Online Marketers Are Increasing Their Budgets: Here's Why (And How) You Should, Too

According to a recent survey I conducted of 357 online marketers, “What Works in Online Marketing”, more than 84% of all marketers are either keeping their overall online marketing budgets consistent or plan to increase them in the next year. While this calls to mind the classical “if 84% of marketers jumped off a bridge, would you?” argument, it’s certainly a positive sign that the performance of online marketing has marketers confident in allocating budget toward it.

The modern world of online marketing is truly diverse, and if you want to take advantage of it, now’s a perfect time to increase your budget, too. But why are marketers bullish on online marketing, and how should an online marketing budget be properly allocated?

The Power of ROI

We have hundreds of tools, resources, and strategies at our disposal, and consumers are hungry for more content and engagement in the digital realm. You could almost call this a “golden era” of online marketing, but since it’s on such an upward trajectory—we might just be leading up to the real golden era.

Let’s set aside the trend argument for a second and examine a more practical reason for why you should increase your online marketing budget today, rather than tomorrow, next month, or next year. The secret is in your return on investment, or ROI, and in many cases, it’s tied to the amount of time you spend developing your various strategies.

Content marketing, SEO, and social media marketing are a perfect example of this (especially when working in conjunction with one another) because they’re all focused on netting long-term returns. When you first start out here, you’ll see hardly any form of return because your reputation will be low, but as you add more permanent content pieces, attract and retain more followers, and get featured on more prominent publishers, your results will start to compound. Accordingly, the longer you’re invested, the better results you’ll see with each new tactic or action—making it imperative that you start investing as soon as possible.

Where to Get the Money

Okay, so I’ve hopefully managed to convince you to increase your online marketing spend, but where are you going to get the money? If someone above you is setting the budget, you need to draft a plan, showcase the trends and benefits I listed above, and make a proposal for a budget increase.

If you’re on the entrepreneurial side of things, or if money is particularly tight, you’ll face a different set of challenges. If you’re in the early stages of development, you can pursue venture capital or angel investment to fill the gaps, or set up a line of credit with a financial institution to get you through. Otherwise, try treating marketing as a bottom-line necessary expense, and start cutting your other expenses to make room for it. A good marketing campaign, will, by definition, eventually return more than the money you put into it.

How to Allocate the Budget

When you’re deciding how to allocate your new budget and resources, there’s a clear hierarchy of different strategies you should invest in. In order of priority, from highest to lowest, they are:

1. Strategies you know to be effective. Think about the marketing strategies you’re currently running that have worked out well for you in the past. Doubling your resources here will theoretically double your results, so use this as a first line of attack when distributing your budget.
2. Promising strategies you haven’t tried. You’ve almost certainly heard of at least a few strategies that are supposed to be “home runs.” But have you given them a fair shot? With a bit of extra money, you should dabble in these strategies; just keep in mind that you need to do your research in advance, and execute them properly if you want to see a positive return.
3. Strategies you’ve tried, but have failed due to poor direction. Think back to any strategies you’ve botched in recent memory (if you’re like most marketers, there will be at least a few). Can you try them again with your new knowledge, new budget, and a refined approach integrated with your current model?
4. Risk strategies. Only after you’ve invested in at least one of the three modes above should you consider the risk strategies—the marketing tactics that could make or break you, and the ones untested, with little verifiable evidence for their long-term potential for success. These can pay off, but are far less reliable than the others.

A Note on Investing Properly

Before I close this article, I want to leave you with a couple pieces of advice about how to invest in your marketing strategy (in general). The best way to treat it is to treat it like you would an investment in stocks or another financial institution. Put your money into the strategies you think will have the greatest long-term return, rather than short-term benefits, and remember to hedge your bets by diversifying your portfolio.

Implemented properly, with a good balance of strategies in the mix, your increased marketing investment will pay off in spades—and probably sooner than you think.