The basics:
The process of determining the financial resources necessary to meet the cost of given policy aims
My experience:
The budgeting is always a tricky business… In every field and every company (and every home also:). Many would even say that it is not my business to talk about it as long as I am in the marketing department and not in the management or the financial department. And I would agree… But as I have mentioned before – I have never had “the chance” to work exclusively and only in the marketing. And as I have always tried to go the extra mile to improve the company, sometimes I had to vote my own budgets for marketing (and even sometimes use these same money for innovations and improvements of the business rather then for maximizing the company revenue through marketing efforts). But there is one thing I would say to every manager out there – “Never give the marketing budgeting decisions to your marketing manager!” My philosophy is simple – a marketing manager thinks like this: “Every dollar I spent brings 10 back to the company. This means that if I spend 10 000, this will bring 100 000 back. So instead of keeping the same turnover, next time, I would ask for 20 000in order to increase it. And so on and so on. So if I am constantly winning, why would I be against having the opportunity to take my own financial decisions? Well I would say that the marketing budgeting is a little bit like gambling – the more you win, the more you bet… and unfortunately true the other way round – the more you lose, the more you bet… And since now I would be hated from every marketing manager I have to add – “Never give them these decisions, but always listen, consider and be open minded about their ideas and work!” And even more – plan their budget ahead, and let them know how much they can spend per month, but always be prepared to exceed about 30% this budget if a new opportunity opens up. And always split their budget – advise them that 80% for example are for their ongoing projects and the rest is for their new ideas. This will make you not only say, but actually have a well organized budgetwise marketing department.
Creativity
Graphic design and visual art have always been part of who I am. From the first crayon sun on the wall to the latest web site, banner or camera shot – they all represent my zest for versatile, colorful, vibrant life
Professionalism
Marketer by education, profession and mindset I believe the good research and analyses lead to good planning and results. And then there is the full array of communication channels to present, inform and educate - from the dynamic search engine marketing and social media optimization to the simple but mandatory business card
Precision
The web will never stop amazing me - its richness, its limitlessness, its diversity. My jealousy for the developers being part of this magic has had a fair influence on my HTML, CSS, XML and even action script skills. But being much closer to the business world my contribution has always been limited to the web content management – its accuracy, its sufficiency, its visualization and its detailed representation
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe"
Anatole France