Why every SME needs a marketing strategy (and how to build one)

Want to generate awareness, leads and new business? Here’s how to build a strategy that moves the needle.

How do you come up with a marketing strategy for a small or medium enterprise (SME)? I suspect it’s a question that’s often asked in the hope that there’s a one-size-fits-all answer. However, creating a marketing plan that will work for your business requires some investment of time and effort to get right, just like all other aspects of running a successful enterprise.

The entrepreneurial spirit is still strong in the UK, with official figures recording 73,450 new ventures in Q3 2025. Sadly, 63,205 businesses closed in the same period. The West Midlands had the highest business death rate between 2023 and 2024, at 10.6%, with the biggest proportion (16.8%) in business administration and support services.

Reasons for business failure are complex and varied: low levels of demand, poor financial management, legal and compliance issues, poor customer service, failure to adapt to market changes, and burnout, to name just a few.

Lack of an effective marketing strategy is another, and that’s what we’re here to discuss.

Understand the benefits
Don’t get me wrong, we have met with various local firms built on the back of personal reputations, referral networks and persistent sales teams. We’re not here to argue that your business will absolutely, categorically fail without a marketing and communications strategy.

But we will insist that your chances of success are much higher with one in place.

And as for the firms I mentioned that have succeeded despite having no strategy in place – they still ended up coming to us because they wanted to take their businesses to the next level.

An effective marcomms strategy is invaluable for SMEs looking to attract and retain customers, build a strong, saleable brand and increase their turnover. It provides a focus for all your marketing and communications efforts, which can become a real drain on time, budget and resources if not researched and planned properly.

Which is all well and good, but where should you start? How can you create a successful marketing and communications strategy for your business?

Identify your target audience
Whatever your approach to marketing – and business in general – how well you understand and serve your target audience is the ultimate harbinger of success. And no, before you even think about saying it, your audience is not ‘everyone’.

“Once you understand what is driving your target audience, you’ll be in a much better position to market your product or service to them.”

Your target audience is the group of people most likely to purchase your product or service. For existing businesses with existing customers, they are the first place to look.

What demographic information do you have about them?

What do you know about their past behaviour – for example, purchase history and frequency, email open rates and website browsing habits?

What do you know about their needs, motivations and challenges?

If you’re just starting out, talk to the types of people you suspect are interested in what you have to offer. Once you understand what is driving your target audience, you’ll be in a much better position to market your product or service to them.  

Define your value proposition
This is the second step because it should be in relation to your target audience. It’s all very well having a great idea for a service or product, but if nobody needs it or you don’t know who needs it, everything you do will fall on deaf ears. Or no ears at all.

How does your work create meaningful value in people’s lives or businesses?

What can you do for your customer?

Knowing the benefits your company brings is the cornerstone of a successful marketing strategy. If you’re not sure what these benefits are, it could be time to go back to your business strategy: success is built not only on vision, but on viability.

You might have the most fantastic idea, but other people see no need for it. They may be right, or you might have to communicate why there is a need that they just haven’t seen yet. This is your value proposition.

Establish your foundational messaging
When it comes to building a strong brand identity, this step is essential. Your foundational messaging includes your unique value proposition and further defines what your organisation stands for.

“When your foundational messaging is clear, confident and consistent, everything else comes so much more easily.”

Why do you do what you do?

Why should your target audience trust you over anyone else for this product or service?

Writing down clear, concise answers to questions like these will help at every stage of building your business, from pitches to product launches to PR coverage and beyond. When your foundational messaging is clear, confident and consistent, everything else comes so much more easily.

We developed our Marcomms Playbook to help start-ups and microbusinesses (companies that are often working within extremely tight budgets) establish foundational messaging, so they can scale their marketing and communications activities quickly, affordably and effectively. But to ensure their marcomms really add value to their bottom line, SMEs typically benefit from taking a few extra steps at the outset.

Choose the right marketing channels
What’s a marketing channel? It’s a means to get your brand, product or service in front of potential customers. Digital examples include social media, email marketing and pay-per-click advertising, while traditional channels include radio, print ads and direct mail (the good old flyer through the letterbox). 

Within an SME, where resources for marketing and communications are sometimes limited, it’s vital that the channels you prioritise reflect your target audience(s), goals and capacity.

To use ourselves as an example, here at Chatty Duck Creative we have scaled back our social media activity to focus on LinkedIn (for prospective customers) and Instagram (for prospective employees and partners/collaborators). Our X account now has a placeholder message, and our Facebook page is only updated with the same content we post on LinkedIn.

We’re focused on uploading regular, in-depth content to our website and building a mailing list of people who find our insights useful. Alongside this, we’re collaborating on events and workshops with local organisations such as the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub.

That’s not to say that we won’t explore other channels in future or pursue other marcomms opportunities as they arise, but as a small team, we are prioritising the activities most likely to help us reach our goals. Which brings me to my next point…   

Set clear goals
The idea of setting marketing goals isn’t meant to add another layer of stress to your already overloaded schedule. Your marketing plan should alleviate time and resource pressures by putting in place short-term goals that can scale in line with your business’s growth.

“When employees understand not only what their company is working towards, but also how you plan to get there together, they’re far more likely to engage and stay motivated.”

Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound (SMART) goals build confidence in you and your team, giving everyone involved a shared sense of ownership and responsibility.

For example, if you’re a growing bookkeeping and accountancy firm targeting millennial female entrepreneurs, you might set a goal of increasing link clicks from Instagram by 50% in the next six months. You could start by creating a free checklist for sole traders to download, and posting a series of video explainers to your Instagram account with captions that direct viewers to the link in your bio.  

When employees understand not only what their company is working towards, but also how you plan to get there together, they’re far more likely to engage and stay motivated. And there’s nothing better for morale than the shared sense of achievement when you hit those benchmarks of success. 

Don’t stop moving
I can’t stress enough the necessity of continuously tracking and adapting your tactics. Being prepared and having a plan is brilliant, but you also need to be ready to experiment and trial different approaches.

“It’s a great feeling when you find your groove and start to see a return on your hard work, but don’t assume that because something has been working, it will continue to work forever.”

The example goal above is time-bound in that it sets a six-month deadline. However, you should still be monitoring how each video performs, trying to identify which content resonates most with your target audience, and doing your best to figure out why. That way, you can create more of the same.

In the longer term, we recommend reviewing your overall marcomms strategy every 12 to 24 months – unless there’s a dramatic change in your business circumstances, in which case you should do it as soon as possible.

This review process is essential to account for changes in the market, shifts in your target demographic, adjustments to your offering, the evolution of marketing trends, and countless other factors both within and outside your control. Setting fresh goals will help your business grow and evolve.

It’s a great feeling when you find your groove and start to see a return on your hard work, but don’t assume that because something has been working, it will continue to work forever. Keep learning, keep planning and keep refreshing your marketing strategy to give your brand a competitive edge.

According to the Founders Forum Group, 70% of start-ups fail between years two and five. If you’re navigating this tricky period, and you don’t feel confident tackling this work in-house, our Marcomms Strategy is designed to take the guesswork out of your marketing and communications activities.

So, if you’re ready to empower your team to move forward with confidence, clarity and consistency, book a discovery call.