Digital Marketing Budgets, Industry Currency, and the Energetics of Expansion

Digital marketing budgets are evolving faster than most business owners realize, yet many small businesses treat them as an afterthought. In my work, in the marketing circles I follow, and in the clients I advise, I see the same pattern over and over again: a scarcity-based digital budget is not a strategy. It is a guaranteed limitation.

You cannot shrink your way into expansion. You cannot market from fear and expect abundance. You cannot play small digitally and expect to be seen globally.

From both an energetic perspective and a business perspective, scarcity never produces growth.

Post-COVID Reality Changed Digital Marketing Budgets

After COVID, something fundamental shifted. Many small businesses contracted because their flow of funds paused, and they only had a small safety net. Meanwhile, private equity-backed companies and large corporations moved in the opposite direction. While society was paused, they were preparing.

This wasn’t because they consciously understood energetics. It wasn’t because small businesses were spiritually unaware.

What happened was simply this: each group responded differently to the universal rhythm of contraction and expansion.

Businesses with reserves are naturally aligned with the pullback. They had enough stability to remain strategic. They could wait, plan, invest, and use the contraction as momentum for the eventual rise.

Small businesses were forced into survival mode. When funds tighten, fear becomes the loudest voice in the room. Decision-making becomes reactive. Vision collapses into “What do I need to get through today?”

One group moved with the tide because they had the capacity. The other resisted the tide because they were fighting to stay afloat.

Neither group was consciously aware of the pattern. But the pattern shaped them anyway.

This is energy. This is economics. This is business.

They are not separate.

Why We Can Never Compare to Pre-COVID Numbers Again

When my clients say things like, “We used to do this volume,” or “Our numbers were stronger before,” I remind them:

Pre-COVID numbers are not real markers of today’s economy.

Those numbers were built in a world that no longer exists. Consumer habits changed. Currency flow changed. Digital behavior has changed. Human psychology changed.The entire energetic grid of commerce shifted.

If your business survived the pandemic, you already outperformed thousands who didn’t return. That makes you resilient. But now resilience is not enough. You need a strategy. You need intention. You need an aligned digital investment.

The Hidden Shift: Many “Small Businesses” Are No Longer Small

Another factor that most small business owners do not realize is this: during COVID and the years that followed, many small businesses were purchased or absorbed by corporate chains and private equity groups, but they continued operating under the same familiar “small business” identity. What looks like a mom-and-pop shop today is often a corporate-backed entity with deep pockets, advanced data, automated systems, and a marketing budget that no independent owner could match.

The marketplace quietly consolidated while everyone was focused on survival. The world that small businesses walked back into was not the same world they left. And it still isn’t.

We are living in a completely different economic landscape. The numbers you see today are not the numbers of the past. The metrics you’re trying to measure against didn’t even exist pre-COVID.The technology, tracking, AI systems, algorithms, and digital opportunities available now are all new.

You cannot compare your small independent business to what it was before if your competitors are no longer who they were before. The entire grid shifted: ownership, currency, visibility, and technology.

This is why holding onto pre-COVID expectations is not just unrealistic; it is harmful to growth. We are in a new economic era, and the rules of business have changed.

Why Digital Isn’t Optional- It’s the Mainstage Now

The data for 2025 speaks plainly: global media-ad spend will pass US$1 trillion this year. Of that, about 73% is being spent on digital channels search, social, video, and retail-media not print, TV, or radio.

That means digital alone will soak up more than US$700–777 billion globally in marketing dollars in 2025. 

In the U.S., digital ad spend already tops US$300 billion, while traditional media now holds under 20% of total ad budgets. 

What this tells us is simple: visibility, attention, and competition have moved online. If you insist on staying on a tiny budget, using old media, or skipping the digital arena, you’re playing on yesterday’s field.

If you want to grow, scale, be seen... you have to meet the money where it flows: DIGITAL MARKETING.

The Truth About Competing With Corporate Chains

When a small business comes to me and says, “The big chains are dominating. I need help competing.” I absolutely can help in many ways.

I can help you brainstorm.I can help you brand. I can build your strategy. I can design your content.I can tell your story.I can create the visuals. I can elevate your message.

But here is what I cannot do:

I cannot fund your digital ad spend for you. I cannot pay Google Ads for you. I cannot pay Meta for you. I cannot match corporate budgets with your $200 of fear-based spending.

That is something YOU must rise to risk or sit to accept. 

Digital currency is not optional. Digital ads are not a luxury. They are the modern entry fee for visibility.

If you want to be seen on the same playing field as corporate chains, you have to invest at a level that gives you access to that playing field.

This is the part many small business owners struggle to accept.

A $200 Digital Budget Is Not a Digital Budget

When a client tells me they have $200 for digital ads, I tell them honestly and kindly:

“Keep the $200. Put it back in your pocket. That is a better return than watching it disappear into the digital abyss.”

Because $200 is not a strategy. It is a security blanket. It is scarcity dressed as effort. It's aimless spending. It shows me the relationship they have with their money, the way they view their money. 

Digital budgeting is not based on your bank account’s comfort level. Digital budgeting is math and strategy. 

You will spend. You will test. You will lose some. You will gain. You will refine. You will repeat.

YOU WILL BE SEEN.

This is the universal law of circulation. The law of giving and receiving.The law of flow.

Say I am woo woo or watch what works. What you put out, you get back. If you put out scarcity, you get scarcity. If you put out an investment with intention, you receive an aligned return.

Now, this does not mean all marketing agencies are ethical. Please do your research. Make sure your money is going into ads, not pockets. Ask for transparency. Look at dashboards. Ask for reports.

But regardless of who you hire, the truth remains:

You still have to play the game if you want to win. 

My Boundary as a Marketing Director

I do not argue with clients about digital budgets. You are either in, or you are not. 

I am not here to waste your money. I am not here to negotiate your fear. I am not here to convince you that visibility matters.

If you are only willing to invest what feels comfortable today, you are not ready to scale. If you allow your emotions to dictate your budget, you are not operating like a business owner. If you want big results on small energy, you are not aligned with expansion.

Readiness is NOT a bank balance. Readiness is a mindset, a choice. 

I can help you grow. I can help you rise. I can help you expand.

But I cannot make you ready.

If you are in, we move. If you are not, we don't. 

The Energetic and Economic Reality of 2026 and Beyond

The businesses that will win in this new era are the ones that understand:

Digital presence is currency. Attention is currency. Energy is currency. Investment is currency.

Marketing is not an expense. Marketing is an investment.

A scarcity-based budget creates scarcity-based outcomes. An abundant, aligned budget creates expansion.

Your business survived the greatest contraction of our lifetime. Now it is time to rise with the next expansion.

That rise begins the moment you decide you are worthy of being seen. 

Are you ready or not?