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When marketing budgets get smaller, most marketing professionals start to panic. Fewer dollars may mean fewer campaigns and less than optimal results. Getting more from your marketing dollars should be on top of everyone’s mind. Even though smaller marketing budgets appear to be the norm, don’t assume that it will negatively impact your marketing results.

Keep in mind that you’re not the only company facing a smaller marketing budget. In fact, recent studies show that almost all businesses have been impacted in the marketing area. One thing to note is that your vendors for online and offline marketing are feeling the strain. With smaller budgets, many companies are cutting back on their traditional advertising. This creates a tremendous opportunity for you to get more of what you need at a reduced cost.

Take stock of all of your marketing spend. Whether it’s for online advertising or simply direct mail, get a good understanding of all the costs involved in your project. Perhaps you’ve been sending post cards to your target prospects. Speak with your printer or mail house and see how they might be able to improve their pricing. With direct mail you have numerous options. Don’t be afraid to negotiate the cost of supplies.

Once you’ve reviewed your marketing campaigns, take a closer look at your online spend. Any online marketing campaign has profitable and unprofitable aspects to it. As yourself where you spend has been most effective. Reallocate your budget to the successful campaigns or others like it. Now it the time to pause those campaigns that just haven’t proven themselves successful. This reduces your expense and improve the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

After a thorough review of your marketing expenses, your are in a much better position for determining how you can group promotions to lower costs and improve sell through. Consider how you might take advantage of your current campaigns. Do you ask customers to forward a promotion to a friend? Are you communicating to your mailing list on a regular basis? Are you collecting information about your consumers that can help you customize your campaigns and improve conversion rates? Think through each touch point and how you might improve your sales.

Being successful with a smaller marketing budget requires a dual approach. To get results, you need to focus on reducing your marketing expenses while improving conversions. Doing so may seem a bit unnerving but can certainly be done. Focus on what has worked in the past and eliminate projects that will be difficult to track or manage. The key is to go with the tried and true marketing methods that have produced results.

Once you have found the campaigns that really produce positive results, consider how you can make them even more effective. Viral and social media, encouraging others to take advantage of your offers, is a great method for generating results and doesn’t cost a lot. When marketers see something that’s working, they often leave it alone. If you have specific campaigns that produce results, focus on expanding the campaigns and scaling them. This ensure that you are creating a sustainable campaign that gives you what you’re looking for in difficult times - greater results with a smaller budget.