Over the last five weeks I’ve been pulling a lot of things together for our biggest tradeshow of the year…CES. I’ve learned a lot, been hair-brained crazy and will be delighted to see the fruits of all our labor in January.

One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from this is that all those things you read in marketing books about having so much money that you’re just spending on whatever it takes get to zero so your budgets don’t get cut the following year…aren’t very realistic.

Yeah…I’m guessing that’s really only the case for maybe 5-10% of marketing professionals. The rest of us have a lot more people around and above us asking a simple question…why?

Luckily, my sister and I were brought up under a simple rule - “make me a reason”. In other words, don’t pound your fists and stomp your feet…articulate why you feel the way you do and let’s talk about it.

Even if I didn’t get my way, it always felt better to at least lay out what I thought instead of being shut down with an all powerful “NO.”

In everything I do, in every dime I allot to any particular project I think about the why. I think about what reason I would have if someone came up to me right this instant and said “how come you ordered that many business cards?” or “why do we have our logo on water bottles?” Sometimes it comes down to dollars and cents and other times it comes down to added value. Or whether something is really necessary…or not.

I think this is a far better way to start - and from there I’ll have the skills to scale this method for when I have $5 million dollars to spend. I’m fortunate enough to be in an environment where as long as we can all agree that the expense is justified and worthwhile, we’re good to go. But I think part of that comes down to being conscientious and thoughtful about what to do and what to pass on before people start raising their eyebrows.

Looking at the big annual picture, budgets and options can be determined for all the projects, materials, collateral and campaigns that are planned throughout the year. Always asking yourself “is this worth the money?” and “could we be getting more out of this?” before someone else surprises you with these questions (you know they’re thinking it…) will keep the creativity flowing and ensure you’re getting the most out of your budget.