Section 2: Marketing Budget (MS Excel worksheets template)

Section 2: Marketing Budget (MS Excel worksheets template)

Section 2 uses the “Business Plan Financials” MS Excel template (see: Course Required Files in Week 1). Use the “Business Plan Financials Guide” (see: Course Required Files in Week 1) to support your development of the Marketing Budget.

1. Complete the Marketing Budget worksheet for your company.
   • • Hints: The goal of the marketing budget is to help you determine how much it will cost you to reach your market and achieve your sales goals.
     • Hints: When filling out the “Marketing Budget” worksheet in the Excel spreadsheet:
       • Begin in the current year and complete a marketing budget for the first year of your business. The information you enter in the marketing budget spreadsheet will flow through to your “Income Statement” in the Business Plan Financials.
       • Leave the number at zero (0) for any marketing vehicles you do not intend to use.
       • Remember that all marketing activities involve costs. If social media represents a significant portion of your marketing, assume you will have cost of advertising and that should be reflected on your budget. Even if a social media site charges nothing to use it, you will need to use company resources to manage the site, pay someone to execute your social media marketing campaigns, and will most likely pay for ads on that site.
       • Do NOT leave the “Marketing Budget” blank, assuming you will not have any marketing costs.