“A budget is more than just a series of numbers on a page; it is an embodiment of our values.”
— Barack Obama
Creating a hotel marketing budget has always been the kryptonite of marketers. Almost of us are wired to look at the creative side and when hit with numbers, might find some difficulty in navigating it. So here are my 7 tips on how to do your marketing budget.
1. Goals
Setting up your marketing goals and objectives is the first step in drafting your hotel marketing budget. This would serve as a guideline on how you will move forward for the rest of this activity.
The easiest way is to review your funnel against your goals. Which part of the funnel needs more focus? Is it awareness, consideration, purchase, or loyalty? Divide your budget allocation based on that. Decide on how much percentage should be allocated for each funnel.
For example, if your marketing goal right now is awareness heavy – put 50% into it. Then you have 50% left to allocate for consideration activities, purchase, and loyalty.
2. History
Go back to your previous hotel marketing budget and campaigns completed. What were your tops and flops? What did you do that was worth repeating? Flag those. Check against your goals and include them in your list of possible activities. May that be seasonal or always on.
3. Brainstorm
My old team member once told me that I am like a cat. I get excited with anything shiny. Marketing translation – you want to do every opportunity that you can think of or that comes your way. So at this stage, activate your inner cat and be as curious as you can be.
This is the part when you start just randomly listing all ideas you have down in one column. Let your goal/funnel be your guide. Put no limit on your imagination.
Use this time to research and find inspiration. The web is a treasure trove of limitless inspiration to get your creative mind pumping to create your hotel marketing budget.
4. Categorize
Aside from the funnel category, this is the part when you start drilling down on your ideas a little bit. Categorize your ideas more on the frequency and type of activity you are doing. Seasonal? Always on? Events? Social campaign? How about the frequency? It is important to have an understanding of how much allocation is going to which activity and how many times those campaigns will occur.
Next to each label, add another column for percentage. This is to understand how much is allocated to each activity type.
So for example out of the 100% - how much is allocated for seasonal or always on? What about your events – how much of your budget is spent on this? Your social? Your airport ads and such?
5. Calculate
This is where you start asking for quotes. Reach out to your media contacts to get an understanding of the cost involved. If time is of the essence, check your previous costings and add 10% for inflation or buffer. Input those numbers on your hotel marketing budget template.
This automatically would give you a general idea of your total would be marketing expenses for the year.
My rule of thumb is always at least have an initial draft that is twice your budget from last year. The reason for this is you will still have to scale it down.
Then start putting an expected ROI on each line. Here, be conservative. It is always better to overachieve than over forecast.
6. Prioritize
Once you have done all those previous steps start prioritizing. As I can be emotionally attached to my marketing ideas - my previous boss taught me this trick.
Look at your hotel marketing budget and review it line by line. Then label each activity into
Must-Have. Nice-to-Have. And Good-to-Have.
This is somewhat similar to Agile Project Management which uses the MoSCoW principle (Must, Should, Could, and Won’t Haves), still, I find this method a little bit simpler and more straightforward.
Must-Have – 1st priority. Activities that you must do. It is integral as it is tied to you achieving your goals and objectives.
Nice-to-Have – 2nd priority. Activities that would be nice to do. Not as integral but can support your goals although the impact might be indirect.
Good-to-Have – 3rd priority. This is more of an activity that would wonderful to do if you have the extra resources to do so. However, would not help achieve your goals and objectives as much as the Must and Nice-to-Have activities.
I have to warn you this is a strenuous activity and can be mentally straining. My team member once muttered – "I didn’t realize a spreadsheet can eat my brain". It is a mental and an emotional exercise, especially if there are some ideas you have set your heart on. If you get into a stumbling block – the best way is to review Step 1 – your goals and objectives. It is the cornerstone of your hotel marketing budget.
7. Pitch
So, your hotel marketing budget spreadsheet is ready. Don’t congratulate yourself as yet, as you still have one step to go. Once you have done this exciting but tedious exercise – here comes the most important bit. The pitch to your decision makers.
Since decision-makers won’t have the time to go through your hotel marketing budget line by line – it is crucial that this is presented visually.
Remember all those grueling percentages you have to calculate next to your labels? This is where it comes in.
For pitch presentations like this – you need graphs and imagery to illustrate your hotel marketing budget content. Here are some graphs to prepare:
- Budget divided into funnel/goals by %
- Each funnel divided further into activities by %
- Include imagery or quick videos of proposed campaigns to give your decision makers a visual taste to get them a bit excited.
- Close it with a snapshot of possible ROI per funnel %
There you have it. That’s my 7 tips on creating your hotel marketing budget.
If I missed any – feel free to comment or drop me a line!
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