When it comes to how you market your business, there are a lot of options. Social media, email marketing, website marketing, paid-advertising, you name it. And my guess is if you hop on social media right now, you will see a lot of service-based businesses promoting their business solutions. However, with so many options, it can be hard to determine how to allocate your content marketing budget.
“For just XX, you can learn how to increase sales through email marketing.”
“Buy my course for XX and learn everything you need to know about creating a website that converts.”
“My complete guide to social media advertising will radically change your business. Get it now for just XX.”
All of these sound really great, don’t they? But unless your marketing budget is bottomless, you have to be smart about where you spend your dollars. It’s important to make wise money decisions that pay off sooner rather than later. One of the decisions is whether or not to invest in content marketing.
Content Marketing on a Budget
Even if you’re working with a small marketing budget, that’s ok. Fortunately, content marketing costs 62% less and generates 3x more leads than traditional marketing. So by developing a content marketing budget, you are already making a smart business decision. The next decision is what types of content marketing strategies are most important and relevant to your business.
How to Allocate Your Content Marketing Budget
When it comes to content marketing, there are three main types of content: blog posts, email marketing campaigns, and social media content.
- Blog posts drive website traffic and engagement
- Email marketing campaigns increase conversions and sales
- Social media marketing boosts brand awareness
It’s important to note that content marketing does not have to be perfect to be useful. The most important thing is that it is consistent. When planning your content marketing budget, consider these three things:
1. Consider Your Overall Marketing Goal
First things first, it is important to have a clear goal in mind. When you know your desired result, you can choose the right strategies to get you there. For example, if you want to launch a product or digital course to an engaged and interested audience, you would benefit from developing a solid email marketing campaign to nurture and convert your audience. One of the best things about email marketing is that the people who sign up for your email list are already interested in what you offer. So, when you promote a new product or service to them, they are more likely to engage.
To help determine your overall business goal, ask yourself this: What does success look like for my business? Does “success” mean increased sales? Does it mean having a large number of engaged social media followers? Does it mean an X number of people purchase your digital products and courses each month? Does it correlate to an annual income amount?
Knowing how you define success can help you determine the goal of your marketing strategy. You may have one main goal or a few different goals you’re working towards, and that’s great. Write them down and use them as a guide to help you allocate your content marketing budget.
When you know your desired result, you can choose the right strategies to get you there.
2. Consider What You’re Doing Now
Before you start or continue to invest in content marketing, it is important to look at what you are currently doing and how it is (or isn’t) working for you. And why. Just because something isn’t currently working doesn’t necessarily mean you should stop doing it. Instead, learn how to do it even better. For example, if you post one blog on your website every other month, don’t expect to see amazing results. It takes posting quality content consistently for blogs to drive website traffic and engagement. However, you may not have the time, energy, or desire to post two to four blog posts each month, and that’s understandable. That’s where your content marketing budget comes into play.
If you want to see increased website traffic, engagement, and sales, use your marketing budget to hire a blog writer to post consistent, SEO-optimized content on your website. That way you give blogging a far chance to show whether or not it is effective in helping you accomplish your business goals.
3. Consider the Habits and Behaviors of Your Target Audience
Do you know who your target audience is? Do you know where they spend the majority of their time online? Do you know their wants and needs? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you determine where to spend your content marketing budget. For example, if your target audience is females between the ages of 18-35 who spend time on Instagram looking for fashion inspiration, then you know what you need to do: post fashion inspiration on Instagram. Similar to blogging, social media marketing also requires consistent content to be successful. So if you find yourself without the time, energy, or desire to give your target audience what they want and need, use your content marketing budget to hire a social media manager.
Or, if you do have the time but don’t feel like you have the skills or knowledge to produce quality content, consider investing in a course or online software and tools to help you “up” your social media game. There are a ton of resources available–some for free and others at a cost–that are worth the investment.
Strategize Your Content Marketing Budget with Synergy Content Marketing
If you still aren’t sure how to allocate your content marketing budget, we can help. We are passionate about helping brands accomplish their goals through content marketing and would never encourage someone to spend money without a clear understanding of how the investment will yield results.
If, on the other hand, you know where you want to invest your content marketing budget and are ready to hire someone to help you produce content, let’s chat! You can check out the content marketing services we offer and apply to work with us today!
