Move Dollars Around

Strategies for reallocating marketing budget across different channels and campaigns. How to move money around through the year and not get lost

The board and finance team don't dig into how you move dollars between line items monthly or quarterly. They care about hitting revenue growth targets while keeping the total budget stable.

You have the Budget Movement Freedom

Money planned is money for investment where return is expected. Your success metrics are:

  • Hitting revenue targets
  • Spending the allocated budget effectively
  • Delivering expected growth
It's better to deliver targets while slightly exceeding budget than to show savings with underperformance.

Key Rules for Budget Movement

Stay Within Budget Totals

Keep both quarterly and annual spending at approved levels. Within these boundaries, you can move dollars between individual line items, categories, and even cost centers.

Here are some common scenarios for moving dollars around:

  • From a LinkedIn campaign to Google Search Ads
  • From Google Ads market 1 to Google Ads market 2
  • Reallocating event sponsorship to paid media
  • Headcount to contractor (e.g. if you cannot hire full time to agency or freelancer)
  • From February to March, if the campaign preparation gets delayed

Track Budget Variances

Track each budget variance with these key fields. For automated tracking of these variances, refer to chapter 6.1: Automate Actuals Tracking.

FieldOptions/Purpose
Variance Reason• Planned Overspend
• Planned Underspend
• Unexpected Internal Event
• Unexpected External Event
• Budget pulled in (budget rescheduled)
Budget Reallocation NeededYes/No
Status of ReallocationPending/Completed
CommentAdd explanation for:
• Reason for variance
• Impact on performance
• Reallocation plan
These structured fields enable async communication with your team about budget moves and their rationale.

Customers acquired earlier weigh more in ARR

Don't wait for Q4 to use all remaining budget. In subscription SaaS businesses, a customer acquired in Q1 generates 3-4 quarters more revenue in that fiscal year compared to a customer acquired in Q3. This directly impacts your annual recurring revenue (ARR) targets.