Slice the pie, hive.

February 28, 2008 2:34 AM

Marketing budget question: suppose I have 150,000 $...

Suppose I have a budget of 150 000$ for a cultural exposition. With this, I need to pay everything: design, copy, poster/flyer/brochure printing, distribution of said printed material, ad space, media deals, etcetera.

How do I define what portion of the 150k I earmark for bying ad space, how much I need for PR, how much will go to design & print work? Is there a rule of thumb that will make life easier? Is there any good literature on how to come up with a decent media mix (radio, mags, flyers, posters...?).

posted by NekulturnY to Work & Money (4 answers total)

It was the great Leo Burnett who said "I know that half of my marketing spend is wasted - I just don't know which half!"

Sadly, there's no particular rule of thumb for what you're asking, at least until you've done the research to try and answer Leo's question.

In your shoes, I'd prioritise and Deal With Number One - it's unlikely you'll afford everything you want to do, no matter how enormous or flexible your budget is - marketing spend will always expand to envelop all available funds (and more if you let it!) So, decide everything you'd like to do - brainstorm, write down everything - no matter how wild. Maybe qualify and quantify with very broad strokes at this stage, but don't get too indepth.

Once you have a list, decide which single thing on your list is going to be most important - be it that other things on the list rely on it (producing brochures, for instance, before taking a stand at a trade fair to hand them out), or things that obviously give the highest bang-for-buck. This single thing is Number One.

Budget it, subtract it from your list and your overall budget and find the next Number One - repeat until you're out of money.

If you already have some demographic research - this will help. If your audience are all TV watchers, then the TV related projects on your list may obviously be more important than other media and avenues.

Oh, and build in a contingency budget - things will run over time, over cost, over budget - don't let that impact too many other things on your list - have a contingency, but have a ceiling. Don't let that TV spot swallow the whole 150 grand and leave you with nothing to print posters, et al.
posted by benzo8 at 3:13 AM on February 28, 2008

I would take your question to the MarketingProfs Discussion Forum. That's where the marketing pros hang out and answer questions.
posted by PoopyDoop at 6:55 AM on February 28, 2008

Why not focus on goals, outcomes and (dare I say it?) measurables you hope to achieve, and work down from there.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:20 AM on February 28, 2008

What KokuRyu said, plus then, at some point, you have some actual products you want to produce (a conference brochure, etc, etc), you just get referrals to designers and printers, and then call them for estimates. I'd pull out whatever is obvious to you, and then when you talk to some creative agency, you can say, "I have $x for an outreach plan, design, and the actual advertising time/space/etc."
posted by salvia at 9:34 AM on February 29, 2008