Have you submitted your marketing budget for next year?

Have you been asked to cut it or boost it? What is the optimal amount to budget for? During my time working in schools, I have had many school peers ask me what my budget is, and they seem to vary massively across the sector. What is the optimal amount? Will spending more automatically generate more enquiries?

Typically, in the independent education sector, budgets bids are submitted in Feb/March time, and confirmed in May for spending in the academic year ahead (Sep to August). With such a challenging time on the horizon with the likely imposition of VAT on school fees, what is the right amount to bid for?

Whilst many other areas of the school are tightening their belts to absorb as much of any potential fee rises as possible, marketing teams are being challenged to sharpen up their activity. This might mean spending more on promotional activity to remain competitive, but it could also mean analysing what blend of marketing activity will be the most effective given a potentially more restrictive budget.

Assessing the return on investment is not always easy so it can be hard to convince key decisions makers to allocate more marketing spend. But as it often said, it is those companies that do not cut their marketing budgets in tough times that tend to come out of the tough times stronger.

It can be helpful to segment your budget according to how you segment you target market and where you are looking to grow. For example, if you were looking to increase your international market from 10% to 15% it would make sense to increase your budget in this area by 5% or more. Have you allocated the right balance between brand, digital and PR activities?

If you would like a marketing budget health check or some advice in this area, please do get in touch via the link below. With 20 year’s experience of managing marketing budgets, I can assess if something is missing in your mix or if your activity is too heavily weighted in one or more areas.

Allocating adequate spend to the most effective marketing activities is key to achieving your strategic goals.