3 Marketing Tools You’re Probably Paying For and Barely Using
Are your marketing tools helping your business grow, or just adding another expense to your monthly bills?
Between social media schedulers, design subscriptions and analytics platforms, it’s easy to accumulate marketing tools that promise to save time and improve results. But if you’re barely using them, you might be throwing money away.
Here are three common marketing tools worth reviewing.
1. Your Social Media Scheduler
You signed up to save time, plan your content in advance and stay consistent on social media.
You used it twice. Then went straight back to posting manually.
Sound familiar?
A social media scheduler can be incredibly useful, especially if you’re managing multiple platforms or trying to maintain a consistent posting schedule. But if you’re not using its features regularly, that monthly subscription might not be worth it.
What to do instead: Set aside time each month to plan and schedule your content in batches. If the tool makes that process easier, keep it. If you prefer posting manually and it doesn't take up too much time, consider whether you actually need the subscription.
2. Your Design Subscription
You bought it for the thousands of templates, professional design features and endless creative possibilities.
But somehow, you still use the same three templates every time.
Design tools can make creating social media posts, promotional graphics and marketing materials much easier. However, paying for premium features doesn't automatically make your marketing better.
If you're only using basic templates and a handful of features, you might be paying for functionality you don't need.
What to do instead: Review which features you actually use. A free plan might cover your needs, or you might find that a simpler tool does the job just as well. Focus on creating consistent, effective marketing rather than collecting templates you'll never touch.
3. Your Analytics Tool
You upgraded to the premium version because you wanted better insights into your marketing performance.
But the only number you check is your website traffic.
Here's the problem: data is only valuable when you use it to make better decisions.
Understanding how many people visit your website is useful, but it doesn't tell you the whole story. Are visitors contacting your business? Are your campaigns generating leads? Which marketing channels are bringing in customers?
If you're paying for advanced reporting features without using them, you're missing the point of the investment.
What to do instead: Start with the metrics that matter most to your business. Depending on your goals, these might include enquiries, conversion rates, cost per lead or sales generated. Use the data to identify what's working and where you should invest more of your marketing budget.
Stop Paying for Tools You Don't Use
Marketing tools should make your life easier, save you time or help your business generate more revenue. If they're doing none of those things, it's time to reassess.
Before cancelling everything, take a few minutes to review your subscriptions:
- Check your monthly expenses. List every marketing tool you're paying for and how much it costs.
- Review your actual usage. Which tools do you use regularly, and which have been sitting untouched?
- Look for cheaper alternatives. A free plan or a simpler tool might be all you need.
- Focus on results. Keep the tools that genuinely support your marketing goals and help your business grow.
You don't need more marketing tools. You need the right ones, used effectively.
That money could be going towards a campaign that generates leads, improving your website or investing in marketing activities that bring customers through the door.
Not sure where your marketing budget is going?
At Wink Media, we help businesses identify what's working, what's wasting money and where there's room to improve.
Get in touch with us to find out where your marketing budget could be working harder.
