Tips for Marketing on a Budget
We all know marketing is important, and that it can be costly.
Whether it’s a multi-million dollar commercial, a viral tweet, or an effective drip campaign, virtually every living person has witnessed the impact of effective marketing. And, more and more, we also recognize the incredible amount of resources that go into it.
Organizations with big budgets often have internal agencies, agency partners, or both. Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, a smaller organization might rely on a single person for their communications, and even they often have other roles and responsibilities.
No matter what kind of organization you are, when budgets are tight, decisions get tough. So let’s talk a little about which options might be right for you and your marketing program.
What Are My Choices?
When it comes to marketing, you have two basic options: do it yourself, or outsource it to someone else.
“Do it yourself” might include literally doing it yourself if you’re a solopreneur or someone trying to get their venture off the ground. It could also involve hiring one, two, or more personnel to help manage your communications internally.
Outsourcing, on the other hand, often involves working with an agency and/or contractors to handle communications for you.
The advantages of this are obvious: you don’t have to worry about it and are therefore free to focus on other things. Although even when you have an external team planning, developing, and managing your marketing initiatives, you’d be surprised how much time you may still have to devote to meetings, review, feedback, and approval.
The success of a retainer relationship depends on a certain amount of creative alignment, as differences in vision can lead to excessive rounds of revision and additional billing.
Nevertheless, for many, this route is worth it because it ensures you have the strategic, creative, and logistical expertise you need to execute a wide range of communications effectively and consistently.
Keeping It In-House
For some organizations, of course, retainers simply aren’t an option, no matter how valuable they might be. In these cases, organizations may choose to forego or severely limit their communications, which can help keep things moving in the short term, but will limit your growth over time.
Or they’ll heap the responsibility onto one or more team members, requiring them to plan, develop, and publish content in addition to their other responsibilities.
The advantages of this is that it costs less and gives you more control over the process (that is, you’re able to check in and provide feedback along the way, rather than waiting for a final product to approve).
However, it’s difficult to maintain a strategic direction when the people managing your communications are struggling to keep their heads above water. Burnout can lead to staff turnover, which will set your communications back even further (or cause them to stall entirely).
For all of these reasons and more, maintaining strategic communications on a budget can feel like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Although, fortunately, there is a middle ground.
The Third Way
It’s possible to maintain effective communications with a smaller team, but you have to set them up for success. This often means investing in resources that help them do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.
Strategic resources like a marketing plan and messaging can be helpful, allowing team members to focus solely on execution. But there are also tools and resources to help with the execution itself.
For example, a few we offer at Green Gate include:
Messaging Assets - These are public-facing copy assets we develop based on your messaging strategy. They typically include an Elevator Pitch, Brand Story, Taglines, and Talking Points that are designed to promote strategic consistency while streamlining content creation.
Content Plan - This custom tool is built around our own process for generating strategic content quickly and efficiently. Again, we use your messaging strategy as a foundation for building out your own unique content planning platform.
Canva Brand Kits - These include a set of turnkey templates as well as a branded asset library that empowers your team to create branded communications quickly and efficiently.
Resources like these can be a cost-effective way of ensuring high-quality, effective communications over the long term, giving you the flexibility to scale your communications team up or down without sacrificing strategic or creative continuity.
Whether you’re supporting an internal team or external partners, resource investments ensure everyone has the support they need and, no matter what changes come, you’re all working with the same tools and the same playbook.
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