Is It "Use It or Lose It" Time For Your Marketing Budget?

The end of a calendar year is often the time to review marketing budgets. And for many marcom managers, it may be time to use any remaining funds so they aren't taking away during the next budgeting cycle.

Whenever you have "use it or lose it" funds to commit, here are a few ideas for spending them effectively:

• Invest in marketing documents with long-term value, such as an e-book, product selection guide, or product architecture white paper.
• Identify small, quick-return marcom projects, for example, a series of blog posts or Web articles with the bylines of your company's topic experts. 
• Refresh existing documents. Brochures, white papers, and case studies can often be updated more quickly and economically than producing a new document to address the same marketing need. 
• Look at the projects in your marketing communications plan that haven't yet been started. Could one or two of them turn your unused budget funds into a value-producing investment?

Don't let short-notice, small, or refresh projects give you any concern about finding freelance copywriters or agencies who will accept that work. Most will be happy to help, and will give the document the same level of care and creativity as higher-profile material.