While we’d love to dismiss this as an April Fools Joke, the end of FY25 will be here before we know it. We are 90 days away from June 30, so now is the perfect time to start planning for FY26. What strategic investments can drive real impact for your organization? Here are a few ideas:
Use your strategic plan as your compass
Your strategic plan should be as indispensable to you as your GPS, so refer to it when you feel overwhelmed by the budget planning process. Revisit your objectives to ensure that your FY26 budget plans support both immediate needs and long-term objectives. Once your immediate needs are covered, consider what initiatives align with your long-term marketing goals.
Invest in market research
When was the last time that you analyzed the data to inform your economic development decisions, beyond the most recent U.S. Census figures? Evidence-based decision-making affirms your course of action, pointing to income distribution disparities, shifts in homeownership, labor market data, education, and in/out migration trends. If your competitors are using advanced software products to analyze real-time stats, heat maps, and growth clusters to plot their business attraction strategy and you’re not, your community may lose out.
Update your photo and video assets
If the last professional photos of your downtown were created before that revitalization (or early in the millennium), it’s time to invest in quality photo and video assets to tell your community’s story. Budget now for a photographer or videographer to capture your community when foliage is at its peak, holiday festivity abounds, and cherry blossoms are in bloom. Planning shoots at various locations during different seasons increases your ROI and makes it easy to repurpose your assets in marketing collateral and social media all year long.
Plot your conference attendance and sponsorship strategy now
If those conference sessions on site selection strategies made you wish that you were surrounded by your team, budget for those professional development opportunities now. Similarly, if that platinum sponsor’s prime logo placement at the conference makes you green with envy, budgeting for that now can give your community top billing tomorrow.
Explore marketing automation as a business development investment
Hyper-targeted marketing is here to stay (with good reason), and marketing automation software makes the lift much easier. Marketing automation platforms enhance personalization, improve lead generation, and boost efficiency. The cost investment of these platforms vary, based on bells and whistles, but they’re efficient ways to elevate conversion rates and refine messaging.
If you have a marketing budget idea bubbling up, we’d love to help you determine your ROI for each of these investments. Set up a 15-minute free call with one of our team members to brainstorm your budget plans!
Schedule a call with Sandy, CEO and Founder
Schedule a call with Sophie, Managing Director
Schedule a call with Heather, Vice President of Strategy
