Marketing Where It Matters

Trying to post everywhere, run ads, keep up with algorithms, and still deliver for clients? That’s not a marketing plan, that’s burnout. We’re coming to you from a casual volunteer day at a local nonprofit that supports small businesses, and we crack open Chapter Nine of my book Market Like a Boss for a reset you can actually use.

We talk about how marketing has evolved from “hard copy” Yellow Pages and local TV to Facebook business pages, SEO, Google Business Profile, and today’s world of Meta ads, Google ads, geofencing, and constant content across multiple platforms. If it feels like the playbook changes every few years, you’re not imagining it. The point isn’t to chase every new channel. The point is to be present and consistent where it matters.

You’ll learn a practical framework: start by getting crystal clear on your ideal client avatar, then identify the top places they spend time, and pick a focused starting point instead of trying to launch five “storefronts” at once. We also cover when to delegate, how to decide what to outsource, and why “marketing magic” can’t replace hustle and ownership. Plus, we share a real story of an interior designer who built traction through networking, a strong website, and purposeful posting before scaling up.

If you found this helpful, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more entrepreneurs can find a simpler small business marketing strategy. What’s the one channel you’re going to commit to this month?

Transcript

Casual Setup And Book Reading

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to another episode of your favorite marketing podcast. I'm your host, Shelby McFarlane, the marketing broker, and today I am coming at you from a super casual location. I uh decided to join this like local nonprofit that helps small businesses with everything from financial stuff to marketing stuff to business stuff, lawyer stuff. Um, and I actually volunteer here once a month and have meetings with different business owners and want to make sure that um they have all their marketing stuff that they need. But today I have a little bit of a break. So we are doing a little podcast recording, and I have my book in front of me. So let's do another chapter of my book, Market Like a Boss, a little bit of an insight for you guys, and then you can go and purchase it online at Amazon or Shelby'smarketingbook.com when you want to read more. So here we go. We're gonna jump into chapter nine. A boss doesn't have to be everywhere, just where it matters. And I wrote this chapter for the people that get overwhelmed with all things marketing, where do they need to go, what do they need to do, why do they need to do it, and that's what we're gonna dive into today. The evolution of marketing in the last 13 years has been nothing short of wild blink, and the entire game changes. Every three to five years, it feels like we get handed a whole new playbook. If you don't catch on early, it's easy to feel like you're already behind. I remember when I started my first business in 2012, marketing was what I like to call now hard copy. If you weren't listed in the yellow pages, you didn't exist. And if your business name didn't start with a letter near the beginning of the alphabet, good luck getting seen. It was all about being first in the book and first on local TV news segments. Visibility came from face-to-face networking and printed directories. Then everything shifted very quickly. Suddenly, Facebook business pages started becoming a thing. We rushed to claim our space online even before most people knew what social media marketing really meant. I will never forget the adrenaline rush after reading a meta email that stated, you have 24 hours to turn your friend profile into a business page. I worked so hard on building that page up, I was afraid we were gonna lose it all. So when I say that I understand marketing can be overwhelming, I have firsthand experience in it. After Facebook business pages became popular, Google took that lead. Your business needed a website, a strong presence on search engines, and eventually a Google business profile. Now here we are doing geofencing ads, meta ads, Google ads, writing copy for four different social media platforms, scheduling at optimal times to fight for attention. Keeping up feels like a full-time job in itself. And for many entrepreneurs it is. If you're a startup owner, I get it, you're juggling everything. Client work, payroll, admin, and now you're supposed to master marketing too. It can feel impossible. I don't preach about things that I do not know. I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed with everything about your business. When I talk to clients with small marketing budgets, I teach them that they don't need to be everywhere. They just need to be everywhere that matters. Make that system work for you, your time, and your budget. Step one, know who you want to reach. Before you dive into marketing strategies, get crystal clear on who you want to work with. Not just who you are working with, but who you want to work with. Go back to the perfect clientele that we envisioned early on in this book. Think of it like fishing. You don't just toss a net into random waters and hope for the best. You figure out which fish you want, learn where they swim, and choose the right bait. Your marketing works the same way. For marketing, ask yourself, what generation are they in? What do they do for work? Where do they live? What social platforms do they use? Where do they spend their time? Online or in person? Once you build your ideal client avatar, you can identify to focus your marketing energy. Is your audience at local business expos? Are they scrolling TikTok? Are they checking Facebook groups or attending community events? Quick exercise. Write down the top three places your ideal client spends their time. Those become your starting line for marketing. Step two, pick your starting point. Now that you've figured out who you're targeting and where they are, start there. You don't need to show up on all platforms from day one. Think of your marketing presence like opening storefronts. Would you open five locations in one day? Of course not. You'd start with one, make it successful, and start to expand. So focus your time and effort where it will have the most return. If your ideal clients are hanging out on TikTok, start creating short form video content. If they're at local chamber events, go show your face and shake some hands. If they're not in your community, learn how to create ads to reach them out of state and to buy your products. Do what you're comfortable with to start. The worst thing you can do is nothing at all. Marketing is absolutely not optional. It's your lifeline to staying in business. But it doesn't have to be overwhelming. With your marketing strategy from earlier, make a priority list of social media networks and get to work. Step three, delegate when it's time. In the early days, you might have the time to do your own marketing. You're building your client base and revenue stream, and those hours can be invested wisely in laying a strong foundation. But as business picks up, your time will shift. And it should. Eventually you'll need to delegate, just like I did. I have someone doing admin, someone creating content, someone handling website development that allows me to stay in my zone of genius, selling, networking, and retaining clients. There's no room for growth if you're doing everything. Delegating isn't just about getting help, it's about making space for expansion. So here's your delegation checklist. Which task drain me the most? Which task could someone else do 80% as well as me? Which task free me up to bring in more revenue if delegated? Those are the things that you outsource. Real life example, meet Adrian. Let me tell you about my friend Adrian Meacham. She's an interior designer who launched her business without a team, funding, or big connections. The first six months were tough. She was new to entrepreneurship and stepped into a very competitive industry. But she didn't wait for clients to find her, she made sure they could. Adrienne joined multiple networking groups, showed up at events every week, and committed to consistency. She built her own course to create passive revenue, dialed in her website, and posted with purpose on Facebook and Instagram. She didn't spend money, she just spent time, effort, and intentionality. After six months, her efforts paid off, projects started to roll in, word of mouth picked up, all because she invested in building her foundation early when it was the hardest. Now, her business is thriving and she's able to delegate tasks and focus on delivering amazing results to her clients. You can't outsource hustle. One of the biggest misconceptions I've seen is a business owner that wants to outsource marketing before they put in the work themselves. A local business guy called me one day to inquire about my marketing service for his moving company. He told me that they had endless resources and stayed pretty busy, but it was just not enough to meet his expectations. After going on about his company, he followed it with, I want to hire you because I honestly don't have the time to put into my company. I do not put the energy into the business like I should. I kind of laughed, not because I was judging him, but because that's not how this works. Not even the best digital marketing will make a business grow if the hustle and heart is not on the other side of the phone. Marketing isn't magic, it's momentum. You can't expect someone else to generate leads if you're not willing to put skin in the game. The energy that you place in your business is the same energy that is going to give you back. Build first, expand later. If you're in the early stages, use this time wisely. Identify your dream clients, learn where they are, pick two or three places to show up consistently, create simple content and that resonates, build community presence through networking or local partnerships, stay the course even when it feels like nothing's happening. That time you invest now will return tenfold later. But if you're not in the early stages, if you're already established, your focus kind of shifts. Instead of laying the foundation, you're strengthening it and scaling. That means auditing where you're currently showing up and cutting out what no longer will be effective, doubling down on platforms and strategies that actually deliver results, elevating your role from doer to strategist, delegating tasks to your marketing machine doesn't depend on you solely. And exploring amplifiers like collaboration, PR, and targeted paid ads. Once you have a foundation, then expand. That's when you revisit your marketing plan and ask, can I add paid ads to expand my reach? Can I outsource content or engagement? Should I update my marketing budget to reflect my growth? Marketing doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be present, and I dare say it again, consistent. And you don't have to do it all at one time. You just have to be where your ideal clients are and stay there. And remember, you don't need to be everywhere, just everywhere that matters. Think about like relationships. You can't just show up once and expect trust to last forever. You've got to stick around, nurture that connection, and invest in it. And the same is true for marketing. Let's talk about why the investment matters more than most business owners realize. Alright, guys, that was chapter nine in my book, Market Like a Boss. If you loved it, which I hope you did, share it with your friends. Maybe go buy it. That would be really cool. Lots of inside stuff if you are doing your own marketing. Alright, guys, I'll catch you on the next one.