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The reality is that every business needs to invest in marketing on some level. You need to put aside some cash sure, but in today’s marketing environment a large part of effective marketing is not just throwing money at advertising, but investing in skills and resources to make sure you’re doing the right activity.

Tip: Read as much as you can about marketing.  Invest in some e-guides or books on marketing.

Tip: Attend a workshop or a seminar and/or get some marketing coaching to develop your marketing plan, core messages and get the support you need to put the plan in place.

This will make sure that you don’t waste money on poor marketing messages and tactics.  Often a lot of the tactics a marketing consultant will recommend will be low cost or even free.

First impressions online and offline are really important when you are starting out and don’t have a well-known brand.  Poorly designed logos and web sites can actively work against your business when it comes to attracting new customers.

It’s not enough to just have a great web site. You must make sure that you can be found online when people are searching for your product or service. 

So, what you can expect for your spend?

Less than $2,000: maybe you need to rethink whether you believe in your business?

It’s very difficult to get anything for less than $2,000.  If you are not willing to invest at least this amount you need to question how much faith you have in your business and your commitment to grow.

$2,000: you’ll need some strong design and technical skills yourself.

A really savvy internet start-up could generate some awareness with less than $2,000 – but you would need a lot of marketing smarts and online strategy to do so.

$2,000 might get you:

-          Some business cards with a cookie cutter logo and a landing page or blog site created using a free open source web platform

-          Some email marketing using some of the free/very low cost email marketing platforms available.

-          DIY Search Engine Optimisation – you would need to really know your stuff to be able to optimise your site well enough by yourself to get consistent leads through search engines

$2,000-$5,000: The bare basics

-          A cheap corporate identity

-          Simple brochure-style website,

-          DIY Search Engine Optimisation (again easier said than done and very time consuming)

For this amount of budget you would need a decent amount of skill (particularly in search) and a fair amount of time to manage the marketing yourself.

$5,000 - $10,000: Some smart marketing tools

-          Perhaps a more complex website (one with a good content management system and Customer Relationship Management system)

-          DIY Search Engine Optimisation and limited Search Engine Marketing

-          Some consulting help to assist with low cost marketing ideas, product development, PR and marketing coaching

A small budget should be focussed on investing in some good web-based online marketing tools and some expert help on low-cost marketing.

$10,000 – $20,000: Some smart marketing tools + a very limited amount of advertising, direct marketing or other marketing activity

-          A high performing web site with some customer relationship management tools, a content management system and perhaps an email marketing platform

-          Limited Search Engine Marketing (campaign created & managed yourself)

-          Limited paid Search Engine Optimisation assistance

-          Very limited Direct Mail activity, limited print advertising or event budget

-          Very limited PR

A budget of this size will mean you can now start to expand on your marketing tactics.  You’ll have a small amount of money to invest in some paid advertising or other tactics that require an investment. You probably won’t have enough to advertise or run other campaigns frequently though.

$20,000 - $50,000: Some smart marketing tools + consistent advertising or other marketing activity in one medium

-          A high performing web site with some customer relationship management tools, a content management system and perhaps an email marketing platform

-          Search Engine Marketing (managed externally)

-          Paid Search Engine Optimisation assistance

-          Consistent activity in either:

o   Direct Mail

o   Print advertising

o   Some events

o   Limited PR

With a budget of this size you should now be able to start to consistently advertise or run a marketing campaign in probably only one medium.

$50,000 - $100,000: Some smart marketing tools + consistent advertising/marketing activity in multiple mediums:

-          A high performing web site with some customer relationship management tools, a content management system and perhaps an email marketing platform

-          Search Engine Marketing (managed externally)

-          Paid Search Engine Optimisation assistance

-          Consistent activity in one or more of the following mediums:

o   Direct Mail

o   Print advertising

o   Some events

o   PR

o   Some sponsorship

With a budget of this size you should be able to start to consistently advertise or run a marketing campaign in more than one medium.

To help you stretch any marketing budget further I’ve also investigated some smart DIY Marketing tools to help savvy, entrepreneurial business owners with a lean team.

Michelle Gamble is Chief Angel at Marketing Angels, a leading marketing agency firm providing education, advice and outsourced marketing management for SMEs. Michelle is a Premium Business Chicks member and you can connect with her here.