How to allocate your marketing budget export business in 2022

2020 was a wake-up call for many Business-to-Business (B2B) companies in Malaysia. B2B companies used to rely on old-school marketing techniques. You might have a website or a Facebook page, before 2020 most of the budget was spent on physical trade shows, travelling to meet buyers overseas or even promotional product brochures. Ever since the pandemic, the new norm has made everything digital and virtual. Therefore, how you allocate your marketing budget is more important than ever before.

What is a marketing budget?

A marketing budget is a set amount of expenses for a year, or a quarter, that a business outlines to spend on marketing-related activities. This can include paid advertising, automation, or content.

B2B companies are going to need to focus more on marketing than ever before. That reason is competition. There are more and more B2B companies moving their business online and investing in online activities. 

The 70-20-10 rule

Today, let us introduce you to the 70-20-10 rule. This rule is extremely helpful for businesses in terms of allocating their business budgets for 2022. Here’s how it works.

Spend 70% of time and money on “now”

You should spend 70% of your time and digital marketing budget for 2022 on the “now.” The “now” consists of strategies that you know work well for your business. 

Spend 20% of time and money on “next”

20% of your budget should go toward things that are new to your business. For example, you might spend on a new product line that helps you to target new segments to expand your market share.

Spend 10% of time and money on “new”

A small portion of your digital marketing budget should go toward the “new.” These are the unknowns or new ideas that are not in the plan, like emerging technologies or experimental strategies. This is to help you & your business create opportunities for your product to outshine your competitors.

The 70-20-10 rule isn’t fixed, it’s flexible. It’s a good starting point, but you don’t need to follow it precisely. The 10% on “new”, maybe too much for some businesses with big budgets. Businesses can always adjust this ratio to fit their business and goals.

3 places to invest your online marketing budget in 2022

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of boosting your website’s ranking in search results. SEO can help you to reach valuable traffic that is interested in your products. These include keywords, backlinks, and valuable content that will help search engines naturally find your site without paying for advertisements.

How to optimize your website? 

First of all, Think of the keywords which are relevant to your business. The keywords that your buyers would type in to search for your products.  And then use these on your website frequently. Search engines will then detect that you provide quality content on a particular topic, and hence, would rank it higher on Google and other search engines, and also boost your page rankings.

Next, will be the backlink, Search engines can track how many links to other websites are linked to your website, and how many of those links lead back to your website. More links in your website tell the search engine that your content is rich and valuable. 

Organic traffic is the traffic that you get for free and always has a great impact on the increase of your export sales. Good SEO builds trust and credibility.

2. Email marketing

Email marketing is one of the most valuable marketing methods export businesses can invest in this year. Email marketing allows you to connect directly with leads that are interested in your business. Buyers who connect through email marketing are better buyers in terms of quality, order value & loyalty for longer periods. A survey shows that email marketing drives 25% of the overall revenues and more than 50% of users prefer to get updates from the brands they follow through email. Therefore, email marketing has a better ROI (returns on investment). 

Besides, emails are a great way to get customers to visit your website. Export businesses can include relevant links to websites within your email content. You can also use your email campaigns to get customers to engage with other great pieces of content available on your website or blog.

Emails are also convenient for both sellers and buyers. With access to email right on their smartphones, most buyers are able to communicate instantly, and sellers are able to respond immediately. Buyers can not only ask their questions but also place orders by email instantly. 

You may want to allocate some of your budget toward this method because it’ll drive valuable results! 

3. E-commerce marketing

Ecommerce played the most important role in 2020 and it will continue to have star power in 2022. In the digital marketing channel, eCommerce platforms show no signs of slowing down, which is why it’s a great place to think about investing your online marketing budget, especially for B2B businesses.

If you want to get started with B2B eCommerce marketing now, here are the eCommerce platforms we would suggest to you.

1. Alibaba.com

2. China Construction Bank Business Matchmaking Platform

3. Minebizs