How much should you spend on marketing in 2010?

This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on March 8, 2010 @ 10:40 am

With 2010 just around the corner it’s time to start thinking about what marketing you should be doing next year. Our last blog post highlighted the marketing trends we predict in 2010, this blog focuses on what your budget should be.

Of course the answer is as ambiguous as how long is a piece of string? It depends on your size, industry and money available. Here are 4 things to consider:

1. Start with the end in mind

What are your objectives from marketing? At the end of 2010 what do you want to have achieved from your marketing? More sales, a new website, a refreshed brand, coverage in the media, a product launch? Define your ‘marketing vision’ for the year and this will help define the budget.

2. What have been the most effective strategies to date?

Look back over 2009 and beyond. What marketing has worked? What hasn’t? What aren’t you sure of? It may seem obvious but do more of what worked. Anything that hasn’t worked either stop it or look at taking a fresh approach to it. If something is more effective do more of that.

3. If You’re getting an ROI spend as much as you can

If for every £1 you spend on Google AdWords you get £2 back why give AdWords a budget? You have a licence to print money – if You’re getting an ROI put as much money as you can into it as you will get it back.

4. Remember the time cost

The tools are getting easier and easier. It’s simple and cheap to use email marketing software. It’s free to be on Twitter or network on LinkedIn. But how much is your time worth to you? If you charge £50/£75/£100+ an hour; for every hour you spend writing an email marketing campaign you can’t bill that. Will you get that ROI back? This time cost needs to go into your budget. You may want to outsource it.

So, how much should you spend?

This is all well and good but you want an actual sum…well there’s no hard and fast number but we do have experience which can act as a rough guide:

• The average B2B business that believes in marketing will budget 5% – 10% of turnover on marketing
• B2C professional services may spend a bit more as it needs to reach more people
• A B2C product/website based business will spend up to 100% of turnover on marketing as it needs marketing to get it going and to grow

Whatever you do, remember if you’re marketing with a fairly static annual budget, You’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good businesses realise it is an investment.

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