Time Doesn’t Grow on Trees – Five Tips for Reducing Your Marketing Budget
As an agency, we are often asked how to squeeze the most out of a marketing and advertising budget. While there are dozens of tips out there for marketing on a shoe-string budget, most of them rely on inexpensive tactics and guerrilla or grassroots marketing efforts that are time intensive but largely free.
Now as we know in today’s fast-paced world, time doesn’t grow on trees, but creating efficiencies in your process and marketing function you truly can do more with less… or at least fully optimize your current spend! Here are a few tips to consider:
Meet Regularly
We recommend no less than monthly marketing meetings with our clients, through bi-weekly and weekly meetings are common as well. To find the frequency that is right for you, consider your agenda and “action items” that result from each meeting. Frequency should be determined by volume of information and how much time your team needs to complete the assigned tasks. Meeting too frequently can cause frustrations because action items haven’t been completed yet, but meeting infrequently can create undue delays on project launches. And remember, not every meeting has to be a marathon. One great approach is a rotating agenda – In-person, strategic project meetings one week, with a short 15-minute “check-in phone call” on the off week to keep everyone on task and eliminate any roadblocks that come up.
Think About Global Distribution
Don’t isolate your efforts for your website, newsletters, social media campaigns, or public relations platforms – they are just distribution vehicles. You have content and a message. Invest time and resources in developing content that can be used globally, across platforms, and then look at those vehicles (web, social, etc.) as delivery vehicles. By centralizing your efforts around content development, and then turning the focus to distribution, you’ll maximize your investment.
Communicate
It sounds simple, but clear, responsive communication is key in the marketing process. Whether you are working on a project internally or working with an outside marketing firm like Ampersand, there is no such thing as over-communication. Unfortunately, in our world, we spend a significant amount of time chasing clients for feedback – time that could be better allocated towards other activities. By enhancing communication with your internal customers and external vendors, you’ll eliminate redundancies and gain effectiveness.
Don’t Lose Momentum
When projects get put on the back burner for too long, it takes a while to “warm them back up again”. Don’t get burned by letting your unfinished projects get stale. If you can’t dedicate time or resources to a project right now, that’s ok. Better to wait until the time is right and keep that momentum going – keeping you and your company more efficient!
Consolidate Revisions
Every time you touch a project, it takes time. With each round of review, you, your copywriter, graphic designer or proofreader all put in significant energies. On most projects, we plan for 1-2 rounds of revisions. Typically 1 round is included in an initial agency estimate, but time can rack up when a project bounces back and forth four, five, six, or even more times! Insulate yourself from unexpected costs by gathering all your thoughts and feedback, and limit the rounds of revisions to get the most out of your budget!
Make the most of your time! If you are looking for other ways to drive efficiencies in your marketing department or want to chat more about these tips, drop me a line, I’d love to chat more!
