One of the hardest parts of marketing for any SME is knowing when to say yes and when to say no.
And if you’re being honest, the decisions don’t always get made for the right reasons. Are you taking the easy route? Are you missing the knowledge or expertise? Are you doing what’s always been done.
Good marketing decisions are made based on a solid marketing strategy, that everyone in the organisation is bought into. A marketing strategy is worth its weight in gold, regardless of the size or type of your organisation.
Why we say yes when we shouldn’t
Sometimes we say yes to the wrong things because:
- Everyone on LinkedIn is raving about it (best kept secret, apparently), and FOMO kicks in
- The request came from the CEO, and can you really say no to the CEO?
- It’s what we’ve always done, and staying in our comfort zone feels safer
Why we say no when we shouldn’t
And we say no to the right things because:
- The to-do list is already overflowing, and we don’t have the time or the head space
- There’s a skills gap, and we’re not sure how to do it
- It’s scary, and stepping outside our comfort zone feels risky
Sound familiar? This is what happens when there’s no clear marketing strategy guiding the decisions.
The real cost of winging it
When someone asks, “Should we do this?” and there’s no strategy in place, you’re essentially rolling the dice. Every decision becomes a debate. Every request becomes a distraction. And let’s be honest, none of us have the time or capacity for that.
Here’s the hard truth: “we don’t have time” usually translates to “it’s not a priority.”
That’s fine, if it genuinely isn’t a priority. But if your time, energy, and budget aren’t being focused in the right direction, that’s a problem worth solving.
How a clear marketing strategy changes everything
A solid marketing strategy for your small business isn’t just a document that sits in a Google Drive folder. It’s a decision-making tool. It lets you:
- Say yes or no methodically and efficiently. Based on evidence and direction, not gut feel or pressure
- Say yes or no consistently. So your team (and your CEO) understands the reasoning
- Say yes or no confidently. Because you know what you’re working towards and why
Your marketing strategy removes the guesswork.
What we do
Our approach is simple. It’s not easy, but it is simple. We work with small businesses to clarify their focus, define their priorities, and build a practical marketing roadmap that makes those yes/no decisions straightforward.
No more rolling the dice. No more saying yes out of FOMO or no out of fear.
Just a clear direction, and the confidence to move in it.
A note on the CEO point: You can push back on your CEO — but instead of a flat no, bring them on the journey. Stress-test the request against your strategy together. If the strategy is something they’ve had input into, they’re far more likely to respect the boundaries it creates.
Feel free to get in touch, and we can chat about how we can get your marketing working harder for you.
By Lauren Martin, Co-Founder, The Piñata Lab