An effective and efficient marketing budget is one that creates an expansive online presence for your business. This ensures that homeowners can find you in the exact places they look, at the exact times they need you. But how do you build a budget that works?
If you’re a home service provider, it can be challenging to gauge how well your marketing is working. This is due to a number of factors: seasonality, variable home trends, fluctuating mortgage rates, and the larger economy, to name a few. The good news? By tracking your numbers and letting real data inform your budget decisions, you can get the best returns for your money.
Step 1. Track, track, track.
Track things as they happen. The best time to start doing this was yesterday. The more data you have, the easier it will be to see what’s working and what deserves a piece of your budget. The simplest way to do this is with a spreadsheet where you can list all the media you’re using, the sales you have for each medium, and ad and lead costs.
Track aggressively. There should be as few gaps as possible in your data. The less guesswork is involved, the better. To make sure you’re attributing each lead to the right source, track your phone calls (ideally using a different phone number for every medium) and track your links with UTM codes.
Train your staff to track. Get everyone in on the action, especially the person or people manning the phones. It’s important that your team knows your media schedule and what each type of lead looks like.
Step 2. Start from the bottom up.
Crunch the numbers. Rank your lead sources from highest to lowest lead count to figure out which pieces of your budget have the most impact. Next, rank your lead sources from lowest to highest ad cost to figure out what the most inexpensive media is.
Collect the building blocks. Your marketing budget will provide the best returns if you cover the lead source with the lowest ad cost and highest lead count first. Buy as much of it as you can before moving on to the next thing on the list.
Rinse, repeat. Marketing budgets aren’t set in stone. To get the best results, do Step 2 annually and monthly, and spend accordingly. Be strict with your budget. You should never spend more than you can afford.
Bonus: Use the right tools.
The right technology can make planning and executing your marketing budget a lot easier. Surefire Local has built a hardworking platform that can help you multiply your marketing efforts and manage it all in one place, so you can easily see what’s working and what’s not.
To find out how we can help make your marketing work for you and get a free demo of the Surefire Cloud, call 888-804-8685 or email marketing@surefirelocal.com.