How to Get Your Marketing and PR Budget Approved

Proving PR and marketing value to executives can be a tall order. Learn to speak “C-suite,” back up your plans with data, and secure the funds your communications department deserves.

It's budgeting season. Here's a familiar scene: sitting in a dreaded budget meeting, spreadsheets open and proposals ready, only to find PR and marketing are once again on the chopping block.

We all know PR and marketing can deliver significant results, but leadership often overlooks that impact. When budgets contract, communications and marketing budgets are frequently one of the first areas to be seen as expendable. 

The upside? You can change this narrative. With the right approach to PR and marketing justification, it’s relatively easy to shift the C-suite’s perception of PR from a “nice-to-have” to “non-negotiable business investment.” Let’s take a closer look.

Why Public Relations and Marketing budgets get cut first (and how to change this narrative)

Most business priorities are clear and measurable: boost revenue, reduce costs, and streamline operations. While public relations and marketing supports new business, customer loyalty, and brand reputation, it can sometimes be hard to demonstrate its value to executives who keep a beady eye on the bottom line. 

The uncomfortable truth is that communications and marketing professionals have contributed to this problem. Many PR and marketing pros tend to lead with industry jargon when they present their PR and marketing budget strategies and plans. They focus on terms like “brand awareness” and “share of voice” instead of words like “revenue impact,” “cost savings,” and “competitive advantage.” This approach significantly weakens their support for budget approval.

When it comes to high-level budget discussions, PR and marketing have a communication problem. The misconception that these functions’ roles ends with brand protection positions the PR function as a luxury expense. This perception turns into a significant hurdle when budgets are on the table. 

On the flipside, clear, strategic budget plans and communication make it possible to spotlight PR and marketing as a revenue accelerator, not just a reputation guardian. 

There’s no need to feel defensive when you need to demonstrate your PR and marketing efforts’ value to executives. Simply proactively demonstrate how your work drives the same business outcomes the leadership team already measures. With a few language adjustments and a handful of clever tactics, you can make it clear that you’re a strategic business partner whose activities drive bottom-line results.

Speak business, not communications jargon

At the budget-decision level, every choice hinges on ROI: money flows to business activities that demonstrably drive profit. It’s that simple. To ensure your PR and marketing budget proposal receives the thumbs-up, you need to clearly explain how each activity contributes to that goal and how you will deliver on your Key Performance Indicators.

You don’t need to change what you actually do or compromise your professional ethics. A shift in language is all it takes. Trade your jargon for business terminology, back up your arguments with data, and Bob’s your uncle.

The table below shares a few examples (note, however, that these completely depend on the context):

When you build your communications and marketing budget strategy, connect every proposal to the metrics C-suite executives care about most. Practically, this means you should:

• Link every activity to business outcomes. If you want to pitch CEO thought leadership articles in industry publications, a content marketing, or social media marketing campaign, don’t pitch “increased brand visibility” or “higher engagement”. Instead, show that an earned media strategy has been proven to generate actual leads and sales, or quantify the cost savings compared to other digital marketing or advertising methods.

• Use financial metrics that matter. Skip the sentiment scores and show them the money. To get your proposal through the door, you have to link reputation, sentiment, and credibility directly to revenue. For example, research shows that one extra star in an independent restaurant’s online reviews can lead to up to a 9% revenue increase.

• Frame PR and digital marketing budget as a business investment, not a trivial expense. The goal is to reposition PR and marketing spend from being seen as optional to recognized as a driver of profitable growth.

Marketing & Public Relations Budget Template

If you're preparing to negotiate your PR and marketing budget, you'll need a clear roadmap to guide the conversation. Below we share a budget template to help you set strategic goals, outline where your resources should go, and give leadership confidence in your plan.

How to craft your executive budget summary

To win approval, your PR and marketing budget proposal needs a persuasive one-page summary crafted in “executive speak.”

This is your business case designed to get your leaders to sit up and take notice before you go into more details. Start with this PR budget template and adapt it to your needs:

1.  Executive summary

• Project title and timeframe.

• Total investment required and expected ROI in specific figures.

•  2-3 key business outcomes with timeline (e.g., “generate 200 qualified leads within 6 months through integrated PR and marketing campaigns”).

•  Include one strong sentence that summarizes the bottom-line impact.

2.  Strategic alignment

• Show direct connection to the company’s stated revenue goals and growth targets.

• Explain why your PR and marketing strategy creates a competitive advantage over market rivals.

• Demonstrate how communications and marketing activities support existing business initiatives.

3. Investment breakdown

• Summarize major spending categories, with a clear rationale for each.

• Clarify resource allocation logic across communications channels.

• Include a brief cost-benefit justification for significant costs.

4.  Expected outcomes and metrics

• List specific, measurable results, e.g., “15% market share increase ” instead of “improved brand awareness.”

• Back up projections with benchmarks, previous results, or industry data.

• Distinguish between lead and lag measures.

• Include both short-term wins and longer-term impacts across all communications channels.

5.  Risk assessment

• If possible, emphasize what’s at stake if PR and marketing budgets are cut: revenue loss, falling behind competitors, missed market opportunities.

• Proactively address any uncertainties or unusual asks with specific mitigation strategies.

• Briefly explain why potential returns justify possible investment risks. 

Tell a good story with data

When you present your PR and marketing budget proposal to leadership, data alone isn’t enough. You need a clear, persuasive data narrative that makes the business case impossible to ignore. A check in with your Google Analytics dashboard can add a layer of depth.

Our advice is to structure your communications ROI measurement into a three-act story:

Act 1: The challenge

What’s the urgent business problem that demands action right now? 

Create a sense of urgency with competitor analyses, market pressures or revenue risks. An example: “Our market share has dropped by 8% while competitor X has risen 12% through aggressive thought leadership and targeted content marketing campaigns.”

Act 2: The solution

Position your PR strategy and budget proposal as the evidence-backed answer (while the boardroom breathes a sigh of relief). 

Connect your approach directly to the problem. For example: “Strategic media placement combined with targeted digital marketing and a social media campaign will recapture lost market attention to generate a qualified pipeline worth up to $500,000 quarterly.”

Act 3: The outcome

Point to previous results and evidence-backed statistics to make it clear what business results you expect from your strategy and proposed marketing spend, along with a clear timeline. This is key to proving the value of your PR and marketing efforts to your executives.

Choose data points that resonate

Select precise data that ties your PR and marketing budget plans directly to key business metrics, such as:

• Relevant industry benchmarks that set performance expectations for both earned and paid media.

• Historical PR outcomes and marketing projections

• Business performance figures clearly linked to PR and marketing spend.

• Cost of doing nothing compared with the gains from investing in a marketing strategy and integrated communications.

• Future market opportunities, trends or timely external factors that support the investment.

Use a strong visual narrative to keep your presentation clear, concise and compelling. Avoid charts just for show. Choose graphs and other visuals that turn abstract PR and marketing benefits into concrete, easily understood projections to help decision-makers approve your plans without hesitation.

Impactful visual techniques include:

• Before/after scenarios that show measurable change.

• Waterfall charts that demonstrate cumulative communications impact.

• ROI timelines with clear breakeven points.

• Risk-reward matrices that compare several investment options.

SportsBall, an American sports media brand, brings the rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to life through data-driven storytelling.

Quick-win tactics 

You’re nearly set for that all-important budget meeting. These last few tips and tricks will help you get the outcome you hope for.

1. Arrive prepared

• Do your research: Use informal meetings to find out what each decision-maker’s top priorities are. Tailor your projected outcomes to these specific concerns.

• Scenario planning: Sketch out the worst, best, and most likely cases to ward off anxious “what if” questions.

• Briefing materials: Create polished materials and summaries. Use the budget summary template above and tap into crisp visual storytelling to bowl your audience over.

2. During the presentation

• Lead with impact: Open with business impact, not PR or marketing activities.

• Lay out next steps: Provide specific timelines and deliverables. 

3. Follow up proactively

• Immediate recap: Send a meeting summary within 24 hours that highlights any firm commitments.

• Risk mitigation: Propose pilot programs or phased approaches for any highlighted concerns.

• Reporting framework: Set up a regular feedback and communication schedule.  

• Document successes: Capture wins immediately. Today’s results are tomorrow’s budget justification data.

4. Avoid these common mistakes

• Activity-focused requests: “We need a budget for 20 press releases and an influencer campaign” is a to-do list, not an argument for impact. Align your proposed PR and marketing activities with company priorities.

• No revenue connection: If you can’t link your PR and marketing spend with financial impact, you risk your work being seen as a cost-drainer that’s all too easy to eliminate.

• Not answering “What if we don’t?”: If you can’t articulate the consequences of not investing in PR and marketing strategy, there’s no urgency. Without urgency, there’s no budget.

• Vanity metrics: “This strategy will generate a million impressions and increase brand awareness by 25%” sounds great, but you have to translate this to bottom-line outcomes.

• No measurement plan: It should be clear from the outset what success looks like, how it will be measured, and how you’ll secure value over a longer term once the investment is made.

Data-driven insights with PR.co

Business leaders and communications professionals don’t always speak the same language. If you make clear connections between your PR and marketing budget and business impact, it helps everyone in the budget meeting understand why you’re in the room. It also helps you get sign-off on those PR campaigns you’re keen to launch.

Ready to get your next PR and marketing budget approved? PR.co’s comprehensive analytics and reporting tools make it easy to track, measure, and present your department’s value to leadership. Let’s chat and help you build your case for PR & marketing budget approval process with data-driven insights.