Why marketing feels hard to stay on top of as a small business owner

Most small business owners don’t struggle with marketing because they’re disorganised, or “bad at it”.

They struggle because they’re human.

You’re running a business.

You’re delivering for clients.

You’re juggling family, life, admin, decisions, and about a thousand mental tabs at once.

And marketing?

It usually gets whatever energy is left at the end of the week, if there’s any left at all!

So if consistency with your marketing feels hard, you’re not doing anything wrong.

You’re experiencing what most small business owners do.

Why marketing consistency is so hard for small business owners

On paper, consistency sounds simple: “Just show up regularly.”

Yeh right! It’s as easy as that?!?!

In reality, marketing consistency is one of the hardest things to maintain. So let’s have a gander at why.

1. Marketing is NEVER the only priority

When a client needs you, marketing gets pushed aside.

When life happens, marketing slips further down the list.

And because marketing doesn’t always give instant results, so, it’s the easiest thing to deprioritise.

2. There’s too much advice and too many options

Post daily.

Email weekly.

Be on every platform.

Try this funnel.

Try that tool.

The noise alone is bloody exhausting, and overwhelm is the fastest route to inconsistency.

3. You’re doing it alone

There’s no boss checking in.

No team meeting asking what you’ve worked on.

No one noticing when you quietly stop posting or planning.

When you’re accountable only to yourself, consistency relies entirely on motivation, and motivation is unreliable.

But consistency isn’t just a motivation or priority problem, it’s often a support problem.

And this is an important reframe.

Most small business owners don’t need more discipline.

They need structures and support that make consistency easier for them.

Because consistency thrives when:

Someone notices if you don’t show up
There’s a rhythm to follow
You don’t have to figure everything out alone
Progress feels visible and shared

Support doesn’t mean you’re failing.

It means you’re working with how humans actually operate.

Different types of support that help with marketing consistency

Support doesn’t look the same for everyone.

People work differently and respond to different situations and approaches.

So I want to look at some of the more effective options available to small business owners and hopefully it’ll help you find a way to support your marketing consistency, that works for you.

1. An accountability buddy

This is the simplest starting point.

An accountability buddy is someone you check in with regularly, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, to say:

What you planned to do
What you actually did
What you’re committing to next

It could be a friend, a fellow business owner, your mum, your other half, or even Sarah from next door!

Just someone to help you be accountable for showing up, and giving you a gentle push when you need it.

When I first started my business, I had an accountability buddy who was someone I met through networking. She was based up in Scotland and at the same stage of her business. She also wanted an accountability buddy and we set up a recurring fortnightly Zoom call to check in and hold each other accountable, for doing what we said we were going to do.

It was SO effective, we pushed each other gently towards our goals, and also talked about more than just marketing. We talked about ideas and strategy for our businesses, and a million non-related business things as well.

Even light accountability creates follow-through.

You’re far more likely to stick to your marketing plan when you know someone will ask how it’s going.

While accountability buddies can be brilliant for motivation, they usually rely on both people having the same level of commitment and availability. If one of you gets busy (which happens!), the consistency can slip.

They’re also unlikely to have marketing expertise, which means they can encourage action, but not always guide what action will be most effective.

2. Co-working sessions

Co-working (virtual or in-person) is powerful for momentum.

You turn up.

You work quietly alongside others.

You finally get the thing done that’s been sitting on your to-do list for weeks.

It removes friction, because you don’t have to decide when to do marketing, the space already exists.

Speak to people in your network to see if there are co-working sessions that you can join. And if they don’t exist, you can always set one up. No excessive resource required, just a regular Zoom call that people can join for an hour or 90 minutes, to get some marketing tasks done that they have been pushing to the bottom of the priority list all week.

Co-working is great for momentum and focus, but it doesn’t always provide direction. You still need clarity on what you should be working on, otherwise you risk being very productive on the wrong things.

Without guidance, co-working supports execution rather than strategy, but is great for consistency and carving out time to get things done.

3. Consultants or freelancers

Bringing in professional support can be a huge relief.

Consultants can provide clarity and direction, build strategies, and take tasks off your plate.

This is powerful, because you’re no longer guessing. You’re benefiting from experience and structure.

They can bring expertise and clarity quickly, but they’re often a higher financial investment and may create a dependency if all marketing is outsourced.

While results can be strong, this option doesn’t always help business owners build long-term confidence or consistency themselves.

As a small business owner who is protecting their cashflow, you need to decide if it’s right for you to go down this route, and if it is, there are lots of great people out there to support you.

4. Mentors or coaches

These guys sit somewhere between accountability and expertise.

They help you to think strategically, make better decisions, and importantly stay focused on what actually matters to move your business forward. You get both perspective and encouragement, which is powerful when motivation dips.

They offer valuable perspective and strategic insight, but support is often delivered in sessions rather than ongoing day-to-day guidance, which can make it harder to maintain momentum between calls, especially when motivation dips or life gets busy.

5. Community support

Community combines accountability, shared learning, normalisation (“it’s not just me”), momentum, support without judgement.

When marketing becomes something you do alongside others, rather than in isolation, consistency feels lighter.

You’re not starting from scratch every week.

You’re building habits in an environment designed to support them.

This is the thinking behind the Marketing Buddy Membership.

Not as a pushy sales pitch, but as a genuinely supportive space for small business owners who want marketing that fits into real life, clarity without overwhelm, encouragement alongside education.

Communities offer connection, shared learning, and encouragement, but they work best when you actively participate.

Without engagement, it’s easy to quietly consume content without taking action.

Communities also vary in quality, without structure, guidance, or accountability, they can sometimes become noisy or overwhelming rather than supportive.

6. Learning, Workshops & Masterclasses

For some small business owners, consistency improves when they have structured learning to plug into.

Workshops and masterclasses give you:

Clear focus on one topic at a time
Practical guidance you can apply immediately
A defined moment to stop, think, and work on your marketing rather than constantly reacting
A sense of momentum that often kickstarts consistency again

Live learning in particular can be powerful. Showing up at a set time, learning alongside others, and taking action straight away often helps marketing feel lighter and more manageable.

However, learning on its own doesn’t always guarantee long-term consistency. Without follow-up, accountability, or space to apply what you’ve learned, it’s easy for good intentions to fade once day-to-day business pressures take over. This is why workshops are often most effective when they sit alongside other forms of support, rather than replacing them completely.

Consistency grows where you feel supported

You don’t need to be more motivated.

You don’t need to “try harder”.

You don’t need to do more.

You need support that:

Matches your capacity
Reduces decision fatigue
Makes marketing feel doable again

Consistency isn’t built in isolation, it’s built in environments that help you keep showing up, even when life gets busy.

Hopefully one of the options above resonates with you, maybe you’ve even tried one or two in the past. But these are the most effective ways to support yourself (and others) when it comes to consistency in marketing and also your business generally.

None of these are “the answer”.

They’re options.

And the right one is the one that fits your capacity, your budget, and where you’re at in business and life.

And on that note!

As one of the support options open to you is to give yourself a clear moment to pause, learn, and reset, then you’re very welcome to join my upcoming live workshop.

Supported, practical marketing, without pressure or overwhelm:

Training ChatGPT as Your Small Business Marketing Assistant

Monday 26th January
7:00pm

It’s a practical session to take you through the steps of using ChatGPT with intention so that it really supports your marketing efforts and reduces the load.

No jargon.
No pressure to be perfect.
Just useful support you can actually apply.

Happy Marketing!

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