Marketing, explained for busy owners.
Practical guides to content, search and the decisions behind your marketing.
Featured article
Outsourced marketing: costs and how to decide
Basics7 min readOctober 25, 2026
What outsourced marketing covers, what to keep in-house, four options costed side by side, and five questions to ask any provider before you sign.
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Three questions, one rule: two yeses or drop it.
Basics9 min
How to identify the needs customers still pay for
A decision method for naming the need your customer still pays for, plus a research checklist you can run on your own reviews and website this week.
Five moves, one offer, two counts that prove it.
Basics10 min
Storefront Marketing: The 5-Move Plan You Can Run This Week
A storefront marketing plan you can run in a week: the window, the Google listing, one offer and the stop-to-enter count that proves it worked.
What the record proves, and a six-line plan to fill in.
Basics9 min
Product Launch Strategy: What a $10M Launch Actually Proves
XGIMI reported $10M in Kickstarter pledges in 2 hours. A line-by-line read of that launch, what the number proves, and a six-line plan you can fill in.
Five moves, each with its exact setup and its number.
Basics8 min
Salon Marketing Ideas: The 5 That Fill Chairs
Forty salon marketing ideas tried once fill nothing. These five moves, each set up in a week with the number that tells you it works, do.
Five questions, in order, before you sign.
Basics9 min
What is agentic marketing? 5 questions before you sign
What agentic marketing actually is, and the five questions that turn any vendor pitch into an answer sheet you can compare. Ask them in order.
What to automate first, the one week that sets it up.
Basics7 min
Marketing automation for small business: the one week plan
What marketing automation means for a small business with no team, what to automate first, and the one week that sets it up. What to keep manual, named.
The ranges, and the one-week test worth running first.
Ads9 min
Facebook Ads Cost in 2026: Ranges and the Smallest Test
What Facebook ads cost in 2026, per click, lead and sale, why two businesses pay different prices, and the smallest one-week test worth running first.
The whole month of work, shown, not described.
Basics8 min
Done for you marketing: what the work is made of
What done for you marketing is made of when it is finished: what a real month of pieces looks like, the choices behind them, and the rules the department holds.
What changed, what did not, and four checks for tonight.
AI search8 min
What Is Google AI Mode? What Google Changed on October 15
What Google AI Mode is, what changed on October 15, what did not, and four checks you can run on your own site tonight. No promises sold.
Four checks, in order, about 20 minutes.
Search8 min
Why is my business not showing up on Google?
Your business is not broken. It is invisible for one of four reasons. Run these four checks tonight, in order, and find which one you have.
Seven steps, one evening, no tools.
Search8 min
How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile in One Sitting
Optimize your Google Business Profile in one sitting: verify, complete, categorize, photograph, ask, reply, and what moves the three local ranking factors.
Nine boxes, a worked example, one review rule.
Basics7 min
The One Page Marketing Plan: Fill It In Tonight
A one page marketing plan you can fill in tonight: nine boxes, a worked example for a real kind of shop, and the rule that keeps it alive after this week.
Each idea priced in hours, from one hour to one weekend.
Basics9 min
Marketing ideas for small business, priced in hours
Every idea carries its hour and dollar cost, ordered from one hour to one weekend, with a skip line where the effort is not worth it.
What one does, what one costs, and when it is not the right buy.
Basics6 min
AI marketing agency: what it is, what it costs
What an AI marketing agency actually does, what one costs in 2026, and when a subscription marketing department is the better buy. Prices named, no promises sold.
Be part of the answer, not just the list.
AI search8 min
Generative engine optimization: a small business guide
What generative engine optimization is, the five fixes you can make in one evening, a free monthly check, and the limits nobody ranking admits.
Start from one customer, not a percentage.
Ads7 min
How much should you spend on marketing? Start from one customer, not a percentage
Percent-of-revenue rules never say what the money buys. Here's how to set a first marketing budget from one customer's value, then test it in two weeks.