7 Steps To Stretching A Small Ad Budget
Step 1: Have a marketing budget
First and foremost, we can’t stretch a marketing budget of $0.
Sure, during the pandemic and immediately after, businesses have struggled and cut the majority of their marketing budgets. We get it, times are tough. But you have to come up with a budget. Make cuts elsewhere or try to shift and prioritize. It’s time to invest in yourself.
Eventually, people will be buying again and you want to make sure you’re front of mind when they are.
Additionally, if other businesses are cutting their marketing budget you have less competition which means more screen time at a reduced cost.
Step 2: Plan and be accountable
Determine an annual budget, break it down by month and develop a plan for what to create and where to spend. Once that’s done, make it happen and execute.
If you don’t come up with a plan, you can’t hold yourself or others accountable.
Step 3: Pay To play
Organic is not enough.
Again for the people in the back… ORGANIC IS NOT ENOUGH!
If you aren’t spending paid media dollars you aren’t reaching people, simple as that. Social media platforms don’t care if you have a following of 10,000+ loyal patrons. Your organic posts are still only going to reach a few hundred people, max.
We’re primarily referring to Facebook and Instagram here, but know this applies for any established platform. Social media platforms are businesses. They exist to make money. The first objective for Facebook is to make Facebook money, and it does that in two major ways: data collection and advertising sales.
Step 4: Test, test, test
Test different:
- Ad platforms
- Campaign objectives
- Audiences
- Creative
- Messaging
And test different combinations of all of those things!
But if your budget is so small that you can’t do too much testing, we would recommend starting with the following:
- Run ads on Facebook and Instagram through the ads manager. Don’t boost posts on Facebook’s main app. [finger wag])
- Use the super simple chart below to determine which campaign objective is best for your business.
| Objective | Your Creative | Goal |
| Brand Awareness | Image | Reach as many people with video content as you can, in feed and in-stream. |
| Video Views | Video | Reach as many people with video content as you can, in feed and in-stream. |
| Post Engagement | Image or Video | To build likes and comments on your pre-existing posts. Your reach won’t be as effective but with more engagement you may have a stronger impact on your audience. |
| Traffic | Image or Video | Drive users that will leave Facebook to visit your website. |
| Conversions | Image or Video | For advanced users that have run many campaigns and have the correct tracking set up. Will drive users that are most likely to take action on your website. |
- Select the interests for your audience that make the most sense BUT don’t be overly specific or limiting. You would think the more specific you are about your ideal consumer the better but that is not the case. The broader your targeting the greater your reach and the less expensive your ad delivery will cost. Might as well get those inexpensive ad placements while also reaching your ideal consumer.
- Test different ad creative and messaging. Do this manually with a close eye because with a small budget Facebook’s ad manager may pick a winner too early on and not give all of your creative a fighting chance.
Ok breath… all of that ad info was a lot to take in.
There is a LOT more that we didn’t dive into, so we will most likely release a more detailed Ads Manager guide in the near future.
In the meantime, contact one of our ad specialists and we’d be happy to discuss tips, solutions, or running your campaigns for you.
Step 5: Create for instagram
“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”
It’s been said about New York City and Thebes in the Disney Hercules movie, and now we’re saying it about Instagram.
Create your content for Instagram. Not only is Instagram one of the most popular social media platforms but it is also the platform that has the most beauty standards. If you’re able to create engaging content for an Instagram following you can easily repurpose or post the same content on your other social media channels.
Step 6: Report & Optimize
Even if you’re not reporting to anyone you should gather insights and report for yourself and to your team. You will be able to determine if your current strategy is working and what optimizations you should make moving forward to see even better results.
Step 7: Don’t wait
Your content may not be perfect or have the perfect offer. Your campaigns may be ineffective at first. And, you may not have all of your tracking set up. BUT, every day you wait you’re missing out on the opportunity of new business, growing your audience and learning more about what works.
Need help putting a plan together? The Donovan team can help.
Contact us now for a free strategy session!