One of the most common questions people ask when they want to learn about marketing is how much they should spend on advertising every month. Businesses want to maximize their reach and grow their business online but need to plan and budget accurately along the way. This is where partnering with a professional Tampa digital marketing agency can be beneficial.
Velvet Ink Media is a Tampa digital marketing agency dedicated to helping businesses succeed with proven web design, PPC, and SEO strategies. Below, we will help give you an idea of how and how much to budget for advertising and digital marketing.
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Start Small with a Tampa Digital Marketing Agency
We know that getting into digital marketing can be overwhelming at times. Not every strategy works for every company so there will always be some learning to do along the way. This is why it is a great idea to get expert help to curate your strategy and to implement it successfully.
We always recommend starting off small. This means starting with an ad budget of around $500. This is true even if you are an established business that is currently financially successful and can afford more. We recommend starting small so that we can guide you to make adjustments along the way so that when we scale up, we can be as efficient and effective as possible.
That is the great thing about digital marketing, it can be easily scaled up. This means that you can start with something as small as $10 a day to find out what works, and once you see your conversions starting to pick up, you can quickly scale up the campaign. The most essential part of the process is finding out what works for your brand in the beginning. Remember, marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
The Revenue Rule
The question of how much to budget for marketing has been around for quite some time. With this being said, the U.S Small Business Administration has recommended in the past that the ideal way to budget for marketing and advertising is through a percentage of your total revenue collected. The percentage that this agency proposed was around the 5% – 7% range.
Despite this, many advocate for a slightly lower percentage, around 2% – 5% of your total revenue. At Velvet Ink Media, we recommend the middle ground, that being 5% of your company’s total revenue. This is a quick and easy rule of thumb to help allocate funds needed to curate and implement your marketing strategies.
Due to this coming straight from your company’s revenue, it can be seen as an act of reinvesting income into growing your customer base. This can then lead to growing your total revenue and making your business stronger and more resilient in the long run.
However, not all businesses have recurring income coming into the business when they are designing their marketing budgets. This is why many suggest that a great starting point for businesses is around the $300 – $500 range.
Creation and Distribution Costs
The term ‘marketing’ can be incredibly broad as it encapsulates a number of activities surrounding the promotion and communication of your brand. An easy way to make more sense of all these activities is to split them into two major categories. The first category deals directly with the creation of marketing-related content whilst the second category deals with the distribution of that content to the market.
Creating Marketing Content
These activities refer to the creation of marketing materials to be later used on a variety of platforms. This can be anything from designing graphics, images, and logos to creating entire web pages and online stores. It is important to split your budget between this category and the next because it won’t matter how great your site is if nobody gets to see it.
Distributing Marketing Content
The second part of the process is to distribute content and marketing materials along the specific channels that you have decided on. This means the money spent can be directly linked with the intent to acquire new customers. Money spent within this category refers to Ad spend on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and even Amazon.
In addition to this, SEO is also part of the distribution category. Although SEO is already considered within the creation of marketing content, search engine optimization goes further than that to help bring customers to your site.
Choosing the right distribution channels is incredibly important. There are countless options available with the most popular being TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Google, and even Amazon. Make sure that the channel you choose is right for your brand and the message you want to get across as well. Although this can be complicated, bartering with a Tampa digital marketing agency can help you make the right decisions.
Things to Consider
The Stage of Your Business
When deciding on your final marketing plan, you should guide your intervention based on what stage your business is currently in. This can help to align the marketing campaign with your company’s long-term goals without skipping the short-term goals that may also be essential to your business. Here are some of the common stages your business could find itself in:
Infancy Stage
- This stage refers to startups and businesses that are starting from the bottom with no real recurring revenue coming into the business. This is where we suggest starting with a small budget of around $300 – $500.
Youth Stage
- This refers to a company that has a few customers but little revenue coming into the business. These kinds of businesses are still finding their footing and are typically under a year old. For these businesses, we recommend a monthly spend of around $500 to try and grow your customer base.
Semi-Established
- These kinds of businesses have been around for over a year and have a number of customers to show for it. These companies also have recurring income, meaning that they can allocate around 3% – 5% of their revenue to their marketing needs.
Established
- These businesses have strong customer bases and come with a proven track record in the market. This is the end goal, and we recommend a spend of around 5% of total revenue for these kinds of businesses.
The Financial Side of Your Business
Another very important thing to note when allocating funds to your company’s marketing expenses is its financial health. The financial state of your firm can help guide a lot of budgeting decisions when it comes to marketing. If your business has a recurring revenue model, you can have the freedom to spend more than if you have very slim profit margins on your products or services. The competitiveness of your industry can also make a difference as it can make PPC marketing more difficult on sites like Google.
At the end of the day, your marketing budget should align with your strategic goals for your business. The best way to start is to consult with an experienced marketing firm as they will have the knowledge and expertise to guide you through the entire process.
The Best Place to Start
With all this being said, the best place to start for smaller businesses is with the $300 – $500 budget. The most popular channels to market your business remains to be Facebook and Instagram which cost around $1 per click while Google ends up more around $3 per click. This means that with this budget, you can get around 100 – 500 clicks on your website. The average landing page conversion rate is around 2.35%, meaning that of these new visitors, you can expect 2-3 new customers.
Although these numbers can vary dramatically depending on the industry that you are in, as time goes by, you can make sense of the feedback you are getting to adjust your campaigns accordingly. As mentioned before, marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. And just like training for a marathon, an experienced coach can make all the difference.
A Few Final Points from Velvet Ink Media
When it comes to creating and running a successful marketing campaign, it is important to remember that each company is unique. This means that a strategy that has worked in the past for another firm may not be as effective for your business. Having a dedicated and experienced partner to help start small and guide you as you scale up is essential to maximize every dollar you spend on marketing.
In addition to this, choosing the right platforms and channels for distributing your marketing content is essential. This is part of knowing your customers and knowing the best way to communicate with them. Having a dedicated marketing agency to oversee your intervention can help you monitor its effectiveness and suggest improvements in real-time.
The art of effective marketing combines data with creativity to produce captivating content that can communicate effectively to both your customers and potential customers. Although this process can take some time and be overwhelming at times, partnering with a dedicated Tampa digital marketing agency can help you through the entire process.
What Can Velvet Ink Media Do for You?
Velvet Ink Media in Tampa FL is the perfect partner to help you grow your business. With curated and targeted marketing, you can help build your brand awareness, visibility, and value. This can help boost your website traffic, leading to increased revenue for your business.
We specialize in a wide range of services to help you achieve your marketing goals. These services include customized web design, PPC marketing, SEO services, social media optimization, unique content creation, and even curating and implementing entire branding and marketing strategies for your business.
If you have any questions or would like more information about us and how we can help boost your business, feel free to visit our website or give us a call at 813-499-9477.
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