Small Business Marketing: What’s your approach?
A simple answer might be “using Generative AI to automate my marketing activity and save time”.
Gen AI can write posts, plan campaigns, generate ideas and speed up tasks that used to take hours. It can change your approach to Marketing. For small business owners juggling delivery, sales and operations, that efficiency is valuable.
However, that answer focuses on automation and Gen AI tools to be more productive.
A better answer would be about being more human.
Small businesses don’t succeed by looking like large brands. They succeed because they create a different experience. People choose small businesses for the team behind the brand - the personality, the thinking, the values and the way they present themselves.
AI can support your content creation. It can help structure ideas or reduce admin-heavy marketing tasks. But if it replaces personality rather than supports it, Marketing can quickly become generic. And in a crowded marketplace, generic doesn’t cut through.
Is Social Media Overwhelm Changing Small Business Marketing?
One of the biggest shifts happening right now is volume. There is simply more content everywhere. Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok - the noise is constant with advice, opinions, frameworks, trends. Throw Gen AI into the mix and the pace increases again.
The result? Overwhelm.
Not just for business owners trying to post consistently, but for the people consuming it. When every platform is full, attention becomes fragmented. The scroll mentality takes over and the content is barely consumed.
This competition for attention means it becomes harder to build trust. And Marketing is all about trust.
That’s why your approach may not involve doing more. It may be about doing less - with more intention.
Don’t try to be on every platform - choose one core channel and commit to it. That could be LinkedIn. It could be networking. It could be partnerships. It could be email.
Why Email May Become a Good Marketing Strategy to Adopt
Email Marketing, in particular, feels increasingly relevant.
It’s not flashy. It’s not algorithm-driven. But it is direct. If someone opens your email, you have a clearer line of communication than you do in a social feed. They can save it. Reply to it. Return to it. Follow a journey you’ve planned.
And for small businesses without large advertising budgets, it’s cost-effective.
The key isn’t complicated automation. In fact, overly complex automation can strip away the personality that makes small businesses compelling in the first place. The real value lies in the thinking behind the journey - your messaging, your target audience and how your communication builds trust over time.
Why Trust Still Sits at the Centre of Small Business Marketing
Technology will always evolve and AI will advance. Marketing automation tools will improve. But trust will always sit at the centre of Marketing.
And this is part of that human-first approach: be consistent with your messaging and true to your values, vision and mission. And be honest with yourself about the time and resources you can realistically invest in your Marketing.
What is ‘Do-Able’ for your Small Business?
And that leads to another important consideration in your approach: sustainability.
Small business owners are not Marketing departments.
They are often balancing delivery, business development, finances and life outside work. A future-proof marketing approach has to fit within that reality.
There is no prize for being everywhere.
There is value in choosing a goal, understanding the type of people you want to work with and focusing your energy accordingly. That might mean fewer posts but deeper conversations. Fewer channels but stronger presence. Less automation but more intention.
Your approach shouldn’t be chasing every new Gen AI tool or channel. It should be about creating marketing activities that support a clear strategy and stay human in your efforts. After all, Marketing is about relationships.