Stop Doing Random Acts of Marketing: Build a Real Plan

If your marketing plan lives in your head and your to-do list looks like a jumble of ideas, you are not alone. Most small business owners are not short on marketing ideas. They are short on clarity, focus, and time. That is how you end up with what I call random acts of marketing. A burst of social posts here, a one-off email there, a last-minute flyer for an event, and then long stretches of silence.

The problem is not that you are lazy or disorganized. The problem is that you have never turned those scattered ideas into a clear, realistic plan. When there is no plan, everything feels urgent and nothing feels strategic. You are constantly reacting instead of leading.

Random acts of marketing cost you more than you think

Random marketing is expensive in ways that are not always obvious.

You spend time creating content that does not connect to any specific goal. You jump from platform to platform based on the latest advice. You spin up offers that your audience has not been prepared for. At best, you get occasional spikes in attention. At worst, you train your audience to ignore you because your presence is inconsistent and your message feels scattered.

There is also an opportunity cost. Every hour you spend on unplanned marketing is an hour you are not spending on activities that move the needle: building relationships, improving your offer, or following up with warm leads. Without a plan, it is almost impossible to know what is actually working.

It is no surprise that 89 percent of business leaders now say personalization and relevance are crucial to their success in the next three years. Relevance is almost impossible to deliver if you are improvising week-to-week.

What a real marketing plan actually needs to do

A marketing plan for a small business does not need to be a 40 page document with graphs and jargon. It does need to answer a few core questions clearly:

1. Who are we trying to reach
   Not “everyone who needs my service” but a clear description of the types of clients who are the best fit.
2. What problem are we helping them solve?
   In their words, not yours. What are they frustrated about? What are they trying to achieve?
3. What journey do we want to guide them through
   How will someone go from never having heard of you, to being aware of you, to considering you, to becoming a client, to referring others?
4. Which channels will we focus on first?
   You cannot be everywhere at once. You need a primary platform and one or two supporting channels that fit your audience and capacity.
5. What does success look like this quarter?
   Not a vague “grow the business” but specific numbers you can actually track. New consultations booked. Email list growth. Repeat clients. Revenue from a specific offer.

A real plan is not a wish list. It is a series of choices.

Why consistency beats cleverness

You have probably seen brilliant campaigns and clever content from big brands and thought, “I could never do that.” The good news is you do not have to.

For small businesses, consistency almost always beats cleverness. Studies show that content marketing builds trust over time. For example, one branding study found that 82 percent of consumers feel more positive about a brand after reading custom content, and 70 percent feel closer to that brand because of it. That kind of trust is not built by one viral post. It is built by showing up with a clear message, over and over again.

A plan makes consistency possible because you are not reinventing your marketing from scratch every week. You know what you are doing, where you are doing it, and why it matters.

A simple way to start your plan

If a full-blown plan feels like a lot, start with one quarter.

Grab a blank document and answer these prompts:

• This quarter, the main offer I want to promote is:
• The specific audience I want to focus on is:
• The main problem they want solved is:
• My primary platform is: (for example, LinkedIn, email, or Instagram)
• My key supporting platform is:
• Every week, I will do these three actions: (for example, publish one post, send one email, follow up with three leads)

Then ask yourself:

• What needs to happen over the next 30 days for my audience to understand their problem clearly?
• What needs to happen in 60 days for them to see me as a credible solution?
• What needs to happen in 90 days for them to feel ready to take the next step?

That is your starting point. You can layer in more detail over time, but this alone will set you apart from most small businesses still operating in reactive mode.

Why doing this alone is harder than it looks.

If you have tried to create a plan before and ended up overwhelmed, there is nothing wrong with you. You are too close to your own business. It is hard to see your message the way your buyer sees it. It is hard to choose a primary platform when everyone is telling you something different. It is hard to narrow down your focus when you have multiple services.

That is why so many owners stay in a cycle of stop-and-start marketing. They know they need a plan, but they never quite finish it. Or they finish it and then never look at it again.

How I can help you move from random to intentional

This is precisely where working with a marketing guide comes in.

In my marketing training and my done-for-you services, we:

• Pull all those scattered ideas out of your head.
• Clarify your audience and message in plain language.
• Choose the right platforms for your business, not generic advice.
• Build a simple, realistic quarterly plan you can follow.
• Create or implement the content and systems so it actually happens.

You do not need another year of random acts of marketing. You need a plan that respects your time, your expertise, and your goals.

Ready to stop guessing what to do next? If you’re overwhelmed by options—or you’ve tried doing it yourself and it still isn’t consistent—there are two ways I can help:

• Done For You: You want marketing executed consistently without having to manage it every week.
• Marketing Training: You want to stay hands-on while also seeking a clear plan, guidance, and accountability.

Start with a free 30-minute Marketing Clarity Call. We’ll pinpoint your #1 bottleneck and choose the simplest next step based on your time and bandwidth. Note: This is not a full marketing plan—just clarity and direction.

Book Your Clarity Call Now