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Communication and marketing budget:how to define it?

Communication and marketing are essential to guarantee the good health of a company. These two specialties boost sales, build customer loyalty and improve the image of the company or a brand. Communication and marketing must have an important place in the daily life of a company. This is why they must be budgeted. How ? Here are our tips.

Definition:what is a communication and marketing budget?

The communication and marketing budget corresponds to the amount of investment required to promote the products and services marketed by a company. Here is a non-exhaustive list of services included in the communication and marketing budget.

  • Creation and delivery of advertisements
  • Development of communication campaigns
  • remuneration of service providers or staff
  • Purchase of location (physical and media)
  • Purchase and creation of material
  • Design
  • Copyright

It is important and even vital for companies to make the most of communication expenses. This is why it is necessary to budget them and above all to set objectives to be achieved. These must be achievable because they will allow you to estimate a fair budget. Above all, we must ensure the balance of society.

Do an internal analysis of your resources

Before budgeting your communication and marketing budget, and above all to do it as accurately as possible, you must analyze its resources and more particularly its:

  • financial resources,
  • human resources,
  • material resources.

All the skills internal to a company are essential to save money. Tasks that can be done in-house will not have to be delegated to an outside provider. The same is true for equipment that will not have to be purchased or rented.

Take stock of the strategies put in place by the competition

Observing the competition is always an asset. This approach is therefore recommended when the communication and marketing budget must be defined. There are several points to note:

  • What campaigns are the competition running?
  • Which channels are they on?
  • Are they positioning themselves in a niche market?
  • What is their strategy?

Once it has been possible to learn more about all the communication and marketing campaigns implemented by the competition, it is possible to estimate them. This process is very difficult the first times but becomes easier and easier with time and especially with experience.

Define a project

To define a communication and marketing budget, you need to have a project. To determine this, it can be very interesting to brainstorm with all the teams, including members of other departments. The goal is to find as many ideas as possible to find out:

  • How to sell?
  • How to convert a prospect into a customer?
  • How to retain customers?
  • How to be recognizable?

The marketing budget must be defined in the short term as well as in the long term. Of course, adjustments can be made.

The communication budget and companies

It should be noted that not all companies have the same needs in terms of communication and marketing. Also, the budget depends on several criteria:

  • Company size
  • Field of activity
  • The age of the company
  • Popularity
  • Brand image

To define a communication and marketing budget, part of the turnover must be delegated. Depending on the company, this share is between 5% and 20%. A company that has a monopoly and does not work on visuals will have no interest in delegating a substantial budget to communication. On the contrary, a company that works in a very aesthetic and mainly online field of activity will have to have a solid communication strategy and therefore a large budget.

Refine the communication and marketing budget

Over the years, a company will learn to refine its communication and marketing budget. This one is more substantial at certain times such as:

  • starting a business,
  • the launch of a new range,
  • a change in graphic charter,
  • a seasonal activity,
  • promotion,
  • presence in new markets.

Of course, we must also analyze all the feedback from previous campaigns. You have to know what worked and what failed. Corrective actions are not uncommon and allow companies to develop but also to sustain their activity.

Call on an external service provider

Communication and marketing can be the responsibility of the company's teams. In this case, it is up to the employees to carry out the missions and to budget for them. It is also possible to delegate this task to an external service provider. This approach can be interesting because it allows you to have another vision and above all new ideas.

If a company calls on professionals, they must imperatively offer ideas, bring real know-how and above all achieve the objectives set.