Focus on your timeframe

Our series entitled "Cut your marketing budget, not your strategy," spread over the past eight posts, dealt primarily with the short-term. While these methods may be all you need to cut your costs for the time being, many marketing departments are facing longer-term cuts and reductions in their budgets. Given the current economic climate in which nothing is for certain, it may be time to take a look at ways you can cut back on spending in the longer-term. Studies have shown that making strategic investments in marketing technology, while they might decrease the overall operating budget in the short term, have a long-term effect in reducing marketing costs. Our next blog series will deal with ways companies can invest in the long-term to decrease marketing costs. If you'd like to read the content of our most recent blog series in one PDF document, check out our resources page. Downloading a white paper requires filling in a quick form. Enjoy!

Cut your marketing budget, not your strategy- part 2

2) Join forces with sales. The sales team is most likely facing the same cuts you are facing in marketing. Why continue to send the same number of leads into the sales force if the team does not have the capacity to follow up? Become more selective and drive only the highest-value leads into the sales channel. Reduce the outbound volume for your sales reps, allowing them to focus on the most qualified leads and attend to underperforming prospecting programs or lists when the reps need to fill their funnels. Less qualified leads can be driven to the less expensive channels like web-based information collecting or inside sales or put into your nurture program track until they are ready to go to sales. What are you doing with regards to linking marketing and sales? Tell us in the comments!

Cut your marketing budget, not your strategy- part 1

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you have to accept budget cuts. Below are some ideas that will save your budget without reversing all the hard work you’ve already put into your marketing plan. In this 8-part series, we'll discuss ways to cut back on your budget without demolishing your marketing plan.

Please note: not all ideas will work for all industries and programs. Be open to and aware of these suggestions, but modify them to suit your purposes.

1) Scrutinize how you are treating your lower value segments. Now is a great time to do that switch to less expensive channels that may have cropped up in strategy meetings but never seriously considered. With a smaller budget, it’s important that you create the biggest impact in sales by targeting the highest-value prospects first and more closely. If you ignore your lower-value prospects, though, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Can these audiences be receiving e-mails rather than direct mail? Can you send this audience to your web site for more information instead of a sales rep? Are you communicating too much with this group?

What can you do to cut unnecessary costs out of your budget?

Next time: Join forces with sales.