Do you know how much you spend on marketing?
Sounds like an easy question, right? But do you really know your marketing and communications budget? Or how about this…what would the process of answering that question entail? Would it be simple, or take a lot of investigation?
One of the most common things I see in the nonprofit and human services sector is a silo'd marketing budget - often a hidden, silo'd marketing budget at that. What do I mean?
➡ Marketing dollars captured at the programmatic level;
➡ Expenses not properly captured under the "marketing" header;
➡ Marketing expenses rolled up in a macro budget entry (i.e. Development Services);
➡ Expenses at the programmatic level not properly captured as marketing (i.e. swag, signage, sponsorships); and
➡ Budget frameworks that don't properly bucket marketing expenses as marketing expenses.
This is all-too-common, but represents a significant opportunity cost for an organization. Marketing resources are essential in terms of amplifying your mission and expanding your impact, and as such should be an essential aspect of your budgeting process. Agencies that can answer this question can:
💡 Expertly manage the marketing program and yearly calendar;
💡 Capture ROI of marketing and communications expenditures;
💡 Negotiate better rates with vendors and publications (i.e. knowing up front your needs for the year);
💡 Pivot in a more nimble fashion when the opportunity - or a crisis - presents itself;
💡 Pilot new marketing initiatives with confidence; and
💡 Optimize administrative org design.
As a nonprofit and human services CMO, I routinely partner with the CFO and finance department to put these tools in place. Bottom line is that marketing should have a seat at the budget table - whether you’re a large agency with a CMO or a smaller agency where your CEO is the CMO. The result can be transformational…and your Board will love it!
Need help setting up your marketing budget? Or how about insight into how much you should spend on this function at your organization? Let’s start the conversation!
