BroadBased Communications: Marketing, Public Relations, Graphic Design

A frequent question we field from small and medium-size businesses is how much they should spend on marketing. This can be a tough question for seasoned businesses, and even tougher for startups.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for calculating how much you should spend, we can offer some guidelines. The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) define the variable for a proper marketing budget to be between 2% and 10% of sales, noting that the total for business-to-consumer (B2C), retail and pharmaceuticals can exceed 20% during peak brand-building years. As an example, at 5% of gross, a company with $3 million in revenues would consider allocating $150,000 a year for marketing.

B2C budgets are generally higher than business-to-business (B2B) because the cost of reaching a large population through broadcast media can be quite expensive. B2B budgets are typically lower due to smaller target audiences and sleeker, niche marketing solutions.

Nailing down a number

Although many companies determine their marketing budgets as a percent of gross revenue, that doesn’t mean they pick an arbitrary number within the recommended range. So how do you arrive at a percentage that’s right for you?

Often, the percentage is determined by industry and size, so it’s smart to reach out to industry associations you belong to for benchmarking information. Additionally, many CPAs subscribe to research software and may be able to help you with your industry information.

What items belong in the marketing budget?

The fictional $150,000 budget set for a company with $3 million in revenues might sound like a lot at first, but not when you consider all that goes into it. The budget will support in-house marketing salaries, agency and public relations fees, media buys, printing, mailing, postage, trade shows, memberships, website, etc. So you can see how quickly the numbers add up. SCORE provides a handy worksheet to help you along on its website.

Regardless of how you arrive at the final figure for your marketing budget, it must be one that realistically supports your sales plan and returns an appropriate ROI. Depending on corporate goals, your budget may be 4% this year and 8% next year. And if you are new to the marketplace, you have to spend more aggressively to establish your business objectives.

Posted in Marketing Planning

As social responsibility issues have become a business imperative, the papers that companies use to communicate their message can be as important as the message itself. Wayne Dennis, corporate director of sustainability at Mac Papers, has developed an informative sustainability presentation titled ‘It’s OK To Print.’  With the following eight facts, he reminds us why paper is still a very important part of marketing campaigns.

• It’s 10% easier to read and 30% easier to understand words on paper versus words online.
• 30% less carbon is emitted to produce a newspaper for one person to read for one year than for one person to read online for 30 minutes.
• Electronics use 90% fossil fuels purchased off grid.
• An average of 78% of all power used by U.S. paper mills comes from alternative fuel sources such as wind and hydroelectric power. Some paper mills have been using green energy practices since the early 1900′s. In fact, French Paper has been producing its paper using 100% hydroelectric power since 1922.
• 98% of consumers bring in mail the day they receive it; 77% look through it that day.
• A person’s mood improves 26% by the touch of tactile printed paper.
• Print is viewed as trustworthy and objective; Web is viewed as timely.
• Print and electronic media work very well together (think PURLs and QR codes).

For more information, or to learn more about how Mac Papers can enhance your company’s image through effective paper sourcing strategies that promote sustainability and support your business goals, email Wayne Dennis at Wayne.Dennis@MacPapers.com

Posted in Marketing Planning

In January, the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) forecast that printing industry sales are expected to grow 1% to 3% this year. The forecast, included in NAPL’s  State of the Industry Report indicates the first growth for the industry in four years. While this news is great for printers, the positive outlook still leaves 2011 sales 18% below pre-recession levels.

Posted in Marketing Planning

Although marketers continue to produce printed materials for promotion and internal communications, much of the conversation in our orbit continues to revolve around the digital realm. The question de jour concerns what type of smart phone people are using the most. Depending on the demographics you seek, the answer changes.

Companies targeting execs ask that mobile strategies and smart phone apps be compatible with Blackberry, long known as the executive workhorse device. More wide-reaching strategies targeting consumers usually pit iPhone against Android. Although Android owns the largest share of the market, it has interoperability issues across platforms from different manufacturers. If you can only develop your app on one platform, you should choose carefully based on the usage statistics of your target audience. Check out this April article from Business Insider titled Android is Destroying Everyone, Especially RIM (BlackBerry) – iPhone Dead in Water.

Posted in Marketing Planning, Web/Interactive Development

The top priorities for marketing professionals in the months ahead will be online display advertising and mobile opportunities, according to an April online survey performed by Bizo. The results reported at MarketingProfs.com reveal that more than two-thirds of marketers (67.5%) plan to direct more dollars to online display advertising over the next year and a half, while 59% plan to invest more in mobile promotions. When asked to rank priorities over the next 18 months, marketers also indicated an increase in paid search and SEO (55.4%), social media (48.2%), and email (31.3%).

Source: Bizo Online Marketing Survey, April 2011

Posted in Marketing Planning

Jan Korb, BroadBased CEO, authored an article on marketing strategies for 2011 in the February issue of 904 Magazine, viewable here. In the article, Korb discusses the shift of marketing dollars from traditional to digital endeavors and identifies new tools for the savvy marketer’s toolbox.

Posted in BroadBased, Marketing Planning

How do you showcase a 160,000-square-foot plant that manufactures more than 15 million envelopes each day? Jacksonville-based Mac Papers Envelope Converters (MPEC), the Southeast’s leading manufacturer and supplier of printed envelopes, chose to do so with video. The new sales video captures the dynamic environment at the MPEC’s Jacksonville, Fla., production facility, which features printing, folding and window assembly capabilities.

BroadBased worked with the sales and marketing departments at sister companies MPEC and Mac Papers to coordinate message development and storyboarding. Jacksonville-based Barton Productions handled the filming and postproduction. David Bowers, Marketing Director for Mac Papers, said, “This was a first for us. BroadBased stayed on top of every detail and streamlined what could have been a difficult process. The video has been very well received by both customers and staff.”

View the sales video on YouTube.

Posted in Marketing Planning

It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2010 and, if you’re anything like us, you’re looking forward to bright business opportunities and new customers in 2011. If you haven’t already done so, you should be busy planning your strategy for success in the new year.

“One result of the current economic climate is that we have seen many more companies creating 6- or 12-month strategies around specific public relations and marketing goals,” says Maria Coppola, BroadBased’s Director of Public Relations. “Planning in advance is a sure way to make sure your budget is utilized to the fullest and that your initiatives are integrated through all of your promotion efforts.”

“The timing of our messaging is critical to our campaign’s success,” said Jeff Winkler with the Real $ense Prosperity Campaign, a United Way initiative. “BroadBased PR helped us plan accordingly so we can be ready for action right after the holidays are over.”

An additional benefit to planning in advance is that you know what your marketing expenditure will be each month. This allows you to focus on your predefined goals and make fewer ad-hoc decisions as the year progresses.

Questions to ask yourself when planning your 2011 PR and/or marketing strategy:

• What methods will you employ to reach your sales goals? Will you employ public relations? Broadcast, print or online advertising? How about direct mail, email, telemarketing, social media, sponsorships, events and speaking engagements? Or will you rely solely on a highly SEO website for visibility? In what combination will you use these efforts, and what is your expected result for each?
• How will you raise awareness of your company with the public and media?
• What tactics will you employ to differentiate yourself from your competition?
• How will you promote new products or innovations to the market and media?
• How do you identify collaborations, sponsorships, public events and community opportunities that benefit your image?

These questions and many others are answered through our public relations and marketing planning process. If you plan NOW, you can take on the new year armed with a strategic plan that will allow you to hit the ground running and begin generating results right away.

Posted in Marketing Planning

An August survey by Marketing Sherpa illustrates which tactics B2B marketers are setting aside more of their budget to accommodate. Big winners include websites, social media, virtual events and webinars, SEO email marketing and Pay Per Click (PPC).

The data supports the growing trend of marketers using these cost-effective inbound tools for lead generation.

Posted in Marketing Planning

Continuing a long tradition of BroadBased volunteerism, our marketing Broad, Tonisha Landry-Gaines, spent the last several months participating in planning efforts for Bank on Jacksonville, a new initiative launched to help usher people into the financial mainstream. Landry-Gaines donated her time by serving on the marketing committee and spearheading the development of the website.

The Bank on Jacksonville initiative is a concentrated effort to engage ‘unbanked’ and ‘underbanked’ individuals and promote the availability of low- and no-cost financial accounts. (Unbanked refers to those who have never had an account at a bank or credit union, and underbanked are those who may need to reestablish a banking relationship.)

The collaborative effort, with a partnership of 15 local banks and credit unions, the City of Jacksonville, the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC, National League of Cities and a number of local community organizations, was launched with a press conference at City Hall on Monday Oct. 18.

Learn more about the Bank on Jacksonville initiative and what it means for the First Coast at www.bankonjacksonville.org.

Posted in Brand Development, Marketing Planning, Web/Interactive Development