Why underspending kills the impact of your digital campaigns

One of the biggest and most common mistakes people make when allocating a budget to a campaign is thinking the impact they will have will be proportional to the budget invested. Wrong. This myth is the cause of many disappointments and overspending. When it comes to digital campaigns, there are many factors to bear in mind in order to set the right circumstances for success.

Every week at Enigma, we meet people who have either worked on their own campaigns or collaborated with a digital agency and still complain about their results. When we analyse the data, we often realize their budget is under the visibility threshold. This has a catastrophic impact on their performance and finances.

Because we want you to be above the floating line, we’ve gathered a few key pieces of information for you to know how to avoid misusing your budget in your next digital campaign. Let’s cover them together!

Impact: Expectations VS Reality

The legend says, the more budget you spend on a campaign, the more impact you have. Therefore you would expect your visibility to be at the highest level when you spend a lot of money, right? The problem is, it’s not only about a number. And what is “a lot of money” anyway? What you consider to be a lot, might be superfluous to another company and vice versa. Lucky for you, there is a way to ensure your budget is allocated well.

On the graph below, we can identify 3 different zones. As you can see, the only area where you can expect to perform well and maximise your impact is the middle section. On one hand, you lose all chance of making yourself visible enough to create an impact if you’re below the floating line, and on the other, if you spend too much, you end up overspending without creating more impact. So the key here is balance – and digital education.

How can you remain in the impact zone?

There are a few strategic numbers to bear in mind when you create your digital campaign budget to ensure you remain between the floating line and overspending areas to be visible to your audience.

For a 1-month campaign, you need a minimum budget of 1500-3000 CHF. Of course, this is a general indication that can be used as an indicative benchmark, but there are a lot of factors to consider as well. It all depends on the price of the media platform, the area you want to cover, and the industry you operate in. Regardless of your sector, in Switzerland, we estimate one lead costs between 500 and 1500 CHF in the B2B field, and between 50 and 500 CHF in the B2C field. These numbers are also extremely important to be aware of when thinking of your media budget as they should be the basis of your calculation.

Also, as explained in the video above, the prices of the media in Switzerland are amongst the highest in Europe, which is another key factor influencing your budget allocation.

Understanding your industry’s benchmarks

You can contact us to understand what the best practices and important benchmarks are in your industry. As you know, we’ve been analysing data to optimize campaigns since 2008 so you can get the clients you deserve, win the votes you need to move forward or collect funds to save the world. You only have to name your objective, we’ll help you reach your destination.

Always remember to keep exploring.