Free tool
Marketing ideas for small businesses
Stuck for ideas? Tell us a bit about your business and we’ll suggest marketing that suits your industry, your time and your budget. It takes about a minute, and you can see your ideas without giving us your email.
What’s the best marketing for a small business?
Usually the simple things, done consistently: be easy to find on Google and in AI assistants, collect reviews, answer the questions your customers ask, and keep in touch by email. The right mix depends on your industry, your time and your budget, which is exactly what this tool helps you work out.
Find your ideas
Four quick questions
Choose your answers and press the button. Your first six ideas appear straight away.
Your first six ideas
Want the full plan?
We’ll email you up to 20 ideas picked for your business, with the reasons they work and a simple 90-day order to try them in. Free, and no sales calls unless you ask.
The research behind it
Eight principles behind every idea
Every suggestion in the tool is built on one of these. They come from decades of marketing research, boiled down for busy business owners.
Be easy to find
People can only buy from businesses they can find at the moment they need them. Researchers call this physical availability (Sharp, 2010).
Be easy to remember
Only around 5% of business buyers are ready to buy at any one time (Dawes, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and LinkedIn B2B Institute). The rest of your marketing makes sure they remember you when they are.
Answer the questions buyers ask
Search engines and AI assistants now answer questions directly. People click a link in 8% of Google visits when an AI summary appears, against 15% without one (Pew Research Center, 2025).
Show proof
We look to other people when we’re deciding what to do (Cialdini, 1984). 98% of consumers read online reviews of local businesses at least occasionally (BrightLocal, 2023).
Give before you ask
When you help first, people want to return the favour. Reciprocity is one of the strongest principles of persuasion (Cialdini, 1984).
Own your audience
Social platforms and search engines change the rules. Your email list doesn’t. UK marketers reported a return of more than £42 for every £1 spent on email (DMA, 2019).
Balance today and tomorrow
Campaigns that only chase quick sales leave you starting from scratch every month. The classic advice is roughly 60% building your brand and 40% driving sales (Binet and Field, IPA).
Measure one number
Pick the one number that proves your marketing is working, such as enquiries a month, and judge every idea against it.
References
- Sharp, B. (2010). How Brands Grow. Oxford University Press.
- Marketing Week, The 95:5 rule is the new 60:40 rule, on research by John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute with the LinkedIn B2B Institute.
- Pew Research Center (2025). Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results.
- Cialdini, R. (1984). Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
- BrightLocal (2023). Local Consumer Review Survey.
- DMA (2019). Marketer Email Tracker 2019.
- Binet, L. and Field, P. (2013). The Long and the Short of It. IPA.
Questions
Your questions, answered
Is the tool really free?
Yes. You can see your first six ideas without signing up. If you’d like the full plan, we’ll email it to you for free.
What do you do with my email?
We use it to send your plan. We’ll only add you to our monthly email if you tick the box, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Will someone ring me up?
No. We won’t call unless you ask us to. If you’d like a chat about your ideas, just reply to the email.
Why do you ask for my website?
It’s optional. If you share it, we can glance at it before any chat you book, so we can give you more useful advice.
How did you choose the ideas?
Each idea is based on one of the eight principles above and matched to your industry, goal, time and budget. They’re the things we’ve seen work for small businesses since 2009.
Want a hand
putting them into action?
Ideas are the easy bit. If you’d like help choosing where to start, or someone to do it with you, 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