How to make your marketing budget work smarter

I spent the last month consulting 15 businesses on their marketing. Here's what 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 wants to admit: 𝟭𝟰 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝟭𝟱 were doing marketing that looked busy but wasn't making money. More content. More platforms. More meetings. But when I asked "What's your customer acquisition cost?" — silence. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴. It's that they're measuring the wrong things. Here's what separated the winners from the "busy-but-broke": → They tracked revenue per channel, not just "engagement" → They said NO to 80% of marketing tactics (and doubled down on what worked) → They treated marketing as investment, not expense 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲: Company A: Posting daily on 5 platforms. Getting likes. Zero sales. We cut it down to 2 platforms, 3x/week, with clear CTAs. Revenue from social: $0 → $47K in 90 days. Company B: Running ads to a generic landing page. We rebuilt the page around ONE customer pain point. Conversion rate: 1.2% → 8.7%. Same ad spend. Company C: Spending $15K/month on agencies who delivered "reports." We fired them. Built an in-house system focused on one funnel. CAC dropped 60%. Profit margins doubled. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻? More isn't better. Better is better. Most businesses are drowning in tactics because they never defined their strategy. Your marketing doesn't need more. It needs clarity, measurement, and the courage to cut what's not working. What's the ONE marketing tactic that actually drives revenue for you?

Understanding the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing efforts is crucial for growth. With the right insights, you can make informed decisions that maximize your budget and boost results. Here are three quick steps to clarify your ROI: 1. Define clear objectives: Know what success looks like for your campaigns. 2. Track your costs: Document all expenses related to your marketing initiatives. 3. Measure outcomes: Analyze the data to see what’s working and what needs tweaking. Following these steps not only simplifies your planning but also empowers your team to make data-driven decisions. Transform your marketing strategy with effective ROI insights! What strategies have you used to measure your marketing ROI? Share your tips and experiences below! 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eRBeX44C

Integrated marketing has been around for a while, yet it often gets pushed aside 📝 The truth? It consistently outperforms one-off campaigns. Our latest blog dives into how integrated marketing can boost ROI and deliver lasting results for your business 📈 Check it out via the link below!  https://lnkd.in/gXFuEagv

If you’re a Marketing Manager, you’re probably juggling: 📈 Ad performance 🧠 Brand strategy 💬 Campaign reporting 🎨 Content calendars But here’s a secret the best marketers already know… Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) quietly makes everything else work better. It amplifies your results: Your ads perform better because visitors find what they expect. Your landing pages convert better because friction disappears. Your reporting looks better because your ROI skyrockets. CRO is like the engine tune-up your marketing machine needs, invisible to most, but game-changing in performance. 💭 Imagine if every campaign suddenly became 20% more effective, without extra spend. That’s the superpower of CRO. https://lnkd.in/eV2h_gvc

📊 Why Q4 is the most important quarter for marketing agencies… Every year, Q4 is where businesses make some of their biggest moves. Budgets are being finalized, goals are being chased, and companies are looking for ways to finish strong and set the tone for the year ahead. For marketing agencies, this creates a unique window of opportunity: ✅ Businesses are willing to invest in visibility to maximize holiday momentum. ✅ Decision-makers are actively planning for the new year. ✅ The competition is at its highest — which means strategies need to be sharper than ever. For my agency, Q4 is when we double down on both performance and relationships. We help clients close out the year with campaigns that not only drive revenue now but also set them up for long-term growth heading into Q1. Because here’s the reality: the brands that wait until January to figure out their marketing are already behind. The ones who start in Q4 are the ones that lead in the new year. 👉 My advice to business owners: treat Q4 like your launchpad, not your finish line.

From spend to equity. Most marketing budgets fund assets that vanish the second you stop paying. Every ad impression. Every boosted post. Every campaign that resets next quarter. Gone. I rebuilt around what compounds instead: → Owned audience (email lists you control, not platform followers) → Content that answers buyer questions 18 months from now → Product-led signup flows where early users bring the next wave → Case studies that close deals long after the project ends CAC payback dropped because past work kept producing pipeline. Your marketing budget should build infrastructure, not rent attention. Most companies optimize for this month's MQLs. The ones winning long-term are building libraries, audiences, and systems that compound. What percentage of your current spend creates lasting assets versus temporary visibility? Drop your guess below. Like and share if you're rethinking where your marketing budget actually goes.

Don’t vibe your way to 2026 marketing plans and budgets in January. Sounds like a no brainer but I regularly see marketing added as an afterthought, with a plan pulled from the air and a budget based on hopes and dreams. This applies to founders who own the budget and to marketers asking for budget - get that plan and budget ready by the end of October. Here’s why: 1️⃣ Get that Q1 momentum in place as early as you can. By planning early you’ll start Q1 with the momentum you need rather than scrambling about in January to get everything together with half the budget you actually need. 2️⃣ Get the budget you need rather than the budget given to you. Early planning ensures that you can fight for your decisions early, set out how they will influence goals over the next year and what the expected ROI will be. Sure you may not get everything you’ve asked for but it’s going to be way more than what finance will just hand you without the plan. 3️⃣ You’re close enough to see how 2025 will close and what bets to put in place for 2026. You’ll see what channels are working and where you could see growth in the next year. You’ll also be in a better position to propose new channels based on the results so far to get the budget in place. Basically, getting everything together before the end of October ensures that you’re set up for a better time of it with your team to get your budget for the next year. Leaving everything until December means you won’t have time on your side to get everything across the line. This then makes Q1 even harder than it needs to be and you’ll feel like you’re playing catch up over the year. ----- If you need expert help getting together a marketing strategy and plan for 2026, get in touch and let's discuss how I can help.

As we near year-end, does your business have a marketing plan in place for 2026? This week alone, I’ve written not one, but three marketing plans for clients for 2026. It’s a practice I’ve followed for over 30 years. Simple, effective, and proven to work. A costed quarterly marketing plan keeps your business focused, agile, and on budget. It’s not just smart, it’s essential. Here’s why: ✅ Clarity – Everyone knows what’s happening and when ✅ Budget control – Spend wisely and with purpose ✅ Flexibility – Adjust plans based on performance ✅ Goal alignment – Keep all efforts tied to business objectives ✅ Track results – Measure ROI and refine as you go. Marketing shouldn't be reactive. A solid plan sets you up to grow with confidence. Have you started planning your 2026 strategy? If not, I’m here to help,message me. Debra

Why Most Businesses Waste Their Digital Budget (and How Agencies Prevent It) Let’s face it, most companies are leaking marketing budget without even realizing it. The culprit? Fragmented in-house processes. Internal teams are often too close to their brand. They spend time perfecting details instead of testing ideas. They rely on the same channels, the same audiences, the same formats, because it’s “what worked before.” But digital doesn’t reward familiarity. It rewards experimentation and adaptability. A specialized agency operates differently. We test. We compare. We benchmark across industries, geographies, and audiences. What fails in one market might explode in another. What seems risky in theory might outperform your best campaign by 3x. That cross-industry visibility is something an internal team can’t replicate and it’s where the efficiency comes from. So before cutting the marketing budget, ask a different question: Are you measuring spend, or are you measuring waste? Because an optimized €1 spent with the right insights can outperform €10 spent in a comfort zone.