There might be several exhibitors out there who do not even have a track of your marketing budget. Now, it’s time to create and keep a track of your marketing budget to make the most of the money you are spending at your trade show exhibit.

Having a detailed roadmap that outlines your marketing strategies, costs and projected results is the right way to move forward. With a marketing plan and budget in place, your entire team can focus on a specific goal. A good marketing plan generally includes financial goals, brand strategy, product/service overview, sales plan, and major marketing campaigns with a detailed budget.

Small businesses usually overlook marketing budgets for their booth rental and that is why we bring you 5 ways you can make your marketing budget work for you in achieving your marketing objectives.

Set Objectives

The first time to take while deciding on your spending is to decide what exactly you wish to accomplish through it. By setting specific goals and objectives, you will be able to direct your marketing dollars in the right direction.

Whether you plan to launch a new product or service in the market or want to create brand awareness through your trade show exhibit, whatever your objective will be, based on it you can map out your marketing strategy for it.

Expenditure Awareness

Find out more about where exactly your money is spent? Is it a service you sign up for years ago and you still continue to pay and receive invoices? Check whether that service is the best use of your money? The world is constantly growing and so is the trade show industry.

The marketing and technology which was quite popular five years ago won’t necessarily be great today. Whether you’re spending 50$ or 500$ monthly, you need to make sure you’re spending those dollars for your marketing with a motive to make it worth the investment.

Prioritize each show cost and benefits

As per the study done by Forrester Research in 2015, trade show marketing constitutes about 14 percent of the total marketing budget that is allocated by the company. Therefore, you need to reflect on the expenditures and profits of each trade show that you have attended.

Keep all the records of the evaluation and review the budgets and paybacks of the trade show in prior years. Analyze what trends appear for every show and were your ideal prospects visiting your booth rental and what was the graphs over the years.

 

Make Alterations and be Flexible

Who wouldn’t agree on the fact that it is easy to follow the same things year after year? But it is also the harsh truth that it might reflect badly on your graph. There are several exhibitors among us who create the same marketing budget every year. But if this is the case with your company, then its time you need to take a hard look at what you’re doing and how can you make it effective.

Do this persistently, whenever you have a marketing budget and something big shows up, make sure you allow some flexibility. With the industry evolving, never miss the opportunity to bring something new to the table every now and then such as work on creative trade show booth ideas that help you market your brand.

Track & Measure Results

Though you often hear this, it is worth repeating as well as essential that you track whatever you’re doing for the event. Decide your objective and determine that whatever efforts you’re putting in is helping you reach that goal or objectives. This can be settled on the source of numbers and details of the events.

Just because you’re doing a particular activity over the years and you like doing it doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to be done for the organization even now. Track and measure the ROI of all the previous shows your company has participated in and that will help you plan your marketing budget more effectively.

Evaluating your own strategy and creating variation can be challenging. It is important to consider these five aspects mentioned-above and see how they play a part in your approach. Efficiently managing your marketing budget is a case of planning and tracking your overall progress. However, you need to be realistic about the total budget you set and the goals you wish to achieve through your trade show exhibit.