If you’re a small business, nonprofit, or solo marketer looking for breathing room in your budget, we have good news: you’re probably already paying for it. When money gets tight, it’s tempting to cut training, strategy work, or creative talent. But look at your software subscriptions first.
The uncomfortable truth is that most communications tools sell you on what you might need someday, not what you actually need right now. Here are three places you’re probably overpaying—and what to do instead.
1. PR Databases
The Pitch: “You need access to every journalist’s contact info and real-time media monitoring to get coverage.”
The Reality: You’re spending $3,000–12,000/month to spam journalists who’ve publicly said “don’t pitch me stuff I didn’t ask for.” Most of these “relationships” are just email addresses. You’re not building relationships, you’re buying the illusion of access.
What You Actually Need:
- 10-15 journalists who actually cover your beat (find them by reading what they write)
- Their publicly available contact info (it’s on Twitter, in their bios, or on their outlet’s website)
- A reason for them to care about hearing from you
The Question to Ask Yourself: Is it more effective to curate relationships with a handful of journalists who care about your issue or to spam hundreds who will ignore your issue?
The Real Cost: It’s not just the subscription. It’s the false confidence that hitting “send” to 500 journalists equals a PR strategy. Real media relations is about relevance, not reach. One journalist who cares beats 500 who delete your pitch unread.
2. Enterprise Social Media Tools
The Pitch: “You need enterprise-grade social media management to look professional and track ROI across all platforms.”
The Reality: You’re paying $200-500 per month for Sprout Social when you’re posting twice a week on LinkedIn and Instagram. That’s like buying a semi-truck to drive your kid to soccer practice. Don’t get me wrong, Sprout Social is an amazing tool. It’s absolutely worth it if you’re managing dozens of accounts for major brands. But for a small business? It’s over-engineering.
What You Actually Need:
- Buffer’s free plan (or Later, or Publer)
- Basic analytics on your 2-3 platforms that actually drive ROI
- The discipline to post consistently, not the illusion that a fancy dashboard will do it for you
The Question to Ask Yourself: Which two platforms actually bring you engagement from your target audience? Focus there. The tool that schedules to 12 different networks won’t help if nobody sees your content because you’re spread too thin.
The Real Cost: It’s not just the subscription. It’s the time you spend learning a complex tool instead of creating content that matters.
3. Stock Photo Subscriptions
The Pitch: “Professional brands need professional imagery. Subscribe now and get unlimited access to millions of high-quality photos for all your marketing needs.”
The Reality: You’re paying $29-299 per month and downloading 5-10 images. That’s $3-60 per image for a subscription model designed for agencies managing dozens of clients.
What You Actually Need:
- Your iPhone and 10 minutes of natural light
- Unsplash, Pexels, The Gender Spectrum, Nappy, Images of Empowerment (totally free, actually good photos)
- Canva’s built-in free photo library
- Real photos of your actual team, office, or work
Need help choosing images that actually represent your brand and audience? Our Creative Director Acacia Betancourt has a thoughtful guide on selecting inclusive imagery.
The Question to Ask Yourself: How many images do you actually download per month? If it’s under 20, you’re overpaying.
The Real Cost: A subscription model that doesn’t match how you actually use images. There’s a time to spend money on images—your annual report, a major campaign. And there’s a time to look for cost-efficient solutions. Knowing the difference makes you a savvy marketer.
What’s Actually Worth Paying For?
Not all marketing tools are a waste. In fact, there’s one thing you should be paying for: Email marketing software.
Not because you can’t send emails without it. But email marketing software consistently delivers the highest ROI of any digital marketing channel, and you can’t optimize what you can’t measure.
When you BCC everyone or manage a spreadsheet of contacts, you’re flying blind. You don’t know:
- Who actually opened your message
- What they clicked on
- Which subject lines work
- When people disengage (so you can try to win them back)
- What content drives action vs. what gets ignored
Email marketing software gives you the data you need to meet your audience where they are. It tells you what’s working so you can do more of it, and what’s falling flat so you can stop wasting time.
And unlike social media, where algorithms decide who sees your content, email goes directly to people who chose to hear from you. When someone joins your list, they’re giving you permission to show up in their inbox. That’s trust you earned, not access you bought.
For small organizations, Mailchimp is a solid starting point that scales as you grow. The ROI is simple: you own the relationship, you control the message, and you’re building an asset that belongs to you, not a platform.
That’s worth paying for.
The Bottom Line
We’re not anti-tool at Brevity & Wit, we’re anti-waste. We see our job as making your job easier, which means recommending the tools and practices that will let you punch above your weight. The marketing industry has conditioned us to believe that spending more equals doing better work. It doesn’t.
Shift the budget. Spend it on strategy, not subscriptions. Hire a freelancer who can actually write. Invest in your team’s skills. Focus on what drives ROI, not what looks impressive on a features list. The tools don’t make you good at communication. Matching your strategy to your resources does.
Your time and money is precious. Use them wisely.
This was written by Britt Robinson with the help of claude.ai. As a small business, we thoughtfully engage artificial intelligence to improve our efficiency, while also using human experts and reviewers to ensure quality and mitigate bias.