondering how your B2B marketing budget measures up compared to other brands in your niche?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are a few benchmarks to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- B2B firms across multiple industries allocate an average of 11.3% of their company budgets<\/a> to marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- B2B brands are investing more in digital marketing<\/a> than in traditional marketing like print ads, with digital spend increasing over 11%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Content is a major focus for a large number of B2B brands, with the average content budget being $185,000 <\/a>in 2020 alone<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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How to Allocate Your Budget for Digital Marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We\u2019ve finally arrived at the best part of the article: The breakdown for how to actually allocate your budget for digital marketing and more. Let\u2019s go through the process we recommend brands use as a guideline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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1. Know What You Can Afford to Spend<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This is important. Know what your marketing budget for your startup is before you start trying to allocate the costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/leadsbridge.kinsta.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/know-what-you-can-afford-to-spend-1024x678.png\")
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The end of the year is a great time to review mission-critical business costs like employee costs, operational costs, and legal costs. See what\u2019s leftover and how much can be invested in marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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2. Break Down a List of Known & Expected Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The next thing that you need to do is write down a list of all of your known marketing expenses, including expenses that you\u2019re expected to have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This might include paying $25 a month for graphic design software or $1k a month to work with a freelance graphic designer. This might include paying $25 a month for graphic design software, using AI design tools such as an AI logo maker<\/a> for basic branding needs, or $1k a month to work with a freelance graphic designer. Doesn\u2019t matter, write it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think outside the box, too, in terms of what costs will be required. Some won\u2019t be month-to-month; you may need to attend a conference in June, and then an online course<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Organize Your List by Priority<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Once you\u2019ve got your list, it\u2019s time to organize it by how important those costs are.
Start with \u201cnon-negotiable expenses,\u201d like the $25 per month you pay for email software you\u2019ve loved for years and won\u2019t give up. It\u2019s got a great ROI<\/a>, it\u2019s useful, and you need it. This might also include ad spend going to high-value platforms that you know are driving results like Facebook Ads or even to outsourcing copy to specialized writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/leadsbridge.kinsta.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/organize-your-list-by-priority-1024x610.png\")
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Next, move to high-priority costs, like the $750 per month you pay a designer to create custom images for your social media channel to help enhance your branding and name brand recognition. It\u2019s important, but if you absolutely had<\/em> to cut it, it wouldn\u2019t immediately derail your profit.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnother example would be marketing automation software that is vital to your team streamlining the process. A platform like LeadsBridge can help you to connect the third-party tools<\/a> your team is using (such as CRMs, advertising platforms, email marketing softwares, etc.) and make the most out of them to streamline your marketing campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, include the expenses you\u2019d like to have, like social media contest software, business cards<\/a>, or additional printed mailers to go in shipped packaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember that in many cases, branding for startups<\/a> is essential alongside rapid-growth platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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4. Look At What Fits Into the Budget & Trim Accordingly<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In a perfect world, all of those costs would fit perfectly within your budget and there would be room to spare! We know that when it comes to marketing budgets for startups, however, that\u2019s almost never the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re $400 a month over, something has<\/em> to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes this is easy. You can downgrade your social media marketing software to a base plan because you rarely use the more advanced features. Or perhaps you\u2019re able to use marketing automation to cut back on third-party data entry you needed to hire virtual assistants for in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look at what makes sense to trim, and remember that you can reduce some costs without eliminating them completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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5. Try to Leave Room for Flexibility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Finally, after your budget is pretty much finalized, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that you\u2019ll want to leave room for flexibility and adaptability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are plenty of reasons why having a few extra hundred dollars a month in the budget isn\u2019t the worst idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can outsource tasks if someone on your team is sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can pay for high-value resource creation from an expert, or for a high-level consultation from an expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- B2B brands are investing more in digital marketing<\/a> than in traditional marketing like print ads, with digital spend increasing over 11%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- The rates paid to marketing freelancers<\/a>, consultants, or new employees that you add to the team to do any marketing-related work<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2. Break Down a List of Known & Expected Expenses<\/a><\/li>
- What Your Startup Marketing Budget Needs to Account For<\/a><\/li>