The Marketing Plan, 4th Edition

7 Calculating Your Marketing Communications Budget

Some consultants or authors recommend that in certain industries, you dedicate a particular percent of sales for your marketing communications budget. I believe this is bad advice; you should not be spending the same amount as your competitors. In those markets that you are pushing, you should be spending more and in those markets where you are harvesting, you should be spending less. For example, your budget should be tied to your plans relative to market share objective, number of new products or services, market growth, plant or facility utilization, amount of sales transaction, importance to customer, premium or discounted pricing, relative quality, depth of line, and a standard versus custom ...