Take These 3 Simple Steps to Make Marketing Your Small Biz Feel Less Overwhelming

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If we had to sum up how most small business owners feel about marketing in one word?

Overwhelmed.

You’re doing the client work. You’re managing the books. You’re updating the website. You’re trying to keep up on Instagram while wondering if you should also be on Threads, or TikTok, or wherever the cool kids are now.

Your to-do list is longer than your patience. And finishing anything doesn’t even feel good, it just means there are 17 more things waiting in the wings.

Between budget constraints, lack of time, and the gazillion things you could be doing, it’s easy to freeze. To do nothing. To spiral into a pit of “I suck at this.”

But we’re here to help you unfreeze.

Take a few deep breaths. Grab 15 minutes and a pen and paper. You don’t need a giant overhaul or a six-month content plan. Just start with these easy steps.

Step 0: Stop the comparison trap (it’s killing your momentum)

Yep, before we get into the actual strategy, we’re starting at zero. Because comparison is the sneakiest way to stall out your progress.

It’s so easy to look at someone else’s polished brand, with their beautiful website and perfect lead magnet, and think, "Ugh, I’m way behind."

You’re not. You’re just seeing their middle, not their beginning.

So let’s call out everything that’s casting doubt in your head and making you feel like poo:

• You’re one person (two if you’re super lucky!)

• You’ve got less than $500/month to spend on marketing

• You have maybe 2 hours a week, if that

Now that it’s all out on the table, we can actually work with it. Because a little bit this week, and a little bit next week, adds up. A year from now? You’ll be shocked at how far you've come.

Step 1: Zoom out

One reason marketing feels like too much is because…(no shock here), you’re doing too much.

You don’t need:

• 7 social platforms

• A newsletter and a podcast and a TikTok and a blog

• An SEO strategy and a Reels strategy and a viral meme strategy

Take this as your official permission slip to stop the chaos.

Instead of doing everything, let’s focus on doing the right things, the ones that make sense for:

• Your bandwidth: How many real hours do you have to spend on marketing each month? Count yours, your VA’s, your graphic designer cousin’s, any hours that are going directly toward marketing your biz.
  
  🛠️ BBM Pro Tip: However long you think a marketing task will take… triple it. That “quick” 10-minute email? Yeah, budget 30 minutes. We bet you regularly underpromise and overdeliver for your clients. Why not start doing that for yourself?
  

• Your budget: What can you actually invest right now? Even a small budget can go far if you use it well, and don’t try to outsource everything at once.

• Your goals: Here’s where most people go off the rails. Instead of making goals about outcomes (like “get 20 leads”), make them about what you can control (like “make 100 sales calls”).

Got a 20% close rate? Cool. Then 100 calls could get you 20 clients. That’s a goal you can actually chase.

📚 BBM Book Tip: All It Takes Is a Goal by Jon Acuff is a great read if you’re trying to wrap your head around short-, mid-, and long-term goals without losing your mind.

Step 2: Figure out what actually deserves your energy right now

Let’s say your goal and next most important thing is lead generation. You need to get more sales calls with more prospects ASAP.

Every marketing idea now has to pass through that filter:

• Will it help you book those calls? (warm outreach to people who know and like you where you explicitly ask them to connect you with your ideal prospect)

• Or is it just a shiny distraction that feels productive? (creating a trendy reel on Instagram)

🔥 BBM Hot Take: If you haven’t sold anything yet, stop worrying about your Reels strategy. You probably need a simple offer, a landing page, and a way to get in front of people who need it. That’s it.

Use our favorite filter:

• Do Now: High-impact, aligned with your main goal

• Do Next: Important, but not urgent

• Do Later (or never): Shiny things, "shoulds," and time wasters

This is the Eisenhower Matrix. We love it, and we think you two should get acquainted.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. And if it ain’t the main thing? It’s gotta go.

Step 3: Build a simple, strategic marketing plan

This is where people tend to panic and overcomplicate things.

Let’s make it simple. Like, actually simple:

1. Choose 1–2 platforms
   Where your people hang out + what you can realistically manage
   (Reminder: your website counts as a platform!)

2. Create a basic system
   Think: monthly themes, weekly goals, batching when possible
   Even if you go month-to-month, a little planning reduces decision fatigue.

3. Reuse and repurpose
   Post once, slice it a buncha ways. COPE = Create Once, Publish Everywhere.
   You don’t need fresh content daily. You need a fresh perspective on the stuff that already works.

Strategy doesn’t mean do more. It means do less, but better.

Once you’ve got a system you can stick with, you’ll actually do the thing, and that’s what gets results.

Know someone spiraling over their marketing?

Share this post with a business owner who might need to hear it today. And thanks for supporting us on our mission to help more small biz owners trade overwhelm for momentum.