How Not To Lose Money On Your Marketing Programs

Up until 2021, the average company was spending around 11% of their revenue on marketing. That dropped to an unprecedented low of just 6.4% in 2021, according to Gartner. 

But 2021 was an odd year. The pandemic’s ongoing lockdowns and social distancing restrictions meant that many companies really didn’t have a reason to do much marketing. And when it came to cutting back on costs of doing business, some companies just ruled a red line through their marketing budgets and waited for the Covid cloud to lift.

Things have changed now. Most of the world is back in business. And while the way we work and communicate might have changed a bit, there’s still a need to connect buyers to sellers of goods and services.

But with such a hard couple of years behind us, there’s also a need to make sure that marketing budgets are being well spent. And going back to the old methods of marketing may not be the best approach to take in a post-pandemic world. So I’m going to take you through my Top 3 Tips to ensure you don’t lose on your marketing spend.

1. Don’t try and reach everyone 

The biggest mistake anyone can make with their marketing budget is to try and reach as many people as possible. You have to be clear about who you’re talking to and why. 

Advertising on television, in magazines and on billboards may be alive and well, but it’s a scattergun approach. Loads of people viewing those ads may be totally irrelevant to you, and a waste of eyeballs. And frankly, these kinds of advertising might not actually be helping you reach the people who make purchase decisions anyway.

Instead, be targeted in your approach, and think about where decision makers are looking for advice. 

B2B buyers are not going to be headed to the local railway station to look at a billboard in order to find out where to buy the equipment and services they need. They are going to be listening to podcasts, reading articles, and attending events and webinars that will help them understand the value of the goods and services they are buying. 

So focus your attention on the audience you do want, and think about how you could best tap into their communities. I guarantee you, there will be conversations happening about your goods and services, and often it will be business influencers or employees of target companies who will have some influence over purchase decisions. Get in there and be part of the conversation. Use your marketing spend to engage those influencers. You won’t lose money like you will with traditional scattergun advertising. 

2. Measure the right things

This is really linked to the first tip. If you’re measuring eyeballs on ads, and 75% of the people seeing your ads are never going to buy your product, then 75% of your performance is actually a failure. That’s not useful, it’s losing you money. 

So when you set up metrics for your marketing, make sure you are measuring for the audience you want to target, and for the actions you want them to take. 

If you want to retain customers, then measure service sentiment and adapt to that feedback. If you want to sell to new customers, measure your brand sentiment and brand mentions among your target markets. 

And always, always measure actual conversions from the audience you’ve reached. That’s your efficiency rating and it helps you maximize the value of your marketing spend.

3. Mobile devices matter

The whole world is mobile now. Twice over, in fact. There are already more than double the number of mobile devices on the planet than there are people. If your marketing spend is focused just on your website or on your retail space, then you are missing a major opportunity. 

You need to be thinking about how the buyers of your goods and services are using mobile devices to access social media, podcasts, networking platforms and so on. This is likely to be a really important channel where they will learn how they might be able to use your products, and maybe even get a demo of how to use them. 

Don’t waste your marketing budget on a flashy website that doesn’t work on a mobile device. And while we’re on the subject of websites, remember to actually include screenshots, videos and use cases of your products and services. The number of companies that have a website for a digital product or service and don’t show that product is astounding. It’s such a lost opportunity! But always keep in mind how the site will appear on mobile devices, and how it will engage mobile users.

Getting the most from your marketing spend

After the last couple of years, it makes sense to bring some new strategy to your marketing. Not only is it going to improve your marketing spend efficiency, but it’s more likely to meet the changes in buyer behavior that have emerged from the pandemic. Targeting the right customers, measuring the right things and designing for mobile device access will all help ensure you don’t lose money on your marketing efforts. And as we get back to business as usual, that matters more than ever.