Marketing on a budget: tips for SMEs

 

Making the most of your marketing budget – how do you do it?

 

Marketing often ends up in the “when I get time” pile and when you finally do get to it, the budget’s tight and the options feel endless. 

 

It’s no wonder marketing gets pushed aside. However, you don’t need a massive budget to make marketing work. You just need to be smart about where your time and money goes.

 

Most small businesses don’t have an unlimited marketing budget. In fact, a lot of the business owners I talk to feel like marketing is the thing they want to do properly… but the money always ends up going to other stuff instead.

 

So how do you actually make progress with marketing when the budget’s tight (or feels non-existent)? 

 

Well, you get smart about where your time and money go.

 

If you’ve already sorted how to balance marketing with other business priorities, started creating consistent marketing efforts, and worked out how to prioritise your marketing activities, then this next part is about making the most of what you’ve got to spend, whether it’s $500 or $50,000.

 

Start with what you’ve already got

Before you spend anything, take a proper look at you already have in place. 

 

Do you have a website? Yes. Great. Is it up to date? Does it make it easy for someone to know what you do and get in touch? That’s step one. You don’t need a new site if a few tweaks will do the job.

 

The same applies to your socials. You don’t need to be on every platform. Pick one or two where your ideal clients actually hang out. That’s enough. Consistency matters way more than being everywhere.

 

Also, repurpose your content. Use what you’ve already created. That blog from last year? You can re-share it. The email you sent to one client? Tweak it and turn it into a post. There is no need to reinvent the wheel every time.

 

Do fewer things, better

One of the biggest marketing traps? Trying to do everything. 

 

Trying to do everything usually ends with nothing being done properly. Socials, blogs, email, video, podcast, ads… it can feel like all too much and quickly lead to overwhelm.

 

So, think strategically. Pick a couple of marketing activities that feel manageable for you. The kind of things you can actually commit to regularly.

 

Choose activities that genuinely connect with your ideal clients, not just the ones that look good or are trending this week. And make sure they align with what you're trying to achieve in your business, whether that's building trust, generating leads, or staying front of mind.

 

Do those well. One great post a week beats five rushed ones every day.

 

Know where your money’s actually going

Sounds simple, but it’s easy to lose track. Subscriptions, paid ads, design costs, they can add up.

 

Have a rough monthly figure in mind for what you’re willing to spend, and check in with it. That way you’re not surprised when your ad account suddenly chews through your credit card.

 

And if you’re spending but not getting results, go back and look at what you’re trying to achieve. It might be time to re-prioritise. (If you need help with that, this blog on how to prioritise your marketing activities might help.)

 

Outsource the right stuff 

You don’t have to do all your marketing yourself. But you also don’t need to blow the budget on a full agency.

 

Look at what you avoid, or what never gets done. Those are the things to outsource. Think content creation, social scheduling, or blogs, newsletters and copywriting.

 

You can work with a marketing expert (like a digital marketer from a boutique agency in Albury Wodonga… cough, cough) just for the strategy side and then manage the implementation yourself. That way you’ve got direction without the full-service price tag.

 

Reuse, repurpose, recycle

Repurposing your content is one of the easiest ways to stretch your marketing budget without creating more work. It means taking something you’ve already spent time on and using it in different ways.

 

So, instead of starting from scratch every time you post, you’re building on what already exists. It saves time, keeps your messaging consistent, and helps you get more value from every bit of effort you put in.

 

You can turn a single blog can turn into a whole month of social posts. 

 

Take Starfish Marketing, for example, I repurposed one of my recent blogs was into a stack of social posts across a few platforms, a LinkedIn article, and a newsletter topic. That one piece of content did a lot of heavy lifting.

 

Or, you could also use your blog as a downloadable resource, or turn it into a checklist that your ideal clients will actually keep and use. 

 

Try pulling a stat, insight, or key tip and use it as the hook for a reel. Repurposing doesn’t have to be complicated.

 

If you’ve put effort into creating something, squeeze everything you can out of it. That’s budget-friendly marketing at its finest.

 

Your marketing doesn’t have to be fancy

Seriously. It just needs to be consistent, clear, and connect with your ideal clients. Repurposed content and low-fi production can do more than polished campaigns when it speaks directly to the right people. 

 

At Starfish, I ve recently started sharing a quick one-line marketing tip on Instagram Stories most days (actually Monday’s to Friday’s – I give myself the weekend off). Nothing fancy. Just me, sitting at my desk, no lighting setup, no filters, no editing. Just a simple thought, straight to camera. And those daily snippets have sparked more DMs and conversations than most of my polished posts ever have.

 

The point is, real works. A photo of your messy desk, a quick post about what you’re working on, a behind-the-scenes look at something you normally wouldn’t share – that all builds trust. People don’t want perfect. They want relatable.

 

That said, there are definitely times when professional content is worth the investment. 

 

Like when you're launching a new service, updating your website, or putting together something that's going to be seen by a bunch of new people. I’ve had clients see a huge shift in how they’re perceived just by using a proper photographer instead of a blurry phone snap. It can give you that extra bit of confidence and credibility.

 

Real is better than perfect. But sometimes, polished has its place too.

 

Making the most of your marketing budget

When you’re working with a small budget, every marketing decision matters more. You simply can’t afford to waste time or money on things that don’t work. 

 

But that doesn’t mean you have to do less. It just means being intentional about where your energy and dollars go.

 

Start with what you have. Choose a couple of things to focus on. Use free tools. And don’t be afraid to ask for help with the tricky bits.

 

If you want to talk through how to make the most of your marketing budget, let’s have a chat. It’s one of my favourite things to help with.