Marketing costs as much as you can afford, or as little as you can afford! The most important thing is to work how much you have, or can afford to spend. Here are three ways of working out your budget.

The ?10%? Method ? This is where you allocate 10% of your turnover to your marketing. As your business grows, so can the marketing that you can afford to do. If you are starting from the very beginning, with no clients and no turnover, you need to think about how much you can afford to get you started and find your first clients.

The ?How much have I got?? Method ? This method is about looking at what funds you realistically have available to you, which you can allocate to marketing. If you have been made redundant, you might have a sum of money you can put to developing your business. If you are working while setting up your business, you can allocate a proportion of your salary. If you are already running your business, look at what money is coming in and what you can afford to invest in your marketing.

The ?How much does it cost?? Method ? With this method, you need to look at all the marketing activities you identified in Chapter Six and calculate how much it will all cost. Then you need to look for that investment ? either from your own savings or from external sources. You can speak to banks, investors or family to raise the funding you need. While this method might see you relying on outside help, it means you can definitely afford to do everything in a very professional manner.

Spend some time thinking about the different ways of setting your budget and how much you can or want to spend on your marketing. Do this before you start spending your hard earned money and you?ll get much more from your budget.