How to Budget Your Marketing Dollars for 2023

With summer just barely coming to a close, it may not feel like 2023 is right around the corner. However, now is the best time to start thinking about your marketing strategy and budget for the next 12 months. But in the ever-changing world of marketing, how can you possibly plan that far in advance? We offer our best tips for allocating your marketing budget for the year ahead.

Know your audience

You’ve conducted focus groups and had success reaching a particular audience segment. But now, expanding your reach is important as you roll out new initiatives. Is what you thought about marketing true for your core audience? Fine-tune your buyer personas by dialing in on income levels, age groups, geographic locations, and educational backgrounds, then budget your marketing dollars accordingly.

Turn to the pros

You can maximize your marketing dollars by working with a trusted marketing agency. Bring your market research to budgeting meetings, but also ask your marketing experts what they would recommend you do differently based on past performance. Leveraging the agency’s creativity and know-how will help you create better initiatives and program changes, whether through digital or social media efforts.

Be agile

Even with concrete goals in place, such as increasing sales by a certain percentage or expanding your social media presence by a specific number of followers, it’s best to take a quarter-by-quarter approach as market trends emerge. By constantly measuring performance based on what’s trending and performing, you give yourself the opportunity to pivot as necessary. Depending on the strategy, you can switch things up anywhere from every 60 days to every six weeks.

Think big picture

Even if you know where you want to go, it’s best to work backward based on what you know about your audience.  For example, you’ll likely know when to launch a back-to-school or holiday campaign, but it’s equally important to consider marketing opportunities that may not follow a calendar. It can seem counterintuitive to not plan all the details of your marketing campaigns in advance, but by leaving room in your budget to reallocate as needs arise, you’ll know when to test that new, of-the-moment social media feature before it goes the way of MySpace.

What do you want to accomplish in 2023?