5 Smart Ways to Spend Your Leftover Marketing Budget

“Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.” – Warren Buffet

2019 is winding down. There’s limited time for you to wrap up your Q4 things. With the holiday season upon us, ‘tis the time for auditing, ‘tis the time for reporting. Every organization has an annual marketing budget and if, somehow, miraculously, you have some leftover marketing budget, don’t let it go to waste!

Like every year, we have some useful insights into what you should do with this budget. Keeping up with the current trends, here’s our quick take on what you can do with your leftover marketing budget. Read on!

1. Invest in Sponsored or Paid Ads: A little more promotion never hurt anybody. After all, it’s the best promoted content that wins. Be it interactive or shoppable posts on Facebook or sponsored or dynamic ads on LinkedIn or Instagram, promotion gives people an opportunity to connect with your brand. Sponsored or paid ad investment is the best way to utilize your leftover marketing budget as it would enhance the visibility and awareness of your brand. Put your paid spend behind your best content. Also, be sure to periodically review and A/B test your ads to know what’s working best for you.

2. Prop Up Your Marketing Assets: Landing pages and email templates are where the magic of lifecycle marketing happens, where you “charm-pitch-sell-and bowl over” your customers. They must have a clear, simple, concise, and an unambiguous offer, a fabulous design, and a killer CTA. Use a chunk of your leftover budget to amp up your marketing assets so that they bring ROI to the table by speaking volumes of what you bring to the table.

3. Redesign Your Website: Your website isn’t just a catalog, but your biggest marketing tool. It goes over and beyond just aesthetics. It’s a receptacle of information that your buyer personas are looking for and it provides you with several lead conversion opportunities. If it’s already fetching you amazing results, great! But if you think there’s still room for improvement and you have all the right reasons for it, you could spend a part of your leftover budget in redesigning your website and making it go over and above the look and feel.

4. Test a New Tool or Upgrade Existing Tools: Q4 is the perfect time to invest in a tool that you probably have had your eye on and think will drive value to your marketing efforts in 2020. Don’t rush into it though, there’s a ton of tech out there to make your life easier like Crazy Egg, Hootsuite, Marketo, HubSpot, etc. Most tools now come with demos, free trials, or one-time payment options, try them out and see which ones work for you. It would also do a world of good if you upgrade your existing tools as they might not be bringing you the best results that they’re capable of. The premium versions of tools that your team uses day in and day out are a good place to stash your leftover budget.

5. Conduct a Health Audit for Your Marketing Automation Platform: So, you have an efficient, powerful, and a best-in-the-business marketing automation platform. But are you making the most of it? Q4 is a good time to put your marketing automation tool under the microscope and check if all its components are in place. Get a comprehensive audit which would include an analysis of its technical set-up, website, integration, account organization, data management, marketing operations, and demand generation. Utilize your leftover budget to prepare your marketing automation platform to meet your marketing goals for 2020.

A leftover marketing budget doesn’t come by that often. Invest it back into your business and increase the tempo of all your marketing initiatives for the next year. We know you’ve worked hard to earn your marketing money, use it, don’t lose it!

Want assistance with prioritizing your leftover marketing budget? Get a free consult now!