A lot of marketing advice assumes you have a team, a budget, and the time to be everywhere all at once. Most small businesses don’t. They’re juggling client work, operations, and growth, often simultaneously, and doing it all with limited resources. That’s why the first step into marketing for a small business shouldn’t be about doing more. It should be about doing what’s realistic, sustainable, and genuinely useful for where your business is right now.
The Hard Part Is Knowing Where to Begin
For many business owners, marketing doesn’t stall because of a lack of ideas. It stalls because it’s hard to know what the first step should be. There’s no shortage of advice, platforms, or opinions, and everything can feel equally important. Websites, social media, email, branding. Where do you even start?
When there’s no clear starting point, marketing becomes something you circle around rather than step into. You wait for more time, more clarity, or more confidence. Meanwhile, opportunities quietly pass. Not because you’re doing nothing, but because it’s unclear which step actually matters most.
Five Simple Pieces of Advice to Start Marketing with Intention
These practical steps are designed to help you move forward with focus, without trying to do everything at once or burning yourself out in the process.
1. Clarify your core message
Define what you do, who it’s for, and why it matters. This message becomes the foundation for your website, your content, and how you talk about your business everywhere else. If you can explain it simply, your audience can understand it quickly.
2. Define your brand positioning
Brand positioning helps you shape how your business is perceived. This includes your tone of voice, visual direction, and what makes your offering different. When this is clear, your marketing feels intentional rather than pieced together. If you’re working with a smaller budget, our semi-custom brand template can be a great place to start to build your branding.
3. Choose one platform to focus on
Instead of trying to show up everywhere, choose one primary platform that supports your goals. Ideally, it’s where your audience already spends time. For many businesses, that’s a social platform like Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. From there, invest in a simple website that builds trust and gives people a clear next step. A website template can absolutely do the trick without stretching your budget.
4. Set a simple marketing goal
Decide what you want this platform to do for you right now. More enquiries, more bookings, or simply clearer communication. One clear goal helps guide what you create and makes it easier to measure whether your efforts are actually working.
5. Create a repeatable system
Marketing becomes sustainable when you remove unnecessary decisions. Templates, brand guidelines, and simple workflows help you show up consistently without reinventing the wheel every time. Consistency beats perfection every single time in marketing for a small business.
A Gentle Next Step
Marketing works best when it’s treated as an ongoing practice rather than a one-off task. Each small step helps refine your message, strengthen your presence, and build momentum over time. What matters most is creating a foundation you can return to and grow from, at a pace that feels manageable and aligned with your business. A little guidance or support can make this process feel a lot easier. Feel free to reach out anytime. Having your marketing for your small business taken care of creates more space to focus on what you do best.
