Free marketing guides
Build your marketing plan, one step at a time
Ten free, no-nonsense guides that take you from where your business is now to a 90-day plan you’ll actually stick to. Tick things off as you go, write your answers in the boxes, and your plan builds itself.
We’ll show pictures and worked examples for your kind of business. It’s saved in this browser only.
What should a small business marketing plan include?
Six things: where you are now, who your customers are, why they should choose you, one goal you can measure, how much you’ll spend, and what you’ll do in the next 90 days. Our ten free guides walk you through each one as a checklist and build your plan as you go.
Ten guides
Work through them in order, or dip in
Each guide takes between 15 and 40 minutes. Your ticks and answers are saved in this browser, so you can stop and come back whenever you like.
Where your business is now
A quick, honest snapshot of your business today, so every decision after this is based on facts, not hunches.
Know your customers
Who you’re really for, what they worry about, and where they look when they need you.
Know your competition
Who else your customers might choose, and the honest reasons they should choose you instead.
Build a brand people remember
Your brand is what people remember and say about you. Here’s how to make yours clear, and then use it the same way everywhere.
Sharpen your offer and pricing
Make it easy to say yes: a clear offer, sensible prices and a low-risk first step.
Set goals you can measure
One clear goal, one number that proves it, and a simple way to keep score.
Get found on Google and in AI answers
The essentials for showing up on Google, Google Maps and in AI assistants like ChatGPT, without the jargon.
Stay in touch: content, social and email
Most customers aren’t ready to buy today. Here’s how to stay remembered until they are, without posting every day.
Set your marketing budget
How much to spend, worked out from your own numbers, with a calculator that suggests a budget for your type of business.
Your 90-day action plan
Turn everything into three priorities, a simple weekly rhythm and a review date, so the plan actually happens.
How it works
From blank page to plan
Work through a guide
Each guide is a short checklist of the things that matter, with a line or two on why. Tick each one off as you go.
Write your answers
Most guides have a few boxes for your own answers: your best customers, your one number, your budget. Short notes are fine.
Get your plan
Your answers come together as your own marketing plan. Print it, save it as a PDF, or we’ll email it to you.
Budget calculator
How much should you spend on marketing?
Choose your industry, your type of business (B2C, B2B or direct-to-consumer) and your turnover, and we’ll suggest a budget as a percentage of turnover, with a sensible way to split it.
Questions
Your questions, answered
Are the guides really free?
Yes, completely. There’s nothing to sign up for and nothing to download. Just open a guide and start ticking.
Where are my answers saved?
In your own web browser, on the device you’re using. Nothing is sent to us unless you ask us to email your plan. If you clear your browser’s data or switch devices, your answers won’t come with you, so print or email your plan when you’ve finished.
Do I have to do them in order?
No, but it helps. Each guide builds on the one before, and the 90-day plan at the end works best once you’ve done the rest.
How long does it take?
About four hours altogether, spread over as many sittings as you like. Most people do one or two guides a week.
Can I print my plan?
Yes. Open your marketing plan and choose “Print or save as PDF”. You can also have it emailed to you.
Who writes the guides?
The Happy Otter team in Brighton. We’ve been helping small businesses with their marketing since 2009, and these are the same questions we work through with our own clients.
Want someone to
work through it with you?
The guides will get you a long way on your own. If you’d like a second pair of eyes on your plan, or a hand putting it into action, we’d love to chat.
We’re based in Brighton and work with businesses across Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, London and the rest of the UK. Areas we cover