Axios was out with a story about the National Federation of Independent Business Optimism Index falling to its lowest monthly point in a year. The 95.7 score was the fourth-lowest mark in at least five years.

Small businesses can’t seem to catch a break.

Even as Covid levels drop like a rock, the gravitational pull of its aftermath (not to mention tragic international developments), is creating out-of-control cost structures.

26% of businesses report inflation as the most important problem they face. You’d have to go all the way back to 1981 to find similar levels.

This inescapable new reality is putting a spotlight on ROI everywhere in the business.

It’s times like these that it can be tempting to look at marketing as nothing more than overhead. And frankly, if it’s not driving business in a provable way, that’s exactly what it is.

For every dollar small businesses spend, they should aim to get back at least $1.25 – $1.50 in return.

Most successful media campaigns will only register a response at or slightly above 1%. If you’ve got to target 100 people to convert just one, it is critical that enough people be targeted with the right message at the right time.

In more freewheeling times, the law of large numbers permitted businesses to spend more indiscriminately on larger, unqualified audiences to achieve campaign goals. So what if the same person was targeted multiple times? Pseudo-anonymized data was relatively cheap and the dollar was going a lot further.

But response rates over the past 20 years have fallen. As people are bombarded with messages they’ve gotten a lot better at separating the BS. And they’re completely destroying the economics of aging digital marketing strategies in the process.

The good news is that even as goods become more expensive, consumers remain inclined to spend.

But behaviors can change.

Sometimes low costs drive business. Other times it’s convenience.

Larger organizations with larger budgets and larger market imprints are typically better positioned to adjust to changing market demands.

As challenge factors compound, small businesses must recognize that when it comes to marketing, the current environment demands an entirely different approach. One anchored by precision-based strategies across audience, content, and timing.

We know that our proven approach to campaigns rooted in personally identifiable information (PII)-based data can help small businesses navigate and weather this storm.

It cannot insulate them from changing market realities but it can help ease the impact. When businesses market to more targeted and qualified audiences, better track who they’ve reached, and measure who has responded, ROI can be proven. Marketing goes from a cost overhead or a nice-to-have to a business driver and need-to-have.

Supply chain issues, elevated costs, price-sensitive consumers, and uncertainty look to be staples of all of our near-term journeys.

By managing elements of the equation within control and supporting decision-making with irrefutable data, businesses can better steer their own destinies.

And we’re here to help. Just drop us a line.