Raise your hand if you have…
Rolled over the same sponsorships assets from one year to the next
Renewed a trade show booth because “you go every year”
Recycled banner ads and creative copy to save time
Oh, and one more:
Stared blankly into the void when your marketing budget was cut
Not sure about you, but my hand is up for all of the above — plus more than I’d care to admit.
For the uninitiated, the above statements could seem lazy or nonstrategic. That’s not the case though. As marketers, we are constantly under pressure to save dollars and shave seconds — all while still aiming to achieve whatever revenue target was put in front of us.
Why?
Well, 1) we’re responsible baddies with our money. And 2) our marketing dollars are under constant threat.
Sales slowing down? Cut the media budget.
EBITDA lower than forecasted? Claw dollars back from Marketing.
Now, I’m not ignorant to the very real and hard decisions company leaders have to make in regards to prioritizing their financial resources. This isn’t a post about marketers having it harder than anyone else.
Instead, I want to offer a new approach for marketers this year as we navigate the current strategy and budget planning season.
Rather than following the status quo, let’s ask ourselves a new question: How can we think differently about our marketing spend this next year?
If you’re looking for a new approach to set and fund your marketing priorities, consider the process I like to use when reshaping a marketing budget.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Reset a Marketing Budget
1. Start with the Business Objectives
If our budget isn’t tied to what we’re trying to achieve, it’s a waste of money. To start, we need to be crystal clear on:
Our near-term revenue goal (next 12 months)
Our long-term vision (3–5 years)
What big things need to happen along the way
2. Define the Strategic Pillars
Next up is focus. How do we want to organize our growth initiatives?
By customer segment
By product or offering
By geographic market
By industry
Once we make those decisions, we can put numbers behind them:
What does success look like for each pillar?
Provide specific, measurable targets such as revenue, percent growth, market penetration, etc.
How much of our growth will each pillar likely contribute?
Think expanding geographic distribution will account for 50% of our growth? Write it down, along with your best estimates for the other pillars.
3. Prioritize with Data, Not Gut Instinct
Before dollars get allocated, we need to consider a few more things:
Current Demand → What drove organic growth last year?
Customer Value → What is a new customer worth under each pillar?
Volume Needed → How many new customers or product sales are required to reach each goal?
Market Reality → Do our volume numbers realistically align with benchmarks and market sizes?
Future Bets → Do we need to prepare now for any initiatives in future years?
Now, let’s consider:
How do our earlier assumptions look against these new pieces of information?
Should we adjust our growth targets for each pillar to make our goals more obtainable?
Do we need to negotiate for a larger marketing budget or propose tradeoffs?
4. Align the Budget to Growth Priorities
Now the fun part: money.
Once we can see a path to success, assign the budget — no need to overthink it; the analysis did the heavy lifting.
Fund future bets first. Those dollars won’t drive this year’s revenue, so keep them outside the in-year ROI model.
Allocate by pillar. Start with straight-line allocations (e.g., if new products should drive 30% of growth, give them ~30% of the budget).
Adjust for efficiency. Upselling existing customers should cost less than acquiring new ones. Factor that and other customer acquisition efficiencies before finalizing.
Sanity-check the plan. Check in with your gut: based on what’s on paper, can we hit the target? If not, we need to figure out how to close the gap. If asking for more money is out of the question, consider focusing on other growth initiatives, leaning into differentiation, or throwing your hands in the air and giving up… Wait, not that last one. The point is: Don’t leave it unresolved. If we can’t see a path now, we likely won’t find it later.
Marketing is an Investment, Not an Expense
It’s easy to get stuck in the “business as usual” strategy and budget planning cycle — spending more energy protecting what we have rather than shaping what we need.
Ultimately, we may not be able to control how much money is in our budget, but we can control how we spend it.
When every dollar has a straight line to a strategic initiative, we know — and can prove that our work is fueling growth.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out these five questions to ask yourself before starting your strategy and budget planning.
