Use This Year’s Marketing Budget to Jumpstart Next Year’s Success

We are about to enter Q4, which means a whole new year is really just around the corner. Are you one of those marketing managers looking for a way to use what remains of your 2017 budget to augment your 2018 efforts?  

After all, many businesses have a “use it or lose it” philosophy—if you have extra spending authority left at the end of year, it must mean you don’t need that much, and you will find your budget being cut.

One of the best ways to make use of your year-end spend, and to set yourself up for an even better next year, is to use those funds now to strategize and create the first few campaigns for the next year.

Especially if you have more money than staff time, this could be the opportunity to bring in an agency partner on a limited basis to provide new ideas or specialized skills for a specific campaign.

Here are some tips for maximizing your ROI on a campaign strategy or content creation project to wrap up 2017.

1. Know what you want to achieve.

Before you contact prospective agency partners, take time to sketch out what you want your year-end project to entail, including your timeline and budget. This will speed discussions and help you reach an agreement more quickly so you can get rolling.

Start with a limited scope, such as:

• Brand positioning review, leading to identification of PR opportunities and development of new messaging concepts.

• Campaign strategy development for the coming year, including creating a full calendar of content to be created, from blog posts and bylined articles to white papers and case studies.

• Complete content creation for a specific, already-planned campaign, including all research, writing and design.

• Specialty content creation to support a year’s worth of campaigns, such as video development. 

Any one of these projects would be an effective use of your end-of-year budget, positioning your staff well to continue their day-to-day tasks, but with a jumpstart or a new tool to kick off 2018.

2. Choose an agency wisely.

Even though this may be a limited scope project, using the money remaining in this year’s marketing budget, there is no reason to take a chance on wasting the $5,000, $15,000 or $50,000 you are investing.

 Do take time to carefully vet any agency, or freelance writer, you hire for a year-end project, both to protect your investment this time and to increase the chances that you may end up finding a strong partner for future projects as well. Here is a brief look at 8 criteria you should keep in mind (find a full detailed list in our HubSpot Partner Agency Checklist). 

1. Does the agency/contractor offer the right services for your proposed project (and others you may want to consider down the road)?

2. Does the agency provide all of the tools, processes, staff and systems you need to do the project on time?

3. Is the agency goal-oriented with a clearly-defined delivery process?

4. Can the agency or freelancer provide the needed volume of high-quality content?

5. Does the agency or contractor understand how to promote content effectively?

6. Does the agency emphasize lead conversion and nurturing to support your inbound marketing approach?

7. Can the agency or contractor analyze data to help you improve your marketing tactics and document ROI?

8. Will the agency provide additional reporting based on established goals and objectives?

You should be satisfied with the answers to all, or at least most, of these questions before engaging an agency or contractor for your year-end project.

3. Leverage the relationship for the future

Even if your primary intention is to hire an agency or contract for a one-off project just to make use of your remaining 2017 marketing budget, keep in mind the benefits of creating a strong relationship for the future.

Even a straight-forward project will require some investment of time from you and your colleagues to familiarize a new vendor with your company. It pays to take time to ensure that your new partner understands your brand position and messaging in order to maintain a consistent presence.

Once you’ve taken that time, it just makes sense to continue to leverage the familiarity developed by using the agency for additional projects that come along in the future. While the trend may be away from using a single agency of record (see PR Agency Outlook: Fewer Exclusive Relationships), there is still a benefit to having a partner you can turn to with trust in their understanding and commitment to your brand.

If you’ve chosen well, a full-service agency should be able to step in and quickly join your team when new opportunities arise or you find yourself in a staffing bind.

Don’t leave marketing budget on the table. Utilize projects such as those listed above, or the others outlined in 13 Ways to Use End-of-Year Budget to end the year on a strong note and set your brand up for greater success in 2018.