Has your “New Year, New Me” energy has waned? I love a good resolution, but there’s also a comfort in accepting that (for most of us) life isn’t suddenly different once we declare it at the start of the year. In fact, returning to the norm is both frustrating and comforting.
By February, the gym crowd has thinned out, and the shiny new planners aren’t pristine anymore. And that small business marketing strategy you meant to execute flawlessly on January 1? Yeah, it’s progress not perfection for me, too.
This is exactly why February and March are my favorite months for a reset.
January is unpredictable. Now we have real data. Real emotions. Real feedback. And if you’re running a small business, clarity matters more than trendy hype.
So instead of rewriting your entire marketing plan, let’s do something smarter. Carve out 25 minutes with me where we can get you refocused and back on track. This isn’t about building a brand-new marketing strategy for your small business. It’s about simplifying what’s already there so you can move forward with focus.
Got your timer ready? Good, let’s get to it.
Step 0: Get Your Supplies & Set the Timer
Twenty-five minutes. When it ends, you’re done. Go ahead and plan a treat for after. Coffee refill. Walk around the block. One-song dance break. We’re building sustainable marketing habits — not another thing to feel guilty about.
You’ll also need your favorite method of writing everything down either electronically or your trusty paper notebook. If you don’t want to freehand write it like I do, I’ve also got a free worksheet to use.
Step 1: Audit What’s Happening (5 minutes)
Pull up your marketing plan. If you don’t have one, don’t worry. Just write down the marketing-related tasks completed lately. This will include:
- Social media posts
- Email campaigns
- Website updates (or lack thereof)
- Paid Ads
- Brainstorming sessions
- The ideas sitting in drafts
Now here’s the the actual work of this step — write down how each one felt.
Example:
- Social media post for last weekend’s popup event → cute but wasn’t tied to any other campaign and it felt rushed.
- Website has outdated events or product offerings → embarrassed and overwhelmed; what other errors are on the site that I haven’t seen??
- Sent email campaign → got a great response and a few purchases from it; would love to do more of this!
Marketing isn’t just tactics. It’s energy. Your content is part of your business. And your business is personal. If your marketing consistently makes you feel behind, chaotic, or scattered — that’s important data.
We’re looking for patterns, not perfection.
Estimated Time Remaining: 25 Minutes
Marketing Audit Pt. 1 : Current Marketing Actions
Step 2: Identify What’s Working (5 minutes)
Look back at this list of marketing activity. Now that you’ve catalogued what you did and the process behind it, ask what actually gained traction? Pick your metrics:
- Sales Revenue (probably your #1 goal but which product or service did best?)
- Lead Form Inquiries
- Email responses
- Website traffic
- Even your own confidence
What were your top performers? Why? Clearer messaging? Better audience alignment? More consistency? Or simply because you enjoyed creating it?
This is your baseline. A smart marketing strategy for small business growth builds from measurable wins that drive results but feel authentic, too.
Estimated Time Remaining: 20 minutes
Marketing Audit Pt. 2: Numbers vs Actions
Step 3: Revisit Your Audience (5–10 minutes)
Who are you actually speaking to? Not who sounds impressive. Not who you think you should target. This is important — I see far too often the best-meaning businesses target one audience based on their original marketing plan but fail to see there’s a valid audience who would love to interact but aren’t being seen.
So dig deep and demand rigorous honesty: who is responding?
If your data is limited, ask:
- What content felt authentic?
- What conversations energized me?
- Who do I naturally understand?
Acceptance is the answer — whether you want to refine your messaging to meet your targeted audience or pivot for this new market segment. Compassionate clarity is powerful.
Estimated Time Remaining: 10-15 minutes
Marketing Audit Pt. 3: Know Thy Audience
Don’t Want to DIY Your Marketing?
The Strategy Blueprint covers everything your team needs for marketing clarity and execution — plus the opportunity to outcourse the hard stuff to us, too.
Step 4: Build a 30–60 Day Focus Plan (5 minutes)
Simplify. Of your top-performing efforts, what can you streamline? What can be batched or made into templates? How could you document a repeatable process so you’re not reinventing the wheel weekly? The idea is not to create a full calendar of content, just a list of actionable tasks you can depend on to keep moving marketing efforts. The more this becomes a system, the less effort it will take for your marketing team as well.
If I do these tasks regularly, what will be the result? Prioritize what comes first as well as what you’d love to either get better at, outsource, or simply use technology to improve the efficiency — we’ll use that saved creative energy for your daring experiment below.
Choose one “reach” effort — something slightly uncomfortable but growth-oriented:
- Video content
- A webinar
- Client referrals and reviews campaigns
- Paid ads
- A new lead magnet
This step’s action is to choose your core efforts and give your team one experiment to test.
Once you’ve gotten these written, congratulations — here’s your focused marketing plan for the next quarter days.
Estimated Time Remaining: 5-10 minutes
Marketing Audit Pt. 4: Your High Value To-Do List
Step 5: Align With Your Mission (5 minutes)
It’s the last 5 minutes of our work — pause and reflect on how the marketing plan will serve your business and customers.
All we need is 4 sentences (no lengthy explanations here):
- What does your business do?
- Who does it serve?
- Why does it matter?
- Does your 30–60 day focus support that?
Remember that this marketing plan isn’t comprehensive — it’s meant for consistent action and highest, quickest ROI. To keep your sales funnel intentional and to ward off reactive efforts that stress operations and distract from your business goal.
Most small business owners don’t need a brand-new marketing strategy. They need clarity. And clarity reduces overwhelm faster than motivation ever will. If you’re feeling empowered, good. That’s the point.
Estimated Time Remaining: Time’s Up!
Marketing Audit Pt. 5: To Thy Own Self Be True (Business Edition)
You did the work — now don’t skip your treat. Close the notebook. Take the walk. Drink the coffee. Remember how your business is supporting your life, and you’re supporting your business by doing this thoughtful planning. Good job and keep coming back. We’re here to support your journey no matter how big or small.
Don’t DIY Your Marketing Plan Alone.
Get back to running your business and leave the marketing strategy to us. The Strategy Blueprint covers everything you and your team need for marketing clarity and execution — plus the opportunity to outsource the hard stuff to us, too.