About myself

 Work experience – campaign development, market analysis, team

leadership, budget management
 Campaign example:
 ROI:
 Marketing team management
 Omnichannel marketing
 Staying updated on industry trends

A university vs fast moving goods

Marketing and communications strategy

Marketing concepts

Budgeting process

My projects / successes

 MRA
 OXFAM

Extras

Salary expectations

Portfolio

Professional set up and training

 A marketing manager is responsible for developing and executing marketing
strategies to promote a company's products or services, including market
research, creating marketing plans, managing budgets, overseeing content
creation, analyzing campaign performance, and maintaining brand image to
attract new customers and retain existing ones; essentially, they lead the
marketing team to achieve business goals through strategic marketing
initiatives.
Key responsibilities of a marketing manager:
 Market Research and Analysis:
Conduct market research to understand customer needs, trends, and
competitor landscape to inform marketing strategies.
 Strategic Planning:
Develop comprehensive marketing plans, including target audience
identification, positioning, messaging, and budget allocation.
 Brand Management:
Ensure consistent brand messaging and image across all marketing
channels to maintain brand identity.
 Campaign Development and Execution:
Create and manage marketing campaigns across various channels like
digital, social media, print, and events.
 Content Creation Oversight:
Oversee the creation and distribution of high-quality content like website
copy, blog posts, social media updates, and marketing materials.
 Budget Management:
Allocate and manage marketing budgets effectively to maximize ROI across
campaigns.
 Performance Monitoring and Analysis:
Track key marketing metrics, analyze campaign data, and identify areas for
improvement.
 Team Leadership:
Lead and motivate a team of marketing professionals including digital
marketers, content creators, and graphic designers.
 Collaboration with Other Departments:
 Work closely with sales, product development, and customer service teams
to align marketing strategies with overall business objectives.

 Customer Relationship Management:

Foster strong customer relationships through targeted marketing efforts and
customer engagement initiatives.
Key Skills for a Marketing Manager:
 Analytical Thinking: Ability to interpret data and make informed decisions
based on market insights
 Communication Skills: Effective communication to convey marketing
strategies and collaborate with various stakeholders
 Creativity: Develop innovative marketing campaigns to stand out in the
market
 Leadership Skills: Manage and motivate a marketing team to achieve goals
 Digital Marketing Expertise: Understanding of digital marketing channels
and tools to reach online audiences
 Project Management: Ability to plan, execute, and monitor marketing
projects within deadlines
 When interviewing for a Marketing Manager role, expect questions about your
experience with campaign development, market analysis, budget
management, team leadership, and aligning marketing strategies with overall
business goals; common questions include: "Tell me about a successful
marketing campaign you led," "How do you measure ROI on marketing
initiatives?," "How do you stay updated on industry trends?," "How would you
approach a declining market share for a product?," and "Describe your
leadership style when managing a marketing team.".
General Marketing Questions:
 What is your marketing philosophy?
 Explain your approach to marketing, emphasizing customer-centricity and data-
driven decision making.
 How do you align marketing strategies with overall business goals?
 Demonstrate understanding of how marketing initiatives should contribute to
company objectives like revenue growth or brand awareness.
 How do you measure the success of a marketing campaign?
 Discuss key performance indicators (KPIs) like website traffic, conversion rates,
social media engagement, and ROI.
 How do you stay updated on current marketing trends?
 Highlight methods for staying informed like industry publications, conferences,
webinars, and competitor analysis.
Specific Marketing Strategy Questions:
 Describe your approach to customer segmentation and targeting.
 Explain how you identify different customer groups and tailor marketing
messages accordingly.
 How would you develop a marketing strategy for a new product launch?
 Outline the steps involved including market research, positioning, messaging,
channel selection, and launch plan.
 What is your experience with omnichannel marketing?
 Discuss how you would coordinate marketing efforts across different channels
like online, social media, email, and physical stores.
 How do you manage a marketing budget effectively?
 Explain your process for allocating funds across different marketing initiatives
while optimizing ROI.
Leadership and Team Management Questions:
 How do you motivate and develop your marketing team?
 Describe your leadership style and strategies for fostering creativity and growth
within your team.
 How do you handle disagreements within your marketing team?
 Explain your approach to conflict resolution and collaborative decision making.
 Tell me about a time you had to overcome a significant marketing
challenge?
 Use the STAR method to describe a challenging situation, the actions taken,
and the positive outcome.
Digital Marketing Specific Questions:
 What is your experience with SEO and SEM?
 Discuss strategies for optimizing website ranking on search engines and
managing paid search campaigns.
 How do you leverage social media for marketing purposes?
 Explain your approach to content creation, audience engagement, and social
media advertising.
 What is your understanding of data analytics and how do you use it to
inform marketing decisions?
 Describe how you interpret data to identify trends and optimize marketing
campaigns.
Remember to always research the company and role thoroughly before an
interview, prepare relevant examples from your experience, and ask insightful
questions to demonstrate your genuine interest in the position.
15 Marketing Manager Interview Questions and
Answers

Why are you interested in pursuing a career in marketing?

The aim of this question is to assess a candidate's motivations for

wanting to work in a marketing job. What to look for in an answer:

 Their motivations
 Current and future career goals
 Reason for working in marketing

Example:
"I'm interested in marketing because it's a line of work that's always
interested me. I got a degree in marketing because it's fulfiling to
connect with people. I eventually hope to work as a marketing
manager for a company that offers a product I genuinely believe is
beneficial."

Do you have experience or a background in marketing?

The aim of this question is to assess a candidate's qualifications

through the skills and knowledge they've gained from their prior work
experiences. What to look for in an answer:

 Useful marketing experience

 Prior employers
 Duties from previous marketing jobs

Example:
"I worked as a digital marketing coordinator for a few years with an
online apparel and clothing company. So I was one of the primary
people who coordinated marketing efforts on social media accounts
and on their website. I also coordinated a marketing campaign where
we partnered with various online platforms to achieve greater
outreach."
How do you develop and track the success of a marketing
campaign?

The aim of this question is to assess a candidate's knowledge of

marketing campaign development and how they measure its success.
What to look for in an answer:

 Knowledge of how to develop a marketing campaign

 Knowledge on how to track a marketing campaign
 Interpretation of what a successful marketing campaign looks
like

Example:
"In my experience, I developed marketing campaigns by
collabourating with other people on my team. It almost always
involved having a meeting and sharing ideas back and forth to identify
what the best marketing strategies were for our specific goals. I
tracked the success of these campaigns by periodically gathering
sales data and seeing which marketing campaigns boosted sales the
most."

What skills do you possess that would help you in this role?

The aim of this question is to assess if a candidate has skills that

would be useful in a marketing position. What to look for in an answer:

 Useful marketing skills

 How they might apply those skills
 Hard skills and soft skills

Example:
"I'm really skilled at digital marketing. I've got a lot of experience using
social media marketing and advertising tools to help reach a greater
audience. At my previous job, I also learned how to collect and
interpret marketing analytics data to see the outcomes of our
marketing strategies and to make adjustments as needed. I'm a team
player and have excellent interpersonal skills."
What marketing tools have you used?

The aim of this question is to assess if a candidate has prior

experience using common marketing tools. What to look for in an
answer:

 Knowledge of marketing tools

 How they used marketing tools in their previous job
 Experience with tools that the company uses

Example:
"I'm most familiar with search engine optimisation and social media
marketing analytics tools since I used them heavily at my previous job.
I'm also familiar with tools that help with lead generation. I'm also
comfortable with direct mail, surveys, and event marketing tools,
although, I didn't use these as frequently at my previous company."

What marketing channels do you have the most experience

using?

The aim of this question is to assess if a candidate has any knowledge

about common marketing channels. What to look for in an answer:

 Knowledge of marketing channels

 How they've used marketing channels
 Experience with marketing channels that the company uses

Example:
"I have the most experience using email and social media marketing
channels because they're easily accessible, making the process of
marketing to consumers much simpler. I managed my previous
employer's website and heavily used search engine optimisation
marketing channels. This marketing channel helped to boost traffic to
the website and led to customers making a purchase or signing up for
the company's membership programme more often."

Why are you interested in working for our company?

The aim of this question is to assess a candidate's motivations and
why they decided to apply for this specific position. What to look for in
an answer:

 Passion for the company

 Motivations for wanting to work with the company
 Future goals with the company

Example:
"I'm interested in working for this firm because this is a company with
a culture that I admire. I'm acquainted with someone at your firm, and
they have praised you for being an innovative and progressive place
to work, so I think this is an environment that will allow me to thrive
and contribute."

Tell me about a time you were in a conflict with a colleague, and

how did you resolve the situation?

The aim of this question is to assess how a candidate handles internal

conflict and how they might solve it. What to look for in an answer:

 Example of conflict resolution skills

 Knowledge of how to handle challenging situations
 Communication and interpersonal skills

Example:
"There was a time when a colleague and I were in a firm
disagreement about a marketing strategy we were going to implement
for one of our products. To resolve the issue, I proposed that
we establish the pros and cons of each marketing strategy and then
implement the aspects of both to create a new strategy. This actually
proved successful, as we saw exceptionally positive results from our
combined marketing campaign."

How would you market a new product targeted toward young

adults?
The aim of this question is to present a scenario and assess how the
candidate might use their marketing skills to work on it. What to look
for in an answer:

 Ability to create marketing tactics

 Knowledge of marketing tools used for young adults
 Experience marketing to young adults

Example:
"The way I would market the new product may vary slightly depending
on the product. However, I would absolutely capitalise on using social
media platforms to target young adults because they have a very
prominent presence on social media and mobile social applications.
Targeting them through these two mediums with trendy language and
tools that young adults enjoy would be my first marketing strategy."

What types of marketing are you most comfortable using?

The aim of this question is to assess what types of marketing a

candidate already has familiarity with and if they can bring that
knowledge to the position. What to look for in an answer:

 Knowledge of different types of marketing

 Experience using different marketing types
 Knowledge of the marketing type the company uses

Example:
"I'm really comfortable with telemarketing because of my experience.
I've implemented several successful telemarketing campaigns to
reach a variety of demographic groups. I also worked in direct
response television for a few years, helping to create infomercials, and
I just recently began working in mobile marketing. Even though these
are the three types of marketing I'm most familiar with, I can easily
adapt to other types of marketing."

How do you manage the relationship between customers and the

company?
The aim of this question is to assess a candidate's interpersonal and
communication skills with clients and how they manage these
relationships. What to look for in an answer:

 Interpersonal skills with customers

 Customer service skills
 Ability to retain relationships with clients

Example:
"I manage the relationship between customers and companies by
using social media channels to directly connect with customers and
identify what they like about our products, what they want to see, and
how they believe we can improve on what we provide. I think it's also
really important to maintain customer relationships for financial
longevity. So implementing incentives like customer reward
programmes is a way I would help manage the relationship in a
positive way."

Describe a product or service that you've marketed in the past.

The aim of this question is to assess a part of the candidate's

background and determine what items they have experience in
marketing. What to look for in an answer:

 Knowledge marketing specific items

 How they marketed items
 Success of their marketing efforts with this product or service

Example:
"I previously worked for a company that provided an online
documentation platform for customers and businesses. To use the
platform to its fullest capacity, a customer or business had to sign up
for a monthly subscription. I implemented a variety of marketing
strategies and campaigns to ensure that our clientele was engaged
enough to sign up for the trial and then become a full paying
customer. The marketing campaigns did in fact boost our sales by
20% over the next several months."
What do you know about the company's target market?

The aim of this question is to assess if a candidate has done research

about the company prior to the interview. What to look for in an
answer:

 Knowledge about what the company does and who they target
 Experience with this target market
 Showing they researched the company prior to the interview

Example:
"Even before applying to this company, I actually bought some of your
products, which helped me get an idea of who your target market is.
After conducting some research prior to this interview, I'm found that
your target market is primarily young adults. However, because of the
wide range of products offered, you could appeal to all age groups."

What are some marketing trends or tactics that you've seen and
what about them interest you?

The aim of this question is to assess if a candidate actively engages in

the marketing sector and to identify what they view as good marketing
and why. What to look for in an answer:

 Their enthusiasm for marketing

 The resources they use to stay updated on marketing
information
 Reasons for finding interest in a specific marketing tactic

Example:
"I'm really interested in the Burger Brand's marketing strategy. They
use a very trendy marketing tactic on social media by appealing to the
humour of current generations. They make light-hearted posts and
engage in banter with their consumers. Since they began this
marketing strategy, their sales have increased considerably. Aside
from them, I also like to check out a variety of marketing websites to
see what the latest marketing trends are and assess what
demographics they appeal to the most."

Tell me about the biggest marketing challenge you've had to

overcome.

The aim of this question is to assess how a candidate overcomes

challenging situations and creates meaningful solutions. What to look
for in an answer:

 How they overcome the major challenge

 Problem-solving skills
 How they can apply that experience to this current position

Example:
"My biggest challenge was when I had to coordinate the
implementation of two marketing campaigns simultaneously. This was
at a time when the company I worked for was seeing rapid growth,
and we didn't have the staff to keep up, so I had to take on a lot of
extra responsibility. I coordinated with my team members to work
additional hours every day for a few months to ensure the marketing
campaigns were successful. I think my drive to see the work get done
no matter what is something that has universal applications."

*Indeed provides this information as a courtesy to users of this site. Please note that we are not
your recruiting or legal advisor, we are not responsible for the content of your job descriptions,
and none of the information provided herein guarantees performance.
Whatever you’re in business to do, be it selling products or your
services, you need to market it. People need to know what you have
to offer whether you’re starting a business, growing a business or
sustaining a business enterprise. Planning any marketing efforts
should involve creating an overall marketing campaign. Think about
where, when and how you will promote your goods and/or services.

A marketing budget goes with any marketing efforts. You want to

create a well-structured budget to allocate what you plan or have
available to spend, on advertising and marketing, track the actual
costs and measure your success or return on investment.
Your marketing budget needs to be in a safe, secure and reliable
format. Budgets are documents that are reviewed and updated
regularly. They’re also files that are potentially shared with other
people internal and external to your business. Adobe
Acrobat services have the solution.
Prepare and plan your marketing budget.
Developing a solid marketing budget is critical to drive the success
of any business. It requires careful consideration and strategic
planning to ensure that your resources are allocated effectively and
efficiently.
Follow a step-by-step process when you’re creating a marketing
budget to —

 Set clear marketing goals and objectives.

Start by defining your marketing goals and objectives. Think
about what you want to achieve from your marketing efforts.
Common marketing objectives to achieve your goals might
include brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating
leads and boosting sales. Be specific. For example, your goal
may be to “Increase sales by 20% over the marketing
campaign period.”

 Identify your target audience.

Determine who your target audience is. Identify your target
market by demographics, location, lifestyle and behavioural
factors. Knowing your target audience helps you to tailor your
marketing strategies and allocate your resources accordingly.

 Do research on your competition’s marketing.

Look at how your competitors engage in their marketing.
Understanding how similar types of businesses, of all sizes,
attract and retain customers and clients can help you to
identify and even fill gaps in the market in ways to promote
what you do.

 Identify your sales funnel.

Establish your sales funnel — the journey your customers will
take to purchase your products or services. Think about how
they will become aware of what you provide, what will attract
their interest, what will help them to decide to buy what you
offer and the actions they will take to engage with you and
your business through your marketing

 Review your past marketing efforts.

Analyse any of your previous marketing efforts and what you
achieved. Consider what worked well and what didn’t. Looking
at your historical data can provide valuable insights into future
budget allocations.

Know your numbers.

To create a marketing budget, first start with your business’s overall
income and expenses. Understanding your business’s overall
budgeting processes will help you to allocate resources to your
marketing initiatives and strategies.
 Estimate your total revenue.
Add up your expected total revenue for the planned period
based on existing sales or the introduction of funding. This
might be for the financial or a specific campaign period.
Calculating or projecting your expected total revenue helps to
determine how much you can allocate to marketing within the
budget period.

 Determine costs that might affect your marketing

budget.
Calculate all other expenses that you will need to spend to
determine how much of your total revenue you can spend on
marketing. Include like operational costs, payroll, utilities and
anything else you must pay to keep your business running.

 Define your marketing channels and marketing tactics.

Make a list of all marketing channels and tactics you plan to
use. These may include digital advertising, content marketing,
social media, email marketing, events, public relations and
more.

 Estimate your budget for each marketing channel.

Allocate a portion of your total marketing budget to each
marketing channel based on your objectives, target audience
and historical data. Consider factors such as the cost of
advertising, content creation, marketing technology such as
tools and software, in-house personnel, freelancers, marketing
agencies and so forth.

 Consider Seasonality.
Allow for seasonality and fluctuations in demand for your
products or services. Allocate more budget for marketing
during high seasons and less during off-peak times.

 Break down individual costs.

Break down costs within each marketing channel. For example,
if you allocate budgeted funds to digital advertising, specify
how much will go to social media ads and display advertising
and so on. If you plan to run paid advertising campaigns,
determine how much you'll spend on ads and set daily or
monthly limits.
  Allow for contingencies.
Set aside a portion of your total budget to allow for unexpected
expenses or opportunities that may come up during your
marketing campaign or budget period.

Include key marketing budget items and

activities.
A marketing budget should include a range of key items and
activities. What you include will vary depending on your overall
marketing strategy and the methods you plan to use to achieve your
goals. Each item and activity will play a vital role in reaching and
engaging with your target audience.
Drill down and break your marketing budget down into what you
need to include to generate business and drive success with
marketing activities and items such as —

 Advertising.
Allocate funds for paid advertising. This might include online
advertising, print advertising, social network advertising, TV or
radio commercials, digital displays, banners, printed marketing
materials and more.

 Digital marketing.
Consider expenses for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, email
marketing, social media, search engine optimisation (SEO) and
website development.

 Content creation.
Set aside a budget for developing engaging and informative
content. Content creation might include infographics, website
content, blog posts, videos and social media updates.

 Personnel and labour costs.

Incorporate the cost of all the human power that contributes to
your marketing efforts. This might include staff wages for tasks
completed in-house and freelancers or marketing agencies for
work that you outsource.

 Event marketing.
Include marketing expenses involved in events. For example,
exhibiting at trade shows, attending conferences and event
sponsorships.

 Sales promotions and discounts.

Establish a budget line for any running promotions, discounts,
coupons, loyalty programmes and referral incentives that you
use to attract and retain customers.

 Public relations.
Detail the costs for press releases, media events and brand
partnerships.

 Direct mail and print collateral.

Include costs for designing, printing and distributing printed
 marketing materials such as business cards, brochures, flyers
and printed price lists.

 Technology and tools.

Factor in costs for marketing software, tools and technology,
including email marketing applications, analytics tools and
customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

 Market research.
Allocate funds for market research such as customer surveys,
focus groups and competitor analysis.

 Miscellaneous expenses.
Include an allocation of funds for any unforeseen or
miscellaneous marketing expenses that may arise during your
marketing campaign or budget period.

Manage your marketing budget.

Your marketing budget should be a flexible document that you
adapt to your business needs and goals as needed. Be strategic and
data-driven with your budgeting and marketing processes. It will
help you to make informed decisions and maximise the impact of
your marketing activities.
  Monitor and adjust.
Regularly review and monitor your marketing budget and
performance. Adjust your marketing budget allocations as
needed based on data that shows the results you are getting
and any shifting priorities.

 Track your return on investment.

Continuously measure the return on investment (ROI) of your
marketing efforts to assess whether they are cost-effective.
Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate each
marketing channel's performance, such as click-through rates
from your ads and content marketing.

 Review and refine your marketing budget at regular

intervals.
Review your marketing budget at least once a year and adjust
amounts and budgeted items based on changing goals,
objectives and market conditions.

Be aware of the challenges of marketing

budgets.
There are challenges associated with creating and managing
marketing budgets to be aware of. By being aware of these
challenges and addressing them proactively, you can then create a
more realistic and adaptable marketing budget to manage
uncertainties and maximise the effectiveness of your marketing
efforts.
Challenges of marketing budgets include —

 Unknown costs.
Estimating income and expenses accurately can be
challenging, especially when you’re exploring new channels or
strategies. It’s important to anticipate unforeseen costs.
o Be aware of your overall cash flow budget during the
period you’ve set for a marketing budget so you can
determine what you can allocate for marketing.

 Budget constraints.
Limited financial resources can restrict the ability to execute
ambitious marketing campaigns.
o You may need to make tough decisions about where to
allocate limited funds to a marketing budget to ensure
you can keep your day-to-day business operations
running smoothly.

 Marketing item and activity allocation.

Deciding how to allocate resources among different marketing
channels is a constant challenge. Making the wrong allocation
decisions can lead to a wasted budget.
o Keep on top of where you are most likely to reach your
target audience, for example, via online advertising,
content marketing, social media or other channels.

 Measuring return on investment.

Measuring the return on investment (ROI) for marketing efforts
is often difficult. It can take time to see the results of marketing
campaigns. It can also be challenging to attribute sales or
other key metrics directly to specific marketing activities.
o Try to set up and maintain effective analytic systems to
measure your marketing costs against your results.

 Shifting consumer behaviour.

Consumer preferences and behaviours can change quickly,
making it necessary to adjust marketing strategies and
budgets accordingly. For example, shifts from in-person to
online shopping can affect a marketing budget.
 o Being prepared to adapt your budget to accommodate
changes in consumer behaviour and preferences is
crucial.

 Balancing short-term versus long-term goals.

Striking the right balance between short-term marketing goals
and long-term brand-building or business sustainability efforts
can be challenging.
o Try to find a balance between achieving short-term goals
and overall long-term brand and business survival.

 Competitive pressures.
Competitors may change their marketing strategies. Monitoring
competitors’ marketing activities is essential.
o Be strategic in planning, balancing and adapting your
marketing budget to maintain a competitive edge.

 Seasonal fluctuations.
Many businesses experience seasonality effects in their sales
and marketing efforts.
o Balance your budget allocation throughout the year to
correspond with predictable peak and off-peak periods.

 Marketing Technology Costs.

Utilising marketing technology and tools can be expensive.
o Ensure you budget for software licences, subscription
renewals and ongoing maintenance.

 Changing marketing landscape.

New technology, platforms and trends emerge regularly,
resulting in a constantly evolving marketing landscape to
navigate.
o Stay up to date and allocate money in your marketing
budget appropriately to take advantage of new
opportunities.

 Testing and experimenting.

Effective marketing often involves testing and experimentation
to determine what works best. Learning by trial and error can
be par for the course as there are no guaranteed outcomes.
 o Track and measure your marketing budget line items to
see whether you are generating additional income from
marketing expenses.

 Communication and collaboration.

Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to
marketing, whether you work for a large corporation with
multiple departments such as marketing, finance and
operations or a small start-up bootstrapping it or outsourcing
aspects of your business.
o Communicate regularly and foster positive relationships
with anyone involved in or affected by your marketing
campaign to help keep your budget on track.

 External factors.
Economic downturns, regulatory changes and unexpected
events, such as global pandemics, can significantly impact
marketing budgets.
o Be prepared to be flexible and adapt quickly to any
sudden external factors.

Create your marketing budget using our

step-by-step guides.
Choose from Adobe Acrobat applications to make, save, edit and
store your marketing budget PDF files. Adobe invented the PDF
format as a versatile, stable, trusted and secure way to access
content across different devices, platforms and systems. PDF files
can be prepared for internal use only or sent and shared with
internal or external stakeholders, banks, investors or funders.
 There are a few ways to create marketing budget PDFs using Adobe
Acrobat. You can —

 Option 1: Create your marketing budget spreadsheet and save

or convert it to PDF.
 Option 2: Create a fillable PDF form in Adobe Acrobat or from
an Excel spreadsheet.
 Option 3: Edit our free downloadable PDF template to create
your marketing budget.

Option 1: Create a marketing budget spreadsheet to convert to PDF.

Creating a marketing budget in Excel and then saving it or

converting it to PDF is a straightforward process. Use this option if
you want to work with your budget data in Excel but create a PDF
copy of your marketing budget for your records or to share it with
others.
1. Open Microsoft Excel and set up your worksheet.
Create a new Excel file or open an existing file and create a
worksheet.
2. Set up your budget categories.
Set up your budget categories in columns or rows for your different
marketing expenses.
3. Enter your budget data.
Fill in your budgeted amounts and add notes for each category.
4. Calculate column totals.
Use formulas to calculate the totals.
5. Add formatting to your worksheet.
Format your worksheet to make it visually appealing and easy to
understand by using a preset theme or changing and adding fonts,
colours and cell borders.
6. Review and check your budget figures.
Double-check your budget to ensure all numbers are accurate and
align with your marketing goals.
7. Create a PDF from your Excel file.
Save your Excel file in your chosen location. If you have Acrobat
Standard or Acrobat Pro, you can also create your PDF file directly
from Excel via Adobe Acrobat on your toolbar.
8. Convert Excel to PDF.
Convert an Excel file online to PDF by dragging and dropping into
our Adobe Acrobat Online PDF converter or open your Adobe Acrobat
application to convert your Excel file to PDF.

Option 2: Create a PDF form with calculations from an Excel spreadsheet.

Creating a PDF as a fillable form with fields that calculate your

budget is also a simple exercise. Use this option if you want to
create a PDF marketing budget that you can edit and update
directly in PDF format with form fields that do your budget
calculations. Either create a fillable form directly in Adobe Acrobat or
—

1. Open Microsoft Excel and set up your worksheet.

Create a new Excel file or open an existing file and create a
worksheet.
2. Set up your budget categories.
Set up your budget categories in columns or rows for your
different marketing expenses and add your text and
descriptions.
3. Add formatting to your worksheet.
Format your worksheet to make it visually appealing and easy
to understand by using a preset theme or changing and adding
fonts, colours and cell borders.
4. Save and convert your Excel file.
Save your Excel file in your chosen location. If you have
Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Pro, you can also save your Excel
file directly to PDF from within Excel as shown in the previous
section.
5. Edit your PDF file and prepare a form.
Open Adobe Acrobat and your budget file in Adobe Acrobat. In
the Edit options, select “Prepare a Form”. Wait for Adobe
Acrobat to analyse your Excel file and create form fields that
you can then edit and set up calculations in the field
properties.
Option 3: Use marketing budget templates.

If you don’t want to start a budget from scratch, you’ll find many
templates available online that you can adapt to your needs. If
you’re downloading online templates, always choose from reputable
sources so you don’t download files with security issues that can
harm your system or access your data.
 Try our free downloadable PDF marketing budget
template.
Check out our free downloadable marketing budget template
PDF and edit and adjust it to suit your business and marketing
strategy.

 Excel marketing budget templates.

You’ll also find a range of budgeting templates in Excel that
you can adapt to fit your marketing plans. Once you’ve entered
your data, then convert your Excel file to PDF using Adobe
Online Services or an Adobe Acrobat product.
Click to download PDF

Click to download Excel file

Protect your marketing budget PDF.
Marketing budgets often contain commercially sensitive information
and data. There are tools and features you can use in Adobe Acrobat
to protect private and confidential PDF content from unauthorised
access. If you’re unsure about which tools and features you might
find most useful, download and explore what you can do with
our free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro.

PDF tools and features to use in marketing budgets include —

 Watermarks, headers and footers.

Watermarks are the background images and words that you
insert to sit behind your text. For a budget, consider using
words such as “Confidential”, “Draught” or insert your logo.

 Document security.
Use PDF password protection to set appropriate layers of
security. This can range from needing a password to open your
PDF file to password-protecting certain sections and restricting
editing.

 Secure e-signatures.
Obtain budget approval and request an e-signature on a
PDF or add a PDF signature to your file.

 Safe and Secure Access.

Keep your PDF files safe and secure in the Adobe Document
Cloud. You and your team can access your documents from any
device, at any time.