Small Business Owner Marketing Guide
If I was starting my business again as a content creator and photographer in 2026, here are the seven things I would do to get my business started.
Hi, I’m Becky. I’ve been running my business since 2006. I’ve had the pleasure of working with brands like the BBC, Virgin Holidays, Mulberry and Timberland. My photographs have featured in magazines from Vogue to The Times. But here’s the thing. I’m also a 50 something woman who has solo parented and built a business that supports me and my daughter. If I can do it, so can you. I don’t want a pat on the back for that. What I want is to hear your story too, and to help you get up and try, even when it’s tough. So here are the seven things that have genuinely moved the needle for me, the kind of small business owner marketing advice I wish someone had handed me back in 2006.
1. Stop listening to all the bro marketing
I have listened to endless videos, books and content from all these guys, and quite frankly, it’s not applicable. As a woman in business, marketing my own business, it just doesn’t have the same rules. They don’t apply. We know there isn’t a level playing field yet. Things like the 5am club, getting up at 5am, well, I’ve got kids, we’ve got school runs, and in the evenings and weekends I don’t have the time in the same way.
What I found instead is that you do need a strategy, and you do need to carve out a specific piece of time, but it might not be consistent every single day. Mine is a movable feast. I can’t guarantee I’ll do something at 9am every Monday because of school holidays, activities and everything else keeping me busy. But I always find the time, and the consistency is more about scheduling and planning than doing the same thing at the same time. Find space in your week for one to two hours to promote and develop your business. That’s how you move the needle, little by little. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen if you carve out that time.
2. Be super clear on who you want as your client
Think about who they are, which brands or businesses you actually want to work with, and think big. Don’t keep yourself small. If you’re not sure without pitching to them and talking to them, you won’t know.
The way I do this is I make a target list and hop onto LinkedIn and Instagram to find the right contact, usually the marketing manager, brand manager or marketing director for smaller companies. I connect, not in a weird or creepy way, but simply. I start commenting on their posts so they notice me and might look at my work. Have 10 to 15 people you really want to focus on over the next six months, then approach them. Being bold and focused on exactly who you want to talk to doesn’t just bring similar businesses to you, it helps you feel confident, because these brands need to work with someone. If you’re a photographer, videographer or illustrator and you really want to work with a particular brand, pitch to them. They’re human beings. You may well get told no. I was told no ten times by one brand, but on the eleventh time, when their photographer let them down and they’d seen my work consistently over a year, they booked me and became a longstanding client. This really is how to get more sales in your small business, through consistency, not luck.
3. Be really clear on what you’re offering
Do not be bland. Do not be vanilla. Offer something specific that you can deliver with joy, because if you can’t, you might as well be working for someone else. For a long time I talked about bold, bright coloured brands wanting to work with me, because that was my aesthetic, and having two or three similar projects already in my portfolio meant I understood the props, aesthetic and tone they wanted. Make sure your portfolio, website and the links you send out are all in alignment with who your ideal client actually is.
4. Don’t be too scared to reach out and ask
Sometimes it takes eleven attempts to convert into a sale. Other times a brand messages me out of the blue from one blog post, having lurked around my content for a while before stumbling across my website and booking me. It looks like a one hit wonder, but it never is. It’s the work and consistency behind it. Keep going and keep asking, and eventually you’ll get a yes.
5. Build a portfolio and website you’re proud of, and keep it focused
Less is more. If you’re creating content for a particular aesthetic, don’t muddle it with everything else. If you haven’t got a website yet, don’t let that hold you back. Create PDFs to send, or put pages together in Canva and publish with a URL, or use Adobe to produce a simple published site. If you do have a website, update it monthly so you’ve always got something fresh to send when someone lands in your DMs.
6. Create the content yourself if you don’t have it
Team up with other similar brands or friends for a photoshoot or content day. This is usually unpaid, done to build your portfolio and develop the imagery and content you want to be known for. This is also where you practise your strategy and content planning, showing exactly how to use social media that brings enquiries into your business, because a strong, focused portfolio is what people find when they go looking.
Want to make £2k in your business this month? Follow this plan to achieve that just like my client did.
7. You are the brand
This is the one most overlooked, and in 2026, with AI everywhere, it matters more than ever. You are the difference between one photographer and another, one illustrator and another. Even with the same kit, nobody can copy your outlook, the way you dress, the way you talk. That’s what makes us wonderfully human. Big businesses pay thousands to work out their brand identity, but as a solo business owner, it’s just you. Bottle that. Some people won’t like your vibe, and that’s fine, walk on by. Build it how you want, with the quality and quantity you want, because that’s what sets you apart.
Tell me in the comments which one of these seven you’re going to start with first, and what you’re stuck on. I’m more than happy to help.
I’m Becky. I help women over 40 create businesses they love, marketing with ease and creating achievable content using photos and video, so you can drive sales into your business, grow your brand your way, and get offline to enjoy the things you want to.
