Guide 1 of 10 · about 20 minutes

Where your business is now

It’s tempting to skip straight to the fun bits, like a new logo or a social media campaign. But if you don’t know where your enquiries come from today, you won’t know whether anything new is working. Grab last year’s figures if they’re handy, and be honest with yourself. Nobody’s marking it.

Start the checklist See my plan

How do I start a marketing plan for a small business?

Start with an honest snapshot of where you are now: your turnover, where your customers come from, what a customer is worth to you and what’s already working. Without those numbers, every marketing decision is a guess.

Your numbers

Write down last year’s turnover and roughly what you kept as profit.You’ll need both to set a sensible marketing budget later. Rough is fine.
Work out what an average customer is worth to you in profit.Include repeat work if customers come back. This one number shapes everything else.
List where last year’s customers came from.Recommendations, Google, social media, repeat customers, walk-ins. Ask your last 20 customers if you’re not sure.
Estimate how many enquiries turn into paying customers.Out of ten enquiries, how many buy? If you don’t know, start counting this week.

What you sell, in one sentence

For example: kitchen fitting for homeowners in Brighton and Hove.

Your key numbers

Turnover, profit, customer value, and how many enquiries turn into sales.

Strengths and weak spots

Note three things customers praise you for.Look at your reviews and thank-you messages. Those words are often your best marketing copy.
Be honest about what holds you back.Time, skills, cash, an out-of-date website, too much reliance on one customer. Name it so you can plan around it.
Spot one or two opportunities.A gap in your area, a new service customers keep asking for, a busy season you could prepare for.
Note anything that could hurt the business.A new competitor, rising costs, changes in how customers search (like AI answers replacing clicks).

Strengths, weak spots, opportunities and threats

A line or two on each is plenty.

Next: Know your customers See my marketing plan

Your ticks and notes are saved in this browser only, so you can come back to them. Nothing is sent to us unless you ask us to email your plan.