No matter the size or industry of your business, we can all relate to one common theme: the constant struggle to stretch our marketing/advertising budget to get more bang for the buck. There’s no silver bullet that will instantly solve this problem; however, there are some key things you can and should be doing to regularly assess how you are spending these precious dollars.

You may be shocked to find various inefficiencies and overlaps that are shrinking your marketing/advertising budget without you knowing. If you truly want to get the most out of your money, you can’t bury your head in the sand. Rather, start by taking a look at our advice for maximizing your budget, avoiding common mistakes and putting a plan in place to regularly evaluate how you’re spending your marketing money.

Let’s get started!

Tips to maximize your marketing/advertising budget.

First and foremost, know who your target audience is and how they behave. Depending upon the demographic you’re trying to reach, your marketing and advertising strategy needs to be tailored to effectively reach these people.

Once you’ve identified this core audience, be smart about how you use your advertising dollars to reach them. All too often businesses waste money advertising to people who are simply not their target audience. No matter how hard you trying, you’re not likely to convert these people into customers, and you will waste valuable resources that could be used more efficiently elsewhere.

A carefully targeted marketing and advertising strategy will help you reach your specific customer base, while helping you stretch your marketing budget further.

Common mistakes that waste money.

One of the biggest mistake businesses make with their marketing and advertising budget is that they waste money doing the same thing for too long. Whether that be using the same message or advertising in the same mediums year after year, things get stale and can become a “backdrop” to consumers. The simple advice here is keep it fresh!

Another common mistake is casting too wide of a net. Businesses must zero in on who they want to reach and develop a layered marketing plan based on that target audience. Finally, businesses must also be wary of using bad creative in their marketing and advertising strategies. Not only is it a waste of money, but bad creative can cost you money in the long run when you try to undo the damage of poor branding.

How to evaluate your current marketing/advertising strategy.

When is the last time you’ve really taken a critical look at your current marketing/advertising strategy? If it’s been more than a few months, or you can’t recall at all, then it’s time to take a fresh look!

Begin by taking a full inventory of your marketing and advertising efforts and their results. Lay it all out on paper. Then assess what’s working and what’s not. You’re likely to find that a small percentage of your efforts are producing the lion’s share of your results. Hone in on these efforts and place more of a focus on them moving forward! Pull back on efforts that haven’t produced their expected results and plan to repurpose these funds into what you know is working. Also, be sure that you are capturing valuable information from your customers, such as how they heard about your business. This will give you insight into your customers’ behaviors and how to better reach them in the future.

Advertising and the way the public consumes advertising is changing every day. You can’t set your marketing on “autopilot” and expect great results. It can be overwhelming for any business to keep up with the new trends and technology; the good news is you don’t have to! Rather, team up with a professional marketing and advertising team who keeps a pulse on trends and strategies that are redefining the industry. Let us take a look at your strategy. We can give you an objective evaluation and make suggestions based on your goals. It can be hard to wade through all of the options available, but with the right partner, you can do a better job of making your advertising dollars work for you!

Do you find your business struggling to make its marketing budget stretch further? Ask a question by leaving a comment below, or contact Mid-Atlantic Media Hub directly to start a conversation!