The Importance of Having a Budget for Your Next Promotion

When planning a promotion, there are many factors to take into consideration. Determining your audience, where to promote, how to promote and which promotional products to use are only a few things you need.

Then, it all boils down to the big “B” word.  Your Budget.

If you don’t know your budget, or worse, don’t have a budget, things can get a little tricky!  Let’s face it, your typical small business (or even a corporation) does not have endless amounts of money to spend on one single promotion.

Enter your budget. While budgets may sound like a dirty word, they are very beneficial to a company’s bottom line. Here are three reasons budgets are important in general and especially when you are planning a big promotion.

You’re able to manage costs more easily

A budget is like a financial road map for your project or promotion.  You can decide how much to spend for the overall project as well as deciding how much each component will cost.  When you have your budget in place, you can use it as a guideline to tell you how much you are able to spend.

Another thing to keep in mind is unforeseen costs can quickly throw your project off track.  If you give yourself a “cushion” for the unknown, it will keep you from dipping into funds that are allocated for other aspects of your promotion.

A budget allows you to make better purchasing decisions

It’s very easy to lose yourself in planning the details of your promotion.  As you’re checking tasks off of your to do list, you don’t want to get carried away spending money you might not have.

When you have a budget, you can clearly see how much of your funds have been used. This makes it easier to decide whether to purchase something or not.

The best part is when tasks are completed or near completion, and you have leftover funds that can be used in other areas that might need it.

You can anticipate the return on your investment

Once you know how much you are spending on your promotion, its time to think about what you will receive in return. This is important for two reasons:

1.  You won’t spend more on what you anticipate on bringing in.
2. When your promotion is live, you can use this amount to adjust your promotion accordingly to stay on track to achieve your goal.

Creating a budget may seem tedious but taking the time to plan ahead can save you both time and money.  It can also help prevent you from overspending money you might not have.