Would You Buy This Marketing for 99p? A Simple Test That Saves Small Businesses a Fortune

There's a question we ask ourselves every day at 99p Media, and it's not a clever one. It's this: would I pay 99p for that?

Not "is this a good idea?" Not "will this grow my business?" Just the blunt, pocket-sized version: if the result of this marketing activity cost you less than a quid, would you still want it?

It sounds daft. Stick with us, because it's the most useful filter we know for spotting when you're being upsold — and when you're sitting on a bargain.

The Thinking Behind the Test

The 99p Test works because it strips away the jargon, the agency patter and the vague promises about "brand awareness", and forces you to price the outcome, not the effort.

A website isn't worth £3,000 because it took someone three weeks to build. It's worth whatever the customers it brings in are worth to you. A Facebook post isn't valuable because you spent an hour crafting it — it's valuable if someone sees it, remembers you, and eventually buys something.

So the test has two parts:

1. What result will this actually produce? Be honest. Not "engagement" — enquiries, sales, footfall.
2. What would I pay for that result if it arrived on its own, with no story attached? If the answer is less than the price tag, you've got a problem.

Where the Test Bites: A Few Real Examples

The £3,000 website. A five-page site for a small business is a reasonable thing to want. But run the numbers: if your average customer is worth £40 and your site brings in two enquiries a month, that's £960 a year. A £3,000 build takes you three years to break even — and that's assuming it performs at all. Would you pay 99p for a website that earns you £80 a month? Absolutely. Would you pay £3,000 for the same thing? Different question, isn't it.

The free Facebook post. It costs you nothing but time. If one person sees it and thinks "oh, they're still going" — that's worth more than 99p. This is the test working in your favour: it tells you the cheapest tactics are often the most undervalued.

The £150/month "SEO package". Ask what you get. If the answer is "we'll optimise your site", ask what changes hands each month. If nobody can point to a specific deliverable, you're paying £1,800 a year for a feeling.

The leaflet drop. 5,000 leaflets for £300. If one in a hundred responds and one in ten of those buys, that's five customers. At £60 profit each, you've made £300 back — break even. Worth 99p? Borderline. Worth 60p a leaflet? Now you're negotiating.

Your Scoring System for the Next Quote

When a quote lands in your inbox, score it out of five on these three things:

• Clarity — Can they tell you exactly what you'll receive and by when? (1 = vague waffle, 5 = itemised list)
• Payback — Do the numbers roughly work? If you can't sketch the break-even on a napkin, that's a 1.
• Replaceability — Could you get 80% of this for 20% of the price somewhere else? (1 = unique, 5 = everywhere)

Add it up. Anything under 9 out of 15, and you should either negotiate hard or walk away. Anything over 12, and you've probably found something worth paying for — even if it's more than 99p.

When the Test Says Yes, Pay Up

Here's the bit people get wrong: the 99p Test isn't an argument for doing everything on the cheap. It's an argument for knowing what things are worth.

Sometimes the answer is "yes, this is genuinely worth £2,000" — a designer who understands your customers, a print run that looks the business, a tool that saves you ten hours a week. Pay it. The businesses that go broke aren't the ones that spend money; they're the ones that spend money without ever asking what it bought them.

The test just makes sure that when you do spend, you're buying a result — not a story about a result.

So next time someone slides a proposal across the table, don't ask if it's good value. Ask the sillier, sharper question: would I pay 99p for this? If the honest answer is no, you've just saved yourself a small fortune.