What are your marketing and sales goals for the next year? Whether it’s to boost your number of email subscribers or increase sales by a certain percent, you must outline the results you want your marketing efforts to yield.Īccording to Shanelle Mullin, Customer Aquisition Program Manager at Shopify, the key is to begin by understanding your current position. Once you've answered those questions, assess the changes you want to make to your marketing strategy. Which holiday promotions or discounts were the most successful?.What time of year has brought in the most sales?.

Which marketing channels gave you the best return on investment (ROI)?.Which of your products are most popular?.Perform an Audit of Your Past Marketing Effortsįirst, it’s essential to look into the effectiveness of your past marketing efforts, so that you can make smarter use of your budget and create better digital experiences. And bonus: Use this marketing budget template to help you align on projections and stick to your marketing plan. So, how do you determine how much money you should put aside for marketing? Let’s go over the steps that you should follow to develop a smart and effective marketing budget. Small Business Administration, a lot of small businesses either spend their marketing dollars carelessly or don’t allocate enough money to marketing. While you're planning, you must think about your necessary resources - in particular, your marketing budget.Ī substantial marketing budget is required to sell products and services effectively. The year is coming to a close, and you know what that means: It’s time to put together next year’s marketing plan.

Marketing plan and budget template