How much money do you need to content market?

Everyone knows that great content marketing strategies can make a difference in business results. What amount is appropriate for content marketing?

There's two main schools of thought about this:

• Invest more to get more. The larger your budget, the better. You can spend more on technology and expertise to increase your marketing ROI.

• It's cost-effective: Content marketing is 6x more effective than other marketing strategies, and costs only 62 percent less. With this kind of built-in ROI, there's no reason to spend more.

Which is correct? Both.

If you are a large company with a well-developed strategy and have the resources to spend more on content marketing, you will see better results if you invest in technology and hire a bigger team. You can also achieve serious content marketing ROI with a small budget if your company is an independent one or a startup.

It is true that the best strategy for your company is the one that makes the most sense. This requires you to know how to assess what is best for your company. That's what we'll be covering here.

Quick Takeaways

• 
  Alignment with strategy and goals is the most important part of a content marketing budget.
  

• 
  Companies allocate about 25% of their marketing budgets to content.
  

• 
  Your budget must include investments in technology tools and the right people to help you succeed.
  

How to plan your content marketing budget

When it comes to creating a content marketing budget, the common mistake that companies make is thinking only in financial terms. So, let's say we have a budget and can afford it. Let's now spend it.

Your content marketing budget is more than just a number. Spending only on what you can afford without considering how you can implement your content marketing plan will result in a lot wasted time and frustration.

In other words, don't budget money that you don't have and don't spend it on things you can't do effectively.

There is no one formula that every company can use for the perfect content marketing budget. You can be successful if you think about how to create a smart budget that maximizes every dollar.

It is a good idea to look at your content marketing budget through a prioritization perspective: What are the most important items? Consider how you will execute each item. How will you organize execution? What team or individuals will be responsible for this? What other resources is this going to require?

This will help you determine what you can actually execute. When you feel you are spreading your resources too thin, you may need to consider cutting down on lower-priority items.

Our recommendation is to set stretch goals but prioritise setting up your team and company for success. You can use your best judgment to create a budget that is just right. To learn more about budgeting content for 2021, check out our guide.

What's the number?

You're probably looking for an estimate for your content marketing budget. We can't give you a number, but we can look at industry trends to help us understand how companies invest in content marketing.

SEMRush conducted an earlier survey of more than 1500 content marketers around the globe. These results provide valuable insights into trends in content marketing budgeting.

It's important to note that 84% of respondents in their survey have a content-marketing strategy. This means that you can easily assess whether you have a content marketing budget.

You are missing opportunities to grow your company's bottom line if you don't leverage content marketing in today’s business environment.

The survey revealed that almost three quarters of respondents anticipated their content marketing budget would increase in some capacity by 2021.

Image Source

The respondents were also asked to share their content marketing budget ranges. These were the results:

Image Source

It is clear that the majority of companies spend less than $10,000 on content. This means that you don't have to make a large investment in order for your content marketing strategy to be successful. These results do not reveal how much of the marketing budget is spent by the companies that use them.

This is a very important piece of the puzzle.

According to research, companies spend 26% on average in content marketing. The highest ROI companies spend close to 40% and the lowest at 14 %.

While none of this can be applied to all, the bottom line is that content marketing is very cost-effective. However, it does require a significant financial investment, especially at the beginning stages when there is a lot of setup like content auditing and website optimization.

Essentials for your Content Marketing Budget

The right team

Great content is only possible with great creators. The right people who create your content are the most important part of your content marketing budget. It is dangerous to try to add content creation to a job you already have, without considering the time and expertise required.

Content creators are skilled in optimizing your content for maximum results. These are some of the roles that you might want to invest in when marketing content.

• SEO experts will use keywords and other best practices in order to optimize written content for search engine results pages.

• SEO experts Optimize the technical aspects of your site to rank high in SERPs.

• Copywriters have been trained to create high-quality and high-performing marketing and advertising content.

• Graphic designers Enhance your digital and printed content by making them visually appealing

• Web designers make sure that your website's visual and functional design are in sync.

This list doesn't include all the roles, but it does include the most important skills needed in a content strategy. These responsibilities should not be assigned to someone without the right skills and training. This will lead to underperforming content.

A content marketing agency can help you manage your strategy. A good agency has the resources and expertise to produce consistent content and proven strategies. They also provide frequent reporting. This allows you to concentrate on strategic priorities.

Although outsourcing your content creation can be a costly investment, it is often less expensive than hiring full-time employees. It allows you to feel confident in your content strategy and not be distracted by the work involved.

Technology Tools

All three are essential components of a content marketing strategy. Technology tools can help you optimize your capabilities in all of these areas.

These tools provide valuable data insight and enable you to scale your strategy for reaching larger audiences. Some examples include:

• Email marketing software allows you to track, store and email subscriber lists. It also provides templates for designing well-designed emails.

• Social media software allows you to digitally store your content schedule , automate posting and view performance reports

• Google analytics provides detailed reports about web traffic.

• Website CMS platforms offer analytics that every company should take advantage of in their website management.

• CRM platforms offer more functionality and enable companies to automate their sales, marketing and reporting processes.

Your content

Your content might have a separate price depending on the way your team is set up. However, there may be additional fees for projects that are not included in a contract with the agency.

These could include professional videos, whitepapers, print brochures, and other materials.

Consider the types of digital and printed content you will be creating, and add those costs to your budget.

Is your content marketing spending aligned with your goals?

Are you driving traffic and ranking well? Are you seeing an increase in conversions due to the power of content? Your budget might not be aligned with your goals if it is not. Let's get on the same page.

Get more visitors to your website by publishing quality content consistently. Contact our Content Builder Service today to schedule a consultation!