10 small business marketing tips you can (actually) action this week
No 47-page strategy. No dancing on TikTok. No “just post consistently”.
Just practical marketing advice you can actually do yourself.
Recently, our Head of Creative & Content, Brooke, jumped on the panel at Like A Club’s Small Business Night alongside lending expert Chirag from NAB Business Banking and accounting expert Matthew from Schembri Accounting.
The night was all about getting clients, keeping cash and using capital – with a very refreshing focus on giving small business owners advice they could actually take away and use.
So, we thought we’d steal Brooke’s notes on small business marketing tips before she lost them.
Here’s what she had to say.
1. Stop trying to be everything to everyone
Let’s start with one of the biggest marketing crimes we see:
Trying to appeal to everyone.
You’re posting on Instagram. And Facebook. And LinkedIn. And TikTok. Maybe you’ve dabbled in Pinterest. You’ve started a YouTube channel. You’re jumping on every trending audio known to mankind.
And somehow… you’re still not getting the leads you want.
Sound familiar?
You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be where your customers are.
Get clear on your primary audience. Get clear on your secondary audience. Then actually talk to them.
And remember that not everyone following you is ready to hand over their money today.
You’ve got the lurkers.
The curious ones.
The people quietly comparing you to three of your competitors.
The people who are *this close* to enquiring.
And then you’ve got the loyal fans who would happily shout about you from the rooftops.
Your job is to create marketing that speaks to people at all stages of that journey.
You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be useful in the places your customers actually are.
2. Spend 30 minutes pretending you’ve never seen your business before
If you gave us 30 minutes of your time tomorrow morning, we’d tell you to resist the urge to immediately make a Canva post.
Instead, stalk yourself.
Google your business.
Look at your website.
Check your Instagram.
Look at your Facebook page.
Read your Google reviews.
And pretend you’ve never seen any of it before.
Then ask yourself:
- Do I know what this business does?
- Do I know who it’s for?
- Do I understand why I’d choose them?
- Do I know what I’m supposed to do next?
If the answer to any of those is “ummm… not really”, congratulations. You’ve found your marketing task for the morning.
Because sometimes we don’t need more marketing.
We need better marketing.
And one of our favourite rules?
Clarity before creativity.
You can have the world’s prettiest Instagram feed, but if I still don’t know what you actually sell, we’ve got bigger problems than your font choice.
3. Stop chasing strangers. Talk to people who already know you.
If you only had one hour this week to work on your marketing, we’d actually skip the perfect Reel.
Yep. We said it.
Go talk to people who already know you.
Dig out:
- Past clients
- Previous customers
- Old enquiries
- Quotes that never went ahead
- People who haven’t purchased from you in ages
- Your email database
- Anyone who’s previously raised their hand and said, “Hey, I’m interested.”
Then reach out.
It doesn’t need to be some awkward, salesy, “Dear valued customer, we hope this email finds you well” situation.
Just be human.
“Hey! It’s been a while. We loved working with you last time and thought you might be interested in X.”
Done.
You’re starting with a warm audience instead of trying to convince a complete stranger to care about you.
And if you’ve got no database?
Well… that’s probably your first marketing job.
4. Your customers are literally writing your content for you
Looking for something to post this week?
Stop staring at Canva like it’s going to reveal the answer.
Think about the questions your customers ask you all the bloody time.
“How much does it cost?”
“How long does it take?”
“Which one do I need?”
“What happens after I book?”
“What’s the difference between X and Y?”
There.
There’s your content strategy.
Turn that question into a Reel. A carousel. An email. A blog. An FAQ. A story.
Because if one person is asking it, there’s a very good chance other people are wondering the exact same thing.
And bonus points: those are often the questions people are typing into Google too.
Your customers are literally handing you your content strategy. Listen to them.
5. Your email database is sitting there. Use it.
We love social media.
But we’re going to let you in on a little secret:
You don’t always need more followers.
Sometimes you need to talk to the people you’ve already got.
Your email database is full of people who have, at some point, said:
“Yep, I’m happy to hear from this business.”
That’s a warm audience.
So give them something.
Tell them about a new service.
Share an offer.
Give them something genuinely useful.
Show them what you’ve been working on.
Remind them you exist.
Or, honestly, just reintroduce yourself.
Because people may know your business, but they might not know everything you actually do.
And you don’t need a massive budget to get started. Platforms like Mailchimp and Klaviyo make it pretty easy to start building a proper email marketing machine without needing to sell a kidney.
6. Please stop trying to go viral. Please.
We need to talk about this one.
Not every business needs TikTok.
Not every business needs to jump on every trending sound.
And not every brand needs to somehow shoehorn Taylor Swift into their marketing strategy.
Trends can be great.
When they make sense.
But if you’re spending three hours trying to make a trending audio relevant to your plumbing business when your customers couldn’t give two sh*ts…
That’s not strategy.
That’s procrastination with good lighting.
We’d much rather see you consistently answer customer questions, demonstrate your expertise and build trust than spend half a day chasing a viral post that has absolutely nothing to do with what you sell.
Be relevant, not just trendy.
And if you can create your own trends?
Even better.
7. Have a plan.
Before the end of the year, we’d love to see every small business with a simple 6–12 month marketing roadmap.
Notice we said simple.
Not a 47-page document full of corporate buzzwords that gets presented once and then dies quietly in a Google Drive folder.
We’re talking:
What are our business goals?
What are we selling?
Who are we selling it to?
How are we going to get those people through the door?
If your goal is to sell $200,000 worth of a particular service, work backwards.
How many clients does that mean?
How many leads do you need?
Where are those leads coming from?
What marketing activity is going to help generate them?
Then build your marketing around that.
Your marketing shouldn’t exist in a little silo doing its own cute little thing.
It should be helping your business make money.
8. Stop obsessing over likes. Follow the leads.
We’re not saying ignore your social media insights.
We’re saying look beyond the vanity metrics.
One of the simplest things you can measure every week is:
Where did my leads come from?
Google?
Instagram?
Facebook?
Word of mouth?
Your website?
An email?
A networking event?
Your mate’s cousin who knows a guy?
Start tracking it.
Because once you know where your leads are actually coming from, you can make smarter decisions about where you’re putting your time and money.
50,000 views is nice.
But if those views generated absolutely nothing?
Cool story.
We’d rather know which marketing activity made someone enquire.
9. Automate the boring bits before they cost you money
Here’s something that gets forgotten all the time:
What happens after someone enquires?
They fill out your website form.
Then what?
Do they get an email?
Does someone call them?
Do they get a quote?
Does someone remember to follow up three days later?
Or does their enquiry disappear into the depths of someone’s inbox, never to be seen again?
Even a simple automated confirmation email or follow-up reminder can make a huge difference.
And this is where marketing gets bigger than social media.
Marketing doesn’t stop when someone clicks “enquire”.
The experience that follows is part of your marketing too.
So automate the boring bits.
Free up your brain.
And, most importantly, stop letting good leads fall through the cracks.
10. Google yourself. Seriously.
If Brooke were running a small business tomorrow morning, this is where she’d start.
Google yourself.
Not for an ego boost.
For research.
Pretend you’re a potential customer who knows absolutely nothing about you.
Search your business name.
Search the service you want to be known for.
Search your competitors.
Then look at your business with fresh eyes.
Does your website make sense?
Is your Google Business Profile up to date?
Do your socials look alive?
Does your branding look like the same business across every platform?
Does your tone sound consistent?
Can someone actually figure out how to contact you?
And, most importantly:
Would you trust you?
If the answer is “hmmm… probably not”, don’t panic.
You’ve just found your to-do list.
Your “I have no marketing budget” checklist
If you’ve made it this far and you’re thinking, “Cool, but where the hell do I start?”
Start here.
- Google yourself
- Get clear on who you're actually talking to
- Check your website, socials and Google profile
- Make sure your branding looks like the same business everywhere
- Answer three questions your customers ask constantly
- Reach out to one past client or warm lead
- Email your existing database (Perhaps with a value add offer?)
- Stop wasting three hours on irrelevant trends
- Start tracking where your enquiries come from
- Make a simple 6–12 month marketing plan
And don’t try to do all of this tomorrow.
Pick one.
Do it properly.
Then pick another.
Because good marketing isn’t about doing more for the sake of doing more.
It’s about doing the right things, consistently, for the right people.
And if you can do that without blowing your entire small-business budget?
Even better.
Conclusion
Good marketing doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive or overwhelming.
Whether you’re refining your messaging, improving your website, building a stronger digital presence or simply figuring out where your next leads are going to come from, the key is having a clear strategy and focusing on the activities that actually move your business forward.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and start making your marketing work harder, Hive Media Group can help. We work with businesses to develop practical, results-focused marketing strategies across digital marketing, SEO, content, social media, branding and more.
You don’t need another 47-page strategy that sits in a Google Drive folder. You need marketing that makes sense for your business and helps you achieve your goals.
Ready to make your marketing work harder? Get in touch with Hive Media Group and let’s build a strategy that works for your business.
