Optimising A Brand’s Digital Marketing Budget

In today’s digital age, businesses of all sizes are investing in digital marketing to promote their products and services. However, with so many different channels and strategies available, it can be difficult to efficiently optimise a brand’s digital marketing budget. Here are a few tips on how to optimise your brand’s digital marketing budget and make the most out of it:

1. Define goals and objectives
When setting goals and objectives for a digital marketing campaign, it is important to ensure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART), and align with the overall business objectives. SMART goals are more likely to be achieved as they provide a clear roadmap for the organisation and help ensure that digital marketing efforts are focused and effective.
In addition to this criteria, it is also important to assess and compare the target audience, competitive landscape, and industry trends when setting goals and choosing the right strategies and channels to achieve them. By having in-depth insights into these factors, brands can tailor their digital marketing efforts to reach and effectively engage with their target audience.

2. Check your current expenses
Creating a detailed marketing budget is challenging as a small miscalculation could turn into a costly affair. Most companies still encounter significant wastes in their marketing budgets due to common mistakes such as experimenting too much, investing in less proven marketing channels, using outdated data, failing to evaluate strategy, etc. To optimise your budget and ensure maximum usage, brands must regularly review their digital marketing spend and adjust accordingly. One area where people can save is paid advertising, simply by optimising keywords and ad targeting to reduce costs. By analysing current digital marketing spend, businesses can identify areas for improvement and reallocate funds to channels that deliver better results.

3. Investing in high-performance marketing channels
Not all digital marketing channels will produce the same results for all businesses. Optimise the overall strategy by identifying the top-performing channels and investing more budget in the ones that can help you grow. For instance, let’s take the education industry. One of the best working digital marketing channels we witness for this industry is search engine marketing (SEM). Many students and parents turn to search engines, such as Google or Yahoo, to research about the different educational institutions and compare them. By optimising the institute’s website and content for relevant keywords and using targeted ads, educational institutions can increase their visibility and reach among potential parents. Apart from SEM, education institutions can also benefit from content marketing by creating and sharing valuable and informative content in the form of blog posts, infographics, or webinars, that educates and informs the target audience about their institute.

4. Usage of data and analytics
Data and analytics tools allow you to track the performance of your digital marketing efforts. Tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, social media analytics, and email marketing analytics provide valuable information for brands to track the performance of their digital marketing efforts. By analysing the results from these tools, brands can identify areas for improvement in website traffic, user behaviour, competitor research, and engagement metrics, which can help them make informed budget allocation decisions. It will lead to better digital marketing strategies and a higher return on investment (ROI).

5. Partner with other departments
Collaborating with other departments such as sales and customer service can ensure that digital marketing efforts align with overall business goals. By working with them, you can gain insight into how you are approaching your goals and ensure your campaigns are targeting the right audience and addressing their pain points.

6. Invest in Content Marketing
Just pumping money without good content rarely works. Creating engaging content that is of high quality can be an effective way to reach your target audience. Investing in this type of content can help businesses achieve their goals while delivering value to their audience and building a strong base of loyal customers.

7. Testing and measuring
Allocating a budget is not a one-time task. You need to regularly test and measure the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns and continuously optimise them according to the brand’s budget. Conversion rates, cost per acquisition, return on investment, engagement metrics, and A/B testing are all important parameters for measuring campaign effectiveness. By regularly analysing these KPIs, businesses can gain insights into which campaigns and channels are driving the most conversions, revenue, and engagement. This allows them to adjust their budget accordingly and optimise their campaigns over time, resulting in better ROI and more effective digital marketing strategies.

For instance, in one of our past campaigns for Zee Zest, we utilised the A/B testing method to increase website traffic. For our first creative, we included a QR code for users to enter a contest and win prizes. The campaign resulted in a cost per lead (CPL) of Rs. 7 and a click-through rate (CTR) of 0.3%. For our second approach, we modified the creative to remove the QR code and replaced it with an embedded link. This approach yielded a CPL of Rs. 2 and a CTR of 2%. Ultimately, our second approach proved to be more successful, generating greater reach and traffic at a lower cost.

In summary, companies need to take a careful approach to optimise their digital marketing budget. While different brands might have varied goals, the process of optimisation remains the same. By following the above checklist of setting SMART goals, focusing on high-performing channels, leveraging data, and investing in content marketing regularly, brands can improve their digital marketing efforts and drive ROI in today’s dynamic digital landscape. If you need
help in optimising your digital marketing budget, please reach out to us at [email protected]. Our team of experts can help you develop a customised strategy that aligns with your business goals and budget.