Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, marketing is necessary for business growth. Many small businesses are not sure they have enough money to budget for marketing or they overspend without tracking their return on investment. Setting a marketing budget that coincides with your business goals will help guide you to success.

The unfortunate truth for companies with fantastic products and no marketing is that products and services will not sell themselves. However, a successful marketing campaign will allow you to grow at a rate unimaginable. The old saying “you have to spend money to make money” stands true when it comes to marketing your product or services. While that may seem obvious, the more difficult objective can be finding out exactly how much to spend in order to make more money and meet your business goals.

There are many factors that should be taken into consideration when setting a marketing budget. The basic rule of thumb, which may be a sigh of relief, is that the general percentage should be only around 1%-6% of your median revenue. So, a million dollar company would spend $10,000-$60,000 as a starting point.

In order to spend your budget wisely, you must have a plan. Knowing the market of your products and a realistic timeline of business growth will help you extend your dollar. With a goal-based marketing budget, you can define your business goals and develop a plan to meet these goals without over/under-spending. If you would like to grow by a certain number of clients or customers, develop a plan on how you will reach that goal and how much advertising will lead you there.

If you feel as though you could use some help setting up a marketing plan that will help you reach your business goals, give us a call! We can be reached at 503-477-4355, or give us a visit online @www.spotcolormarketing.com