Stop Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall
How to tell which marketing tips are actually worth your time
You know that feeling when you’ve tried every marketing tip you’ve ever seen on your feed, and somehow you’re still stuck?
That voice that tells you, “You need to be on TikTok,” even if your audience is 50-year-old executives.
Or the email that lands in your inbox promising this one funnel will double your revenue.
Or that influencer who insists that if you’re not posting five Reels a week, you don’t actually want to grow.
It’s overwhelming.
And it gets expensive.
You start signing up for tools. You book random courses. You pay for ads you’re not ready to run. You stretch yourself thin trying every new marketing trend just to keep up.
At some point, it starts to feel like you’re throwing very expensive spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
So how do you avoid burning money just to feel like you're “doing something”?
The answer isn’t more effort. It’s better decision-making. And that starts with three things that most small businesses skip in the rush to stay relevant:
1. Market research
Who are you actually trying to reach? What matters to them? What platforms do they use? What words get their attention? These questions sound basic, but most businesses don’t ask them often enough.
Not every strategy works for every audience. If you’re not clear on who you’re talking to and what they care about, you’ll end up spending money speaking into the void.
2. Strong analytics
Gut instinct is useful. But it shouldn’t be your main decision-maker.
When you are able to look at real data, from email open rates to ad performance to what’s happening on your site, you gain clarity. You start to see what’s actually working and what’s just busywork.
You’ll stop launching new campaigns out of panic and start refining the ones that are quietly generating results.
3. A deep understanding of your industry
What works for a restaurant will not necessarily work for a real estate agent. What drives engagement in a DTC beauty brand might flop in a B2B setting.
You need to look at the larger context. What are your competitors doing? How is customer behavior shifting? How does your specific industry tend to respond to marketing?
This insight helps you filter advice through the lens of your space, not someone else’s.
The problem is, getting this clarity takes time. It takes trial and error. It takes knowing what to track, how to interpret it, and what to do with the information.
That’s why so many business owners end up defaulting to whatever tip lands in front of them.
If you’re nodding along, this is where I come in.
My job is to help small business owners like you cut through the noise and focus on what actually works. It all comes back to your goals, your industry, and your audience.
You don’t need more content. You don’t need more stress. You don’t need to try every tactic you see on LinkedIn.
You need a strategy that’s grounded, thoughtful, and effective.
Let’s stop lighting your marketing budget on fire and start building something that lasts.
📥 Want help figuring out what’s worth your time and what isn’t? Let’s talk.
💬 Hit reply and tell me: What’s the worst marketing tip you’ve ever tried? I’ve probably heard it.