Imagine you’ve got £5000 to use on marketing this month.
That’s a lot of money for a small business, so you definitely want to spend it wisely.
But there’s one big question you need to answer: where’s the best place to put it?
Online? It’s where most people are!
You could attract clicks with Google Ads or a campaign on TikTok. You could get your website to the top of the results by investing in SEO and content marketing.
And what about the real world? Plaster an ad on a prime-spot billboard at the end of the M25 and that’s around 200,000 eyes on you every single day.
But which choice is the best one for you? We’re here to help you think it through.
(Spoiler alert, it’s complicated!)
The UK marketing landscape
The marketing landscape is hard to navigate, and no one’s selling a road atlas with the best route to take.
So let’s quickly sketch out the scene.
Digital dominates. Over £35 billion goes into the UK’s digital ad scene every year. You know why? The internet is where most customers are spending their time.
Every business – small, medium, and large – has set up fishing spots along the digital river. It’s the best chance to get a hook (or a click).
But out of home advertising (OOH), such as billboards, bus stops, and digital screens, is still alive and kicking too.
In fact, it’s currently booming in the UK. Businesses spent a record £1.4 billion on OOH last year alone.
What does this mean for your business?
Long story short, there’s space for both methods in your marketing budget. However, it’s crucial to understand that digital and OOH work very differently.
Think of digital marketing like Google Maps. Right there on the customer’s phone to check whenever they want. When they do, you’ll even know that they’ve seen you.
OOH is more like a big road sign. It’s seen by everyone driving past, but you can’t be sure who’s really looked.
What £2k–£10k/month really buys you
Digital marketing
This is any digital marketing you could do, from SEO to PPC, as well as social media and website content.
Digital is like having a Swiss Army Knife. It’s multiple tools in one – all of which can be tracked and scaled as your budget grows.
That’s a lot of scope for a marketing budget, both at the lower £2000 range and from £10k onwards.
Between £2k–£5k, you’ve got the basics covered:
- Long-running search ads
- SEO (including audits and fixes)
- Remarketing to previous visitors
At £10k and over, the digital world is your oyster:
- Start using video marketing
- Build your own content engine
- Build on social media with LinkedIn reach
Billboards in the real world – aka out of home (OOH) ads
OOH is any marketing done outside of the home, including print, billboards, and digital screens.
When you invest in OOH, you essentially rent a giant megaphone. You can use it to project your voice to the crowd, but not everyone will stop to look, listen, or care.
However, if you’re a business looking for local footfall, it can work brilliantly. Gyms, restaurants, and local retailers usually benefit best.
Bigger brands looking for a fame boost can also benefit from using OOH. When your name is all around, people will start to think of you as having that kind of presence.
But what will a £2k-£10k budget get you? OOH costs vary depending on what type of placement you go for:
- Digital screens often cost £10-£20 per thousand views
- Depending on size and location, billboards cost between £200-£2000 per week
A simple framework
With £2k-£20k a month in your marketing budget, making the right decision is going to feel overwhelming.
That’s why the decision making process needs to be as simple as possible. Forgot all the whys and what ifs for now – let’s break it down into the bite size chunks that actually matter.
To keep things this simple, you only need to ask yourself four questions:
What’s your goal?
The crux of any marketing, you need to know your goal before you sink money into either a digital or OOH campaign.
Understanding your goal will make choosing between them 1000 times easier.
For example, if your primary goal is to get as many sales this quarter as possible, you should lean digital.
If sales are secondary, you can look toward OOH. Say you want to build your business’ fame, maybe look bigger than you actually are – OOH will pack a punch here.
Where’s your audience?
Location, location, location! Knowing where your audience is will further simplify your choice.
If you’re a cafe selling organic coffee in Croydon, OOH ads on commuter routes make the most sense. You’re a business targeting footfall in the local area, so catching customers on their way to work or the school run will have the best results.
If you’re selling SaaS nationwide, you’re not reliant on this local custom. That means your marketing budget is better used on SEO and Google Ads, which target customers tapping your keywords into a search engine.
What’s your time horizon?
Otherwise known as, ‘How quickly do you want results?’
If you’re on a strict timeframe (and need to measure results as you go), digital is the method to go with. It’s a bit like stepping onto a treadmill, where you can set the speed up and down as you please, and even track the calories you’re burning.
OOH is a bit more like planting a tree. You’re not going to see that tree fully grown and blooming in the space of 24 hours. However, the tree will get bigger and stronger over time – just as your business’ reputation will.
How will you measure success?
The last important consideration – how will you check your marketing is working?
If you want to have a clear dashboard that gives you detailed insight into new leads, impressions, clicks, and your total cost per sale, go with digital.
OOH placements are good for giving your brand more presence and awareness, but they lack the deep, ongoing insight digital provides. But if you don’t really mind that, try OOH.
Marketing budget templates for UK businesses
£2k/month: The Essentials Budget
With £2k a month, you need to focus on digital only:
- £1000 on SEO – product pages, landing pages, blog posts
- £600 on Search Ads – Google Ads that link back to your new SEO content
- £400 on Remarketing – target previous interest with emails or personalised ads
Spending on OOH at this level is a bit like getting in the lineup for Glastonbury but only packing one speaker. Even connected to a microphone, you’ll simply get drowned out.
£5k/month: The Balanced Growth Budget
This is more than double than the essentials budget, so you’ve got some wiggle room to play with here.
As such, we recommend splitting your budget in two like this:
- 70% digital: £3500
- 30% test: £1500
Your digital spend:
- £1800 on SEO
- £1000-£1200 on Search Ads
- £500 on social media ad campaigns (focus on visibility and forming connections)
Your test spend:
- Use the final £1500 on a demo OOH burst near your cafe, restaurant, or store.
£10k/month: The Multi-channel Mix Budget
£10k a month allows you to get incredibly creative with the way you market your business.
Split that £10k monthly budget into three:
- 50% Performance Marketing: £5000
- 35–40% Content & Brand: £3500-£4000
- 10–15% OOH: £1000-£1500
Performance Marketing:
This allows you to run cost effective ads that allow you to track conversions. You can also quickly adjust your budget if something is working or not.
- PPC Google Ads
- Social media ads focused on driving conversions
Content & Brand:
Content and brand marketing allows you to boost business visibility and reputation. Well made content provides more value to your audience – and is highly valued by search engine algorithms too.
- SEO content like blog posts and landing pages
- Video content for social media, including Youtube
OOH:
Focus on placing OOH in key geographical areas:
- Shoping centres for heavy 9-6 footfall 7 days a week
- Billboards near store clusters, like retail parks
- Train stations to catch commuters and incoming event attendees
When OOH shines
After reading all this through, you might be thinking that OOH is just a waste of time and money.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are plenty of places where OOH can be used and used well:
You’re opening a new gym in your hometown. Investing in ad screens outside the local big Tesco and running ads in the digital bus stops on the commute will bring a lot of footfall your way.
You’ve been partnered in a law firm and are looking to build its credibility. Buy a few city-centre OOH placements to get your firm slap bang in the middle of a traffic hotspot. This kind of central, real world visibility builds stature.
You’re the head of marketing in a nationwide fast food chain. Running consistently high quality OOH ads on retail park billboards reinforces the money you’ve already put into TV and social media. You’ve promised customers a great experience in their own homes, and now you’re following through.
The pitfalls to avoid
Once you’ve decided where to put your £2k+ marketing budget, it won’t just be plain sailing from there on out.
You can easily fall into a trap if you’re not carefully testing and reviewing your marketing methods.
The digital trap:
You might notice after a while that your cost per click (CPC) is going up. However, you ignore these price rises and just keep putting in ad spend.
This is like filling a leaky bucket. You need to fix what’s preventing visitors from converting when clicking on your website or ad content (a.k.a., replace the bucket).
Only then can you start filling it with water again.
The OOH trap:
You’ve bought a single poster at a high traffic bus stop and expect it to do a lot of heavy lifting.
However, this is like trying to shout over the top of a football crowd and hoping people both hear and remember what you say.
You can’t get Google Analytics-style ROI with OOH, let alone with just one.
How we help you decide
Deciding on the best way to use a £2k or £20k marketing budget often requires a bit of expertise.
At TJ Creative, we’re here to help businesses of all sizes. Local cafes, mid-sized manufacturers, national chains – we’ll shine a light on the best ways to use your budget.
We’ll sit down with you and run through the following:
- Your goals
- Your location
- Your target audience
- Different budget-use scenarios
We understand the whole picture first. Then we give you a clear, testable 12-week plan. Our plans are digital-first, with OOH where it makes sense.
Because you don’t have to guess. We’ll help you build the right mix for your business.
All you need to do is get in touch!
FAQs
Is OOH cheaper than digital per impression?
Sometimes! Cost per thousand impressions (CPMs) on OOH can be similar to digital ads.
But you can’t target OOH as tightly as digital. That makes it a lot harder to check CPM in the first place.
Can I track OOH?
For sure. You can track OOH using route data, running footfall studies, and checking hits on QR codes.
You can even monitor brand mentions on social media, or brand searches for the time your ad is live.
The tracking isn’t as precise as what a digital dashboard will show you, but you won’t be entirely in the dark.
How long until SEO works?
Most SEO starts to show results in 3-6 months. SEO’s strength is in the way it compounds, with bigger and better results every month afterwards.
For more on SEO
What marketing should I do if I only have £2k/month?
Go digital-first. It’s accessible, measurable, and there’s a lot more clicks to be had.
You should only start thinking about OOH once you’ve scaled.
Does OOH drive sales?
It absolutely can, but only when it’s used consistently as part of a mixed marketing strategy. It’s rare to see OOH drive sales as a one-off investment.