Real tips to help any Business/ Marketing development executive prepare an effective annual budget to have the best experience with customers and clients

1. The 360 approach to maximizing your annual marketing budget
(ATL, BTL, TTL, Digital and Social Media Marketing)
A lot of companies in Nigeria when preparing an effective annual budget usually spend
more than 80% of their annual marketing budget on conventional traditional marketing
which includes TV and Radio adverts, Print advertising (newspaper and magazines)
and Billboards typically known as Above the Line Marketing (ATL).
Over the years, an inclusion of Below the Line marketing by some companies have
proven to lead to not just an increase in sales but a personal relationship with some of
their clients. BTL marketing techniques include: Direct mail, distribution of pamphlet,
handbills and stickers, Promotional marketing, Point of sale marketing , On roads
activations through road shows, banners and placards and Events marketing.
In very recent times, you would agree that social media in Nigeria has amassed millions
and millions of potential customers monthly thereby creating a massive active audience
which in turn produced potential business and marketing avenues. It is only wise to
take quick advantage.
Many Sales representatives are aware of all these techniques but lack the creativity to
put them together to generate Return of Investments (ROI) adequately. It is important
to understand how to create lasting impression on your customers and clients that will
ultimately lead to brand loyalty; you must connect with them emotionally. You must be
360 Approach to
Maximize annual
Marketing budget

2. able to engage them not in a way that your company begins to sound desperate and
needy but in a way that you make them understand the value that your product or
services will add to them thereby creating a desire for your product. They no longer see
your brand as any other brand in the market but as the solution providing brand.
The essence of social media is not just to gain massive impressions but to help a
company stay relevant in the system in a very cost effective manner but for any social
media content to give you the desired results; it must be creatively done to engage the
millions of people it is targeted to reach.
So now we will talk about effective ways to manage the budget for an even better
response.
 Rearrange the company’s budget to include BTL and Digital advertising in an
effective ratio (e.g. 50:30:20). Ensure you have a major goal to reach out to your
customer and build a relationship and feedback mechanism with them.
 Engage “Through the Line” (TTL) techniques. This refers to an effective
promotional strategy by taking advantage of the best of ATL and BTL concepts
leading to maximum growth of the product of the brand by guiding your
customers from one medium to the other.
 Invest money in digital advertisement and ensure your Digital advertisements
run all year long to keep you relevant. Seek out social media platforms and
invest in creating quality contents to engage your audience. Have a minimum of
2 different images or videos of the same campaign and inter-change between
them continuously.
 Ensure massive buzz creation strategies are created and executed to run
alongside various advertisement techniques especially during special
promotions this helps to create a lasting and more effective awareness.
 Engage your audience in competitions that will involve them using their social
media platforms to promote your products or involve your audience in
competitions involving linking of their social media platforms with your
company’s social media platforms.
 Invest in direct and indirect influencer marketing strategies that will actively
engage use of your products and audience.
 Ensure adequate marketing survey and research is conducted as all the various
types of advertising strategies are being deployed in order to track customer’s
response to each strategy and how sales are affected.
Article Written by Imaobong Essien, imaessien11@gmail.com +2348087871182