How to Decide What to Focus on in Your Marketing This Month
One of the most common questions I hear from small business owners is:
“What should I actually be working on in my marketing right now?”
This question often comes from a place where time and energy are limited, and where decision making is done in a hurry and without clear goals.
Because this is the reality for a lot of small business owners. You might not have the luxury of a corner office where you can sit in silence and work out your strategies for the upcoming year without distractions.
You’re in the middle of it all, juggling fourteen plates and putting out fires. A marketing strategy feels a long way off.
But you know what? It doesn’t have to be impossible. We can get the needle moving with small steps in the right direction, starting right now.
This is why I created the Marketing Focus Sheet.
It’s not a strategy document or a 12-month plan. It’s simply a one-page tool designed to help you make one good decision at a time.
Here’s how to use the Marketing Focus Sheet
Step 1: Anchor yourself in one goal
Instead of trying to improve everything at once, start by choosing a single business goal for the month. Remember, specific, measurable goals are the way forward. You want to know that you’ve succeeded. Here are some examples of SMART goals:
Generate 5 qualified enquiries for one specific service you offer
Increase revenue from one existing product by 10%
Book out 5 available slots for a chosen time period
Drive 50 visits to the booking page on the website
Get 20 email sign-ups
You get the idea. Make it your own so that it fits your business. This micro goal-setting immediately filters out a lot of noise from the “should-dos”.
Step 2: Name your real constraint
What is hindering you right now? If your biggest constraint is time or energy, your marketing approach needs to respect that. Sustainable marketing works with your capacity, not against it. So, jot down your biggest obstacles right now, and acknowledge them. Here are some examples:
You’re fully booked with client work and admin
You’re running the business around childcare or another job
You’re mentally drained at the end of the work day
You might be recovering from illness or burnout
You might be neurospicy (hello, my friend!), which can affect focus and consistency
You have no budget for ads, agencies or tools
You’re overthinking decisions and delaying action
Or you might even be growing faster than you can keep up with (go you!)
Step 3: Choose one meaningful focus
The most important question on the Marketing Focus Sheet is:
“If I could only make progress on one thing this month, what would it be?”
Choose progress over perfection here. One well-chosen focus, repeated consistently, will always outperform scattered effort. It can be something big, or something tiny. Look at your constraints and your goal, and choose based on what you have already written there.
I won’t judge, but it might be a little silly to put down “Post one Instagram Reel every day” if your goal is to get newsletter subscribers, or your constraints include a lack of time.
Step 4: Park the ‘shoulds’
This is the really therapeutic part. Writing down the things you’re not focusing on is actually surprisingly powerful, because it turns vague, gnawing guilt into a conscious decision. Instead of feeling like you’re failing at doing everything, you’re now choosing where your attention goes.
So go ahead and jot down all the things you’ve been meaning to do, but that don’t quite align with that goal that you put at the top of the sheet, or that are entirely unrealistic based on your current constraints.
There… I feel lighter already.
Step 5: Keep execution boring and repeatable
Finally, let’s get to work. Find one small weekly action you can repeat, even when you feel tired, rushed off your feet or like your head is dizzy from all the plates you spin.
Doing one small thing regularly is far more effective than bursts of motivation followed by long gaps of tumbleweeds. Trust me.
Here are some examples to get your juices flowing:
Create or refine one piece of content (a post, caption, photo, or short video)
Share one useful tip, story, or update about your work
Update or improve one page on your website
Reply thoughtfully to one comment, DM, or email
Ask one person for feedback or a testimonial
Review one metric (enquiries, bookings, sales) and make one small change
Improve one call-to-action or booking link
Write down one idea for future content or offers
And of course - revisit your Marketing Focus Sheet and adjust if needed. You can download it for free and print it out as many times as you like.
So, if your marketing has felt overwhelming or directionless lately, this sheet provides you with a place to start. You can download the free Marketing Focus Sheet below and use it whenever things start to feel noisy again.
