{"id":198703,"date":"2025-04-22T13:13:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T13:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/marketing\/driving-roi-through-strategic-allocation\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T13:13:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T13:13:18","slug":"driving-roi-through-strategic-allocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=198703","title":{"rendered":"Driving ROI Through Strategic Allocation"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Marketing budgets were once a line item on an expense sheet. They lacked focus, strategy, and expectations about actual results. <\/span>The rise of digital marketing, data analytics, and attribution tracking has transformed marketing from a cost center to a revenue-generating powerhouse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does the shift in marketing budget allocation and management mean for companies? For marketers? Our president, Greg Linnemanstons recently sat down with longtime Weidert Group friend, Stacy Bouchard to dig into how companies can (and should!) align budgets with business objectives, use data-driven insights to optimize spending, and strategically maximize marketing ROI.<\/p>\n

Read up on the highlights of the thought-provoking conversation here, or watch the full podcast episode:<\/p>\n

Check out episode 16 of The ChangeOver now, then subscribe on <\/span>Apple<\/a>, <\/span>YouTube<\/a>, <\/span>Spotify<\/a>, <\/span>Weidert.com<\/a>, or your favorite podcast app.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marketing Budgets: Then vs. Now<\/h2>\n

Not that long ago, industrial marketing budgets were often predetermined, with little strategic consideration. One bucket funded a year\u2019s worth of traditional tactics \u2014 often trade shows and print advertising. \u201cI was handed a number,\u201d Bouchard recalled. \u201cThere was never enough conversation around, \u2018What are we trying to accomplish with this number?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the end of the day, if your marketing plan doesn\u2019t line up with what the company was trying to accomplish overall, then how much does it really matter? It\u2019s important for the marketing team to be part of the conversations around what the company is trying to accomplish.\u201d \u2014 Stacy Bouchard, Marketing Manager, Hawkins Ash CPAs<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The adoption of Inbound marketing efforts<\/span><\/a> opened the door to robust attribution tracking with what Bouchard describes as granular insights that finally proved the value of marketing in a more direct way. Marketers can now tie specific activities \u2014 such as blog articles, trade shows, or ad campaigns \u2014 directly to lead generation and revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Importance of Unified Data and Buyer Behavior Monitoring<\/span><\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve been <\/strong>writing for years<\/span><\/strong><\/a> about how, when marketing data is siloed from customer purchase history, companies miss out on opportunities.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With industrials this goes a step further. By <\/strong>integrating ERP systems and CRMs<\/span><\/strong><\/a> such as HubSpot, you gain a single source of truth for integrated sales and marketing data \u2014 allowing your revenue-driving teams to micro-target existing customers and prioritize budget spend for the highest-impact marketing activities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But targeting is pointless without understanding who is being targeted and why. That\u2019s where segmentation and tracking lead behaviors such as post-engagement email opens, website visits, sales team contact, etc., come into play. Understanding a prospect\/customer\u2019s activities allows for easier readiness assessment and targeting potential \u2014 with or without a conversion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of this discrete behavior monitoring gives you a real-world understanding of the tactics that are or aren\u2019t working as intended. The flexibility built into this agile approach gives you more latitude in appropriately managing the marketing budget. Instead of riding out unsuccessful efforts for an entire year, for example, Stacy recommends quarterly adjustments and experimentation<\/span> to funnel dollars into the areas of most impact and higher return on investment (ROI).<\/p>\n

Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit for Maximum ROI<\/span><\/h2>\n

Many companies underinvest in marketing because they don\u2019t fully understand the potential return. A simple yet effective way to frame budget discussions is by focusing on revenue impact:<\/p>\n

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\u201cInstead of saying, \u2018We need more budget,\u2019 ask, \u2018What would five more of our best customers be worth?\u2019 In other words, \u2018What could we do as an organization if we had five more customers just like that?\u2019 So why wouldn\u2019t we invest in trying to achieve that?\u201d \u2014 Stacy Bouchard<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When C-suite executives see that an additional marketing investment could yield millions in revenue, the conversation shifts from cost to growth potential.<\/p>\n

Not all marketing efforts yield equal returns. Harvesting the proverbial low-hanging fruit of existing customers may be a more lucrative strategy than pursuing new ones. <\/strong>Why? Simply put, it\u2019s easier \u2014 and generally more profitable \u2014 to sell to an existing customer than to acquire a new one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By segmenting customers based on past behaviors, businesses can tailor their outreach with precision, reducing wasteful spending and improving conversion rates.<\/p>\n

Allocating marketing budget to these efforts could look like:<\/p>\n