Energy, staff and raw materials are getting more expensive. Many business owners are therefore taking a critical look at every expense. Marketing often tops the list of costs that need to come down. That is understandable, because the effect of marketing does not always show up directly on your bottom line.
Even so, cutting back on marketing is often the wrong choice. The problem is usually not whether you cut, but where you cut. In this article you will read how to choose more wisely. That way you keep what works and remove the waste.
Why marketing is the first thing to go
Rent, salaries and energy have to be paid every month. Marketing feels like an expense you can postpone, because you do not notice the consequences straight away.
That delay is exactly the risk. If you stop advertising, you only see the gap after a few weeks or months. Fewer enquiries come in, while your costs keep running. Restarting also takes time. Campaigns have to relearn which searchers and audiences respond well. With SEO (being found in Google without paying for it), you build on work from the past. If that stalls, others overtake you.
So cutting is not necessarily wrong. Cutting without knowing what you are affecting is.
Know what each channel delivers
Cutting without figures is guesswork. So first look at what each channel costs you and what it delivers. Think of Google Ads, social advertising, email marketing and SEO. These four figures give you a good picture:
- Cost per new customer: the spend on a channel divided by the number of new customers it brings in.
- Value per customer: what a customer earns you on average in margin, including when that customer returns later.
- Payback period: how long it takes to earn back the cost of acquiring a customer.
- Quality of enquiries: how many enquiries actually become customers. A high number of enquiries says little if hardly anyone buys.
You need good tracking for these figures. That means measuring what happens after the click: completed forms, phone calls, orders. If that is not set up properly yet, start there. It costs little and makes every subsequent decision easier.
Bear in mind that some channels work indirectly. Someone sees your advert on social media and searches for you in Google a few days later. So do not look only at the last click, but also at the route that led there.
Stop what does not work
Every marketing budget has places where money leaks away. These are the most common:
- Campaigns that have not generated any enquiries for months.
- Keywords that only cost clicks and never lead to contact.
- Social adverts with an audience that is too broad, so you reach many people who will never buy.
- Sponsorship with no measurable result.
- Tools and subscriptions that nobody uses any more.
- Reports that nobody reads and that nobody acts on.
That is where your room for savings lies. You remove costs without getting fewer customers.
Be honest about timing, though. A new campaign needs time and data to learn. A rule of thumb: only draw conclusions from your figures once there are enough clicks and enquiries to say something meaningful. One bad week is no reason to stop. A bad quarter with no improvement is.
Hold on to what pays off
When costs rise, many competitors advertise less. In Google Ads, advertisers collectively determine the price of a click through a kind of auction. If there are fewer bidders, your clicks can become cheaper. That is not guaranteed, but it happens regularly.
Staying visible also wins you attention and market share. Customers do not stop searching because times are difficult. They often look around even more carefully. If you do not pick up that demand, it goes to someone else. That market share is hard to win back later.
A channel with a proven return therefore deserves protection. Sometimes it is even smart to move more budget towards it, paid for from the areas where things are not working.
Consider this example: you run an installation company with four marketing expenses. You advertise in Google on search terms such as "replace boiler". You run a broad campaign on social media. You sponsor a local sports club. And now and then you send an email to existing customers. You start looking at the figures. The Google campaign clearly generates enquiries at a reasonable cost per customer. The email costs almost nothing and brings repeat orders. The broad social campaign delivers plenty of impressions but hardly any enquiries. The sponsorship cannot be measured.
You decide to pause the social campaign and not to renew the sponsorship. You keep the Google budget the same and send the emails more often. Part of the money freed up is a genuine saving. This brings your total spend down, while the channels that bring in customers keep running at full strength.
How to tackle it step by step
You do not have to overhaul everything at once. This order helps you keep an overview:
- Make sure you are measuring. Set up conversions for forms, phone calls and orders. Also ask new customers how they found you.
- Divide your spend into three groups. These are proven channels, channels you are still testing and channels you are stopping.
- Set a limit. For each channel, decide the maximum a customer may cost, based on your margin.
- Review every month. Adjust the budget based on figures, not on gut feeling.
- Look for cheap wins. A better website, a clearer offer or an email to existing customers often delivers more than extra advertising budget.
That last point is often forgotten. If you get more out of the traffic you already have, you need to pay less for new traffic. It is one of the most effective ways to make your marketing more efficient.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I cut from marketing?
There is no fixed figure for that. Work from your margin and your cost per customer. If a channel earns more than it costs, it is rarely wise to scale it back. Cut first on the parts that deliver nothing.
Is it wise to pause Google Ads temporarily?
Only if the campaign is not paying off. If it is, you will miss enquiries and have to start learning again later. It is better to lower the budget on the weakest parts than to switch everything off.
How do I know what works if my tracking is not in order?
Start with the basics. Set up conversion tracking and ask customers how they found you. If you use a customer database or CRM, record the source of each enquiry there. Within a few weeks, that already gives you a useful picture.
Book a free 30-minute introductory call
Not sure where your marketing budget works best? We would be glad to help. In a free 30-minute introductory call, we will discuss your current channels and your goals. You will hear where we think gains can be made and where you can cut costs without losing results.
There is no obligation. Get in touch with Adventio Marketing in Amersfoort and book a time that suits you.
