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How To Get Your Ad Budget Approved In 2024
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Looking to ask your boss or client for more ad budget?
This can feel really uncomfortable the first time but I promise it gets easier.
With a simple shift in mindset and some solid tactics you’ll be securing budget in no time.
Here are 3 simple but effective steps for you to implement before having that budget conversation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Step 1: Pull the numbers
Your client or boss wants to be successful.
They want to surpass their goals (just like you).
If you can show them how your increased budget will make this happen, they will gladly give it to you.
Remembering this will help you release the anxiety associated with asking for more budget.
The key is you need to sell your stakeholders on WHY they should invest more and the way you'll do that is by building a case that makes them as certain as possible.
Don’t assume your clients or managers will be able to realize this on their own.
Build a no-brainer case that makes saying anything but yes sound illogical.
This starts with pulling the numbers 👇
Answer your critical questions
Put your investor hat on and answer critical questions such as:
- Which channels are performing best?
Ex: Google Ads driving the most opps at the lowest cost
- What's the overall blended trend? (paid + organic)
Ex: Opps are increasing QoQ at a 25% lower cost
- What's the current return on investment?
Ex: $6 pipe-to-spend and 150% ROI
Depending on your company, goals, and what you’re asking budget for this will vary.
Brainstorm all of the key questions you’ll need to pull data to answer.
The difficulty of this step will vary on your current level of reporting.
If you don’t already I HIGHLY recommend building a Paid Media dashboard that connects your ad spend to pipeline and revenue performance reported in your CRM.
Here’s an example of our Paid Media Dashboard Template in our Building a Paid Media Program course:
You can get free access to this template and learn how to set it up in Module 3, Lesson 3 of the course.
It’s going to be hard to ask for more ad budget if you can’t prove that your current campaigns are actually contributing to the bottom line.
Don’t have any data?
If you’re reading this and saying, Silvio how can I pull numbers if I don’t have any?
Maybe you’re trying to secure budget for a new channel.
If this is the case I have two recommendations:
1. Run a pilot campaign for $100
Let’s say you’re trying to secure budget to test X (Twitter) Ads.
Put together $100 (most companies can afford this) and launch a pilot campaign.
The only goal of this campaign is to understand what are your real costs (ex: CPM, CPC).
Once you have this information you can work backwards from your goals to create a starting budget.
For example:
- $3 CPC at a 5% landing page conversion rate = $60 cost per lead
- $60 cost per lead at a 3% lead to opportunity ratio = $1,980 cost per opportunity
- $1,980 cost per opportunity at a 20% win rate = $9,900 cost per closed won deal
If you need help running the numbers, check out our Google Ads budget calculator.
From here you’ll have a good idea of what a starting budget would look like.
You’ll also have a sense of what’s possible on this channel.
2. Do some research
Ask around or search for benchmarks associated with the channel you’re looking to invest in.
Even just collecting anecdotal evidence (ex: screenshots of others) talking about how much success they’ve had with this specific channel, tactic, etc can go a long way.
LinkedIn polls are a great way to collect this feedback:
You can DM the respondents asking for more information.
The TL;DR here is don’t let lack of data be an excuse to show up empty handed.
Once you’ve pulled all the necessary information it’s time to find the story.
Step 2: Find the story
Behind the data there is a story being told, it's your job to find it and tell it.
Here's some key questions to answer to help find it:
- What went well? (the highlights)
- What went bad? (the lowlights)
- Where are we today vs before? (the journey)
- What were the biggest blockers? (the obstacle)
- Where do we go from here? (the opportunities)
Data alone won't persuade, and stories without data are subject to suspicion.
A combination of both is required in order to effectively present your case.
Image above is Module 6, Lesson 1 of our Building a Paid Media Program course
For example, perhaps I’m trying to secure more budget for Google Ads:
- What went well? (the highlights) some text
- Google Ads contributed 25% more opportunities at a $7 pipe-to-spend ratio.
- What went bad? (the lowlights)some text
- We missed out on 57% more volume due to budget limitations.
- Where are we today vs before? (the journey) some text
- We’ve optimized our pipe-to-spend efficiency from $3 to $7.
- What were the biggest blockers? (the obstacle)some text
- High search lost to budget for our top contributing campaigns.
- No landing page testing due to limited development resources.
- Where do we go from here? (the opportunities)some text
- With an additional $25,000 in budget we can scale our top contributing campaigns and yield up to 35% more demo requests at a $15 CPC and 5% landing page conversion rate.
Here’s a simple presentation template you can use to present your case and answer each key question:
Once you've found the story and pulled the numbers you're ready to present.
Step 3: Present your case
After steps 1-2 the majority of the prep work is done.
Now it’s time to get the meeting scheduled with your boss or client.
You could have the most beautiful slides and compelling case but if you can’t effectively communicate the significance of what you’re asking it won’t matter.
Thankfully, like any skill, communication is something you can improve on with practice.
5 unconventional tips to implement in your budget presentation:
1. Remember you both want the same thing.
Ultimately, your stakeholders want you to be right. If you can drive more pipeline/revenue they'd happily give you the budget (assuming financial availability).
The challenge though is like an investor they are analyzing the potential upside and downside of your plan, and don't believe the promises you're making.
You need to addresses their concerns with a combination of data and storytelling that makes them as certain as possible.
Just remembering this simple truth will help you show up differently.
2. It’s a conversation, not a lecture.
You’ll want to keep this discussion conversational.
Make sure to check-in frequently with your boss or client and ask things like:
- Is this making sense?
- Did you have any questions?
- Are there any concerns you have that I haven’t addressed?
The last thing you want to do is to speak to them for 30-minutes and then ask:
“soooooo did you have any questions…..? 😅”
3. Replace “I think” with “the data suggests”
You’ve pulled the data and done the homework.
Don’t water down your points by saying “I think” get in the habit of replacing this with “the data suggests” and then calling out the data point that comes to mind.
This will make your perspectives and points of view far more compelling.
Which ultimately lead to more certainty from the decision maker.
Greater certainty = greater chance of budget approval
4. Don’t forget to smile.
This might sound silly 😂 but it’s really easy to forget to smile.
This conversation is about new opportunities, and that’s exciting.
Instead of telling yourself I’m nervous, reframe it as I’m excited.
This is called anxiety reappraisal and Alison Wood a psychologist at the Harvard Business School found evidence to support.
Here’s a quick excerpt from her abstract: “Across several studies involving karaoke singing, public speaking, and math performance, I investigate an alternative strategy: reappraising anxiety as excitement. Compared to those who attempt to calm down, individuals who reappraise their anxious arousal as excitement feel more excited and perform better” — Alison Wood Brooks
Don’t knock it until you try it!
5. Turn your weakness into a strength
Maybe you’re reading this article and saying to yourself:
- I’m not a good presenter because I’m an introvert
- I’m not a good presenter because English isn’t my first language.
Whatever your weaknesses are, turn them into strengths with humor.
When you start budget approval call begin by addressing your big weakness with humor.
Here’s what this might look like for the weaknesses above:
- Hey {First Name} thanks for the time today. As you might have noticed I’m not going to be giving a Ted talk anytime soon with my English so if you’re having trouble understanding just stop me at any point.
- Hey {First Name} thanks for the time today. I just wanted to start off by saying I’d rather chug a bottle of hot sauce then give a presentation but I believe so much in what I’m going cover today that I had to do this – so I appreciate you baring with any mishaps I might have.
Whatever your weaknesses are don’t run from them.
Embrace it and transform it into a strength.
Additional Resources
If you want to learn more about securing budget checkout Module 6 - Lesson 1 of our Building a Paid Media Program course, it’s 100% free and takes < 90 seconds to sign up.
If you want to dive deeper into B2B advertising check out some of our other top articles:
- B2B Advertising in 2024: The Definitive Guide
- How to Build a Multichannel B2B Retargeting Strategy (Step-By-Step)
Thanks for reading, good luck on getting your budget approved!
(you got this) 🎉
B2B Advertising in 2024: The Definitive Guide
Today I’m going to give you a crash course in B2B advertising.
In this comprehensive guide I’ll cover:
- What is B2B advertising?
- 7 ways B2B differs from B2C
- 20 B2B Terms and Metrics you need to know
- Top 3 B2B Revenue Models
- B2B ad examples by revenue model
- How to create a B2B advertising strategy
- The Five Stages Model
- The Best B2B Ad Channels
- Advice from 20 B2B Advertising Experts
So if you need to get up-to-speed on B2B as quickly as possible, you’ll love this guide.
Let’s get started 🔥
What Is Business-to-Business Advertising?
B2B advertising is the process of any paid marketing efforts directed toward influencing multiple individuals within a company for a purchase decision (known as a buying committee) vs a single consumer.
7 Differences between B2B and B2C Advertising:
- Longer sales cycles (3 - 36 months)
- Larger average deal sizes (< $1,000 - $250,000+)
- More stakeholders involved in the purchase decision (ex: c-suite, finance)
- Focus on impacting the entire buyer's journey not just the first conversion (unlike B2C).
- Smaller audiences (< 300,000) with a focus on reaching the right person and company vs B2C with broad audiences ( > 300,000) as more people can purchase your product.
- B2B requires strategic alignment between marketing and sales as you’re joining forces (inbound and outbound) to win accounts.
- B2B supports multiple revenue models, the big three being; product-led, sales-led, and hybrid. Whereas e-commerce is solely product-led.
Check out more examples in the article: B2B vs B2C Advertising: 8 Differences & Examples You Need To Know.
20 B2B Terms and Metrics you Need to Know
One of the first things you realize when you get into B2B is how much jargon there is! MQL, SQL, ACV, ARR, and the list goes on!
In order to make sure you understand the language, here’s 20 B2B terms and metrics you need to know:
Unfortunately there are many more terms you’ll need throughout your B2B career 😂 and every company creates their own (it’s a constant struggle) but these 20 will give you a solid foundation. For a great list of b2b terms check out our B2B Advertising Glossary.
Top 3 B2B Revenue Models
If you’re working in B2B there are three common revenue models you’ll likely work with.
If your job is to promote this organization, understanding the revenue model is key as it will change everything from how you approach your strategy, the offers you choose, channels, and more.
B2B Ad Examples by Revenue Model:
Sales Led
Product Led
How to build a full-funnel B2B Advertising Strategy
Now that you know how B2B differs from B2C.
How do you build a full-funnel B2B advertising strategy?
Full-funnel refers to building a strategy that covers all touch points along the customer journey.
This means advertising to individuals who are (e.g. Eugene's Schwartz Stages of Awareness):
- Unaware = have no clue they even have a problem in the first place (ex: blissfully mismanaging customer relationships)
- Problem Aware = know they have a problem but are not sure how to solve it (ex: realize managing customer relationships is important but don't know how).
- Solution Aware = need help deciding on the right solution (ex: should I use Google Sheets, a filing cabinet 😂 or a CRM?).
- Product Aware = know of your brand/product but not sure if you're the best option (ex: comparing CRM software; Salesforce vs HubSpot vs Pipedrive).
- Offer Aware = know of your brand and exactly how you can help but need some nudging (ex: pricing discounts, better contract terms, customer references).
- Most Aware = Existing customers, familiar with your brand and working with you (ex: referral program).
Understanding your prospects' stage of awareness allows you to create messaging, and offers that better resonate with where they are in the customer journey.
It helps to have a model (think of it like a map) to make complicated topics simple.
We’re going to use The Five Stages model covered in our course Building a Paid Media Program.
Here’s how it works:
Based on the stage; the outcome, awareness level, offers, tactics, and KPIs differ.
- Outcome = the end goal you're trying to achieve in each stage.
- Awareness = the familiarity level of your brand/product/solution.
- Offers = what you're providing your target audience in each stage.
- Tactics = how you're going to actually execute your strategy per stage.
- KPIs = how you're going to measure success in each stage.
Let's dive into examples for each stage so you really understand!
The Five Stages Model
Stage 1: Create
Stage 2: Capture
Stage 3: Accelerate (Sales Led) / Activate (Product Led)
Stage 4: Revive
Stage 5: Expand
The Five Stages model allows you to plan across all the lifecycle stages past initial conversion.
Ultimately no one knows for certain where someone is in their buyer's journey and everyone moves through it at different speeds. Use your best judgment.
If you're confused on which stage someone would be, remember the target audience's level of awareness dictates the stage they fall under.
Which stage should you invest in?
Generally speaking if you want to maximize ROI in the short-term you should work from the bottom of the Five Stages and move towards the top (Expand → Create).
You don't have to build a full-funnel strategy at once, take it one stage at a time.
Putting The Five Stages into practice
- Decide on which stage you want to focus on based on the outcome you’re after. If you have a smaller budget (ex: < $5,000/month) focus exclusively on one stage first.
- Once you’ve decided on the stage fill in your budget, and leading + lagging KPIs. If you’re unsure of what KPIs to select refer to Module 5- Lesson 1 of Building a Paid Media Program.
- Next decide on which channels you’ll advertise on to reach individuals in this stage and how you’ll target them and exclude the wrong audience. If you’re unsure of what channels to advertise on, refer to Choosing the BEST channels.
- Finally decide on what offers you’re going to promote in these channels for this stage (the offers listed above are only examples to give you ideas).
- If you’re targeting multiple stages repeat steps 1-4 for each.
Click here to become an AdConversion student and get free access to The Five Stages planning template in Module 2 - Lesson 1 where we cover how to build your paid media strategy in depth.
After you’ve filled in The Five Stages planning template you now have your strategy in place and can easily move into execution and start assembling your campaigns, creatives, and messaging.
What are the BEST B2B advertising channels?
The obvious answer is where your audience hangs out online!
But not all channels are equal, some are more effective at certain stages.
Most channels can be grouped into these 5 primary categories ↓
How to decide on the best channel?
There's four key criteria to consider when deciding on a channel:
- Targeting options
- Media cost
- Reach
- Policy
Let's dive into each ↓
If the channel you’re considering meets all four of these criteria then you should consider running a test campaign for $100 to get your real average CPC & CPM.
Recommended Channels by Stage
Based on my experience these channels work best for each stage:
(Use this as inspiration not restriction)
Let this be a guide to help you get started, take what serves you and abandon the rest.
Test what works for you until proven otherwise.
Advice from 20 B2B advertising experts
One of the best parts about being in B2B is the quality of marketers in this space.
We asked 20 B2B advertising experts:
What’s 1 tip you’d share with new marketers getting into B2B advertising?
50+ Ad Specs for The Top 10 Ad Platforms
Have you ever wondered what dimensions does that ad require? 🤔
Then started searching to find the answer? (same here lol)
To save you (and ourselves) trouble, we gathered the most popular ad specs across 10 channels in one place:
- Google Display Ad Specs
- LinkedIn Ad Specs
- Twitter (X) Ad Specs
- Quora Ad Specs
- Reddit Ad Specs
- YouTube Ad Specs
- Google Discovery / Demand Gen Ad Specs
- TikTok Ad Specs
- Meta Ad Specs
⭐️ Bookmark this article and refer back to it when you need ad specs.
Google Display Ad Specs
Source: support.google.com
Browse examples at adstransparency.google.com
LinkedIn Ad Specs
Source: business.linkedin.com
Browse examples at: linkedin.com/ad-library/home
X (Twitter) Ad Specs
Source: business.twitter.com
- You can request to have video lengths increased up to 10 minutes
- Carousel can use images or videos but must be in the same aspect ratio (ex: 1:1 or 16:9)
Quora Ad Specs
Source: image ads, video ads
Reddit Ad Specs
Source: reddit.my.site.com
* Headlines will be truncated to 100 characters on mobile/mobile web for the conversation placement.
Youtube Ad Specs
Source: support.google.com
Browse examples at adstransparency.google.com
Google Discovery / Demand Gen Ad Specs
Source: support.google.com
Browse examples at adstransparency.google.com
TikTok Ad Specs
Source: ads.tiktok.com
Browse examples at library.tiktok.com/ads
Meta Ad Specs (Facebook/Instagram)
Source: business.facebook.com
Browse examples at: www.facebook.com/ads/library
Resources for Mastering B2B Advertising
Hope you found this ad specs article useful!
If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.
Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:
✅ 100% free access.
✅ Taught by vetted industry experts.
✅ Have workbooks, resources, and templates.
✅ Less than 10 minutes per lesson.
We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:
• Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously I timed it 😂)
Join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill set! 🚀
