Marketing for Non-Marketers

Your marketing consultant just pitched you a “comprehensive brand strategy” that costs more than your annual revenue. They’re using words like “omnichannel” and “synergistic messaging” while you just need customers to find you on Google and actually buy something.

I’ve marketed everything from industrial oil services to organic skincare – without a marketing degree or a Madison Avenue budget. Some campaigns worked brilliantly. Others were expensive lessons in what not to do. The difference wasn’t the strategy deck – it was understanding what actually moves customers.

This section strips marketing down to what works: why “brand strategy” is mostly BS for small business, getting customers without a CMO or agency, digital marketing that actually converts (not just gets likes), and the truth about content marketing (spoiler: most of it is worthless). Real marketing from someone who’s had to make every dollar count, not just spend the marketing budget.