3 Mistakes That SMEs Make with Marketing Budgets

Whether in life or in business, mistakes are going to happen. There’s the time you dropped your phone in coffee or that one afternoon you forgot it was your turn for school pickup. Embarrassing? Yes. Costly? Not really.

But when it comes to marketing your business, mistakes can be costly. They can mean money wasted on ineffective campaigns or every business tool under the sun, when you actually need one.

Over many years working with SMEs, we’ve noticed a few common threads that derail their marketing plans and often, their budget too. Here are three mistakes to watch out for.

Comparing yourself with big corporations

You might work in the same industry as a large brand, but you’re not really competing for the same share of the market. Big corporations have much larger pools of resources, including budget, to draw on. Copying their strategy is a recipe for dissatisfaction.

SMEs can see better results by playing smarter, not bigger. Choosing the right channels is key. You should find the channels that your audience prefers, rather than following your competitors’ lead.

Another important element is sharing what makes you unique. Shopping local and supporting small businesses are two consumer values that you can draw on which the big corporations are excluded from.

Forgetting to track results

How do you actually know if a marketing campaign has worked? How do you decide if it was budget well spent? You need to track results.

A data-driven marketing strategy is one that tests, reports and refines. This way you can double down on the methods that work and cut back on any that aren’t adding value to your business.

Many business owners are too busy to track ROI. Some don’t know how to do it. Both of these barriers are common and completely understandable. Working with a team like Ebony & Salt can ensure your strategy is based on data and regularly refined.

To be able to track results you also need to define your marketing budget at the outset - read more about our 7 most important questions to help you do this.

Spending without a strategy

We refer to this as a ‘scatter gun’ approach to marketing. It is a situation where SMEs jump on trends and switch marketing plans often, without considering the long-term impact.

The risk of overspending is high in this case. In a lot of cases, these business owners haven’t set a budget at all. They also forget to report on results, which means they lack understanding of which methods actually work.

Your marketing strategy and budget work hand in hand. You need the strategy to define what your marketing plans are and what success will look like in future.

Fixing this issue can be as simple as taking the time to sit down and build a strategy before you invest in paid marketing plans. If that’s too advanced for you alone, find trusted experts like Ebony & Salt who can advise on an ideal strategy.

You’ll also find some great information on the types of expenses you can expect in an SME marketing budget in our previous article.

Smarter marketing starts with Ebony & Salt

Marketing may not be hard, but it is highly-skilled. We understand how these mistakes happen when you’re too busy to focus on strategic marketing or learn the skills needed to apply it.

Let us be your shortcut. Ebony & Salt is a boutique marketing agency with experience marketing all kinds of businesses – from small startups to large corporations. We share our knowledge with SMEs, guiding you in best practice marketing and helping your business stand out from the crowd. Reach out for an introductory chat.