It’s an old conundrum in marketing that management wants to see results but doesn’t want to provide enough budget to generate them. Every healthcare marketer has had to face the issue of allocating marketing dollars strategically to get the best bang for the company’s buck.
Here’s one way to determine how to allocate your budget to different aspects of marketing, and what you can expect to gain. It’s not written in stone (nor does it apply to every company), but it gives you a starting point to work from.
Choose a Priority Focus
It’s hard to do everything when you have a limited digital marketing budget, so determining your priority makes a difference. Consider the timeframe you’re budgeting for, and identify a single, primary purpose you want to achieve. It could be raising awareness, increasing sales leads or growing your client base, but don’t try to do all three.
Allocate Funds
Work in percentages initially. This helps you avoid getting bogged down in numbers and enables you to keep the big picture in mind. Assign 50 to 60 percent of your total marketing budget to achieving your priority focus. This gives you actual numbers to work with, which makes the overall picture clearer.
Review Previous Campaigns
It’s always helpful to know the effectiveness of former actions to avoid repeating mistakes. Review your previous digital campaigns to find out what worked and what didn’t, and use this intelligence to inform your marketing strategy.
Choose the Channels
Identify how you intend to reach your target audience, specifically for the purposes of achieving your priority focus. Everything else is peripheral. Sure, there’s bound to be an overlap and your marketing may well produce results you didn’t expect, but that’s a bonus.
If your aim is to build a new prospective patient base, for example, what methods will you use to do so? Identify whether content marketing, programmatic media placements, email marketing or another medium represents the best way to reach your personas. If several options exist, what combination or percentages are likely to be most effective?
Consider the ROI
To allocate a digital marketing budget strategically, it’s essential to have an idea of the projected returns you can expect from the expenditure. If your priority focus doesn’t include revenue generation, you’ll need to have a very clear understanding of the value you expect to get in return.
For example, analytics should be able to show the average revenue generated by a new client in their first year. Compare this with your projected costs and anticipated results to discover whether the return is worth it.
For more information about allocating your digital marketing budget strategically for your healthcare organization, call Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.