| Successful companies view the budgeting process as | | | | inclusive of all marketing related expenses such as |
| an integral part of their operations. Accounting for | | | | marketing salaries, advertising expenses, promotional |
| projected costs of items from promotional pens to | | | | products, printing and mailing costs, online marketing |
| planned advertising are critical to both expense | | | | and public relations expenses. |
| planning and control. Generally, there are 3 different | | | | One area that is sometimes overlooked is expenses |
| approaches to budgeting. | | | | related to the importance of branding. Even though |
| First, companies may budget their expenses as | | | | measuring your direct return on investment may be |
| simply a percentage of sales revenues. In this | | | | more difficult with branding type expenses, branding |
| situation, organizations may allocate a portion of their | | | | needs to be a key element of your marketing |
| total revenues to various functions, for example 35% | | | | strategy. Studies have conclusively shown that |
| to marketing, 30% to cost of goods sold, and 35% | | | | stronger brands foster greater customer awareness, |
| to overhead. | | | | retention and loyalty. |
| Second, organizations may prefer to target a certain | | | | There are many ways to promote your brand. One |
| percentage increase or decrease over the prior | | | | particularly effective low-cost method is through the |
| year's spend based on various factors such as | | | | distribution of advertising specialty items featuring |
| projected sales growth, changes in the industry, and | | | | your logo or tag line, such as promotional pens, logo |
| planned expense changes in other areas such as | | | | mugs, and personalized mousepads. Popular examples |
| research and development and overhead. | | | | of how companies leverage the power of this type |
| Finally, some firms budget their marketing expenses | | | | of branding are logo golf pencils and promotional pens |
| on an item by item basis. When using this process, it's | | | | given out free to customers and clients. |
| important to ensure that your marketing budget is | | | | |