As the year quickly winds down you might be looking at your budget and wondering how to spend the remainder the end of year budget that you have. It can be tempting to spend it haphazardly to avoid any penalties like being budgeted less money the following year, but there are ways to put that money towards the next year’s projects that will benefit you more down the road.
By taking just a little extra time to think through this decision you can not only help yourself in the future financially but also get the ball rolling on things that need to be done in the new year. Here are just three ways of many that we can help you put your extra end of year budget towards 2022 projects.
Designate Money for Advertising
Depending on the organization you work for, advertising is often an afterthought. We set aside money for events and initiatives but rarely think about how we’re going to promote those ideas. Now more than ever putting even just a little money behind the promotion of your business is necessary to reach your desired audience.
In the past, you could bank on building an audience on social media and the algorithm rewarding you with substantial organic reach. That is no longer the case. In 2012 approximately 16% of any given online audience was seeing content from pages they follow. In 2014 that dropped to 6% and now it is estimated that less than 2% of your audience sees your content organically.
That being said, don’t let your promotional budget be an afterthought. If you have some money left in your 2021 end of year budget, it would be a great idea to set it aside for 2022 promotion. Not only would this take some of the strain off of future you; it would also significantly increase your reach and therefore hopefully lead to more sales, donations, leads, attendees, etc.
Use Your Budget on a Deposit
Perhaps you already have a robust advertising budget lined up for 2022, but you know that in the new year you’re going to want to begin a new branding project or website remodel. Both of these projects can be quite an undertaking and the price tag can add up quickly. If you have funds remaining you could put a deposit down (or even pay in full) for these bigger projects. This piece of advice is particularly beneficial for nonprofits and small businesses.
The world is increasingly digital in nature and because of that things change more and more rapidly each day. If you built a new website five years ago then you’re already behind. We encourage organizations to at the minimum refresh their website every three years. Even though this is best practice, it’s not always easy to find room in the budget for a brand new website or branding project. One way to make it a bit easier is to pay for as much of it upfront as possible from this year’s budget even though the work will be done in the following year.
Pay Upfront for Hosting
One easy way to get some end-of-the-year bang for your buck is to go ahead and pay your website hosting costs upfront for the following year. This doesn’t require nearly as much residual budget money and is still something that will benefit your business or organization.
Our clients have the option of paying for their hosting yearly or monthly. If you have a little bit of money left over in your yearly budget, why not go ahead and pay your hosting costs ahead of time? You might even be able to upgrade your hosting for the year with those additional funds. It doesn’t hurt to have it already paid for and it’s one less thing to think about in the new year.
If you’re looking to put your 2021 budgeted money to work for your 2022 goals, give us a call! There are plenty of ways we can help make that happen for you and we’d love to be a part of setting you up for success in the new year.
