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Winning those budget battles

We all know the feeling. You've worked hard to identify the marketing and research programmes that you want to run in the next financial year, only to realise that the budget-cutting process has devastated your plans. To defend your marketing and research strategy you need to approach the budget rounds with a clear plan that pre-empts the potential for budget cuts and gives you the upper hand in protecting the programme you've worked so hard to put together.

• Link your marketing activities to financial outcomes

Identify where the impact of the activity will have the most benefit. From incremental sales, to reducing customer loss, to the effectives of employees, each activity will have a financial outcome. Even if you can't provide specific data, you can model assumptions and ‘what ifs' as a means of justifying the expenditure.

• Provide evidence of the effectiveness of your research as a means for generating a predictable outcome.

Where possible, provide evidence of the potential impact through small scale test research / marketing to whet the appetite of senior management.

• Educate senior managers of the dynamism of your plans

Timing is everything. There's little point in keeping a winning strategy up your sleeve until your budget presentation. Become an expert in selling and anticipate the likely objections. ‘Pre-sell' your ideas to senior management and identify who is likely to be your most significant supporter or opponent.

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