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Many CMOs tell me that they expect their marketing to get cheaper. The logic is that online advertising is cheaper, programmatic ads are cheaper, building websites is cheaper, many digital platforms are free! Marketing automation provides efficiency, and the availability of rich data informs better targeting and better product development. So why do their annual budgets keep going up?

That’s simple.

There’s lots more to focus on, and tech is the root cause. The crux of B2B marketing rests in the targeting strategy, and as media channels are more fragmented, so is the targeting, which requires more number crunching, which in turn requires more heavily skilled people.

Marketing automation programmes are only as effective as the results and analysis that’s used to optimise the system. And this system needs to be planned, set up and micro-managed. More skills required here. Economies of scale for B2B brands are harder to find, as activity is fragmented across PR, social, experiential, right down to specialised tactical campaigns which in turn require a diverse skill base. It’s a bit like growing your fleet of cars, because lease cars are cheaper than ever, but then you realise you need more licensed drivers.

The upshot is good. Well skilled people are expensive, and their stock is on the rise. In fact today, the average company needs such a variety of specialist marketing skills, that once you’ve built your in-house team, you’ll probably find out you’re only utilising each person for around 30% of their time.

This is why so many CMOs have failed when scaling up in-house teams, with their sole intention to reduce their reliance (and spend) on outsourced capability. The so called in-housing model might look cheaper on a spreadsheet, but getting an intern to run your social media rarely pays off.

CMOs have never faced such a challenging time. Business goals haven’t changed but their requirements have. Accountability for marketing has never been higher. So here’s why your marketing budgets are on the up and what to do about it:

More data = more processing

Grappling with mountains of data, because it’s cheap and quick to acquire? Most don’t consider how expensive it can be to interrogate. Pumping in volumes of data is rarely useful, and data analysts are expensive. Get your data strategy sorted from the beginning, and get it done by a pro data strategist. Without getting it right, your KPI’s will be nothing but guesswork, and your ability to manage your stakeholders will be blown. So you can avoid an overly critical sales director with a Seth Godin book on marketing under one arm from the outset.

Mobile innovation changes everything

Looming mobile releases means constantly updating your technology and platforms, your customer journey, and your multi-channel user experiences. This digital debt is what you carry forward each year, and it doesn’t always appear on your P&L. The more you build, the more you have to fix, maintain and upgrade. CMO’s often fail to factor this in, which is why a rebuild takes place every three years. Not only is this wasteful, it’s also short-sighted and the cost of opportunity can be huge. It’s inflation without the pay rise. Take an informed and agile approach, keep building, keep moving forward and test before pressing the kill switch.

Tech software and platforms

Feature rich marketing automation platforms carry subscription costs, many of which are low at entry or hidden altogether. But when you start to grow, your reliance on these systems grows with it. That’s when they know they’ve got you. They often require your team to provide development support, marketing, creative, content and administrative support too. That means broader skill sets are required in your internal and agency teams, which layers on the labour.

So how do you get a grip?

1. Get organised

Set some rules. Know your brand, know your tone of voice and use this to inform absolutely everything everyone does for you. That includes your in-house teams and your agencies. The nature of marketing today means you’ll be producing much more ‘stuff’. So make an effort to get it organised. Consistency is key, and this should reduce rework as you move forward.

2. Join up your sales and marketing effort

Be clear where marketing ends and sales starts. Account based marketing has confused this for many people, but the lines of demarcation should be clear. The goal should always be to build relevance through a common understanding, and trust by demonstrating empathy. It’s as close to a relationship any marketer or salesperson can hope to get without meeting. The expanded features in SalesForce and other CRM systems have shown how this can sprout from your content strategy. So, to be efficient you need your marketing team to feed the machine, and really support your sales team when closing the circle.

3. Activate a social strategy

Growing your circle of influence through social is more accessible than ever. Accenture do this really well. With the right content strategy in place (adequately supported by your PR efforts) it means that activating your brand through networks like LinkedIn is more cost effective. And if you get the content right, your circle of influence will grow exponentially. We all know this works for consumer brands, and with a little paid ad budget, it’s enough to get good ideas to grow.

4. Ideas are always worth paying for

We recently underwent a tough round of negotiations pertaining to the time and fees associated with the creative retainer with one of our global clients. Yet the subscription fees for various tech platforms, reporting tools and media were signed off without question. You need to believe that creativity rules. Big brands are looking for automation and efficiency – but are ignoring the most important thing, that can make all the difference. Be different by being creative. Ideas are worth paying for. Marketing automation, media and tech platforms are the areas to squeeze down on price. But be quick, because it won’t be long before the big brand CMOs and procurement heads wise up.

5. Be agile

Finally, whenever possible, take an agile approach. Try new ideas, if they don’t work, fail them fast and try something new. Keep your investment low but be willing to spend more budget quickly when you find something that works because everything can change pretty fast. Use this as your checklist and you won’t go far wrong.

Bristol-based tourism marketing agency Digital Visitor has been appointed to oversee Google Advertising for the Science Museum Group.

The Science Museum Group is a collection of museums devoted to the history and contemporary practice of science, medicine, technology, industry and media. As one of the world’s leading museum groups, the five museums use their passion, creativity and unparalleled collection to inspire the futures of more than five million visitors each year.

The Science Museum Group brought Digital Visitor on board in order to raise the profile of the museums in the group, reach new audiences and generate awareness of upcoming new exhibitions.

“We are delighted to have appointed Digital Visitor to oversee our Google Advertising. Digital Visitor clearly demonstrated to us that they not only know how to get the best from digital marketing, they also completely understand the museum and attraction industry and have great experience from both client and agency side. We are really looking forward to working with them.” – Peter Dickinson, Director of Communications at the Science Museum Group.

Digital Visitor will be utilising the Google Advertising Network to raise awareness of the Group’s offering and drive ticket sales with key audiences. This work will include maximising the Google Grant advertising and making full use of this opportunity.

Digital Visitor Co-Founder, Simon Jones, commented “The Science Museum Group is the first client that we have won since being appointed as an official provider in the DCMS tender process. My history with the Science Museum goes back to when I was involved in the IMAX film work and I am absolutely delighted to be working with some of the most iconic museums in the country.”

The Science Museum Group joins a number of other leading attractions in the Digital Visitor stable, including Royal Museums Greenwich, The Silverstone Experience, Zip World and BAi360.

Wentworth Wooden Puzzles, the world’s leading wooden jigsaw puzzle company founded in 1994, has appointed AgencyUK to help develop its consumer acquisition strategy and launch its Christmas advertising campaign. The appointment follows a 3-way pitch that included a high level strategic approach for scaling the company’s domestic and overseas sales.

Wentworth developed the technology for automated manufacturing of some of the most intricate wooden jigsaw puzzles on the market, and over the years developed a loyal consumer following, engaged by their rapid product development and exciting range of puzzles for adults and children. As the direct to consumer business has exceeded their annual targets, the successful integration of their online and offline marketing has become a vital component, linked directly to their scalability as a business.

“AgencyUK presented a compelling strategy for supporting our company’s rapid growth, much of which is coming from export sales. We have confidence in their commerciality, creative prowess and analytical judgement when it comes to multi-channel campaigns” says Sarah Watson, Marketing Director, Wentworth Wooden Puzzles.

AgencyUK have worked closely with a number of similar companies in the past, such as Eaglemoss on their Marvel chess collections and the London Mint Office on their Waterloo 200 commemorative medals. Both organisations saw significant returns on their online and offline campaigns once an integrated strategy had been adopted.

“Wentworth Wooden Puzzles are an innovative manufacturer using some really exciting laser technologies to produce complex and challenging wooden jigsaws. They can even do one off personalised pieces. Our job is to find new ways of accessing their niche target audiences and helping them to grow their customer base profitably, and online is the key to that” says Sammy Mansourpour, Managing Director, AgencyUK.

The news of the involvement follows a number of high profile account wins for the recently rebranded AgencyUK (formerly known as The Agency). AgencyUK have also been ranked the UK’s No.1 Independent Agency 2015, the second time it has been awarded to them by The Drum National Census.