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Stretching Your Marketing Budget: Creative Strategies to Maximise ROI

Posted: 2nd April 2024 08:56
In tough economic times, marketing budgets are often the first on the chopping block. It's understandable – marketing can seem like a "nice to have" compared to essential operational costs. But here's the problem: if no one knows about your product or service, sales will dry up.
 
The good news? You don't have to slash your marketing budget. By being smarter about how you spend it, you can significantly boost your return on investment (ROI). Here are three key strategies to consider:

1. Uncover hidden SaaS savings

Software as a service (SaaS) can be a marketer's best friend, offering a wide range of tools for project management, email marketing, and more. But with the average business using more than 130 different digital tools, there's a high chance of redundancy.
 
Think about it: do you and a colleague have subscriptions to both HubSpot CRM and Klaviyo for email marketing? Are different teams using project management tools like Asana, Trello or Monday.com at the same time? You might be able to consolidate these into a single platform, freeing up valuable budget.
 
Conduct a thorough audit of your SaaS subscriptions. Document everything and identify any overlap in functionality. SaaS management platform Vertice explains that this process you to:
 
  1. Make informed decisions about future software purchases and renewals.
  2. Consolidate, replace, or cancel duplicate or redundant tools.
  3. Clear out unused licences, further streamlining your spending.

2. Build a synergistic marketing strategy

Multi-channel marketing is like having a band – each instrument (channel) plays a role, but the true magic happens when they harmonise. Optimising your marketing efforts for maximum impact requires a synergistic strategy, where each element supports and amplifies the others.
 
Let's say you're creating informative blog posts and engaging videos. Don't let these gems sit dormant on your website. Promote them on social media and optimise them for search engines to reach a wider audience. Search Engine Journal suggests revisiting older content and refreshing it with current trends and keywords to maintain its effectiveness.
 
By creating a cohesive marketing strategy where each element supports the others, you can achieve a greater ROI without necessarily increasing your budget. By keeping your content evergreen, you ensure it continues to attract and engage your target audience. It’s not about throwing more money at the problem – it's about maximising the impact of what you already have.

3. Leverage the power of partnerships

The idea of doing everything in-house might seem appealing, especially for startups. However, collaborating with experts can be a strategic use of your resources.
 
For instance, consider the recent trend of corporate TikTok videos. While the logic behind short-form video content for reaching younger demographics is sound, an unenthusiastic marketing team cranking out forced content might not be the answer.
 
Partnering with a social media marketing guru who understands the platform and its audience can deliver a much higher ROI than attempting to go viral on your own. Similarly, collaborating with industry influencers can be far more effective than creating generic content that fails to resonate.

The takeaway

Marketing budget cuts don't have to spell disaster. By adopting a resourceful and data-driven approach, you can transform your marketing efforts into a powerful engine that drives sales growth and propels your business forward, even in a challenging economic climate.
 
Remember, in marketing, sometimes the most creative solutions come from thinking outside the box and making the most of what you have.