Your marketing budget is $50K/month, but revenue isn't growing. Where is the money going? Here's how to audit and optimize your spend.

Categorizing Spend: Media, Tools, People, Production

Break down your budget into categories:

1. Media Spend (Paid Advertising)

Google Ads
Facebook/Instagram Ads
LinkedIn Ads
Other paid channels
Track: Spend, ROAS, ROI by channel

2. Tools & Software

CRM subscriptions
Email marketing platforms
Analytics tools
Design tools
Other SaaS tools
Track: Monthly/annual costs, usage

3. People (Salaries & Contractors)

Marketing team salaries
Freelancers and contractors
Agency retainers
Track: Total people costs

4. Production Costs

Content creation (blog, video, design)
Website development
Events and conferences
Other one-time costs
Track: Production spend

Identifying Waste (Unused Tools, Bad Ads)

Find where money is wasted:

Unused Tools

Tools no one uses
Duplicate tools (doing the same thing)
Overpriced tools (paying for features you don't use)
Action: Cancel unused, consolidate duplicates

Bad Ads

Ads with negative ROAS
Ads with high spend, low conversion
Underperforming campaigns
Action: Pause or optimize

Reallocating from Low to High Performance

Move money to what works:

The Process

Identify top performers (high ROI channels)
Identify low performers (low/no ROI)
Reduce spend on low performers
Increase spend on high performers
Test new channels with freed-up budget

Benchmarking Your Spend

Compare to industry standards:

Typical Budget Allocation

Media/Advertising: 40-60%
People/Salaries: 25-35%
Tools: 5-10%
Production: 10-20%

Planning for Experimentation

Set aside budget for testing:

Experimentation Budget

10-20% of total budget
Test new channels
Test new tactics
Scale what works, kill what doesn't

Conclusion

Audit your marketing budget regularly. Categorize spend, identify waste, reallocate from low to high performance, benchmark against industry, and plan for experimentation. The result? More efficient spend and better ROI.