Indian companies are expected to spend INR 67,000 crore on advertising during 2021, according to Brand Equity. Although TV ads remain the most common type of advertising in India, it’s crucial that you focus on your online advertising. 54% of Indian business owners say that their web sales and online bookings increased during 2020, so enticing customers to your website is certainly worth focusing on. But how much should you spend and on what?
Annual marketing spend
It’s recommended that businesses spend between 5% and 15% of their annual turnover on advertising. Ideally, aim for a number somewhere in the middle of the two. One half of your allocated budget should be used solely on online marketing. When it comes to finding the right amount your business needs to spend, you need to make sure you think about affordability. The 5% to 15% is a general rule but it can’t always be used every single year. The current position of your business and other commitments you have must be considered. For example, if you’re in the middle of a big recruitment drive, you might need to spend a smaller amount on advertising. But if you’ve recently launched a new product which is selling well, you can probably afford to spend a larger amount on your online advertising.
Making the most of your budget
Once you’ve figured out how much your online advertising budget is, you need to make a marketing plan to ensure you get the most for your money. There are multiple different types of online advertising you can use, such as:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Content marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
It’s important that you plough money into the strategies that work well for your business. You should therefore analyze your previous online marketing campaigns and see which ones gave the best results. Researching what other companies find works is beneficial too. HubSpot reports that around 80% of marketing teams say email engagement has increased in the past year. They’ve also found that Facebook is the most commonly used social media channel for content distribution, so it’s certainly worth looking into these further.
Budget-friendly advertising
Pay-per-click is an effective marketing strategy for businesses on a budget. With PPC you only have to pay when your ad is clicked. Plus, you can set a maximum amount that you’re prepared to pay for a click. This means you can set a daily or monthly budget for your advertising and there’s no need to worry about overspending. Another benefit of PPC is that it’s a very measurable form of advertigsing, so you can see what does and doesn’t work easily. From there, you’re able to spend more cash on the advertisement that brings in the most amount of money.
Effective strategies
Research shows that email marketing is around 40 times more successful than social media marketing and has a return on investment of 42:1. The amount companies spend on email marketing differs considerably, but the majority (82%) spend up to 20% of their marketing budget on emails. To ensure that your email marketing campaign is worth the money, personalize your content, use call-to-action buttons, include links, and advertise your social media on your emails. You should also use a tool such as Google Analytics to track your campaign’s performance.
Online advertising is a very effective tool for businesses looking to make money and increase brand awareness. Every year, you should set aside a sizable chunk of your revenue so that you can target new, old, and existing customers with exciting and powerful marketing.
The editorial team at CMS Beginners is a group of industry-leading freelancers and online entrepreneurs. Their main aim is to educate people about online earning and empower youth.