Marketing Budget Planning: Top-Down vs Objective-Based Budgets, CAC Targets, Diminishing Returns, Channel Allocation & Monthly Phasing
Plan next year's marketing budget so you can defend it. You will compare %-of-revenue and objective-based budgets, work back from customer targets to spend, allocate across channels with diminishing-returns curves, phase the money by month and season, keep a test reserve and track budget against actual, with every cell checked as you go.
One-time payment · lifetime access · lessons, labs, exam and certificate included · no subscription.
About this course
This course builds a defensible marketing budget in a spreadsheet. You compare % of revenue, last year plus x % and fictional benchmark ranges, then work back from a customer target through a reverse funnel to leads, spend and CAC. You evaluate diminishing-returns response curves with POWER, compare average and marginal CAC and solve for the spend where a channel stops paying. You allocate the budget in blocks by marginal return with LARGE and COUNTIF, split working from non-working spend, phase the money by seasonality with a launch burst and cash timing, release a test reserve by rule and track budget vs actual with payback months and a chart.
Lessons
- Top-Down Budgets: % of Revenue, Last Year + x % and Benchmark Ranges Pro
- Objective-Based Budgets: From the Customer Target Back to Leads, Spend and CAC Pro
- Channel Response Curves: Diminishing Returns, Average vs Marginal CAC Pro
- Allocation by Marginal Returns: Funding the Best Next Block in Every Step Pro
- Working vs Non-Working Spend: Media, Production, Tools and Agency Fees Pro
- Monthly Phasing: Seasonality Weights, Launch Bursts and Cash Timing Pro
- Test & Contingency Reserve: Holding Money Back and Releasing It by Rule Pro
- Budget vs Actual Tracker: Variances, CAC Payback and a Chart for the Review Pro