The Zero-Sum Marketing Budget: How to Pitch Innovation Without Increasing Spend
The marketing budget in most companies is a zero-sum game.
If you are the incumbent vendor, agency or consultant. If you want to sell up to a CMO or Marketer, remember this one key principle above.
If you talk to most CMOs and marketers, they will tell you the same thing. When my vendors and agencies come up with new, fantastic ideas or solutions, AI this, GEO that, this new social channel or influencer to target your audience segment. I wish they would remember one core reality: their budgets aren’t magically expandable.
The truth is, every shiny new tool or channel that’s pitched needs to be weighed against the reality that budgets are often flat or even shrinking.
What they would love to see more of is agencies that not only bring innovation to the table but also come ready with trade-off plans. In other words, don’t just add new ideas, help me figure out where we can optimise existing spend to make room for them.
I think that kind of proactive approach would be a win-win for everyone involved. Look at your current retainers and identify where you can propose proactive savings, even if those are temporary. This proactive approach may actually get the CMO to either to ask for more in next year’s cycle or take away budgets from vendors that are not innovating.
I remember an agency came to us once with a new media investment in a channel they had high conviction in, but they also proposed changes to reporting schedules to offset that investment. We said yes to the innovation and, in the next cycle, reinstated the reporting mechanisms.
Sometimes it’s about working together to innovate without just assuming that more budget will magically appear. After all, creativity isn’t just about new ideas; it’s about smart, sustainable choices
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