Marketing Budget Rationale Ties to ROI

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From the Nov. 2009 Issue

“CMOs slash marketing budgets in 2009.”

Would this headline surprise you? Would you be more surprised to learn that on a global basis, 2009 marketing budgets were lower than 2008 budgets, with more than half of the budgets cut 20 percent or more?

Sad, but true — and still, it’s very sad when I hear about budget cuts at a time when marketing budgets should be more, not less.

Yet, there are a few bright spots as noted in a recent article in Direct Marketing News: Close to 50 percent of chief marketing officers increased social media spending, while 44 percent increased their company’s investment in website development. Another 38 percent increased the budget for e-mail marketing.

If spending on traditional marketing is down, and budgets for social media are up, how does an accounting firm come to terms with how to handle its marketing budget?

Any marketing budget ought to include a mix of online and offline tools to recruit prospects, retain clients and increase a firm’s profile, but for gosh sakes, don’t decrease your marketing budget! Now is the time to be bold, put your best foot forward and create a long-lasting presence in the marketplace … while your competition is pulling back. When the dust settles, you’ll be the firm that’s remembered and admired for your tenacity in a very volatile environment.

The inclination is to cut spending, yet what are you going to cut to make the numbers work? Sure, every firm can spend less when it needs to. Do you really need doughnuts every morning during tax season? Do the firm partners need to take an offsite retreat rather than spend a full day in the conference room? Can you get along with a smaller-scale client gift for the holidays?

I think you get my point. However, sacred cows are just that. No one wants to give up their budget, either for ego/pride sake or because they may think they’ll never get the money back again.

While very different in many ways, marketing professionals within firms share one common trait: They want to develop quality programs that will bring in business and keep clients. So if you ask the marketing staff what they can give up in the way of budget, you’ll probably get scowls and grunts. It won’t be easy and shouldn’t be easy to get blood out of a turnip, right?

I think the answer gets back to ROI, or how these marketing programs provide a return on their investment. If a program cost $1,000, did the firm realize at least $1,000 in new business?