Balancing Your Marketing Portfolio

So you have some money to spend on marketing. The big question is, how do you know what to spend it on to minimize risk and maximize return? The answer is through your balanced marketing portfolio.

We all understand the importance of having a balanced financial portfolio, but what about our marketing portfolio? If we invest the bulk of our marketing in limited activities, we are putting ourselves at risk of achieving a less than desirable return on our investment.

While in finance we want to balance risk and return, in marketing we want to balance 3 crucial elements - control, cost and credibility. Look at the diagram at the end of this article.

Each of these 3 areas has varied degrees of control, cost and credibility.

For example with advertising, we are pretty much in total control of when, where and how we place an ad. Of course we also have to pay more to have this control. But how much credibility do we gain by telling others we are great?

If we're to rely heavily on advertising, chances are we could very quickly deplete our marketing budget before we reach our goals.

On the other hand if were to look at low cost items with high credibility, like PR and to some extent Referral marketing, we have very little control on when, where and how it occurs.

In this instance we could run out of TIME before we reach our goals.

Therefore, divide your budget up in 2 ways.

1. Allocate a lot of your marketing dollars to savvy advertising and promotions (the key here is savvy)!
2. Allocate more of your marketing TIME to referral marketing and PR activities.

Don't forget. Just like your financial portfolio - it's important to measure your return on investment on all your marketing activities as well!

Is your marketing portfolio balanced? Does it exist at all? If you answered no to either of these questions, chances are you are missing out on maximizing your bottom line and minimizing your costs and time.

Is your marketing portfolio balanced? Does it exist at all? If you answered no to either of these questions, chances are you are missing out on maximizing your bottom line and minimizing your costs and time.

Control Cost & Credibility Table

Control Cost Credibility

Advertising - High Control - High Cost - Low Credibility
Referrals - Medium Control - Low Cost - Medium Credibility
Public Relations - Low Control - Low Cost - High Credibility

How balanced is your portfolio?


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About the Author

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success - a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

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by Cidnee Stephen of Strategies for Success http://www.strategiesforsuccess.ca