Ferrari Dreams, Kia Budget: How to Align Expectations with Your Marketing Agency

In the seven years since High-Proof Creative launched, the most challenging part of our social media and marketing work has been meeting client expectations that are shaped by a deep vision — but constrained by budget limitations.

“Ferrari Vision on a Kia Budget” (VGT program) refers to having a Ferrarii-inspired design or performance but at a Kia-like price point. These cars are virtual and not real-world production models, though. This phrase comes to mind often when working with marketing clients. We always want to meet our clients’ expectations on our end, but we often see a misalignment between vision and budget. 

Below are tips for aligning expectations while working with a beverage marketing agency.

Align Your Expectations for Social Media Content with Your Budget

Creative agencies are not magicians. Want stunning and engaging content? For truly enthralling and captivating social media content, you’ll need a budget for video and photography. Whether you’re working with the same agency that creates and schedules your social media content — or an outside photographer — having a budget for photo and video is the only way to keep things fresh. 

You may be disappointed if you give your creative agency a bank of your old brand photos and expect them to work their magic. There’s only so much even the most talented agency can do with old photos, stock photos, and graphic design.

Don’t have a budget for photo and video? That’s OK; just re-align your expectations with reality. 

Without a budget or willingness to schedule that next photoshoot, your creative agency’s hands are a little tied. This is not to say that creative agencies can’t work some magic with what ya got!

However, if you are looking for fresh and genuinely engaging content, it can’t always be created in Canva or Photoshop. 

If your expectations are aligned with your budget, you’ll have a much better relationship with your creative agency. Having a Kia budget is OK, but it’s important to keep that in mind.

If you’re on a marketing retainer, prioritize how the agency will spend its time based on your expectations. 

Let’s say you pay a beverage marketing agency 25 hours per month for marketing, but you want ALL THE THINGS: social media, ads, newsletters, SEO, website maintenance, and light PR. The agency’s time will be spread out amongst a lot of tasks. This work plan is great for brands just starting, but if you expect award-winning content that will leave people breathless, you may need to allocate more hours towards content creation and fewer hours toward ALL THE THINGS.

Expect your ad spend to be separate from your agency fees.

Social media is “pay-to-play,” which means that to show your content to the people who follow you on Facebook or Instagram, you had better throw Meta some bones. Even Pinterest is moving to a model with a paid algorithm. If you’re a new company and creating a budget, allow for marketing spending that will go to Meta, Pinterest, etc. If you don’t have a budget to promote the content your agency is creating, you’re creating content for a tiny audience. 

It’s possible to start with a small ad budget but understand the ROI. 

The saying, “You get what you pay for,” doesn’t always apply to the creative side of things, meaning creative agencies are very good at working with what they have available and within tight budgets. When it comes to ad spend though —engagement, traffic, and everything else — it’s one-for-one. If you have a Ferrari spend for social media and Google ads, you’re going to have a Ferrari ROI.

Looking to learn more about working with a food and beverage branding agency? Contact us today, and we can tell you more about our process, structure, and more. You can also book a meeting with our founder, Karen, to discuss marketing packages and structure.