Spend It or Lose It

10 ways to use up your remaining marketing budget before EOFY

As we near the end of the financial year, it’s a great time for marketing teams to take a closer look at their remaining budget. If you still have unspent marketing dollars, now’s your chance to put them to work in a smart, strategic way.

Why does this matter? Two big reasons: First, it’s an opportunity to revisit your earlier marketing goals—perhaps there are still leads to be generated, campaigns to test, or brand visibility to build before the books close. Second, and just as crucial, any unused budget this year might signal to decision-makers that you don’t need as much next year. Using your funds wisely helps justify, and potentially protect, your marketing allocation moving forward.

To help you make the most of what’s left, we’ve compiled a list of effective (and often budget-friendly) ways to spend your remaining funds—fast-tracking your results while setting yourself up for a strong start to the new financial year.

1. Conduct a UX/CX/Digital Marketing Audit

(Estimated spend: $4,000 - $10,000)

A UX/CX or digital audit helps identify friction points, user drop-offs, and missed marketing opportunities—empowering brands to optimise their customer journey and boost conversion rates.

A thorough user experience (UX), customer experience (CX), or digital marketing audit gives you a bird’s-eye view of how your website, content, and digital assets are performing. You can commission a freelance expert or agency to conduct this audit or use internal resources with a structured checklist. Start by evaluating user navigation, load times, form completion rates, broken links, and accessibility. Then expand to include CX elements like messaging consistency, responsiveness across channels, and feedback loops. Finally, review your marketing mix—channels, ad creative, SEO effectiveness, email performance—to understand what’s working and what’s lagging behind.

With a small EOFY budget, you don’t need to overhaul—just gather the insights now, so you can take action early in the next financial year.

This helps you uncover hidden inefficiencies, improve user journeys, and align your marketing channels—ultimately supporting both conversion and customer retention goals.

2. Test Your Advertising Mix

(Estimated spend: $500 - $2,000)

Testing different ad formats, messages, and platforms lets you quickly understand what resonates most with your audience—optimising your spend and boosting campaign performance before the year ends.

Use your remaining EOFY budget to set up A/B tests across your current advertising channels—Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, or even programmatic. Create variations of your ad copy, visuals, CTAs, and landing pages to identify which combination drives the most engagement or conversions. For a low-risk approach, keep your test budget small and targeted—such as $100 per variant. If time is short, focus on one or two key platforms where your audience is most active.

You can also test channels you haven’t used before—like Reddit Ads, Spotify, or TikTok—to explore new acquisition opportunities with minimal investment. Use real-time dashboards (like Meta Ads Manager or Google Analytics) to track CTRs, CPCs, and conversions to determine your winners.

This supports your marketing objective to optimise performance, reduce cost-per-acquisition, and sharpen your campaign strategy for the new financial year.

3. Pre-purchase Event Merchandise

(Estimated spend: $2,000 onwards)

Ordering merchandise now for upcoming events saves future budget, ensures you’re well-prepared..

If your brand is planning to attend or sponsor events, conferences, or expos later in the year, use any remaining budget to purchase branded merchandise now such as pens, tote bags, notebooks, lanyards, or even custom giveaways. Suppliers often offer better rates on bulk orders or advance bookings, and you’ll avoid price hikes closer to event season.

Get creative by aligning merchandise with your brand story or campaign theme for the event. If your product is digital, consider including QR codes on merch linking to demo videos, sign-up pages, or lead magnets. Use Canva or Vistaprint’s free design tools to mock up merchandise and get quotes instantly.

Early purchases free up next year’s budget to go toward paid ads, promotions, or activations at the event—where you’ll see greater ROI.

4. Subscribe Early to Digital Tools

(Estimated spend: $300 - $1,000)

Locking in digital tool subscriptions now—like HubSpot, Hootsuite, or Canva Pro—can stretch your EOFY budget and set your team up for greater efficiency in the new year.

Many SaaS platforms offer discounts for annual upfront payments. If your marketing team relies on tools for CRM, email marketing, social media scheduling, or design, use the remaining budget to pay ahead. You not only reduce costs long-term but also remove budget pressure for monthly renewals later.

Identify the platforms your team is currently using and evaluate which ones you’ll continue with or upgrade. Prioritise tools with measurable impact on performance—analytics, automation, or customer experience tools are great examples. Don’t forget to check if the provider offers EOFY deals or loyalty discounts for early renewal.

Even upgrading to premium features for tools like Grammarly, Trello, or Zapier can help your team operate smarter.

5. Invest in a Short-Term Influencer Collaboration

(Estimated spend: $500 - $2,000)

Partnering with micro-influencers or niche creators is a cost-effective strategy to boost brand awareness and drive engagement. These collaborations tend to have a highly engaged, targeted audience.

Use the budget to partner with a few micro-influencers or niche content creators who align with your brand values and target audience. Research influencers with a strong, active following in your market. You can ask them to create posts, stories, or even participate in giveaways to boost visibility. Influencer collaborations don’t always require a hefty budget, and many influencers will work for smaller rates in exchange for your products or services. Ensure that you have clear KPIs in place, such as tracking conversions, click-through rates, or engagement metrics, to measure the success of the campaign.

Investing in influencer marketing can help you engage with a highly targeted audience and raise awareness for your products in a meaningful, relatable way.

6. Create Evergreen Content Assets

(Estimated spend: $500 - $2,000)

Evergreen content refers to materials like SEO-optimized blogs, product videos, or case studies that remain relevant and valuable over time, providing long-term benefits.

Use the budget to commission a batch of evergreen content. Start by identifying the most relevant topics that resonate with your target audience. SEO-driven blog posts that target long-tail keywords, instructional or how-to videos, and in-depth case studies can all serve as timeless assets. These pieces of content, once created, can continue to drive organic traffic, increase brand credibility, and improve your search engine rankings over time. Consider content repurposing as well—transforming blogs into videos or infographics can help maximize your content’s lifespan and reach.

Evergreen content can be a cornerstone for ongoing inbound marketing strategies, delivering value without continuous investment. It’s an excellent use of your budget if you're looking for long-term impact.

7. Build a Targeted Email Test to Re-Engage Dormant Leads and Customers

(Estimated spend: $5,000 – $20,000)

There are often overlooked pockets in your customer database—leads that have gone cold or loyalists that haven’t purchased in a while. An email strategy reset can reignite their interest.

Use this end-of-year window to dive into your email segments. Begin with a segmentation review to understand who’s active, who’s dormant, and who’s on the fence. Implement RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) modelling to map where your customers fall across the loyalty spectrum. This will help you tailor messaging to different groups—like rewarding high-frequency customers or nudging recent browsers to convert.

Build an email journey test, targeting each segment with content designed to spark action. For example: re-engagement flows for lapsing customers, value-led nurture emails for long-term leads, or loyalty offers for VIPs. Use tools like Brevo, Klaviyo, or ActiveCampaign to automate the journeys and track engagement.

This initiative helps you revive dormant contacts, create momentum with minimal spend, and make smarter use of your CRM heading into the new financial year.

8. Upskill Your Team (Estimated spend: $100 - $500 per course)

Investing in your team's skills is a great way to put your marketing budget to work before the financial year ends. Whether it's a short course or a webinar, upskilling allows your team to stay competitive and equipped with the latest marketing tools and knowledge.

With limited budgets, focus on affordable but impactful training resources. For example, a Google Analytics course could enhance data-driven decision-making, while a social media advertising course could improve campaign performance. Platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning offer a variety of affordable courses on topics such as SEO, copywriting, digital marketing strategy, and Google Ads. Make sure to select training that aligns with both immediate business needs and long-term goals. Upskilling also fosters employee engagement, as your team feels more invested in their professional growth.

By investing in your team’s skills, you’re ensuring that you have a strong foundation for implementing more effective and creative marketing strategies.

9. Book a Strategy Sprint

(Estimated spend: $1,500 - $3,000)

A strategy sprint is a short, focused collaboration with an agency or freelancer designed to refine your messaging, lead generation tactics, or campaign calendar.

Use your remaining budget to book a strategy sprint with a marketing consultant or agency. This is an efficient way to quickly refine your approach and make sure your strategies are on the right track before the new financial year begins. Typically lasting 1-2 weeks, the sprint can focus on specific aspects of your marketing such as refining your brand messaging, developing a lead generation plan, or drafting a campaign calendar. Engage experts who can provide fresh insights, help identify opportunities you may have missed, and align your marketing tactics with your business goals. During the sprint, you can also create action plans that can be implemented throughout the upcoming months.

This sprint will provide immediate clarity, a refined roadmap, and actionable next steps to guide your marketing efforts in the coming months.

10. Run a Tactical EOFY Campaign—Fundraise or Clear Inventory

(Estimated spend: $2,000 – $10,000)

EOFY is a golden window for targeted action—whether it’s driving donations for not-for-profits or clearing excess stock for commercial brands.

For not-for-profits, now is the time to launch a final push fundraising campaign. Tap into the generosity of donors looking for last-minute tax-deductible opportunities. Use email and social media channels to share your impact story, spotlight specific needs, and make donation paths easy and urgent.

For commercial brands, EOFY is an ideal moment to run a clearance sale. It doesn’t need to be elaborate—review your inventory, identify SKUs that tie up space or capital, and offer them as limited-time deals. Highlight the urgency and value with simple paid social or email campaigns. Not only does this help you free up warehousing, but it also reactivates customers who respond to time-sensitive value offers.

These micro-campaigns don’t require big spend—but they do offer big payoff in engagement, cash flow, and brand activity.

The end of the financial year is more than just a deadline—it’s a final opportunity to make your marketing budget count. Whether you’re looking to polish your brand, test new ideas, or boost visibility, even modest investments now can deliver meaningful returns down the track. Use this time to tie up loose ends, set the stage for the new financial year, and show your leadership team that every dollar was used with purpose.

From strategy sprints to evergreen content, every idea on this list is designed to be impactful yet accessible—perfect for giving your performance a final push before the clock resets. Because when you use your budget smartly, you not only hit your current goals—you protect and grow your budget for the year ahead. Don’t forget - that you can also book these services ahead of time, to use in the next financial year when you may have more time.

At Wonder Works Digital, we’re here to help you make smart, swift moves—before the clock runs out. Whether it’s a UX review, digital performance audit, or support with customer experience strategy or media mix testing, let’s ensure your final spend works harder.

Get in touch—we’ll help you finish the financial year strong.

Author: Andrew Ritchie - Principal Director, Wonder Works Digital