Make cutting ad dollars your New Year’s resolution!

If you are among the 23% of Americans who have already quit their New Year’s resolutions, I have one that you just might be able to stick to. This year, I want you to spend less money on advertising your business than you spent last year.  

You heard me right: Spend less!

But before you slash your 2024 advertising budget you need to open your books and see how much you spent last year. Go on, tally up your totals…I’ll wait here! Now that you know what you spent, let’s consider decreasing it by a value that works for your business.

You’re probably wondering why a marketing consultant would recommend that you cut advertising dollars when one of your business’ goals for this year is to increase sales? Isn’t decreasing advertising dollars contradicting the basic principles of marketing? Well, yes and no. I am considering that you, like me, are a small business where resources are precious and must be used judiciously. And while paid advertising is a powerful tool, in today’s world it comes with some baggage.

Join me in tightening the belt on your business’ advertising budget this year because of the “excess baggage” that comes with paid advertising.

Baggage like:

1. Consumers are being saturated with online ads, and they are figuring out ways to avoid them.
   You already know what it’s like to search for something online when suddenly, you are bombarded with ads. At first, these ads seem helpful, but then they take over your online footprint. Instead of helping you find what you are looking for, these ads get in the way of your online experience. The overload is just too much. Resourceful folks have learned to set their phones or browser to block or mute ads, which immediately stops them from penetrating. Some will step away from their phones while others will invest in programs to stop receiving ads all together. Whatever avenue is being used to stop these ads from making their way to consumers, it’s money down the drain for advertisers.
   
2. No matter how good the advertising medium is, there is a cost associated with it.
   No matter how you look at it, it costs money to advertise. If you are confident that you have exhausted all non-paid tactics, then devise a budget and a plan to advertise, and go for it! But, if you still aren’t working all the “free” opportunities that are available to you, then wait on pursuing paid ones.
   
3. Quite frankly, they are annoying!
   While repetition plays a factor in helping to get your name/product/service out, there is a fine line between a reasonable number of ads and “if I get one more ad from Company X I promise to never buy from them again!” When you are getting ready to invest in advertising pay close attention to the chaos you will be fighting against. In other words, what does the traffic online look like? Is it bumper-to- bumper, which means you need to add more ads, and possibly turn your potential audience off? While the ramp up costs to advertising online is minimal, it’s creating the momentum you need, the amount to compete with the online traffice that can get costly and possibly annoying depending upon the amount of ads you run.

This year, instead of randomly increasing your advertising budget, or trying a bunch of different tactics to see what works, I want you to think about what you want to achieve and be strategic in your plan. To do that, you need to know your goal. Once you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve you can create strategies that align with your goal. Hang on to your cash as long as possible and see what it feels like to curb your spending for the next couple of months. With these extra dollars who knows what you can do!