• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 27, 2015

Optimizing budgets remains a thorn in the side of marketers. Some struggle with understanding the best path to the highest return on investment, although an increasing number agree they will spend more on search advertising this year. An Edelman poll estimates marketers will spend 12.2% more, reaching $25.7 billion by the end of 2015.

Since there's no such thing as a one bid-fits-all strategy, Marin Software Wednesday announced the launch of a tool designed to help marketers predict the daily and monthly amount they should spend on search campaigns. The company calls the tool Budget Optimizer.

Some of the latest trends impacting accurate bids for marketers include achieving a particular position on the search engine results page, maintaining a certain CPA, and maximizing overall profit. Algorithmic bidding can support these shifts. It may seem elementary, but many marketers are so close to the strategy they forget about the business objectives that play a major role in determining their bidding strategy.

Manually managing millions of keywords is no longer an option. Tools like Marin's, which aim to forecast revenue at various levels of investment and optimize budgets across a brand's paid-search campaigns, should consider key performance indicators (KPIs). The tool also considers what-if analysis and factoring in seasonal trends such as cold weather, Christmas, or the Super Bowl. There's a spend forecast, scenario planning guide, and one-click optimization tool.

Marketers that want to achieve business objectives such as clicks, conversions, or profit will find bidding strategies based on efficiency work best, according to a white paper published by Marin. "When calculating bids for a financial objective the incremental cost of a bid should never be more than its incremental value," according to the white paper. "For example, if a marketer has a specific target CPA, he or she should check that the target CPA does not exceed their daily budget."

Earlier this month, Marin reported a loss of $9.7 million in revenue during its first quarter, about 27 cents per share. The company posted revenue of $26.4 million for the quarter.