5 steps to kickstart your marketing
(For the time-poor business owner).
If you run a small or medium business, chances are marketing isn’t always at the top of your to-do list.
There are plenty of reasons why. Sometimes it’s about time. Sometimes it’s about a skills gap that feels too hard or costly to fill. Sometimes it’s a lack of confidence, or not knowing where to start. And sometimes, it’s the worry that all the effort won’t actually pay off.
Whatever the reason, the truth is this: just turning up and being consistent is half the battle. Having a steady, efficient strategy and content plan gives you a strong foundation. The clever tactics and creative spark come later, as you build confidence and experience.
So where do you begin? Here are five steps to get your marketing moving. And this is just the big-picture overview — we’ll dig deeper into each step in future articles.
1. Start with strategy
Good marketing starts with asking the right questions:
Who?
Who exactly are you talking to? Think about your ideal customer and create a profile (an “avatar”) so your content feels like a one-to-one conversation. The more specific you are, the more effective your message will be.
What?
What are your business aims? Is it more website conversions? More people buying via Instagram or Facebook? Collecting new leads? The clearer your goals, the sharper and more efficient your marketing will be.
Where?
Where is your audience? If you’re B2B, you may only need LinkedIn. If you’re retail, Instagram and Facebook may be the place to focus. Your website should also act as the hub that everything connects back to. The point is you don’t need to be on everything, all the time.
How?
How are you going to get your message across? Blogs, lead magnets, videos, carousels, photography — the options can feel overwhelming. The key is to stay focused on your audience and make sure each piece of content has a purpose.
2. Build a content plan
A content plan takes the stress out of marketing. It doesn’t mean posting every day on every channel. Instead, choose the platforms where your audience is most active and build from there.
Sit down with a calendar – digital or paper, it doesn’t matter – and decide:
Which days you’ll post
How often
What themes you’ll cover (or “content pillars” if we’re being technical)
Here’s a trick we use when creating monthly content packages: focus on one or two hero pieces each month. This might be a blog post, a video, or an ebook. From that single piece, you can create a stream of smaller content — an email, short videos, a LinkedIn carousel, a ‘myth vs reality’ post, a Q&A, or perhaps a meme.
Suddenly, your calendar is full and consistent, without needing to reinvent the wheel every week.
Working this way is efficient, helps you stick to one streamlined campaign message, and most importantly, keeps you consistent.
3. Create ‘smart’
Once your strategy and plan are in place, it’s time to create. This is often where overwhelm creeps in – especially when it comes to tools. But the right setup will save you time and sanity.
A simple starting stack could include:
AI: The most obvious is ChatGPT but there are more available everyday. It’s helpful to think of an AI tool as a smart but inexperienced intern. With good prompts, it can help you brainstorm, draft, and refine content quickly.
A design tool: Canva is the obvious one to use here - helping you create on brand marketing materials like tiles and videos a lot more efficiently (and efficiency is the name of the game here).
A social media scheduler: These platforms let you plan and schedule a month’s worth of posts in one sitting. Then you can ‘set and forget’ while staying visible. There are, literally, thousands to choose from, but cheaper ones like Buffer, Later and Plann are a good place to start.
An email campaign tool: Regular emails keep you top of mind with customers. Even a small, well-timed nudge can make a big financial difference. Tools like Mailchimp or an email campaign tool that’s integrated with your website, like Squarespace, make it easier to communicate with your audience.
There are plenty of other options out there, but starting simple means you’ll be more likely to stick with it and you can build it up further down the track.
4. Stay consistent
Consistency is where the magic happens. Your marketing doesn’t need to be flashy or perfect – it just needs to show up reliably. That steady presence builds trust with your audience and keeps your business top of mind.
Remember: marketing is a long game. You won’t see results overnight, but with each consistent step, you’re laying the foundation for growth.
5. Measure and adjust
This last step is often overlooked. Too many businesses create content without ever checking whether it’s working.
Each month, take a look at how your marketing is performing against your goals. Which posts or emails drove traffic? Which ones fell flat?
Adjusting based on results is common sense – but it’s also how you find opportunities and, importantly, stop wasting time on what doesn’t work.
Think of analytics as your marketing compass. It tells you whether you’re heading in the right direction and where to make small course corrections.
Bringing it all together
Getting your marketing going doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Start with a clear strategy, map out a simple content plan, create with the right tools, stay consistent, and measure as you go. Step by step, you’ll build momentum — and confidence.
Of course, no matter how efficient you get, you’ll still need to dedicate some time to get it right. If even that feels like too much, that’s where we come in. We can take the stress out of marketing by doing it for you, without the overhead of a big agency or recruiting someone in house.
Book us in for a free 15-minute chat to talk about marketing your business.
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