What has changed in Small Business Marketing - 10 factors to be aware of

Simon Hunt
4 days ago
7 min read

The entire Digital Marketing landscape has moved so very quickly, how you might ask?

The speed of delivery - potentially 10X faster
The cost of doing things - 40% of an agencies cost
The ability to learn fast and iterate - establish market leading momentum
The vast array of powerful tools that are available to create with - Agency delivery standards
The speed of planning - 15-30X what it was 2/3 years ago.
The three speed economy - do not get left behind
The cost of people - make sure you get value for money
The devil in the detail - you need expertise to avoid costly mistakes and delay.
The complexity of routes to market - you need someone who is on the pace with marketing expertise.
The measurability of effort and reward - get the visibiliy and transparency in place

We will cover these all independently however and this is critical - the dynamic of decision making in small businesses has that changed?

This blog raises a serious question, when you look at these 10 areas, unless you can grasp all of them, understand them fully the MD, CEO, Division head is going to find themselves OUTGUNNED by the agile and aware, very quickly. Let me explain.

I'm going to contrast two recent assignments one that finished in June 2025 and the other 2023 just 2 years apart. And the reason I'm using these, is both, as is typical, had two very sharp, aware Leaders, however, when I was explaining this to another MD recently, the delivery landscape, had changed dramatically, between the two assignments.

Context

Both companies were using external Marketing resources.

Both were big enough to see the scale opportunity

Both had very capable leaders

So back to the list:

The speed of delivery - potentially (10-30X faster)

If you understand ChatGPT and its power the ability to learn & plan complex campaigns, produce briefs has gone up 10-30X.

Yes, you can now, not understand an area and go from Zero to Fully Cognisant in a day or two. Achieving what would take a month, just two years ago, and a few people.

Here is an example:

2025 The Challenge

Understand AI for Small Businesses
Understand the 6 personas that would be involved in decision making
Understand their individual pain points
Develop a customer journey from awareness, to consider stage and then I'm converted, I want to buy stage.
Develop the whole content list for each of the 3 customer journey stages
Develop all of the content types, LinkedIn, Video briefs, blogs, Pillar Pages
Brief a team

Timescales in 2025 - 2 days

Timescales in 2023 - 30-60 days (and the job delivered would be no where near the same quality)

Why deliver next month when in 2 days you can have what you want?

Note of Caution: DO NOT develop content with chatGPT - develop the plan, components, steps, briefs with ChatGPT - the content still has to be crafted individually - Search engines spot AI content.

Consequences:

You can deliver better campaigns in a fraction of the time, literally 15-30 times faster.
Think of the agility & dominance you can have over those that are unaware, in your market.

Better Still

Think of how long it will take a small business owner or MD to become aware of this.
If they have an agency for marketing - and are cushioned from that penny dropping moment.
Or they like most MD's think they understand marketing fully and do not understand if ChatGPT is spitting out bullshit OR worse still do not know how to phrase the ChatGPT question.

And I'm talking as a start up MD / Co-founder who would have assumed:-

a) I new a bit about marketing

b) However, if I didn't specialise in both AI & Marketing over the last 5-6 years, I'd never have known these efficiencies existed.

The cost of doing things
(for 37.5% of an agency, the new low cost Marketeer)

As a consequence of 15-30X efficiency IF you have the knowledge of both AI & Marketing then the cost of doing things drops dramatically.

Example:

You employ a young intern fresh from college on £27k.

The equivalent in an agency that would handle your work £45K

Immediately with no agency mark up the output cost is 40% cheaper

Let's assume the agency is marking up between 50-70% then £45k is nearer £72k

So cost to you £72k through an agency

Internal cost £27k

Difference 266% Marketing Agency Cost v Intern

Or 37.5% Intern to Agency Cost

Agencies limit your output - their focus is their margin - not your ROI

Lets just assume your agency is:

Not dedicating a head to your work
You could utilise one Full Time Employee (FTE)

And you had a good skilled Non Exec Marketing Director on Interim / Fractional Use

a) you'd have to pay the Non Exec more than £3.5k to breakeven on cost V the agency

b) I'd argue the output of both would be 15X the agency

c) Or the same expertise from an agency would cost double the account exec at £72k

d) Either way Insourcing is considerably cheaper & you now get the 15-30X output increase

e) Plus the ChatGPT output is a higher quality than what pre ChatGPT you'd have produced

The ability to learn fast and iterate

Learn fast & iterate fast are the agility angles an SME lives by.

However, do without specialist Marketing & AI knowledge. ie Try an muddle through yourself and you will not unlock the 15-30X output benefits.

Just think about it:-

Your achieving in 2 days
What a competitor gets done relying on MD only expertise in a month.
in 24 days you have achieved the same as they did in a year.
Assume 48 working weeks a year, in a year you will out produce them by 10 fold.
This is not marginal efficiency we are talking 10X marketing output at 40% of the cost.

10x faster output for 40% of the cost - that sounds like small business value for money

If you are learning 10X faster than your competitor & executing better - whose going to win?

If you have a cost per enquiry running at 40% your competitors, whose going to win?

"Iterate 10x faster for 40% of the cost"

The vast array of powerful tools that are available to create with

Whether its SERanking for Search, Keyword & Content Performance - rank faster
Canva for customised design - design faster
Pixel for image size reduction - website running 70% quicker
OR ChatGPT - output 15-30X
You team can access a whole array of tools for a £200/300 a month per head

T

"So why do you need an agency?"

The answer is simple, for really specialist knowledge.

For finding out what you don't know, you don't know.

So agencies are becoming very niche.

The speed of planning (10x faster)

A Specialist CMO with AI tools can plan and brief a team on a new product Go To Market in 2 days

The very next week (at most)

The Social media strategy is launched
The LinkedIn showcases pages done
The Web Pages done
Blog done
PR release - done
Video - done

Get out of the habit of executing fast and endless iterations - plan properly - deliver fast - a one take version

As an MD on your own - you cannot run at that speed (you have a business to run)

As an MD with an agency - you'll execute quickly, not as accurately, for 266%" more

"MD Alone Marketing @266% more cost with an agency or 10 times slower without a fractional CMO"

Id that really a choice?

The three speed economy slow, medium and fast SME owners have a choice

The way things are moving, there already is a three speed SME economy.

Slow - MD alone

No professional marketeer, No real in-house Team, No Agency - this is a business heading for peril.

Medium Paced - MD with an Agency

Has professional outsourced expertise, will have 266% more cost for the same or worse output, they will move but for a heavy expensive cost!

That cost will dampen down output. Hence medium pace, high cost.

Fast Paced - MD with Fractional or Interim CMO and Small low cost high output team.

Pace will be 10X the Slow MD on his/her own

Costs will be 1/4 of the agency per item of output

We'd argue the output will be customised more to the business & competion & customers with the Interim CMO.

Which Gear is your business in slow, medium or fast?

The cost of people

Rachael in accounts, has increased NI & the minimum wage, so people are more expensive than they were to employ, yet a fraction of an external agencies cost (Intern's 1:3 agency)

To a small business watching every penny you want the low cost base however, your desperate to move faster than the market, and deliver more accurately, the latter (10-30x) only comes with specialist marketing knowledge and AI know how.

The devil in the detail

Today, execution is critical, and there is so much "devil in the detail" which is why three things are crucial:

A generalist tackling marketing, without specialist tools and "devil in the detail" knowledge - we'd argue the MD trying to tackle marketing alone, is a sitting duck.
Again, the 10X speed and the accuracy of delivery, a fractional or interim CMO delivers, crucial.

9. The complexity of routes to market

LinkedIn the new algorithm

Its crucial what likes, impressions occur in the 59 minutes after publishing or only a fraction of your connections will see the post.
External links - frowned on

Google

Completely re-engineering its algorithm- now with 37 areas they look at not 3
Changes to that algorithm - three times a year
Google AI answers/returns - delivering less space for organic rankings

ChatGPT & LLM's changing every month & Generative Search Performance coming to the fore.

How do we rank?
How do we use AI engines?
Are we running at full tilt?

Do not try and keep up with these tools without expert support

The measurability of effort and reward

With digital marketing "everything is measurable" fluffy marketing is dead.

If your agency or you are not measuring everything you have no clue what the cost per enquiry is, whether the ROI on marketing efforts is good or bad.

We would therefore advocate complete transparency on performance, not on vanity numbers, clicks or impressions but on BUSINESS IMPACT.