28 marketing ideas for your business

1. Fix your shop window on Google45 min

Open your Google Business Profile: exact hours, every category, and add 5 fresh photos of what you're best known for. Most local customers decide here, before they ever see a website.

2. Ask the till question0 min extra

From today, ask every customer 'how did you hear about us?' and tally it on a notepad. By day 7 you'll know which channel is actually feeding your business — and which is a hobby.

3. Post the proof20 min

Photograph what you're best known for in daylight, close up. Caption it with your best review quote and one ask: 'Message us' or 'Pop in today'. Pin it to the top of your profile.

4. Reply to every review30 min

Answer every Google review from the last 3 months, two friendly lines each. Active profiles rank higher in local search, and replies are read by hundreds of deciders.

5. Start your list20 min

Put a card or QR by the till: 'Your email = a little thank-you on your next visit.' Even 10 sign-ups a week becomes a crowd you can reach free, forever.

6. The friend offer15 min

Post and tell regulars: 'Bring someone new this week, you both get a small treat.' New customers via trusted referral convert and return at roughly double the rate of ad clicks.

7. Count and keep10 min

Read your tally from day 2. Whatever channel brought the most people: do twice as much of it next week. That one habit beats most marketing plans.

8. Name the quiet day10 min

Look at last month and pick your single quietest stretch (say, Tuesday 2–5pm). The whole week aims at exactly that window — not 'more business' in general.

9. Invent the reason20 min

Create a small recurring reason to come in then: a Tuesday-only what you're best known for special, double loyalty stamps, or a quiet-hours perk. Recurring beats one-off — people learn the rhythm.

10. Tell your existing crowd first25 min

Announce it to people who already love your business: your followers, your email or WhatsApp list, a sign at your busiest day. Existing customers move days far more cheaply than strangers try you.

11. Make the quiet hour photogenic20 min

Shoot the offer in action — the special being made, the quiet corner table, the empty-but-inviting chair. Post it the evening before your quiet day with 'tomorrow only'.

12. Partner up30 min

Find one nearby non-competing business (gym ↔ café, salon ↔ florist) and swap: their customers get your quiet-day perk, yours get theirs. Two audiences, zero spend.

13. Run it and greet it0 min extra

On the day, mention the offer to everyone at the till and ask each quiet-day customer what brought them in. You're testing, not hoping.

14. Decide with numbers10 min

Compare the quiet window with last week's. Better? Lock the offer in for a month. Flat? Change ONE thing — the perk, not the day — and run it again next week.

15. Write the one-liner20 min

Finish this sentence: 'It's [what], for [who], and the reason you'll love it is [the one specific thing].' If the line needs two sentences, the launch isn't ready — sharpen before you shout.

16. Tease15 min

Post a close-up detail or behind-the-scenes of the new thing with no name and a date: 'Thursday.' Curiosity does the heavy lifting for free.

17. Tell your inner circle first20 min

Give your regulars, your list, and your team the news a day early, with a small first-taste perk. Launches travel by word of mouth from people who feel like insiders.

18. Reveal30 min

Launch post: your best daylight photo of the new thing, your one-liner from day 1, the price said proudly, one ask ('book', 'order', 'come try it'). Update your Google profile the same hour.

19. Show it living15 min

Post the new thing in the wild: the first customer enjoying it (with permission), the batch selling out, the booking slots filling. Proof beats promotion.

20. Catch the stragglers15 min

Second-chance post for the people who scrolled past: 'You kept asking, it's here.' Different photo, same one-liner. Most sales come from the reminder, not the reveal.

21. Read the first week15 min

Count: how many tried it, what they said, who came back. Keep, tweak, or sunset — decided by the numbers and the exact words customers used, not by the gut alone.

22. Claim every local shelf45 min

Tonight, your business should be findable and identical everywhere locals look: Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor. Same name, same photo, same hours. Inconsistency quietly costs trust and ranking.

23. Pick your signature15 min

Choose the ONE thing you want to be known for — what you're best known for is the usual suspect — and commit to featuring it in most of what you post this month. Famous-for-one beats average-for-everything.

24. The story post25 min

Post the story only you can tell: why you started, the 5am routine, the mistake that taught you the trade. Local people follow people. This is consistently the highest-reach post a small business makes.

25. Join the local rooms20 min

Find the 2–3 local Facebook groups or community feeds where your town actually talks. Be useful in them (answer, recommend, congratulate) — never advertise. Useful neighbours get remembered and tagged.

26. The local collab30 min

Offer one nearby business a genuine collab: a combined offer, a shared giveaway, stocking each other's product. Their followers meet you with built-in trust — the cheapest reach in local marketing.

27. Be taggable25 min

Create one thing worth photographing: a sign with a line people repeat, a wall, a box, a ribbon. Then ask, on a small card: 'Tag us — we repost our favourites.' Customers become your media channel.

28. Set the drumbeat20 min

Fame is rhythm: lock in 3 posts a week (one behind-the-scenes, one what you're best known for, one human) and 10 minutes daily replying to every comment, review and tag. Six weeks of drumbeat changes what your town thinks of when it thinks of you.