47 marketing things I know at 47
This month I celebrated my 47th birthday. And, as is traditional when reaching the grand old age of 47, I have been reflecting on the important lessons life has taught me.
Betsy the Barketing Assistant on her last birthday.
Only joking. I've mainly been wondering how I'm 47 when 1997 was about eight years ago?!
But I have been doing marketing for a very long time now. Long enough to have lived through an awful lot of trends, tactics, platforms, algorithms, must-dos and things that were apparently going to “change marketing forever”.
Some of them were useful. Quite a lot of them disappeared again.
And over the years, I've become much more certain about the kind of marketing I believe in: useful, human, sustainable marketing that helps you sell things without taking over your life or making you feel like you’ve sold your soul to the devo
So, for my birthday, I thought I'd gather together 47 little bits of marketing advice I find myself giving again and again.
These aren't rules. God knows we have enough people on the internet telling us what we must do.
They're just 47 things I've learned, noticed, tested, got wrong, changed my mind about and occasionally learned the hard way.
Some are strategic. Some are practical. Some are basically me giving you permission to stop doing something annoying.
Take the ones that are useful. Ignore the ones that aren't.
There are no marketing police, remember.
Here we go...
Micro marketing lessons for your small business
You really, really don't have to do marketing you hate. There is almost always another way. Yes, even if someone on LinkedIn says it's “non-negotiable”.
Do fewer marketing things, better. Your time and energy are limited, and being knackered isn't a marketing strategy.
There are no marketing police. Nobody is coming round to have a word because you haven't made a Reel this week. Put. the. ring light. down.
Marketing and social media are not the same thing. I will die on this hill (possibly clutching a newsletter).
You don't need a funnel just because somebody on the internet has drawn one. Especially not one with 14 stages.
Don't mistake complicated for clever. If people can't quickly and easily see what you want them to do next, they won't do it.
Have a minimum viable marketing plan for busy weeks. Actually, for all weeks. Knowing what's essential and what's a bonus is both a strategy for sustainability and a guarantee you'll do marketing even in your busiest/trickiest weeks.
Put marketing in your diary. “I'll do it when I get a minute” is LOLs. That promise has never once resulted in anyone actually getting a minute.
Keep a list of tiny marketing jobs. Ten spare minutes is plenty to do something useful. Not everything needs A Marketing Afternoon.
Have a not-to-do list too. Otherwise marketing spreads like glitter from a toddler craft project and suddenly it's bloody everywhere, adding to your stress levels.
Leave some wiggle room in your marketing plan. Life has an annoying habit of happening no matter what fancy plans you had.
You probably don't need another marketing idea. You probably need to do one of the 87 perfectly good ones spread across three different notebooks.
Write like you talk. If you've never said "utilise" in the pub, don't start saying it on your website. Read your copy out loud. Your ears will spot the nonsense.
Specificity wins. “I helped Sarah fill her workshop last month” is way better than “I deliver transformational marketing solutions”.
Use AI to help you think, organise and get stuff done. Don't use it to dilute your wonderful you-ness and make you sound like everyone else.
Stop creating everything from scratch. You've already made loads of good stuff. Make it work harder.
If one person asks you a question, other people are probably wondering it too. Answer it somewhere they can find it.
A newsletter can become a post. A post can become a blog. A blog can become an FAQ. Don't do all that thinking once and then forget about it.
You are much more bored of your message than your audience is. Keep saying the important stuff. Nobody sees everything you post. Not even your mum.
And remember, nobody is analysing your post as closely as you are. They're mostly thinking about what's for tea.
Likes aren't sales. Lovely to get. Less useful at Tesco. Replies, enquiries, clicks and sales tell you rather more than a little heart.
Low engagement doesn't necessarily mean nobody's paying attention. Lurkers buy things. Quiet little weirdos. Love them.
If social media isn't bringing you business AND you hate doing it, maybe it doesn't deserve six hours of your week?!
You don't have to be everywhere. Pick the places your buyers actually use and you don't completely despise.
Ask your last five buyers how they found you. Five actual humans can tell you more than a dashboard full of graphs.
Don't pour all your marketing energy into social media while your website, email list and Google gather dust.
Build your email list. You don't own your followers, the platform does. Your email list is yours.
Write emails like you're emailing a person. Because you are.
Give people a reason to be pleased when your name pops up in their inbox. That's basically the whole email strategy.
Test your contact form occasionally. Finding out it's been broken for four months is character-building but not ideal.
Click your own buttons. Websites have a remarkable ability to go wonky when nobody's looking.
Look at your website on your phone. That's probably where your visitors are looking at it, in between doing other things. Try to view it through their lens.
Google yourself, in incognito mode. Then Google what you actually sell without using your name. What will someone new to your world (or already in your world) make of what they see?
Stop obsessing over what your competitors are doing. By all means have a nosy. But don't let Dave from Competitor Ltd accidentally become your marketing director.
Sort out your Google Business Profile. It's free, and most of us forget it exists.
Before writing another blog post, look at your old ones. Some of them just need a quick update to be useful again.
Link your useful stuff together. If someone's reading one good thing, don't make them rummage through your website like it's a junk drawer for the next good bit.
Check your automated emails occasionally. Nothing screams “personal touch” like enthusiastically welcoming someone to an offer you stopped selling in 2024. (Ask me how I know.)
Know who you're talking to. “Everyone” isn't the answer.
Talk about the problem you solve, not just the thing you sell. Nobody woke up desperate to buy “a 90-minute strategic consultation”. They woke up wanting the annoying problem gone.
Ask for testimonials while people are still absolutely delighted with you. Six months later they'll remember you were great but maybe not exactly why.
Make asking for reviews part of the process. Much easier than working up the courage to ask six people at once.
Be nice to people without working out what's in it for you. Not every coffee needs an ROI.
Before making another enormous marketing plan, look backwards. What's already working that you could simply do more of? Sometimes resisting shiny new things is the most useful thing you can do.
Measure what happened, not just what you did. “We posted 17 times” is an activity. So is unloading the dishwasher.
Don't be vanilla. Some people won't like your flavour. Good. You're not for everyone.
Consistency doesn't mean constantly. You don't need to post three times a day. Pick a rhythm you can actually keep up.
And there we have it. 47 years old, 47 bits of marketing advice and, somehow, not one of them was “post more Reels”.
If there's a theme running through all of this, I think it's this: marketing doesn't need to be as complicated, relentless or exhausting as we're sometimes led to believe.
You don't have to do everything. You don't have to be everywhere. You don't have to jump on every new thing or follow every bit of advice you see on LinkedIn (including mine).
You need to find the marketing that works for your business, your buyers, your personality, your time and your energy — and then do enough of it, consistently enough, to make a difference.
And you're allowed to change your mind along the way. I certainly have.
If even one of these 47 makes you do something useful, stop doing something pointless, or feel a bit better about your marketing, I'll consider that a decent birthday present.
Right. I'm off to eat some actual cake.
A little birthday offer 🎂
This is the online equivalent of me bringing cupcakes into the office on my birthday. Except hopefully more useful, and with fewer crumbs. I'm opening up 10 Power Half-Hours for £47 each.
Bring me the marketing thing that's been rattling around your brain — a decision you can't make, something that isn't working, an idea you need another brain on, or something you've been overthinking for approximately 900 years.
We'll spend 30 focused minutes getting into it and getting you unstuck, so you leave knowing what to do next.
10 spots. £47 each. 30 minutes. One marketing thing, considerably less rattling around your brain.