Plain answers. Real marketing. No jargon.
Notes on what's actually changing in marketing — written for business owners in Portsmouth and Hampshire, not for other marketers. Practical, occasionally opinionated, and always in plain English.
Latest
-
Will AI recommend your business? A 20-point check for SMEs
Your customers have started asking a chatbot who to call, and it hands back three names. If you're not one of the three, you don't show up in your figures as a lost customer — you don't show up at all. Here's the five-minute test that shows where you stand.
-
How often should a small business post on social media? (And what to post when you’ve nothing to say)
A realistic posting frequency for small businesses, which platforms are worth your time, and what to post when nothing interesting has happened this week.
-
Email marketing for small businesses: the five emails that make the money
Most small businesses send a newsletter nobody opens. Here are the five emails that actually produce revenue, why they work, and how to set them up.
-
Should you let AI write your website copy? An honest answer from someone who uses it
Where AI copy genuinely works, where it quietly costs you customers, and how to tell the difference — from a marketer who uses it daily and still writes the important pages by hand.
-
What does a graphic designer actually do — and when does a small business need one?
What a graphic designer does day to day, what it costs, when a small business genuinely needs one, and when Canva will do the job perfectly well.
-
What should a small business spend on Google Ads? How to set a budget you can defend
How to work out a Google Ads budget from your own numbers rather than a guess — with typical UK click costs, a worked example, and when not to advertise at all.
-
How to write a marketing plan a small business will actually use (one page, four questions)
A one-page marketing plan for small businesses — four questions, a channel choice, a budget and a way to tell whether it's working. No 40-page deck.
-
Is blogging still worth it in 2026, now AI answers the question first?
AI now answers the questions blogs used to. Here's what still works, what doesn't, and how a small business should decide whether to bother writing at all.
-
Local SEO: how to show up when someone nearby is ready to buy
How to get found when someone near you searches for what you sell — the map pack, Google Business Profile, service pages and reviews, explained in plain English.
-
How much should a website cost? Real numbers, and what moves them
What a small business website actually costs in 2026 — real price bands, what pushes the number up, and how to tell a £2,000 site from a £12,000 one.
-
Agency, freelancer or hire? How to choose marketing support for a small business — with what each actually costs
An honest comparison of the four ways to get marketing done — agency, freelancer, in-house hire or outsourced marketer — with real costs and who each one genuinely suits.