How to set your marketing priorities when you have a limited budget (e.g. CHF 5'000/month)
- Arnaud
- Oct 6
- 3 min read
Let's be honest: the problem facing Swiss SMEs is not a lack of resources. It's a lack of priorities.
Having a marketing budget of CHF 5'000 per month, or CHF 60'000 per year, may seem like a small amount... or a huge amount. It all depends on how it is structured.
Some companies boost their sales with this amount.
Others get almost nothing out of it.
The difference? A clear, structured and measured approach.
Without clear priorities, marketing becomes a money pit.
When the budget is limited, every penny counts.
And yet, it is often in these situations that we waste the most.
Real examples observed among our clients:
CHF 2'000/month spent on ads without a strategy.
CHF 1'000 for ‘aesthetic’ visuals with no conversion objective.
The remaining CHF 2'000 for everything else (without knowing what to measure).
The result: fragmented marketing that is impossible to manage and has no lasting effect.
The key is not to ‘do a little bit of everything’. It is to choose what really matters.
Step 1: Clarify the business objective first and foremost
Before talking about channels, let's talk about direction.
Marketing only makes sense if it serves a clear business objective:
Generate more qualified leads?
Build loyalty among your existing customer base?
Increase your local visibility?
Recruit more effectively?
A budget of CHF 5'000 per month cannot do everything.
But it can change everything if it is focused on a single priority objective.
Step 2: Select the right levers based on maturity
Every company is at a different stage of its marketing journey.
Here’s a simple framework to choose the right levers:
Maturity Level | Main Objective | Top Priority | Recommended Channels |
Level 1: Foundations | Build a solid base | Positioning + website | Clear site, local SEO, Google Business |
Level 2: Acquisition | Generate leads | Digital acquisition | Google Ads, Meta Ads, retargeting |
Level 3: Awareness & Authority | Strengthen the brand | Content & LinkedIn | Ghostwriting, SEO, digital PR |
Level 4: Automation & Growth | Optimize & scale | Data + CRM + tracking | HubSpot, automations, dashboards |
The right choice depends on your current stage, not on what’s trending.
Step 3: Allocate the budget logically
Let’s take a concrete example: a local B2B service SME with CHF 5'000/month.
Here’s a consistent 6-month allocation:
Category | Objective | Monthly Budget | % |
Strategy & Fractional CMO steering | Vision, consistency, reporting | CHF 1'000 | 20% |
Website creation / optimization | Conversion & visibility | CHF 1'000 | 20% |
Digital advertising (Google / Meta) | Targeted acquisition | CHF 1'800 | 36% |
Content & SEO | Authority & organic growth | CHF 800 | 16% |
CRM & tracking (HubSpot / GA4) | Measurement & automation | CHF 400 | 8% |
Total | CHF 5'000 | 100% |
This structure avoids scattered spending.
Each action supports the next within a coherent system.
Step 4: Measure, learn, adjust
Monitoring is what turns a budget into an investment.
Each channel needs clear KPIs, tracked monthly:
Channel | Key Metric | Target |
Website | Conversion rate | >2% |
Ads | Cost per lead (CPL) | <CHF 120 |
SEO | Monthly organic traffic | +10% |
Engagement rate | >3% |
A budget without tracking is blind navigation.A budget tracked with discipline becomes a growth engine.
Step 5: Reinvest smartly
The final reflex: reinvest where returns are proven.
Once data is consolidated, every franc should go to the most effective channel.
This simple process can double or triple the profitability of a small budget.
Conclusion
With CHF 5'000 per month, you can:
Build a strong foundation.
Generate consistent leads.
Set up a measurable growth strategy.
But only on one condition: Prioritize, measure, and learn.
At Birdy Consulting, we help Swiss SMEs structure their marketing budgets to maximize every franc invested.The difference doesn’t come from how much you spend but how you spend it.
