Companies should stop thinking about MarCom budgets merely as percentages of revenue or allocations across traditional channels.
The more important question is: What perception gap are we trying to close?
- A smaller company may have a credibility gap. It needs to invest in visibility, third-party validation, customer proof, professional branding, thought leadership, PR, partnerships and evidence of capability.
- A growing company may have a scale gap. It needs to demonstrate that its systems, people and expertise can support larger customers and larger markets.
- An internationalising company may have a global credibility gap. It needs to show that its global ambitions are backed by real market understanding and delivery capability.
- A large corporation may have an accessibility gap. It needs to invest in customer intimacy, personalisation, community engagement and human storytelling.
- An established brand may have a relevance gap. It needs to demonstrate that despite its size and history, it understands the changing expectations of today’s consumer.
Therefore, the right MarCom budget is not necessarily the one that spends the most. It is the one that solves the most important perception problem facing the business.
