Marketing strategy for small business: a six-step guide
A marketing strategy for small business is a short written decision: who you want as customers, what you promise them, which one or two channels you will use to reach them, and how much you will spend and measure. Work through it in six steps, then keep it to one page you can review every quarter.
Most small businesses do not need a thick document. They need to choose, and to write the choice down so that someone owns it. This guide follows the structure of BDC’s guide to writing a marketing plan (BDC is the Business Development Bank of Canada, a federal Crown corporation), adds the channel and measurement choices a small team faces, and ends with a template.
Strategy, plan and tactics
The three words get mixed up, so here is how we use them.
- Strategy is the choice: which customers, which promise, which channels.
- Plan is the strategy with dates, owners and a budget. BDC describes a marketing plan as usually covering the next 12 months.
- Tactics are the individual actions: a Google Business Profile, a monthly newsletter, a referral offer.
For a small business, the strategy and the plan can share one page. What matters is that every tactic traces back to a goal.
A marketing strategy for small business, step by step
1. Set one or two goals
Start with what the business needs, not with a channel. BDC says objectives should be attainable and realistic, and that you can reuse the sales targets from your business plan. It also recommends non-financial targets, digital engagement among them.
Write each goal so that you could tell, on a given date, whether it happened: “N new qualified enquiries a month from the website by the end of the third quarter” is a goal. “More visibility” is not. If you do not have a number yet, make the first goal “find out our current number” and set the target next quarter.
2. Know your audience
BDC suggests grouping your current customers into three or four segments and describing each one: who they are, what they need, how much they buy and what decides the purchase. You already have the evidence. Look through your recent invoices, ask your three best customers why they chose you, and ask one customer you lost why they left.
Write a short profile for each segment. Skip invented personas with stock-photo names. A real description such as “owner-managed firms that have outgrown spreadsheets and have no finance department” is more useful than a fictional “Marketing Mary”.
3. Decide your positioning
Positioning is the reason a customer in your target group picks you over the alternatives, including doing nothing. BDC’s first step is a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) that includes a look at competitors. Use it to find the one thing you do better, or for a customer others ignore.
Then write one sentence: “We help [who] do [what] by [how], unlike [the usual alternative].” If you cannot finish it, the rest of the strategy will be vague too.
BDC’s fourth step is the “four Ps”: product, price, place and promotion, considered for each customer segment. They are a quick check that the offer itself, not only the advertising, fits the segment: is the product right, is the price in line, can customers reach you where they expect to, and how will they hear about you.
4. Choose one or two channels
A small team cannot run every channel well. Pick the one or two that your audience already uses and that match the goal. For most local and service businesses, these low-cost foundations come first:
- A Google Business Profile. Google says creating one is free, that it appears in Google Search and Maps, that customers can read and leave reviews, and that owners can respond, share hours and contact details, and post updates and offers.
- A website that works on a phone and says plainly what you do, for whom and how to contact you. It is the base the other channels send people to.
- Search. Google’s SEO starter guide says SEO is about helping search engines understand your content and helping users find your site, and that changes can take from a few hours to several months to show. Plan for a slow channel. Our page on SEO covers the work in more detail.
- Email. A list of people who asked to hear from you is a channel you own, whatever happens to social-media algorithms.
- One or two social platforms, chosen because your customers are there, not because a competitor is.
- Referrals and partnerships, which cost time rather than money: a customer referral offer, or a trade that swaps introductions with a neighbouring business.
BDC sorts digital marketing into paid, owned and earned, and says no single tactic guarantees success. Our guide to what digital marketing is explains each channel and how they fit together.
If you sell in Québec and your customers use both languages, decide now whether each channel runs in English, French or both. Doing it later costs more than planning it now.
5. Set a budget
BDC’s fifth step is the budget. It quotes a BDC senior business advisor, Mallika Kazim, who says a minimum marketing spend of 1% of topline revenue is typical across most industries. Topline revenue means total sales before costs. Treat 1% as a floor, not a recommendation: whether your business needs more depends on how fast you want to grow and how much of the work you will pay others to do.
A practical way to build the number:
- List every tactic from step 4.
- Put a cost next to each one: software, ad spend, freelancers, printing and your own time.
- Add it up and compare it with 1% of last year’s revenue.
- If the total is more than you can spend, cut tactics rather than spreading the money thinner.
Count staff time even when it is not an invoice. A newsletter that takes an afternoon every month is not free.
6. Decide what you will measure
BDC suggests tracking website visitor numbers and conversion rates over time with a tool such as Google Analytics, and tracking social-media engagement alongside them. A conversion is the action you want: a call booked, a quote requested, an order placed. Pick three to five numbers, tied to your goals, and write down where you read each one.
| Measure | Where to read it | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries (calls, forms, bookings) | Your inbox, phone log or booking tool | Is marketing producing contacts? |
| Conversion rate | Your analytics tool | Of the people who visit, how many act? |
| Cost per enquiry | Spend divided by enquiries | Is each channel worth its cost? |
| Source of each new customer | Ask “how did you hear about us?” | Which channel actually brings customers? |
| Reviews and engagement | Your Google Business Profile and social accounts | Are people responding to what you publish? |
Review the numbers every month, and revisit the whole strategy every quarter. If a channel has had three months of effort and shows nothing, change it or stop.
One-page marketing strategy template
Copy this table into a document and fill in the “Your answer” column. The “Example (invented)” column is an example for an accounting firm, there to show the level of detail, not a client or a result.
| Part | What to write | Example (invented) | Your answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | One or two measurable goals, with a date | N new qualified enquiries a month from the website by the end of Q3 | |
| Audience | Three or four customer segments and what drives each | Owner-managed companies that have outgrown spreadsheets | |
| Positioning | One sentence | We help growing companies close their books on time, unlike a seasonal tax preparer | |
| Offer (four Ps) | Product, price, place, promotion for each segment | A fixed monthly bookkeeping package, sold online and in person | |
| Channels | One or two to start | Google Business Profile, plus a monthly email to clients | |
| Budget | Cost of each tactic, total, and the total against 1% of revenue | Software, one freelancer, a few hours a month of staff time | |
| Timeline and owner | A date and a named person for each tactic | Profile live in month 1 (office manager); first email in month 2 (partner) | |
| Measures | Three to five numbers and where to read them | Enquiries, conversion rate, source of each new client | |
| Review date | When you will check and change it | The first working day of each quarter |
BDC points out that the plan needs a timeline for every tactic and someone in the business responsible for seeing it through. A strategy with no owner is a wish list.
Common mistakes
- Too many channels at once. Each one needs content, upkeep and measurement. Do two well before adding a third.
- Counting clicks instead of customers. Followers and page views are not goals. Tie every channel to an enquiry or a sale.
- No owner. If everyone is responsible, no one is.
- Copying a competitor. They have different customers, a different budget and probably a different goal.
- Never reviewing. A strategy you do not revisit is out of date by the next quarter.
Frequently asked questions
What is the first step in a marketing strategy for a small business?
Set a goal you can measure, then learn who your customers are. BDC’s own first step is a SWOT analysis, so either way you start by looking honestly at the business and its market before choosing a channel.
What are the four Ps of marketing?
Product, price, place and promotion. BDC’s guide asks you to consider each one for every customer segment.
How much should a small business spend on marketing?
BDC quotes a minimum of 1% of topline revenue as typical across most industries. Build your own number tactic by tactic, as in step 5, and compare it with that floor.
How many channels should a small business use?
One or two to start. A channel only works when you can keep publishing, replying and measuring on it.
Do I need a marketing agency?
Not always. A small team can run the foundations above. An agency helps when you need to run several channels, measure them together or when nobody on staff has the time. If that is where you are, see our digital marketing service and tell us what you want to achieve first.