In our previous post, we covered the foundational elements of a marketing plan for NZ SMEs - setting clear objectives, understanding your "why," and the iterative nature of a plan.

Once you know where you’re going, the next step involves defining exactly who you are talking to and figuring out how much you need to spend to reach them. In this second part of our practical planning series, we’re diving into customer personas and the often-daunting task of setting a marketing budget.

What is a customer persona?

At its simplest, a persona is an educated generalisation of a customer type. It’s a tool used to humanise your target market so you’re not just marketing to "males aged 25–45," but to "Dave, the site foreman who values reliability and quick turnaround times."

A good persona usually includes:

Demographics: Age, location, job title.
Behaviours: What do they read, watch, spend time, how they shop.
Pain points: What keeps them up at night? What problem are they trying to solve?
Motivations: What are their aspirations, why would they choose you over a competitor?

Why personas can be useful

Personas have practical applications for growing a New Zealand business:

Scaling your team: As you hire more marketing staff or a sales team, personas act as a shorthand. Instead of long explanations, you can tell a new hire, "We’re targeting 'Busy Sarah' for this campaign" It ensures everyone is on the same page.
Entering new segments: If you’ve dominated one part of the market and want to expand, creating a persona for that new segment helps you identify if your current messaging will actually land or if it needs a complete overhaul.
Understanding your customer base: It helps you to identify patterns to more effectively target, craft advertising strategies that reach specific audiences. It can also help you develop better products and refine your customer service.

When personas become a hindrance

The trap many businesses fall into is making personas too rigid, overly detailed or based on individual opinions.
Personas become a problem when they stop you from seeing real-world data. People are multifaceted. If you stick too rigidly to a persona, you might ignore a whole segment of customers who don't fit perfectly but are still buying your product. Use them as a guide and starting point.

How to plan a marketing budget

The question I’m asked most often by NZ business owners is, "How much should I spend?"

For most SMEs, a marketing budget is usually calculated as a percentage of gross revenue - often 10% - 30% for growth. However, the most pragmatic way to plan is to look at your specific goals and work backwards from what it costs to acquire a single customer.

The split: Creative vs. Media

A common mistake is spending 95% of the budget on "buying eyes" (media) and only 5% on what those eyes are actually looking at (creative).

The Fishing Analogy: Think of your media spend as the boat and the fuel needed to get out to the middle of the lake where the fish are. Your creative is the lure. You can spend thousands of dollars on the best boat and top-tier fuel to drive around the lake, but if you’re using a rusty hook with no bait, you aren’t going to catch anything.

In a digital-first world, your creative needs to stop the scroll, cut through the noise, and be platform-specific. Generally, an 80/20 split (80% media, 20% creative/production) is a healthy starting point for most NZ SMEs. If you’re launching a brand for the first time, or haven't marketed your business before, then you might lean heavier on the creative side initially to make sure that "lure" is effective.

Brand spend vs. Performance spend

This is the often debated balancing act for any marketing plan.

Performance Marketing (The Short Term): These are ads designed to get an immediate response - "Buy Now," "Sign Up," "Get a Quote." It’s highly measurble and intended for quicker conversion and cash flow.

Brand Building (The Long Term): This is about creating an emotional connection and staying top-of-mind. It’s harder to measure day-to-day, but it’s what allows you to charge a premium, aka brand equity, and makes your performance ads work better.

The pragmatic approach: If you only do performance marketing, your cost-per-acquisition will eventually rise because you're only targeting the small percentage of people ready to buy right now.

If you only do brand building, you might run into cash flow issues waiting for the sales to come in. There's no set rules on how to split your budget and it comes down to your business growth stage, total budget and the types of marketing you might have already done.

For most established SMEs, a 60/40 split (60% brand, 40% performance) is often cited as the gold standard by Binet and Field in their book ‘The Long and Short of It’.

My hot take: In NZ, many businesses will scoff at the idea of spending 60% of marketing budget in brand marketing, particularly during times of economic uncertainty. It’s worth having a rethink of what brand marketing is. A run club, educational seminar, event sponsorships, can all be put into the brand marketing bucket and sometimes acquisition can be closer than you think. (Also, for a typical NZ small and medium businesses that’s having their first proper go at marketing, I might suggest flipping the ratio to 40% brand, 60% performance)

So in a nutshell

A good marketing plan doesn't need to be 50 pages long. It just needs to identify who you're talking to and allocate your budget in a way that balances immediate sales with long-term growth.

Keep your personas practical, ensure your creative is worth the media spend, and don't neglect your brand in the pursuit of a quick click.

You’re not alone in this!

If you need help refining your personas, starting your first marketing campaign or figuring out where your budget should be going, get in touch me. I’m here to help your businesses grow with creative yet pragmatic marketing.

Practical advice on marketing plans for NZ SMEs: Personas, Budgets, and Brand vs. Performance