Better Business Bureau: Three Ways to Keep a Marketing Budget Under $10,000
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How much should your small business spend on marketing each year? Well, technically, that’s up to you. The final costs will be different for every reader of this article depending on your industry, how often customers need your products, how much competition you have, and other factors.
Five-Digit Target
Can you have a marketing budget under $10,000 per year? Quite possibly, but here’s the thing: $10,000 is just a number. Whatever the size of your marketing budget, you likely want it to be smaller without sacrificing results. But $10,000 is easier to wrap your head around than, say, 5 to 10 percent of your annual revenue.
That said, the strategies below could all be part of a marketing budget in the $10,000 range. Calculating an annual marketing budget is nuanced, but to start thinking strategically, you need to know what cost-effective options are available to you. Here are three marketing campaign ideas that should be on your radar.
1. Invest in flexible Google advertising packages
It’s no secret that Google’s advertising platform allows businesses to target their ads to specific audiences more likely to be interested in their products or services, often leading to a good return on investment (ROI). They’re targeted, optimizable, measurable, and—because of all those factors—highly cost-effective.
If you’re hesitant to dive into the complexities of Google advertising, that’s understandable. Handling the nitty-gritty is one of the obstacles many business owners must figure out when it comes to digital advertising. To illustrate how Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited businesses can succeed with these digital campaigns, here’s a quick case study:
An occupational safety and health training company was interested in seeing a better ROI on its self-managed Google campaign. The goal was to get more leads, and BBB was able to tailor its offering to the company’s brand by creating an optimized Google Search campaign. We did it all for $300 per month, and with 21 percent of their budget, we achieved a 396 percent ROI.
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2. Lean into the power of email marketing
There will be times when your company needs to get a marketing message out fast. It could be for a seasonal sale or a push to increase customers during slow periods. For these scenarios, targeted email blasts are a tried-and-true tactic.
The key is building a list of engaged subscribers and crafting an email blast that resonates with them. When done correctly, a good marketing email nurtures leads instantly, producing the conversions you’re after. As for your annual budget, the affordability factor is a plus. If you can dedicate some of your budget to email marketing each year, our BBB accredited businesses have access to campaigns priced at $3,650.
3. SEO, or search engine optimization
If you have a website, it’s Marketing 101 to put some money into your SEO. Short for search engine optimization, this tactic is geared toward improving your brand’s visibility on search engine results pages. There are both immediate and longer-term steps:
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- Incorporate consistent keywords throughout your company’s website
- Keep the website user-friendly and update titles and meta descriptions (the short “snippet” previews that describe a webpage in a search result)
- Get other websites to link to yours (these are known as backlinks)
- Display badges of trust such as the BBB Dynamic Seal, which links an accredited business’s web presence to the BBB
Mix, Match, and Make It Your Own
You could mix and match any or all these marketing strategies and keep your budget under $10,000. Start by creating a budget, then allocate how these dollars will work for your business. As you measure every dollar’s impact, you’ll pinpoint the right strategy—at the right time—for your business.
As for who to turn to for help, accredited businesses already “know someone” in our marketing solutions team at BBB. This relationship is a great foundation to work from, enabling us to find marketing strategies that fit your budget while fulfilling your marketing goals. That said, marketing services are just a handful of the many benefits available to BBB accredited businesses. Get in touch today to explore BBB Accreditation.
Cameron Nakashima is the media engagement and digital campaigns manager for the Better Business Bureau Great West + Pacific.
