Digital marketing has taken the business world by storm with its measurability and ease of access. You can run an effective digital marketing campaign without breaking the bank, all while meeting your marketing targets and KPIs.
Making the shift to digital marketing doesn’t mean abandoning offline marketing. With a good and comprehensive strategy, the two actually work really well with each other. You just have to know how to craft both campaigns, and that process starts with splitting your marketing budget.
Start with a Total Budget
Before you can determine how much to allocate to online and offline marketing, you need to first determine the total marketing budget available. There are several ways to do this, but the general rule is taking 10% to 15% of your gross revenue and allocating it for marketing.
If you have gross revenue of $100,000, you are looking at a marketing budget of around $15,000. If you want to be more aggressive with your KPIs, you can increase that budget accordingly. The same can be said for when you want to be on the conservative side with your marketing.
Of course, the rule is only here to give you a starting point. You are free to allocate more (or less) for marketing purposes; it all depends on what you are trying to achieve.
Learn from Past Campaigns
Data is your friend when it comes to crafting marketing campaigns, and there is no better source of data than the campaigns you have already run in the past. Learn from the results you get from digital and offline marketing. Those results will tell you your average return on investment (ROI) for every marketing tool you use.
Based on the ROIs of different marketing campaigns, it is easy to measure the effectiveness of each instrument. You want to then allocate more money towards the instruments that provide you with the best results.
Take a Holistic Approach
As mentioned earlier, online and offline marketing actually works well together. By combining the two, you amplify the results of both marketing campaigns. For instance, amplifying your offline promotional offers on social media will bring more walk-in traffic to your locations.
The reverse is also true. You can promote online activities, social media accounts, or even your website using offline merchandises. Allocating more money to produce custom pins and T-shirts is certainly a good idea.
You don’t have to spend much to make sure that both offline and online campaigns are running side by side. For example, you can display information on TV screens in your physical store, directing customers to follow you on social media or visit your website for special promotions.
Review and Refine
In today’s market, a marketing strategy can be fluid. Rather than sticking with one strategy for the entire year, you now have the option to evaluate your marketing campaigns as you go along. Online marketing instruments come with their own analytics tools. There are more ways to measure offline activities too.
Review both marketing approaches periodically to see if they are producing the results you want. Make adjustments to the campaigns as the results are analyzed. You can refine your marketing budget and reallocate funds accordingly as well.
It is even possible to run real-time analysis, especially if you have the right tools for the job. Using applications like Brand24, you can expand your monitoring reach and include offline campaigns and online conversations.
In the end, separating your marketing budget is about making sure that you produce the best results from running marketing campaigns. The more you learn about how potential customers react to different campaigns, the more meticulous you can be with your marketing budget.