Stop Making Excuses and Start Marketing: 5 Excuse-Busting Tips for UK Businesses

Whether you’re a mum-and-dad café in Brighton or a boutique agency in Manchester, it’s time to stop hiding behind those tired excuses and start marketing like you mean it. Here are five excuse-busting marketing tips to get you off your arse and into action.

Stop Making Excuses and Start Marketing: 5 Excuse-Busting Tips for UK Businesses

Whether you’re a mum-and-dad café in Brighton or a boutique agency in Manchester, it’s time to stop hiding behind those tired excuses and start marketing like you mean it. Here are five excuse-busting marketing tips to get you off your arse and into action.

Running a business is hard work; no one’s denying that. But you know what’s not helping? The endless parade of excuses you trot out to avoid marketing your business. “Oh, we don’t have the budget.” “We’re too small for this.” “Marketing is complicated.” Bollocks! If you’ve got time to moan, you’ve got time to market.

1. “We Don’t Have the Budget”

Ah, the classic small business refrain: “We’d love to market our business, but we can’t afford it.” Spoiler alert: You don’t need a six-figure budget to make marketing work. In fact, some of the most effective strategies cost next to nothing.

Budget-Busting Tips

  • Leverage Free Tools: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are marketing goldmines. They’re free to use (unless you’re running ads), and they’re where your audience hangs out. Start engaging!
  • DIY Your Content: No one’s asking you to produce Oscar-worthy videos or Pulitzer-level blogs. A quick TikTok of your product or a behind-the-scenes Instagram Reel can do wonders.
  • Email Marketing: Have an email list? Use it. Platforms like Mailchimp offer free plans that let you send newsletters and updates to keep your audience engaged.

Pro Tip: Start small and scale up. The point is to start, not to blow your entire annual budget on one glossy campaign.

2. “We’re Too Small to Market”

Oh, please. You’re not too small; you’re just scared of making a splash. If anything, being a small business is an advantage—you can market with personality, authenticity, and charm that big corporations can only dream of.

How to Own Your Small Business Vibes

  • Show Your Personality: People buy from people. Whether it’s your quirky team members, your weird office dog, or your obsession with baking biscuits, lean into what makes your business unique.
  • Be Local, Be Loud: Small businesses thrive when they dominate their local area. Get listed on Google My Business, partner with local influencers, and join community Facebook groups.
  • Focus on Relationships: You have fewer customers, which means you can connect with them on a deeper level. Respond to reviews, engage on social media, and send personal thank-you notes. It’ll pay off.

Pro Tip: Don’t hide your size—celebrate it. Customers love small businesses because they feel real and relatable.

3. “Marketing Is Too Complicated”

Let’s face it: Marketing can feel like rocket science when you’re drowning in buzzwords like “funnel optimisation” and “algorithmic targeting.” But the reality? Most effective marketing boils down to some very basic principles.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

  • Focus on Your Audience: Who are your customers? Where do they spend their time? What problems do they need solving? Build your marketing around their needs.
  • Start With One Platform: Trying to master Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn all at once is a recipe for burnout. Pick one and do it well before expanding.
  • Measure One Metric: Forget about 20 different KPIs (key performance indicators). Start by tracking one thing, like website traffic or new followers, to keep things manageable.

Pro Tip: If marketing feels overwhelming, it’s because you’re overthinking it. Start small and grow as your confidence does.

4. “We Tried It Once, and It Didn’t Work”

Translation: “We half-heartedly posted something on Instagram three months ago, got no likes, and gave up.” One failed attempt doesn’t mean marketing doesn’t work—it means you didn’t do it properly. Marketing is a long game, not a one-and-done effort.

Why Your Past Efforts Flopped (and How to Fix It)

  • Inconsistency: Posting once in a blue moon won’t build an audience. Commit to regular updates—whether that’s once a day or once a week.
  • Lack of Strategy: Throwing random posts into the void isn’t a strategy. Set clear goals: Are you driving sales? Building brand awareness? Generating leads?
  • Cringe Content: If your content was boring, irrelevant, or looked like it was made in 2004, it’s no wonder it didn’t perform. Step it up.

Pro Tip: Marketing is like going to the gym. You won’t see results after one session, but stick with it consistently, and you’ll start noticing big changes.

5. “I Don’t Have Time”

Really? Because you just spent 20 minutes scrolling through Instagram memes and another 10 arguing about who’s making the tea. If you’ve got time to waste, you’ve got time to market your business.

Making Time for Marketing

  • Batch Your Efforts: Dedicate one afternoon a week to creating and scheduling content. Tools like Buffer and Hootsuite make it ridiculously easy.
  • Delegate: If you’ve got a team, rope them in. Maybe one person handles Instagram while another updates your blog.
  • Automate Like a Pro: Tools like Mailchimp (email marketing) or Canva (graphics) let you streamline your efforts. Automation isn’t cheating; it’s smart business.

Pro Tip: Time is a resource like anything else. Prioritise marketing the same way you’d prioritise paying your bills or keeping the lights on.

Final Thoughts: Stop Whining, Start Winning

Here’s the brutal truth: Marketing isn’t optional if you want your business to thrive. And no, you don’t need a massive budget, a full-time marketing team, or a PhD in social media algorithms. What you do need is a willingness to start—messy, scrappy, imperfect efforts are infinitely better than doing nothing at all.

Ready to Stop Making Excuses and Start Marketing?

Still clinging to those tired excuses? It’s time to drop them and get to work. We specialise in helping UK businesses like yours tackle marketing head-on with simple, effective strategies that actually get results.

Contact us today to book a free consultation and let’s turn your “we can’t” into “we absolutely will.” Because marketing doesn’t have to be scary—it just has to be done.