How to Succeed with Small Business Marketing (Given Limited Budget & Time)

I recently wrote The Comprehensive Guide: Digital Marketing for Small Businesses, in which I offer an extensive overview of the digital marketing landscape and give strategy tips for small businesses. What I didn’t cover, however, is how to prioritize marketing campaigns, especially as a small business.

When you’re working to ensure the rest of your business is running smoothly, it isn’t easy to keep up with ongoing marketing techniques (such as weekly or biweekly blog posts, monthly newsletters or daily social media posts). It can be time consuming to learn how to create an effective Google Ad strategy or to optimize your website for search engines.

So, when you have limited time and resources, what should you focus on with your marketing campaign? What will give you the best ROI? Search engine optimization? Google Ads? YouTube Ads? Facebook Ads? Social media updates? Direct mail flyers? The options are endless.

Let’s explore the best bang-for-your-buck options and learn how to identify the low-hanging fruit that best suits your small business.

Which marketing activities should small businesses prioritize?

Here’s the answer you don’t want to hear - it depends. 

It depends, mostly on your industry, but also, your goals and the differentiating factors that lie at the heart of your business.

Example #1: A Seattle Bar Looking to Expand Its Hours

First off, let’s start with your goals. Let’s say you own an underground bar near Seattle that hosts musicians, comedians and poetry slams. You succeed in your niche and excel with social media. Your current clientele skews toward ages 35-45.

The problem is that you’ve stagnated. You tried to draw in a lunch crowd with special promotions but it didn’t gain traction. You want to increase your hours but aren’t sure how. Do you run lunch at a loss for months at a time while trying to boost sales? 

I mean, you can’t boost lunch sales if you’re never open for lunch.

After researching, you find that the majority of Seattle’s population is 20-39 years old, about 42% (according to the Census Reporter)! This means that you’re leaving out a significant portion of your potential clientele.

Do a little more digging and you find that those 31-35 years old are “268% more likely to visit a taproom on a Saturday 12-3pm than those a decade younger.” Okay, if the 31-35 year old audience is essentially a given, how do we attract the 21-30 crowd?

You find data that shows “the 21-34 age group [has] the highest rate of craft drinkers at 60%.” 

Craft beer - okay. Let’s use that as the gateway to winning the hearts of the younger side of Millennials.

The plan is to start a craft beer rotation, with special events that feature the brewers themselves talking about their craft and how it’s done. This allows you to connect with younger adults during those non-peak hours, expand your target market and hopefully, increase your hours.

In this scenario, I would suggest you add the following to your digital marketing strategy (assuming you already have a strong social media presence with Millennials):

#1. Media Outreach

You’re well-known and loved in your local area but you aren’t at the forefront of the city’s bar scene…as in, you don’t hold a spot on The Seattle Times’ list of the “Top 100 Best Bars in North America” or Eater Seattle’s list of the top bars in Seattle.

You want to be on these top lists and in the places where your customers (aged 21-34) are likely to look. The Seattle Times is one of those places, as it reaches over 400k Millennial readers (aged 25-39), with most of their online readership being Millennials.

Pro tip: Don’t forget that blogs and podcasts are media too! A well-timed interview on a local Seattle podcast could do wonders for your marketing strategy.

And do be sure to send out a press release a few weeks before any major event, such as the addition of lunch hours or a new collaboration with a craft beer company.

#2. Event Promotion

You need to appeal to the younger audience ASAP. To test the waters of a lunchtime opening, start with RSVP-only lunchtime events for craft beer tastings. 

Why the RSVP?

1. The RSVP aspect makes the event feel exclusive and gives people a sense of obligation. It isn’t an elusive maybe-I’ll-make-it / maybe-not type of event. It’s something you put in your calendar and commit to. 

2. By RSVP’ing, customers are also opting into your newsletter (a small percentage will deselect the opt-out field) and this newsletter is one of the places where you will announce your upcoming lunchtime opening.

The goal of these events is to inform customers that the bar will open for lunch on a specific date. The events plant the idea in their minds, while giving you time to lay the groundwork and develop a built-in customer-base (the ones who are showing up to all of these lunchtime events!).

Also at these events:

• Highlight the fact that some of your beers are available for a limited time only, driving the urgency for customers to come back and try new beers…Beef jerky craft beer? Donut-infused beer? Well that’s something I gotta try!

• Hand out lunch-launch discounts like crazy (valid for 1-2 months after the new lunch hours begin). Encourage customers to take a few coupons to share with friends. You’ll become the hot new spot for lunchtime drinks in no time.

#3. Craft Brewery Outreach

You’re looking for a unique angle to bring your customers - a new promotional event or drink that only a craft brewery can deliver. Identify the top breweries that fit your target market and start connecting.

#4. Craft Beer Tradeshows

The center of it all. Everywhere you look is a potential collaboration.

Individual outreach can be time consuming. 

Tradeshows are the speed dating of the professional craft brewery world!

Other companies may spark ideas for new events or products and you just may find an unexpected lead. Tradeshows are key to staying at the cutting edge of industry.

With marketing, timing is everything. In this Seattle bar example, everything you do revolves around that lunch-launch date - exclusive events leading up to the day, press releases, media outreach, craft beer rotation. All of this ensures there will be an audience for your new hours. You aren’t simply throwing out a few social media posts or a single press release and hoping customers will show up. You crafted an entire web of marketing strategy and that strategy is the key to your success.

Example #2: A Small, Family-Owned Retail Business Starting Out

At the start of this article, I mentioned that your marketing strategy depends on your goals and the differentiating aspects of your business. Well, what happens if you’re a small, family-owned shop in Bellevue just starting out? 

#1. Local Flyers

According to VistaPrint (in partnership with Wix), 71% of small businesses say that physical marketing tactics (including flyers, banners, posters, loyalty cards) are key to their strategy. 

While social media is important, you’ll notice this isn’t my #1 choice for the family-owned business just starting out…even though over 42% of customers visit a small business because of a social media post (VistaPrint, pg. 16).

It takes time to build traction with social media, with daily posts at minimum across multiple platforms. It’s too early in the game to let this consume you.

Do, however, set up basic social media profiles on trending platforms like Facebook and Instagram (with hopefully a post or two!) so that people who find you in the next steps can keep you on their radar.

According to that same VistaPrint report, 38% of customers visit a local small business because of direct mail / flyer and 37% because of outdoor signage and ads locally.

Post flyers at local businesses - libraries, community centers, grocery stores, produce stands, mom-and-pop hardware stores, gyms, physical therapy offices - anywhere that allows it!

#2. Listings (Google My Business, Yelp)

Online listings like Google My Business and Yelp are key ways that customers will find you and interact with you online. 30% of consumers visit a local small business because of an online search.

When possible, use Google My Business Posts to update customers on offers, events, etc. 

#3. Media Outreach & Press Releases

I’m cheating a little here by saying that while you’re applying for event booths (in #4), focus on media outreach and absolutely get a press release out as soon as possible to announce that you opened your doors. Media outreach takes time but any traction can make a huge difference for your business, prompting a snowball effect of those online reviews.

#4. Booths at Farmers Markets & Events

You may not have enough 5 star ratings yet to make a blip on peoples’ radars but at a local event:

• Show them all you have to offer (including stellar customer service), 

• Give them a small gift if they leave a review,

• Get that word-of-mouth magic happening…

…and you’ll start to see more customers coming through your door.

(PS - 28% of customers visit a local small business because of a local event!)

#4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / E-Newsletters

Not everyone searches Google Maps for “vintage clothing” or “comic books Seattle” and when they search elsewhere, they’re most likely to search on Google. 

In fact, consumers are most likely to search Google ahead of any other search option available, with Google Search at 72%, Google Maps at 51%, Facebook at 49%, Instagram at 33%, etc.

So mom and pop absolutely want to make sure that they’re on the top pages of Google for relevant, high ranking keywords. These aren’t keywords you just guess at. Sometimes, there are small nuances like “café” vs. “coffee shop” that can alter whether 500 more people see your website…or whether you lose that traffic to a competitor.

I am, frankly, often wrong about the words people are most likely to use in their Google searches. I use marketing tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush to give me a reality check (a new one for me was learning to use the term “hospitality” for B2B clients rather than “hotel or inn,” as I would for B2C). 

And for the finale - Once you capture that traffic, ensure the call-to-action for your e-newsletter sign up is prominent! Like social media, you don’t have to worry too much about your newsletter initially but you do want to build up those contacts so that when you do have a special sale or you’re at an event in another location, you can communicate that to your fans.

How to identify which marketing activities are best for your business?

When all’s said and done, how do you identify the best marketing activities for your small business? You’ll notice that in both examples, I looked to research to inform my marketing initiatives.

With the bar in Washington, I looked at Seattle statistics to find out which age groups I should be targeting. Then, I consulted industry reports to learn about those consumers’ drinking habits and leveraged that information (hooray for craft beer!) to develop a plan.

In the mom and pop small business example, I looked to statistics again to find out the primary ways consumers learn about their local small businesses, though the statistics really just served to back up what I hypothesized.

To summarize:

• What is the problem you’re trying to solve? Clearly, you’re looking to obtain more customers, or you wouldn’t be here.

• What is your ideal target market?

• How do you reach your target market? This is where the statistics come in…or, if you’re at a complete loss, ask a search engine or ChatGPT.

• Now that you have information about which marketing tactics to use - social media vs. direct mail, etc. - narrow these down. Since you’re a small business owner, you don’t have the time or resources to tackle all of these at once. The first couple items on your list might not even make the cut.

• Focus on what you’re best at, what you have time for. I enjoy writing and it’s a strength of mine, so I focus on SEO and blog posts as part of my marketing strategy, with a minimal social media presence at the moment. I’d like to do more with social media but I simply don’t have the bandwidth.

When to consider outsourcing to a consultant or marketing company?

If you know you need marketing but you don’t have the time or interest, hire a marketing partner - it will save you a lot of time and frustration. For example, when my time frees up more, I might tackle social media head on…or I might find a partner to help in that area.

On the other hand, if you find marketing interesting and are willing to dedicate some time to learning marketing tasks, mastering social media or writing regular blog posts (ideally 1-2 per week), then, by all means, go for it! 

Use tools like ChatGPT to make your job a little easier. I often have ChatGPT to write summaries for me, workshop blog ideas or write an intro paragraph when I have writer’s block. I usually heavily edit or entirely rewrite what it gives me but it does get me on the right train of thought quicker.

Since running your business is your full time job, do outsource at least some of the work to a marketing consulting partner or agency. There are many ways to engage with potential customers and some efforts, like social media, have a snowball effect - the more likes you get, the more followers you earn.

To recap, when you do you outsource?

• You need specialized skills (advanced SEO, ad management, UX testing).

• Your time is better spent focused on your core service.

• You’re scaling beyond 1–2 channels and don’t have the bandwidth.

Successful small business marketing boils down to choosing the right tactics for your unique goals and resources. By grounding your decisions in data (whether it’s local demographics, industry reports, or customer feedback), you can discover the low-hanging fruit that delivers real ROI, whether that’s targeted press outreach, exclusive RSVP-only events, or well-timed blog posts and newsletters.

Remember, you don’t have to do everything yourself: outsource the tasks that fall outside your expertise or stretch your bandwidth so you can reclaim the time to focus on what you do best. With a clear plan and a willingness to adapt, you’ll turn a limited budget and time into the best marketing strategy you’ve come up with yet!