How much should I spend on marketing as a small business?

Less than you think, if the activity is consistent and pointed at the right people. Most small businesses waste budget being on every platform with no plan. A small budget, used well, beats a big budget used in a panic. Spend reflects strategy, not the other way around.

Should I be on every social platform?

No. Pick the one or two where your ideal clients actually spend time and show up there properly. Being half-present on five platforms beats nobody on every front. Less is almost always more in small business marketing.

Why is my marketing not generating leads?

Usually one of three things. Your positioning is unclear, so the wrong people are finding you. Your activity is inconsistent, so people forget you between posts. Or there is no clear next step on the page they land on. Sometimes all three.

Do I need an agency or can I do this myself?

You can do most of it yourself if you commit to a rhythm and know what good looks like. An agency makes sense when you have the budget and the strategy is already clear. An agency working without strategy will burn your money fast. Sort the strategy first.

─── LENS 4

Marketing

How you reach your audience, what channels you're using, and whether your activity is actually translating into growth.

─── What this lens covers

Marketing is everything you do to be seen and remembered by the right people.

Content, channels, email list, website, social media. And the strategy behind it. The reason you're posting what you're posting, on the platforms you've chosen, with the message you've decided on.

This lens covers the activity. It also covers whether the activity is actually doing anything.

“Marketing rewards consistency. Not intensity.”

─── Why this matters

Most small businesses are doing some marketing. Almost none are doing it with intention.

They post when they remember. Run ads when things go quiet and stop when things get busy. The result is a brand that looks inconsistent and a pipeline that depends on luck.

And that might be ok for while things are going well. But as soon as something unexpected happens, a lot of people expect marketing to pick things up overnight. It doesn’t work that way.

And typically when this happens, you don’t always have a big budget to throw behind marketing when sales are down.

Marketing rewards consistency, not intensity. The business that shows up once a week for two years beats the one that posts ten times in a fortnight and then disappears for six months.

What good looks like

You know which channels are working and you put your time and money there.
You have a regular rhythm that doesn't depend on inspiration, because inspiration is the least reliable thing in your business (though we can create foundations to support inspiration, too).
Your marketing matches your positioning, so the people who find you are the right ones.
You can point to enquiries that came from specific activity, not from a gut feel.

What not so good looks like

You're on nearly every platform and present on none of them.
You started a newsletter and posted twice.
You've outsourced marketing to someone who didn't understand your business, paid them well, and now you're hesitant to try again.
You can't tell whether marketing is working because you never defined what working would look like.

What we look at first

We start with what's already working, even if it's small. Then we look at what's being done that isn't and ask whether it's worth fixing or worth cutting.

Then we work out the smallest version of a consistent marketing rhythm you can run without it becoming another thing on your plate. Marketing only works when it's sustainable. The fanciest plan in the world is worthless if you stop running it after six weeks.

How this connects to the other lenses

Marketing sits downstream of Brand & Positioning and feeds into Customers & Pipeline. It connects to Operations & Systems and Owner & Leadership.

Common Questions

Less than you think, if the activity is consistent and pointed at the right people. Most small businesses waste budget being on every platform with no plan. A small budget, used well, beats a big budget used in a panic. Spend reflects strategy, not the other way around. If you feel like you’ve wasted a lot of money on marketing, let’s chat. This could be your strategy, or just an understanding gap.
No. Pick the ones where your ideal clients actually spend time and show up there properly. Being half-present on five platforms beats nobody on every front. Less is almost always more in small business marketing.
Usually one of three things. Your positioning is unclear, so the wrong people are finding you. Your activity is inconsistent, so people forget you between posts. Or there is no clear next step on the page they land on. Sometimes all three.
You can do most of it yourself if you commit to a rhythm and know what good looks like. An agency makes sense when you have the budget and the strategy is already clear. An agency working without strategy will burn your money fast. Sort the strategy first.

─── NOT SURE WHERE TO START? ───

Let’s have an honest conversation.

If you're doing a lot of marketing and not seeing much come back, more isn't the answer. The fix is usually clarity, not volume. We can help you work out what to keep, what to cut, and what to actually build on

BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL