Z.E.R.O.: Zero Paid Media as the New Marketing Model

CHAPTER13

Budget Setting

Once every year, most major marketing departments go through the excruciating but important process of setting annual budgets. They typically follow either a calendar year or a fiscal year. In Chapter 3 we outlined some of the current (bad) practices when it comes to budget setting.

In this chapter we will set out some markers to achieve the goal of this book, which is to at least drive the third-party media investments down in favor of investments in your non, owned, and earned media. At best, and in our perfect world, we would accomplish having the paid media investment at zero.

Here is our first piece of advice. Do not kill your third-party, rented, paid media space. Do not go cold turkey. You will surely shock the system, and you will surely fail. As we have discussed throughout this book, you and/or your organization are probably not ready for it—nor are your agencies or the media owners. The only one who is, is your consumer, but you will have to make the journey in stages rather than in one fell swoop, because that fell swoop would turn into a foul flop if taken too swiftly and without preparation.

So what are some of the things that you can do?

First, we recommend setting a three-year gradual evolution plan. This will allow you to not only shift your budget but also shift your company, your brands, your agencies, and even your consumers to the new you.

Figure 13.1 Budget shift over time

Figure 13.1 illustrates how your budget allocation will ...