When trying to decide how to allocate your 2016 digital marketing budget, it can be hard to decide how much to spend on which platforms. In general, most businesses will set aside 5-15 percent of gross income for marketing purposes, and anywhere from 10-50 percent of that marketing budget will be used for digital marketing campaigns. But even knowing those numbers, how do you decide what areas within the digital marketing realm will be the best investment for your company? After answering a few simple questions, the answer will be much easier to arrive at.
What Industry Do You Operate In?
Depending on your industry, you may want to focus your digital marketing efforts on one platform over others. For example, whether SEO or social media gets a larger piece of the pie depends hugely on what your product or service is.
Here are a few examples of how what industry you’re in can influence where you should put your digital marketing dollars:
- Manufacturing businesses benefit more from SEO and PPC than social media because they tend to target other businesses more than the general public.
- Service industries can benefit from positive reviews generated on social media (since online reviews are so influential).
- Marketing companies serve a wide range of clients, so it’s a good idea to have all your bases covered in SEO, PPC, social media and content marketing.
- eCommerce will benefit most from content marketing (since you need great content to attract visitors to your eCommerce site) but it is hard to do that without the other three areas; therefore a robust arsenal of all four is important.
Keep in mind that, even if you’re emphasizing one platform over another, different digital marketing campaigns often work better together—social media compliments SEO, content marketing helps drive social media, etc.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
In addition to your industry, it’s important to have a clear idea of who exactly your target audience is. Is it other businesses? Do you sell primarily to young adults (who use social media compulsively)?
Here’s how the differences between B2B and B2C companies can affect your digital marketing budget:
- B2B companies usually focus more on trying to market to top company officials. SEO will help search engines pick up on your site (so your website is more visible when decision makers search for your product or services), whereas business owners are less likely to use social media to influence their buying decisions.
- B2C companies greatly benefit from a strong social media presence because their target audience is using it every day. Of course, SEO, PPC, and content marketing shouldn’t be neglected, either.
Don’t Stop Traditional Marketing Campaigns if They Are Working
Although digital marketing should be given a large part of the overall marketing budget, don’t abandon traditional marketing tactics if they are working well. SEO, social media, online content and PPC can work in conjunction with your TV commercial or billboard/newspaper ads.
After all, if your target audience sees an ad, whether it’s on TV or on a billboard, they often immediately turn to a search engine to find your product. Digital marketing helps ensure that you’re highly visible when they look for you online.
Take Advantage of Online Tools to Help Determine Your Digital Marketing Budget
Tools like this online digital marketing budget calculator are effective ways to get a good idea of the parameters for your 2016 digital marketing budget. This calculator uses the methodology outlined above to give you a good idea of what digital marketing platforms to invest in. As with any big business decision, it’s important to test a variety of tools and scenarios before settling on the best strategy for your company.
Test drive the digital marketing calculator above and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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