Marketing compounds when each month of work makes the next month cheaper or more effective. Most SME marketing fails this test: campaigns start and stop, audiences are rented rather than owned, and lessons stay in someone’s head.
The fix is to build assets, not just activity. A store that converts, an email list that grows, content that keeps ranking and a written record of what worked are all assets. Ad spend without them is rent.
Before approving any marketing spend, ask one question: what does this leave behind? If the honest answer is nothing, redirect it to something that stays.