If you don’t know the answers to these questions — don’t worry.  It’s just as easy as checking in with your marketing team and making sure they are working toward your goals in the most efficient way.  Here are a few tricks of the trade to make sure that your marketing dollars are going as far as possible.

1. Ask questions.  I know this one seems obvious, but it’s definitely worth a mention. Ask your team what they’re focusing on and why.  Determine if that’s where you want them to be spending energy and effort.  If not, be specific about the goals and time lines you have in mind.

2. Get reports. Marketing is only as good as the reporting you get.  If you get good reports, you’ll see the results.  No reports — no results.  So, make sure you’re getting reports.  You should see some hard numbers that show what is happening.  Be sure to ask for only results that reflect the current marketing campaign.

3. Meetings, meetings, meetings.  I know — the only thing worse than a meeting is a long meeting.  But, meetings are there for a reason.  You can be productive in a very short period of time, you just have to know what questions to ask.  So, here you go…

• How many hours have you put in on this project?
• Where did we start (in terms of numbers)?
• Where are we at now?
• What seems to be working, and how did you come to that conclusion?
• What is not working and how did you come to that conclusion?
• What is your recommendation going forward to achieve our goal the quickest?
• How much will this recommendation cost?
• Who is the best person to carry out your recommendation?

There you go!  Fastest meeting ever.  But, you learned a lot about what is happening and why.

4. Read up a bit on the latest and greatest online marketing news.  My personal favorites are SEOmoz.org and SearchEngineLand.com.  If you review these two sites once a week, you’ll get all of the information you need to be “in the know.”  When you know a little bit about online marketing, you’ll feel more confident when your team starts talking in “lingo.”

So there you have it!  Lucky Marketing Firm’s four ways to keep up with your in-house marketing team.  You’re feeling better already, aren’t you?

Marketing is one of the best ways to bring money into your company. In fact, marketing is the only type of business expense that comes with an expected ROI (return on investment). So, put some of your businesses’ money into marketing! If spent wisely, you will see your money (and maybe more) come back to you. (It’s been well-documented that businesses investing in marketing tend to fare better than those that do not.)

How much should a business budget for marketing?  Well, the answer is the very unsatisfying “it depends.”  The percentage of revenue spent on marketing varies considerably.  I’ve seen companies invest less than one percent, and I’ve seen companies invest 30 percent of their annual revenue.  (I don’t recommend either, by the way.)  The biggest variables are location of the business, competition within the industry and the level of risk aversion in the owner of the company. Is your business in a big city?  Is your industry saturated?  Do you think sky-diving sounds like a good time?  Your business will probably the higher end when budgeting for marketing.  On the other hand, maybe your business is in a non-competitive industry and the thought of wasting a dollar for a soda makes you nauseous.  Your business will probably sit a little lower on the marketing budget scale.    

Once you decide how much to set aside for marketing, it’s time to figure out how to spend the money you’ve allotted.  This is where most business owners really run into problems.  Many business simply want to do what was done the year before.  This may be a good idea if the marketing projects were successful.  However, if they weren’t successful, or just ho-hum, it may be time to invest in a new marketing plan. 

When planning to use your marketing budget, take a good, hard look at the following.  It will begin to be very obvious how to spend your marketing budget and get the ROI that you’ve been wanting.

1. Goals for the business.  What are your goals for your business?  Are you looking to grow?  Any plans to expand into other cities, hire new employees, create a new product or offer new services?  If so, the sky is the limit with your marketing campaign.  this is the time to get aggressive!  Maybe you’re wanting to hold steady in 2010.  If so, keep your marketing budget where it was for last year (including a little extra for inflation, of course).  It could be possible that you’re looking to downsize a bit.  This does NOT mean that you should cut out marketing.  It simply means that you need to figure out the best way to spend your marketing dollars efficiently.  Sit down with a pen and paper (remember those?) in a quiet place and really concentrate on what you want for your business in 2010. 

2. Target demographic.  To whom are you trying to pitch your products/services?  Are you aiming for 30-somethings?  (Try Twitter.)  What about women over 55? (Facebook is the answer.)  How about teenagers? (I see a texting campaign in your future.)  Interested in selling to mothers with small children at home?  (Blog, baby, blog!)  Your demographic will help determine where the marketing budget should be allotted.

3. Current/previous marketing efforts.  What did you do last year?  How about the year before?  Were any of the campaigns successful?  Look back on the tracking that you did for the projects.  If they worked, great!  If not, it may be time to tweak them a bit.  Don’t be afraid to try new things, but it’s important to look at what has worked historically for your business, as well.

4. What is your level of expertise and how much time can you devote to marketing?  How much do you know about blogging and social media?  Do you have 2-3 hours per day to devote to marketing efforts? If you (or an employee) is a marketing whiz, and you’ve got time to spare, you’re in great shape.  However, what if you’ve never been on a blog and you’ve only heard about Twitter on a commercial?  Or, worse yet, you have absolutely NO time to work on any marketing projects.  Never fear!  There are professionals everywhere who are ready and willing to help your company a success.  However, those professionals cost money.  Be sure to figure the cost of either hiring an employee with marketing knowledge or bringing on a consultant to help with all things marketing.   

No matter how you decide to spend your marketing budget, be sure that you HAVE a marketing budget.  Need help?  Contact us!