Marketing budgets must evolve

As marketing communications methods evolve, it is essential that marketing budgets change too.

With any client there are three essential documents that we ask for and if these do not exist then we make sure they are put in place, because without them it is difficult to run an effective marketing programme. The first essential document is the Marketing Plan. This sets out the objectives, strategies, rationale, an annual plan of activities and time-scales. The second is the Corporate Identity manual which describes how all forms of visual communication collateral should look for a consistent projection of brand and image. And the third document is the Marketing Budget. 

There are two aspects to budgets - the total amount and the mix. How the total amount is established is often a matter of some debate. Some people like to set this as a percentage of projected sales, but this lacks any real rationale as what works for one company may be entirely wrong for another. Ideally the marketing 'needs' should be determined and costed but this approach is rarely affordable, so a cap should be set balancing affordability with the ability to deliver on marketing goals. Just as there is no magic percentage figure, so dividing the budget up say, one third advertising, one third web and one third for all the rest, seems like a handy rule of thumb, but is far too crude a measure and does not allow for new evolving marketing channels and the content needed to supply them. Just as the marketing plan should allow flexibility to deal with changing circumstances, so the  budget mix should not be a constraint to recognising the benefits of new opportunities. Above all the marketing plan, CI and budget should be used to introduce a discipline and avoid runaway expenditure.

One clear requirement emerging from all the new channels is the need to budget for good quality content. Inevitably traditional spend such as display advertising and exhibitions will take a declining share of the budget and reviewing these can be no bad thing as often they will be a repeat of previous years rather than designed to achieve current objectives.