Stephen McClelland Of ProfileTree, takes part in Authority Magazine Interview - 5 Ways To Manage Your Marketing Budget For Improved ROI

BELFAST, COUNTY ANTRIM, UNITED KINGDOM, December 22, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Digital Innovation Specialist, Stephen McClelland, recently took part in a interview with Authority Magazine on - 5 Ways To Manage Your Marketing Budget For Improved ROI. You can find the full interview below.

"Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?"

"I have been a digital strategist for over 7 years with ProfileTree. I initially joined the company as a Web Developer but since then I have moved into a more strategic digital marketing role. I have always had an interest in tech and software, or in other words I am a self-confessed geek! So it’s great getting to do something that I love and enjoy."

"Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?"

"One strength that has helped me get to where I am today is my ability to take complex technical concepts and explain them in simple, understandable terms, which is absolutely necessary when working with clients who have little digital marketing knowledge. This skill has allowed me to better communicate digital strategies and help clients grasp how they can leverage technology to achieve their goals. They also get to know what they are getting for their money and understand the value in partnering with us. Anyone can build this skill by practising explaining technical topics conversationally, getting feedback, and adjusting their language based on people’s responses."

"2. Another area I’ve focused on is setting clear expectations and logically showing how certain actions drive specific results. By outlining each step of a strategy and why it matters, I provide transparency that builds trust and helps motivate change. People can develop this characteristic by walking through their reasoning process step-by-step and tying goals and metrics into each tactic they recommend."

3. Finally, I stay on top of emerging technologies and innovations that may benefit my clients. I devote time to researching new tools, techniques, and trends so I can share the most cutting-edge best practices. The key is striking a balance between proven methods and new solutions that drive growth. Professionals looking to build this knowledge area should make learning part of their routine, experiment with new platforms, and involve themselves in industry groups to exchange ideas and knowledge."

"Fantastic. Let’s now shift to the main part of our interview. What factors do you consider when allocating your marketing budget across different channels and tactics?"

"SWOT analysis

When allocating a marketing budget, I take a very strategic approach based on several important factors. First, I conduct a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to current marketing initiatives. This gives me insight into what’s working well and what we should sustain or expand, and any gaps we need to address.

Target audience

Next, I look closely at our target audience and their demographics, interests, and media consumption habits. Understanding who we need to reach and on what platforms allows me to determine where we should focus our messaging and outreach. I also research the clients niche, sector, and competitors to spot potential opportunities in areas where others may not have a strong presence yet.

Organic growth

A big priority for me is driving organic, long-term growth through sustainable campaigns versus short-term wins. I aim to balance the budget between channels that increase brand awareness and help nurture leads over time, versus those focused on conversions. Throughout this process, I assess resource requirements to ensure we can maintain momentum for key initiatives.

Fine tune

Finally, I leave room in the budget to tweak and fine-tune based on performance data. By actively monitoring ROI across channels, I can shift pennies and pounds to those tactics that are proving most effective. My goal is an agile, optimised approach to smart marketing resource allocation."

"In your opinion, what are some common mistakes that marketers make when managing their budgets? How can they be avoided?"

"One mistake I see marketers make is misallocating budget resources by over-investing in channels that don’t align with core goals and underfunding initiatives that do. This can be avoided by clearly defining objectives upfront and letting those guide where marketing budgets are spent. Marketers also need to research their competitive space to identify the best channels to reach their audience, rather than defaulting to trendy platforms."

"Another common error is not grounding budget decisions in enough statistical analysis. Marketers should leverage available data on customer demographics, media consumption, campaign performance, etc. to optimise spending. Proper analytics will also help determine the true ROI of each marketing channel and initiative."

"Additionally, marketers sometimes jump on the latest hot platform without considering if it’s a fit. While it’s important to evolve with the market, blindly throwing money at every new thing is unwise. For example, TikTok is hugely popular but may not align with a B2B company’s goals like an advanced LinkedIn ad strategy might. Avoid following the herd mentality."

"Finally, failure to clearly communicate goals and strategy across teams can also lead to improper budget allocation. With alignment on objectives across sales, marketing, product development, and leadership, resource spend can be more effectively optimised."

"When allocating your budget, how do you balance short-term marketing goals with long-term brand building initiatives?"

"When developing our marketing budget, I make sure to strike the right balance between short-term performance goals and long-term brand building. While we want to generate leads and revenue in the near-term, it’s also critical that we invest in establishing our brand presence and equity over time.

The key is aligning our short-term initiatives with the long-term vision. For example, running targeted promotions can help get quick wins in terms of sales conversions, but these should ladder up to overall brand awareness that pays dividends down the road. Or leveraging social media advertising may drive immediate traffic and engagement, but we need to ensure the messaging aligns with our brand identity.

I allocate budget to lower-barrier campaigns that generate short-term results, demonstrating potential to clients. But the bulk focuses on sustainable channels that may take more patience and nurturing but elevate our brand authority. Educating clients on realistic timelines and setting proper expectations is crucial.

Ultimately, clients need to trust the strategy. Our job is proving out the effectiveness of foundational brand building investments that compound over the long run. With the right balance, short-term and long-term initiatives can work synergistically to achieve our goals."

"For start-ups and those with limited budgets, what tactics would you recommend to receive the highest return and the fastest initial growth?"

"For start-ups and companies with smaller marketing budgets, I typically recommend focusing initially on tactics that provide the fastest growth at the lowest cost. One of the most effective strategies is investing in building up your in-house capabilities with digital training. Developing your team’s skills in areas like content creation, social media marketing, and basic web analytics is more affordable than outsourcing. Share resources with clients to help expand their in-house expertise as well.

Pay-per-click advertising can also generate a nice return on investment if targeted carefully. Setting up focused PPC campaigns around a specific product launch or promotion can drive conversions without a huge upfront outlay. The key is monitoring and optimizing based on performance.

Content marketing through organic social media and blogging is another fairly inexpensive tactic to boost brand awareness and SEO. Focus on quality over quantity and identify themes that resonate with your audience. No-cost organic tactics like local networking, guest blogging, and community building through social platforms are also smart ways to expand reach.

The core mindset should be maximising the impact of every penny spent. With the right small-budget strategies anchored in developing in-house skills and targeted paid promotions, startups can generate impressive returns and lay the groundwork for long-term growth."

"How do you collaborate with other departments within your organization, such as sales or finance, to ensure alignment and maximize ROI from your marketing spend?"

"Achieving true alignment across departments is crucial to ensuring our marketing spend drives maximum ROI. We actively collaborate with sales, finance, and other internal teams in a few key ways.

First, we utilise shared CRM platforms to maintain visibility into customer relationships and workflow. This avoids scope creep and confusion when clients interface with different departments. We’re all working from the same customer data to provide coordinated touchpoints.

Regular cross-functional meetings ensure consensus on target outcomes and timelines for initiatives. Having sales, marketing, and leadership aligned prevents disjointed efforts that sap ROI.

Finance provides key analytics on campaign costs, pipeline revenue, and projected returns to inform budget decisions. Marketing metrics on engagement and growth then demonstrate how we’re delivering value for the investment.

Ultimately our shared goal is delivering an exceptional client experience and value for their money. Collaboration across departments makes this possible. Unified systems, open communication, and transparency around goals empower us to maximize marketing ROI while providing clients with coordinated service."

"What tips do you have to get buy-in from the CEO and others in the C-Suite when requesting additional budget for new projects or tactics?"

"Present accurate, visually compelling reports that clearly show the projected ROI of new initiatives. Concrete data on potential reach, engagement, and pipeline impact is key. Leverage analytics from SEMrush, Google, and social platforms to showcase opportunities in traffic trends, gaps in presence versus competitors, and untapped keywords/audiences. Numbers don’t lie! Maintain transparency with the leadership team around campaign performance and needs to support growth. Open communication builds trust in the marketing team’s plans."

"Research what peer companies or industry leaders are doing and the success they’re having with new tactics. Success stories can inspire investment.
Frame the request in terms of how it ladders up to core business goals — revenue growth, market share, brand awareness. Show how marketing supports the big picture.

Be open to feedback and collaboration. There may be budget constraints unknown to marketing. Working together to prioritise and modify plans prevents roadblocks. With credible data, strategic framing, and open dialogue, marketing can secure the budget needed to fully leverage opportunities and accelerate success."

"Which marketing software in your tech stack do you feel is most worth the investment?"

"When it comes to our marketing technology stack, the solutions that I find most valuable to invest in are Google Search Console and SEMrush.

Google Search Console provides incredible insights for free into how our website content is performing in organic search. Having visibility into impressions, clicks, rankings, and queries helps us continuously improve our SEO and content strategy. It’s an invaluable free tool for monitoring and optimising performance in Google search.

SEMrush similarly delivers a wealth of competitive intel and market analysis that would be more difficult and time-consuming to compile manually. The keyword data, site audits, PPC research, and content mapping tools equip us to refine our targeting and positioning tremendously. While a paid tool, the depth of data and productivity benefits easily justify the cost in my view.

Between the two, we can thoroughly research audiences, benchmark against competitors, identify growth opportunities, monitor rankings, fix site issues, and ultimately maximise our visibility and search traffic. Having these robust tools as part of our core stack gives us leverage to make smarter decisions and get ahead. The marketing insights and competitive edge they provide make SEMrush and Search Console well worth the investment."

"Can you please share five things marketing leaders should do to improve the ROI of their marketing efforts?"

"Data-Driven Insights: Focus on data and insights to understand your marketing strategy’s real facts and figures. Utilise tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and others to make informed decisions.
Diversify Your Channels: Don’t concentrate all your efforts and budget on a single channel. Explore different platforms and marketing strategies to reach a broader audience.
Segment Your Audience: Segment your audience based on traffic sources. This segmentation helps in retargeting and reselling, allowing you to tailor your marketing efforts more effectively.
Avoid Inflating Results: Consistency is key in marketing. Stick to what works and maintain steady efforts rather than constantly making changes that can disrupt your strategy’s performance.
Pivot with Patience: Optimise your strategy but exercise patience, especially in areas like organic search results. Understand that certain tactics, such as SEO, may take time to yield significant results.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger."

"If I could inspire a movement that creates tremendous good, it would be around empowering people through wider access to digital skills and education."

"We are in an era of rapid technological advancement, as seen with innovations like AI and ChatGPT. Yet many groups still face barriers to accessing tools that can profoundly change careers and lives. From rural communities to disadvantaged schools to senior citizens, there are segments of the population being left behind.

I would love to catalyse a shift where digital literacy and new tech training become universally available. The movement would advocate for increased funding and programs at schools, public computer labs and community centres, subsidised classes, and public-private partnerships to bring these opportunities to all communities.

Ensuring people of all ages and backgrounds can meaningfully access and utilise emerging technologies will unlock incredible human potential. It will open doors to new jobs, education, information, and skills development.

Technology should empower people, not marginalise them. With a grassroots effort focused on digital inclusion, we can help entire groups gain the knowledge to carve out brighter futures. Instead of a divide, technology can become the great equaliser. That is the world I hope to inspire."

Sara Lynch
ProfileTree
saralynch@profiletree.com
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Data Driven Insights 5 Things To Know About Marketing | ProfileTree | Digital Agency Belfast | Marketing Budget Tips

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