Revealing the 35 Marketing Truths You Need to Know If You Want to Grow Your Business
The girls and I were sat in Prezzo making our way through three courses and taking it in turns to update each other on our lives. It gets to my turn and they ask how things are going with the business as, at this point, it was early days.
As I start to walk them through my content and marketing strategy, my energy shifts. The passion becomes apparent, my eyes light up, my voice quickens and I enthusiastically share my entire content ecosystem and the plan for the next year as they listen attentively.
You see, I’m that friend that’ll happily talk marketing for fun. It helps that both these friends also work/have worked in marketing so their eyes don’t glaze over when I start speaking strategy.
Having been a freelance social media manager, strategist and now content strategist since 2017, I’ve seen, learned, tested and tweaked a lot over the years. But there are some things that have always remained consistent.
If it were you and I cosied up in the Prezzo booth, enjoying the goat’s cheese and red pepper salad, sipping on a refreshing mocktail, and you were asking me about marketing your business, these are the 35 tiny truths I’d share with you to make growing your business that little bit easier:
The truth about showing up consistently
1. Repeating yourself feels boring to you but builds credibility with your audience
Your audience hasn’t heard it all before. They’re not sick of you saying the same thing and they won’t suddenly block you because you’ve repeated yourself.
Repeating yourself might feel boring to you when there’s a shiny new strategy popping up daily (trust me, as an adhd Sagittarius I get it), but reinforcing your message actually builds trust with your audience. It shows you know what you’re talking about, positions you as an authority and it’s how you get known for what you do (and what you sell).
Think about a business owner or brand you admire. Do you remember that one thing they said that one time? Or do you remember them because they’ve repeatedly said the same thing over and over and over again?
(Apart from the manosphere bros - we ain’t trusting them).
And from a completely practical perspective, when you choose to repeat your core message over and over, it actually makes creating content easier for you because you’re not reinventing the wheel, trying to come up with loads of new ideas.
You can get creative in how you deliver your message, but don’t stop repeating yourself.
2. Every post you share has a compounding effect
When you understand that each post has a compounding effect and (with the right strategy) will work together to build the know, like, trust factor with your audience, you'll stop stressing over every single post needing to be the one that 'makes it'.
As long as you've got a mixture of content that covers multiple purposes, you're on the right track. Is your content currently giving more chaos than confidence? This is for you.
3. You don’t have to post daily to see an increase in sales
A lot of the Instagram advice you see from the big names tells you “the more you post the more you grow” and whilst yes, that is fundamentally true (because you’re giving yourself more opportunity to be found), that isn’t a realistic strategy for every business to implement.
Creating high quality content that goes on to convert your audience into buyers requires time, energy, effort and enthusiasm. And for the majority of businesses, especially solopreneurs or companies with a small team, you don’t have that time or budget to dedicate to content.
I’ve worked with clients who’ve posted twice per day, five times a week, three times a week - whatever suits their capacity to create, and each of them have made steady, consistent sales because their content strategy was built around their specific business goals.
Instead of prioritising daily posts or trying to go viral, they had an intentional strategy that not only worked to increase their revenue, but was built to avoid burning them out.
4. Posting for your current customers is just as important as attracting new followers
Building brand awareness, reaching a new audience and pulling people in through top of funnel content is extremely important. No new eyes on your business means no new sales.
But once people have entered your world through your content, they need a reason to want to stay. If all your content is prioritising new people, you’re not building a relationship with the ones who’ve already raised their hand and said “hi, I wanna be here!”.
5. Beating yourself up for needing a break from posting won’t allow you to benefit from the break
We all need a break from marketing sometimes. If you’ve got a team, great, they can handle it for you and you don’t need to worry. But when you’re the one wearing all the hats in your business, you can’t be expected to never take a break. Pretty sure you started your business for freedom, right?
Scheduling content in advance can help with the “guilt” of not being present but also, your health and wellbeing always takes priority over posting on social media. Without you being at your healthiest, your business won’t survive. Take the break, guilt free.
6. Confidence comes from taking action so the more you show up, the easier it’ll start to feel
When I started out as a social media manager in 2017, I was terrified at the thought of being on video. I encouraged my clients to go live to connect with their audience but, despite knowing how valuable it can be to build relationships, I avoided it like the Elizabeth Line when West Ham are playing at home.
Once I started to force myself to appear on video, it soon became easier and eventually, it was something I could do without even thinking. To help me build my confidence, I’d record myself going live but set it to “only me” in my Facebook profile settings so I could practice what it’d be like without anyone watching.
7. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint
I know you want your marketing to make you an overnight success but trust me when I say the long game is better than being a one hit wonder who went viral, had an influx of enquiries and was then left with a bunch of followers who didn't actually care about your business and who would never have bought from you in the first place.
Content marketing isn't an overnight, get me all the hits immediately, way to market your business. The results compound over time, but only if you're strategic about what you're doing and patient enough to allow the strategies to actually work.
Not sure where you’re at with your content? Take 10 minutes to complete The Confident Content Audit and you’ll understand your biggest challenge right now and where to focus your attention for the next 90 days.
The truth about strategy and planning
8. You don’t need a strategy if you don’t care about your results
Not bothered about making sales? Sure, skip the strategy. But if you want to build trust with your ideal customers, having a solid plan in place is how you’ll make that happen.
9. Every post needs to have a purpose (and yes, making someone laugh is enough of a purpose)
Every single post you put out into the world needs to have a purpose. Otherwise you’re literally wasting your time marketing your business. And the purpose of every post doesn’t need to be that deep. It could be to:
make the audience laugh: memes, witty one liners, a confession of a “silly” mistake you made
help them feel less alone: a story from your past, a bts look at what’s been going on, a powerful quote
highlight a problem they weren’t aware of: “what you think is causing you sleepless nights vs what’s actually causing lack of sleep”
tell people what you’ve got on sale: sale announcements, new launches, limited offers
build a stronger connection with them: trend content that suits your business, an introduction post, the person behind the business
gain new followers: POV content, dear algorithm, who we are/what we do
10. Your strategy only needs to be two things: simple and effective
Your strategy doesn't need to be complicated or overwhelming to see results. In fact, the simpler, the better. Simple strategies make it easier and more likely for you to follow, therefore you're more likely to see results from it.
You want a content strategy that delivers you results, doesn’t burn you out and actually feels fun to implement? Then you need to ask yourself these 3 questions before you build it:
What are my business goals and how will I use content to help me achieve them?
How much time do I want to spend on content creation each week?
What content would feel exciting to create to promote my business?
Knowing the answers to these questions is how you build a disgustingly simple yet effective content strategy for your business.
11. Hooks are the most important part of your post so plan these as part of your strategy
During The Robin Intensive, I actually write the hooks for my clients for two reasons: the first, so they don’t get trapped in the need for the “perfect” hook and secondly so their post instantly grabs the attention of their target audience.
Without an engaging hook, people are more likely to scroll on by instead of consuming your content. This isn’t just important for your social media. This also works for long form content like podcasts, blogs and YouTube videos too.
When you plan your hooks in advance, creating content becomes easier because you have your starting point. I also like to give my clients the CTA (call to action) so all they have to do is fill in the middle bit.
12. You don’t need to be on every channel but you do need to be where your target audience are
I used to believe the more channels you were on, the better. But my views on this have become more flexible over the past decade. The upside of being on multiple platforms is bigger reach across the board. You’re able to tap into different markets, different audiences.
Yet this only works if you have the capacity to show up consistently across these platforms.
And whilst I’m very much for you showing up in the places that bring you joy (because it’ll make marketing your business easier), you still have to take into consideration where your audience are hanging out.
If the primary audience you’re targeting is Gen Z and you’re only marketing on Facebook because that’s where you feel safe, you’re missing the place they’ll most likely be: TikTok.
13. It’s better to have a simpler strategy that you have the capacity to implement than a complicated strategy that’ll leave you crying with overwhelm
There's zero point in creating a strategy that feels so overwhelming you want to cry. If you've got a team to support you in implementing the strategy, great. But if you're the solo marketer of your business, you have to consider your own capacity.
One post a week that you can stick to is better than daily posting that burns you out in a month. Discover how to build a 90 day content strategy that fits around your life right here.
14. Don’t skip setting up Google alerts for your business
Such an underrated thing to do but great if you want to be alerted to positive press, reviews or times your company has been mentioned.
15. Planning your content in advance will take the pressure off and prevent the “I don’t know what to post” moments
When you have a strategy, content plan and calendar that's clearly mapped out for you, creating your content becomes as easy as 1, 2, 3.
1. Find the day you're creating content for
2. Look at the hook, CTA, purpose and post style
3. Fill in the blanks
Find yourself repeating “I don’t know what to post”? What you really mean is this…
16. If you expect to see results from your strategy overnight, you’ll be disappointed (give it at least 3 months *minimum*)
Abandoning your strategy 3 weeks in because you haven't seen the results as quickly as you'd like isn't the way to go, so keep going with it. Stick to the plan, track the data, notice the patterns and build on what you learn.
Following The Robin Method™ is a fantastic way to ensure your content works for you.
17. The marketing strategies that get the results are the ones tailored to you and your business so if you’re learning from an expert, tweak their advice to suit you
One size doesn't fit all when it comes to marketing your business. You need a personalised strategy, tailored to your business, your goals and your capacity to create content in any format. Remember: what works for one business might not always work for yours.
The truth about going viral and tracking the metrics
18. Going viral doesn’t guarantee you sales
Did I tell you about that time my reel got over 6 million views? I made zero sales of a £47 product that I thought was a no brainer. And that wasn’t the only time I went viral.
A couple of years ago, I was hired to create and implement the social media strategy for a multi-million dollar company. They were making consistent income every month but they had a few problems, including not making any sales from Instagram and struggling to grow their audience.
After spending a week developing their multi-channel marketing strategy across two sides of their business, I started to implement it (I was still a social media manager at the time).
6 months later, they still hadn’t gone viral…But that’s because virality was never in the strategy.
And what happened to their account was so much better than virality. Within 3 weeks of implementing the strategy, they were making sales directly through Instagram, something that had never happened for them before. And a few weeks later, I shared a reel that made 3 sales in its first 30 minutes of being live.
Proof you don’t need “viral” to make sales in your business.
19. Trying to speak to everyone means you’ll end up speaking to no one
The best marketing makes people feel something and that comes from specificity. Depending on your business, the more seen someone feels, the more likely they are to buy from you.
20. Trends are fun, yes, but they’ll only benefit you if you can relate them to your business
You know me, you know how I don’t believe in building a content strategy with “go viral” as the goal. But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in getting involved with trends.
If you’ve seen a trend you like that fits with your business, or can showcase your personality in a way that builds connection with your target audience, by all means, get yourself involved. After all, marketing your business is supposed to be fun.
But if you’re trying to force yourself into a trend that has nothing to do with you or your business, in the hopes you’ll go viral, you’ll end up with followers who’ll never buy, not being seen by the people who were interested and forever chasing those “big” numbers.
21. Your analytics are an absolute goldmine and can help you create a winning strategy
But that doesn’t mean obsessing about vanity metrics like likes. Check in on the stats that actually matter: website clicks, profile visits, people sliding into your DMs, conversions, enquiries, etc.
22. Auditing your digital presence quarterly is absolutely essential
If you’re not optimising your social media once a quarter you could be missing out on follows from your target audience, building trust with people who need your offer and the thing your business needs the most to keep going: sales.
Here’s how to audit your own social media.
The truth about creating content
23. ChatGPT captions might make your life easier but they’re obvious af
I genuinely believe one of the reasons for such a steep decline in engagement on social media posts is due to all the captions sounding the same. There are many telltale signs of AI content and the second my brain sees it, I scroll past.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for using AI to help you edit but not to create. Trust me when I say AI doesn’t write better than you. You might think it does if you’re not someone who feels confident with words but in an age where AI content is everywhere, it’s getting harder to trust who to spend our money with.
A caption written by you, a genuine human, will always always always build more of a connection with your people than something anyone else could’ve said.
24. It’s ok to seek inspiration from others but don’t allow that to spiral into comparison
You know the drill: you open up Instagram, disguising the doom scrolling as 'looking for inspiration' and 20 minutes 2 hours later, all you're left with is a dose of comparisonitis and the realisation that it's time for your nighttime skincare routine. We’ve all been there.
Instead, I suggest either setting yourself a timer for 10-15 minutes to intentionally seek inspiration around a certain post idea you already have, or creating an inspo folder and saving things to it on a regular basis so that when you sit down to create content, you’re only looking at stuff that’s already inspired you (and you’re not getting sucked into the scroll). I have a few folders on Instagram that I save specific things to i.e. “hooks”, “post ideas” and “editing tips”.
25. The readability of your posts is more important than how they look
Don’t get me wrong, your visuals need to be engaging enough to stop someone in their tracks BUT if people can’t read what you’ve written, they’ll be scrolling straight past.
I also read something recently about how emojis can make a text quite jarring for people with sight problems. When using the “read out loud” feature (forgive me, I can’t think of the proper name for it), it’ll read the actual emoji in the sentence which can lose the flow of the sentence.
I’m a big fan of an emoji bullet point list but it’s something I use much less often now, knowing how it can impact other readers.
26. It’s ok to block family, friends and people you went to school with if knowing they might see your content is stopping you from posting
Quite possibly the most controversial piece of advice I’ve shared with people is that it’s ok to block people from seeing your content if it’s preventing you from marketing your business.
Now I do believe you never know who’s watching, so that person you went to school with might have seen your business and showed it to their friends who’ve then become a customer. Or your auntie might end up chatting to a colleague at work who’s looking for the exact thing you offer.
And I also believe that opinions of others don’t pay your bills.
At the same time, I understand the discomfort it can bring when you start talking about your business. I’ve experienced it myself and still experience it with my content brands, especially when it comes to talking about dating.
If blocking the people you love (or hate) helps you promote your business with more confidence, get blocking immediately.
27. The best ideas always come when you’re away from your desk so take that walk now
A few weeks ago, I sat down at my desk to write emails 3 and 4 of my welcome sequence. I’d written emails 1 and 2 the previous day and they were top tier. Full of emotional storytelling about how this company came to life (ironically it started with death), and I genuinely felt proud of what I’d written.
Ya know when you’re just in the flow and you’re typing like Jim Carrey did in Bruce Almighty? That was me. But the next day was a different story.
I sat down, spent over an hour writing the email, read it back and hated every word. It didn’t sound like *me* and it definitely didn’t match the vibe of emails 1 and 2. So, practicing what I’m preaching in this reel, I closed my laptop, went and had a shower, did a 20 minute strength workout, ate some lunch and before I’d swallowed the last bite, I knew exactly what email 3 was supposed to be.
Just like the day before, the words flew out of me. And kept flowing for emails 4, 5 and 6. Your best content doesn’t come from scrolling for inspiration, it comes from you living your life.
Wanna get on my email list? Sign up for the free Content Without Chaos private podcast here.
The truth about connecting with your (potential) customers
28. People want to see the person behind the brand so they know who they’re buying from
They're going to look at more than one single piece of content before they make the decision to buy from you. They're gonna look across your marketing platforms to see whether they know who you are, know if you can help them, know how you can help them, if they like you enough to hand over their money and if they trust you enough.
Now, more so than ever, we want to know that the people we're investing in share more than just our vision. We want to know their values, their beliefs, how they operate outside of their businesses.
If you’re only ever sharing business content, people don’t get to see all that and will be less likely to buy from you.
29. People crave connection but that doesn’t mean you need to be so open it leaves you with a vulnerability hangover (it’s ok to keep some things private)
There’s a big difference between being open and honest, vs trauma dumping masked as 'vulnerability’. You don’t have to spill your life story to create connection with your customers. You can share snippets, you can share stories, you can invite them in, but not to the level that leaves you feeling exposed.
30. The more fun you have with your marketing, the more connection you’ll create with your community
Marketing's supposed to be fun, creative, enjoyable. If it feels heavy and overwhelming, you're doing it wrong. When you have a plan that instantly inspires you, sparks ideas and gives you that excited buzz, you're actually going to follow it.
Remember how back in the day we used to share photos of our lunch on the 'gram? And then when stories launched we'd waffle on about what we'd been up to with no agenda other than connecting with our followers? And when Reels rocked up we learned silly dances, flashy transitions (that were hard af to do) and didn't take things too seriously? All those things felt FUN.
31. People will always remember how your content makes them feel over what it teaches them
One thing hasn't changed since I started my career in marketing: I still believe the most effective marketing is based on how you make someone feel, not how many likes a post gets. If you make people feel seen, heard, called out, confident, inspired, motivated, etc, you’re much more likely to be remembered and when they’re ready to invest, you’ll be at the top of their mind.
The truth about playing the long game
32. Every successful marketer repurposes their best-performing content (it’s not lazy or boring, it’s smart af)
Your best performing content performed the best for a reason. Maybe it was deeply relatable, or funny, or teaches something in a way that finally makes sense to the consumer. Either way, if it performed well once, it’ll likely perform just as well again.
But instead of sharing it in the exact same way, switch up the format. Turn a reel into a carousel and then a blog post or a podcast episode. Use the transcript of your podcast as a blog post and embed the player into the blog. Extract snippets of your audio and use them as quotes for your socials.
Ya know this blog post started out as a carousel originally…
33. SEO & keywords are your best friends if you want content that performs long term and shows up in Google
I built my first website in my late teens when I launched my first ever company. Within an hour of it going live, I made my first sale. That wasn’t an accident, that was a blend of a strategic social media launch plan and a well planned out website.
I’ve also made over $10,000 through affiliate marketing on one of my websites, and grown a podcast I haven’t recorded new episodes for since August 2025. And within 28 days of launching this website, I was getting clicks from Google.
Your SEO strategy doesn't have to take years to work for you, but when it’s done right, it’ll work for you for years to come. If you’re thinking about long term results for your business, you need to consider your entire content ecosystem. Find out more about a full ecosystem audit here.
34. Always have a place where you can go deeper with your community i.e. a podcast, blog, email newsletter or YouTube channel
I don’t believe in complicating your marketing and I also don’t believe in putting all your eggs in one basket. Having a place to go deeper with your audience, to share more openly, to really build that connection is a great way to increase trust with them.
35. You deserve the business growth you desire so don’t let your marketing doubts or fears get in the way of that
I know many business owners who’d never have started their business if they’d have known how much of their life would need to revolve around marketing. For some people (like me), it comes naturally. Yet for others, it can feel like an absolute minefield. Please don’t let your uncertainty around how to market your business prevent you from being able to grow it.
If marketing your business feels overwhelming, chaotic or exhausting, here’s how I can help:
The Confident Content Audit: diagnose your biggest content challenge in 10 minutes and know exactly where your focus needs to be for the next 90 days so you can start getting the results you deserve from your content
Content Without Chaos: a free 3 part private podcast to help you understand why your content feels so chaotic (spoiler: it's not your fault), what confident content actually looks like in the real world, and the one thing that determines whether you'll actually implement a strategy
The Content MOT: a comprehensive, expert review of your social media profile(s) and/or long form content, delivered as a PDF report with a full video walkthrough so you understand exactly why something is or isn’t working, alongside suggestions on what you need to do next
The Robin Intensive: a bespoke 90 day content strategy designed around your business goals and your capacity to create so you know exactly what to post, why you’re posting it and when to post it (includes hooks, CTAs and post types mapped out in advance)
In Full Bloom: looking for a strategic partner to take your marketing from “I don’t know what I’m doing” to growing your audience, building trust with your community and making steady sales that’ll continue long term? This one’s for you.
These 35 truths will genuinely change the way you grow your business. Pick your favourite one, take a screenshot and share it to your stories on Instagram (don’t forget to tag me!). And leave me a comment below to tell me what number stood out to you the most.
Questions answered in this blog post:
What are the most important marketing tips for small business owners?
The most important marketing truths for small business owners are the ones that challenge the advice designed for content creators rather than businesses: going viral doesn't guarantee sales, you don't need to post daily to grow and the best strategy is the simplest one you'll actually implement consistently. After nearly a decade in marketing these are the 35 truths that actually make a difference.
How do I grow my business through content marketing?
Growing a business through content marketing requires three things: a strategy built around your business goals, a posting frequency built around your genuine capacity to create content and a plan that gives every post a specific job to do. Consistency with a simple intentional strategy will always outperform an ambitious complicated one that collapses under pressure.
How long does it take to see results from a marketing strategy?
Give any marketing strategy a minimum of three months before assessing whether it's working. Results from intentional consistent content compound over time rather than arriving immediately. Someone who finds your post today might not buy for six months but that doesn't mean the post didn't work. The businesses that last are the ones that play the long game.
I'm Rebecca, not Robin or Rose (long story, worth reading). I built Robin Rose Creative to help business owners stop guessing what to post and start showing up with confidence. I’m a firm believer that you don't need to go viral to make sales (and I've been proving it since 2017). Come and say “hi” on Instagram 👋🏼
Putting more time into your content strategy than your self care routine and still not seeing the results you deserve?
Use The Confident Content Audit to find out why in just 10 minutes.
