Budgets: Getting more bang for your buck

It’s no surprise in the current climate that marketing budgets are under the spotlight, with increasing pressure on budget holders to demonstrate the commercial benefits back to the business.

According to the IPA Bellwether Report, the Coronavirus pandemic has driven record declines in marketing budgets this year. Q2 2020 figures suggest that UK marketing budgets were slashed to their lowest levels in the twenty-year history of the report.2 So, it’s important to get all you can out of what you’ve got.

Hospitality is about relationships. One of the biggest percentage spends in a budget is always on sponsorships and events. Our clients typically spend between a quarter and a third of their budgets on these.

While events and sponsorship are great ways to build up a network and create opportunities for the sales team to engage with, it never ceases to amaze us how these are signed off and then are under used or get forgotten. It’s a common complaint from industry organisations who want to add value to their sponsors. This happens more often than you think, especially when initiatives are owned by different people across the business.

• If you do one thing that can help you control costs – audit your sponsorships and partnerships!

• And if you want to be certain that you are getting your marketing bang for your buck, expand this to include all of your comms activities.

• Moving forward, give the responsibility for managing sponsorships, events and partnerships to one person rather than different people across the business

For more insight and help planning your marketing, check out our Marketing Roadmap for 2021.

It’s a short, sharp piece using our knowledge and expertise to help marketing teams plan for the year ahead. From nailing down the commercial value of activity to deciding which media channels to use.

If you want to chat through any of the points in the piece, or need any help with your PR or marketing, please get in touch.