The best marketing strategy for your small business is the one you’ll actually do. Full stop. Yes, we’re talking about the one that won’t just gather dust in a Google Doc or become a distant memory because you’ve got a million other things on your plate. And today? We’re going to dive into exactly what makes a marketing strategy not just good on paper, but practical, doable, and tailored to your unique business.
By the end of this post, you'll have a clear, actionable marketing plan that fits into your busy life and gets results. Here’s what we are going to cover:
- Key elements of an effective marketing strategy
- Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make With Strategy
- The difference between marketing strategy and tactics
- Why you need to diversity your marketing
- What a marketing strategy for a small business really looks like
- How to Simplify and Amplify Your Marketing Strategy With Enji
Key Elements of an Effective Marketing Strategy
First, let’s start with what you actually need to include in an effective marketing strategy (one you’ll actually use that makes you money).
1. Your Target Audience and Where They Hang Out
First things first, who are you talking to? You’ve got to know who your business is trying to help (and what problems you’re trying to solve) because it’s the foundation of your whole marketing game plan.
So who are they? Are they scrolling Instagram like it’s their day job, binge-reading blogs, or hanging out in Facebook groups? Figure out where they spend their time online, so you can show up right where they are. For more on this, check out our guide on creating a marketing strategy.
2. Your Goals
Next, you have to have CLEAR goals. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive more traffic to your website, boost sales, or something else entirely? While most small business owners raise their hands when it comes to wanting more sales, that doesn’t need to be (and probably shouldn’t be) the only goal when it comes to your marketing strategy.
3. What You Have Time For
The next thing you need to factor in? Your time. Your marketing strategy is not going to be effective if there are 35 tasks for you to do each week and you can barely find a spare couple of hours outside of your actual client work.
If you only have an hour a week to dedicate to marketing, your strategy needs to reflect that. Overcommitting leads to burnout and inconsistency. And if you’re like most small business owners we’ve talked to, you know a lot about that already.
4. What You Enjoy Doing
We know that it might seem like a pipe dream, but marketing should be something you enjoy, not a chore you dread. One of the first questions we ask before creating a marketing plan in Enji is: What do you absolutely hate doing? We also ask what platforms you know you won’t enjoy. While it’s important to know which platforms your target audience uses, it’s also important that you don’t hate what you do every day.
Do you love writing? Start a blog. Enjoy making videos? Try YouTube or TikTok. There are a lot of ways to market a small business nowadays so you don’t have to do sh*t you hate. When you enjoy your marketing activities, you're more likely to stick with them and do them well.
5. Your Budget
Even if you’re on a tight budget—like most other small business owners—a little investment can go a long way. Don’t be scared to spend a bit on ads, tools, or outsourcing stuff you can’t handle. The return on investment (ROI) can be well worth it.
Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make With Their Marketing Strategy
Here’s where a lot of small business owners get tripped up:
- Overcommitting to too many channels. You don’t need to be on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, AND Pinterest all at once. When you spread yourself too thin, you end up inconsistent everywhere. It’s better to pick two or three platforms and show up well.
- Chasing shiny new tactics instead of sticking to a plan. A new trend pops up and suddenly you’re switching gears—again. The problem? Without a bigger strategy, those random tactics rarely connect to your goals.
- Ignoring metrics. If you’re not tracking your results, you’re basically flying blind. You’ll never know what’s working (and what’s wasting your time). Here’s how to figure out how much marketing you actually need to do.
- Creating a “strategy” that’s just a giant to-do list. A list of random marketing tasks isn’t the same thing as a real strategy. Without a clear plan, your list just grows longer while your results stay the same.
The Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Tactics
This is a big one—and probably the #1 place small business owners get overwhelmed. Strategy and tactics are not the same thing.
- Strategy = the big picture. It’s your goals, your audience, your brand positioning. It’s the “why” behind what you’re doing.
- Tactics = the execution. Posting a Reel, sending an email, running an ad—these are tactics. They’re the “how.”
Where people get stuck is confusing the two. They create a list of tactics and call it a “strategy,” then wonder why they’re burned out and not seeing results. A good strategy makes sure every tactic actually serves a purpose. Without that alignment, you’re just doing busywork.
Why You Need To Diversify Your Marketing
While we’re talking about the key elements of a marketing strategy, it’s worth mentioning that relying on a single marketing channel is risky. What if the platform changes its algorithms or your audience shifts to a new platform?
Diversifying your marketing efforts means that you're not putting all your eggs in one basket. For example, if you’re solely relying on Instagram right now, you’re going to want to read our post on why social media marketing isn’t everything.
Not sure where to market your small business? Here are a few marketing ideas to consider:
- Content Marketing: Blog posts, videos, podcast episodes.
- Email Marketing: Newsletters, promotional emails.
- Social Media Marketing: Instagram posts, stories, Reels, TikTok
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results.
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): Google Ads, social media ads.
A Marketing Strategy in Action
If you’re like most small business owners, this isn’t the first time you’ve thought about putting together a marketing strategy (maybe you even Googled “best marketing strategy for small businesses”?).
But what does a marketing strategy really look like when it comes to the day-to-day of marketing your business? Here’s an example of how we do it with our own marketing.
Step-by-Step Example: Creating a Blog Post
- Identify Your Audience:
- Target Audience: Small business owners interested in improving their marketing strategies.
- Set Your Goal:
- Goal: Increase website traffic and generate leads for Enji’s marketing services.
- Content Creation:
- Write a blog post on “The Best Marketing Strategy for A Small Business.”
- Use Enji Copywriter to generate content ideas and create a draft.
- Add personal stories and tips to make sure it sounds like you (in your brand voice).
- Optimize for SEO (one of our brand’s marketing objectives)
- You can read exactly how to optimize a blog post for SEO here.
- Promote Your Content:
- Share the blog post on social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Include the blog link in your next email newsletter.
- Run a small ad campaign to boost visibility.
- Use Enji’s repurposing tool to help!
- Track Your Efforts:
- Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the blog post’s performance.
- Track metrics such as website traffic, time spent on the page, and conversion rates.
For more on how to track your efforts, check out our posts on key performance indicators and how small business owners use data to make decisions.
How to Simplify and Amplify Your Marketing Strategy With Enji
If you’re reading this thinking, “Okay, but how do I actually make this easier?” — that’s literally why we built Enji. You don’t need another complicated tool or a 50-page plan that collects dust. You need a system that simplifies your strategy and amplifies your results.
Here’s how Enji helps:
- Strategy Generator → Get an instant one-page plan that connects your goals, audience, and content. No overthinking, no overwhelm.
- Campaign Templates → Fill gaps quickly with plug-and-play campaigns. Holiday promo? Product launch? Reengagement giveaway? Done.
- AI Copywriter → Batch captions, blogs, and emails in your brand voice in minutes.
- Calendar + Scheduler → Turn your strategy into action by dragging posts, emails, and campaigns right onto your calendar. Auto-publish keeps you consistent, even when life gets busy.
Enji is designed to keep you out of the scramble cycle and focused on what actually works. The result? Less stress, more consistency, and marketing that actually grows your business.
Ready to stop guessing and start marketing with confidence? Get started with Enji today and build a marketing strategy you’ll actually use.
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Tayler Cusick Hollman
Enji Founder and Small Business Marketing Expert
Tayler is one of the Founders of Enji (marketing tools for small business owners who need to plan, do, and review it themselves). With over a decade of marketing experience, she has helped thousands of small business owners create simple marketing plans that help them get results. When she isn't thinking about how to solve the "I do my own marketing" problem, you'll find her skiing, mountain biking, or climbing rocks somewhere.
Try Enji's marketing tools for small business owners for free at enji.co
