Budgeting for Small Businesses

11 days ago, I took over as interim CMO at Directive. Since then, form fills are DOWN 10%, but Strategy Calls held are UP 127%. And… we’re already out of sales capacity. Here are the 3 changes I made to our ad campaigns: 1. Asked the TWO Most Important Marketing Questions What I’ve learned from managing 100+ marketers is that media buyers can lose track of 2 core drivers of B2B SaaS performance: A. What % of our budget is going to what size companies? I found 81% of budget was going to orgs with <250 employees. I then analyzed our intro calls and found that SaaS companies with fewer than 200 employees did not have enough ad spend to hit our monthly minimums for our retainer. B. What % of budget is going to what titles? When you run a campaign it’s best to separate managers from Directors and up. This allows you to have large audiences + test buying authority in the vertical you target. It also lets you pause manager campaigns for enterprise, but keep live for mid-market, for example. 2. Reset the Employee Size of Tiers in our TAM I use employee size targeting instead of revenue when advertising. Revenue is a guess in data platforms because revenue is not reported by private companies. We have three core segments at Directive: - Startup: 51-199 - Mid-Market: 200-999 - Enterprise: 1000+ A few months ago we opened up our startups segment to 50 employees instead of 100. And, unfortunately, companies with under 100 employees were gobbling up ad spend due to their volume. The solution? Pause ads in the Startup sector, reset tiers so that startups was 100-199 (instead of 50-199), and reallocated budget into the Mid-Market and Enterprise segment. 3. Inspect, Inspect, Inspect I held a 1.5 hr marketing all hands where we reviewed every single active ad + copy we were running. Here were the takeaways we wrote up: Ad's moving forward need to have all the following included: - Hook - Directive (not Directive Consulting) - Exclusively for SaaS (not B2B SaaS) - Be clear about 2 things “Marketing Agency, Biggest in the space” - Using active and direct language, no more passive sentences Areas of improvement: - Test different subject lines - Capitalize and trademark Customer Generation™️ - Use customer logos and names in ad copy and imagery - Adjust the Ad copy to speak TO Enterprise, NOT startups - Run drastic Macro tests, not micro test (AZ tests not AB test) - Refresh convo ad copy + Sponsored Content on a monthly basis - Include numbers from benchmarks, NSMs goals achieved, etc in copywriting TAKEAWAYS: If you don’t add a layer of firmographics to your media buying you could be spending your budget on prospects who can’t actually buy from you. If you don’t tier out your TAM your budget can not be optimized for impact. Marketing is art, not science. Make sure you are in love with what your brand is communicating. Take a breath, follow this process for yourself, and reap the rewards of a sales team with a fully booked out calendar.

Spend is not an indicator of how advanced a LI ads account is. Auditing 100's of accounts every year, I can tell you there are some <€5k accounts that are doing brilliantly and €100k+ accounts that are way off the mark. Below are a few common issues I see across all account shapes and sizes → 1. Audience is off. If what you sell isn't meant for everyone, you should only target the people who influence buying... seems obvious right? Well I can tell you, this is often very wrong in LI Ads accounts. Most times, it's due to one of three things: - Bad Advice - Incorrect setup - Misunderstanding of targeting parameters My advice here would be to have a niche (exact titles/companies sales want to talk to) and a broad target (people who influence the buying decision). Starting off - weight your budget higher to your niche audience as this will guarantee you reach the right people and put your messaging to the test. Your broader targeting is assuming a buyer group. Aim to gradually shift the budget from niche to broad once you've learned what to exclude in your broad audience. This will allow you to scale. → 2. Value prop isn’t strong. Most brands use positioning and messaging that simply isn't strong enough. Everything really boils down to asking 'so what?' and 'why should they care?'. If your current messaging doesn't confidently answer either of these questions, there is work to do. Clarity beats clever every time. Be absolutely clear in what you're saying and why you're saying it. → 3. Attempting to create the 'perfect funnel'. Retargeting is an asset, but don’t over-engineer nurture flows. There really is no need to complicate a system that is really very simple. PMF + Strong Content + the Right Audience = Interest. Try create the interest, then attempt to capture it. → 4. Overreliance on Static Ads Statics are the comfort zone, they're easy to create, brand and crowbar a CTA onto. But most days, people ignore them (unless they're excellent). Even when they're excellent, they only play a role in the ad mix, and for us, many times they're definitely not the lead role. Explore other formats: Video, Thought Leader Ads, Conversation Ads, Document Ads, Text/Dynamic. They may be a bigger lift but if you do them right, you'll get the rewards. -- I'm sure you can gather from this post that the biggest problems are usually the basics and/or a lack of strategy. Every now and then, it's a worthwhile exercise to question everything you're doing, or better, get someone else to question it. Because if you're spending big on ads, you could be dumping budget in the wrong pile. -- I'm Rob from Tuned Social: LinkedIn Ads Agency. If you're spending $5k+ and want to be in the top 1% of LinkedIn advertisers - get in touch.

"Set it and forget it" doesn't work on any platform – let alone LinkedIn Ads. Here's what you need to do regularly 👇 Why? Because seasonality, trends, and traffic patterns change. So, here's what you need to be doing: 1. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀: Daily spend can go up to 50% over what you set. Always plan for this buffer to avoid budgeting surprises. 2. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗱𝘀: Are you bidding too high and overpaying? Are you bidding too low and cutting off traffic? Iterate to find the sweet spot, but monitor - because monthly & seasonal traffic patterns can throw a wrench in prices. 3. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: As your campaign runs, you'll see the companies, sizes, and job titles reached. Often some not-ideal-fits, competitors, or current customers sneak through. Monitor and exclude them to cut the fat on your campaigns.     4. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Identify which campaigns & ads are driving results. Understand the trends. Pause down lower performers, and shift to better performers.     5. 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Once a person sees the same ad a few times, "ad blindness" begins to set in, and they'll scroll by assuming they've already seen it before. Refresh your layouts, your brand templates, and say things in new ways to break through. This is how you really hone-in an ad campaign over time.

Here’s a silent growth killer we often uncover in Google Ads audits: Campaigns capped by budget, even though they’re hitting ROAS / CPA targets. In one account, 17% of potential conversions were missed because campaigns kept hitting their daily limits. The result? > Profitable campaigns switching off before the day is over > Competitors picking up the demand you’ve already paid to create > Growth stalling even though efficiency is strong The fix is simple (but often overlooked): 1. Monitor budget caps alongside ROAS / CPA  performance 2. If campaigns are profitable, increase budgets to capture more conversions. 3. Treat Google’s budget recommendations with caution. In high-spend campaigns, increasing budgets by more than 20% from one week to the next can disrupt learning and cause performance swings. 4. Reinvest into what’s already working before chasing new experiments If a campaign is hitting targets, a budget cap shouldn’t be a brake, it should be a signal to scale. 👉 Question: Are your budgets limiting wasted spend… or limiting profitable growth? AdSuccess - Hidden Profit Playbook Practical fix to stop profit leaks in Google Ads.

Revenue is the number everyone talks about, but cash is what actually keeps a business alive. I see this all the time. Businesses growing, sales increasing, margins looking fine on paper, but still feeling constant pressure. Why? Because there’s no clear financial plan behind it. No visibility, no forward planning, no real control. That’s where a proper budget comes in. Not something you do once a year and forget about, but something you use regularly to understand performance, manage cash, and make better decisions before issues show up. A good budget forces you to break the business down properly. Where are your leads coming from, what are your conversion rates, how do your costs actually behave, and most importantly, when does cash come in and go out? Without that, you’re guessing. With it, you’re in control. I’ve put together a breakdown of how to build a financial budget properly, and why it matters more than most business owners think. If you want more clarity in your numbers and fewer surprises in your cash flow, it’s worth a read. Link in the comments.

He delivered perfect metrics. She fumbled through a messy slide deck. He got fired. She got promoted. Because she spoke in dollars. Board meeting. Twelve minutes in. Director of Customer Success presents glowing NPS scores. Zero questions from the executives. Next slide: Engineering shows server uptime at 99.97%. Polite nods around the table. Then Marketing presents one number: Customer acquisition cost dropped 23% to just $3,000. Suddenly everyone's awake. Questions for thirty minutes straight. Additional budget approved on the spot. Here's what I learned watching from the back of that room: Numbers without dollar signs are just statistics. Numbers with dollar signs are how businesses make decisions. Last quarter, somewhere out there in the corporate world, a Head of Support rewrote her quarterly review. Version 1 (what she originally wrote): "Response times improved 15% this quarter. Customer satisfaction jumped to 4.8 stars. Team morale is at an all-time high." Version 2 (what got her promoted): "Faster response times retained $890K in at-risk accounts. Higher satisfaction converted $1.1M in expansion opportunities. Improved team retention saved $200K in recruiting, hiring, and training costs." Same achievements. Completely different reception. Her original presentation got polite applause. Her rewrite received accolades. Operational metrics → Financial impact Team performance → Business outcomes Customer feelings → Revenue protection "We reduced bugs by 60%" becomes "Prevented $400K in churn from technical issues." "Users love the new interface" becomes "UI improvements drove $153k in expansion” "Training improved team skills" becomes "Skills development cut support costs $150K annually." Every metric in your company connects to money. Your job is drawing those lines clearly. Because executives don't fund good feelings. They fund good business.

Tiny budget, tall order? Let’s talk smart marketing moves. 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: "We need to go viral, rank #1 on Google, dominate social media, and generate a 10x ROI… like, yesterday." 𝘉𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵: "Here’s $500. Can we make it work?" We’ve all encountered it: the disconnect between sky-high marketing goals and tight budgets. While ambition is great, the truth is that marketing success requires intentional strategy, consistent effort, and the right resources. Here’s how to close the gap between dreams and dollars: 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 It’s better to hit a manageable target than miss a moonshot. Understand what success looks like at your current budget level. 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 Want big results? Focus your investment on the channels and tactics that will make the biggest impact, not a “spray and pray” approach. 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 Great marketing is a long game. Virality and instant wins are rare; steady, well-executed efforts deliver lasting results. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗥𝗢𝗜 Not all marketing efforts yield the same results. Use analytics to give your all to what works and scrap what doesn’t. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀 Focus on what makes your brand unique. Double down on those advantages instead of chasing every trend. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 Whether it’s time, tools, or people, good marketing requires skilled execution. 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 Marketing is dynamic. Build flexibility into your plan to pivot when something isn’t working or when a new opportunity arises. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 If you’re working with a team or agency, transparency is key. Misalignment on goals and budgets is the fastest way to frustration. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 Marketing isn’t just ads. Content, design, SEO, email, and social media all play a role. Allocate your budget accordingly. 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 Sometimes, small extra investments, like boosting a post that’s gaining traction, can drive huge returns. Keep some flexibility in reserve. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you spend. It's how strategically you spend it. Marketing isn’t magic, but with the right mindset and strategy, even modest budgets can achieve great things. --- Follow Jeff Gapinski for more content like this. ♻️ Share this to help someone else with their budgeting today #marketing #budgets #expectations

Last year, we helped a client save RM40k in media spend (and still hit their annual sales target). For context: Our client was a third generation F&B owner. He needed to improve his company’s profitability as they were gearing up for an IPO. That meant slashing 25% off their typical RM 2 million marketing budget - without compromising on sales performance! Now RM500k is a lot of money - you can get two packages on TV3 (i.e. 6 weeks worth of valuable air time). Our client knew this too and was bracing himself for a bad financial year. When we were brought in, we decided that we won’t use across-the-board cuts. Instead, we helped him to: 1. Hack the media system by combining strategic spot buys with packages 2. Identify non-compromisable touchpoints (like sampling at point-of-purchase) 3. Optimise billboard placements 4. Restructure influencer marketing spend How did we come up with this strategy? By focusing on the following: 1. 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬  Every business has non-negotiable elements. For F&B, it's product sampling. For auto dealers, it might be test drives. For fashion, it could be fitting rooms. Identify yours and don’t compromise on those when doing budget reallocations. 2. 𝐖𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞  You don't need to outspend the giants but you can be louder in a smaller segment. Can't win the entire chilli sauce market? Dominate the ultra-ultra-spicy chilli sauce segment first. Can't own all of retail? Own the specialty boutique space that caters just to pregnant Muslim ladies before you scale. 3. 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫  It’s rather ironic of me to say this (since I’m a branding expert) but when resources are tight, prioritise immediate sales. Use those profits to build your brand over time. 4. 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 Different businesses have different metrics. Cafes for instance need to know their per-ticket value, party size, turnover time. The data you get from this is critical in knowing where to pour your resources into. * By the end of 2024, our client not only saved RM40-50k in media spend but also surpassed their sales target. Although I should note that this wasn’t just our doing. It was a combination of smart media planning, excellent sales execution, and great product quality! But it is proof that there is a silver lining for businesses facing budget constraints. You just need to come up with the right strategy! 𝐏/𝐒: Struggling with your marketing budget allocation? Happy to chat - just DM me! Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective on where and how to invest your marketing ringgit.