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In a small business, one of the biggest marketing challenges is determining how much to budget for Marketing and how to allocate that budget across the main elements of the Marketing Mix.

A purist would start by defining the objective and then developing strategies to achieve that objective. The budget would be whatever it costs to execute the planned strategies. The problem with this is that very often the cost exceeds the value, so something has to give.

Either we need to find less expensive strategies that will still accomplish the objective, or we need to adjust the objective so it’s something we can afford. Usually it’s a combination.

We also need to consider each of the applicable elements of the traditional marketing mix, to be sure we’ve done both a macro and a micro examination of the budget needs. Areas for consideration may include:

 
  • Positioning / Branding
  • Product or service offering
  • Promotion
  • Publicity and public relations
  • Sales
  • Advertising—online, direct and offline
  • Building customer loyalty
  • Pricing strategy
  • Merchandising
  • Packaging
  • Customer service
  • Distribution
 

We’ve been through this drill many times in a variety of industries and product categories. We can almost certainly save you time and money, and get you to the objective faster than the old (and often too-familiar) trial-and-error method. We can frequently bring learnings from other clients in other industries that will prove to be new and remarkably effective for your business.

Let us know how we can improve your marketing effort. We’re good at this, and we’re ready to go. Contact Dialogue Now

 

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Dialogue Marketing Group