Marketing for small business: a channel guide for product sellers

What marketing for a small business covers

Marketing for a small business is every way a buyer finds out that your product exists and decides to order it. For a small product seller that usually means a handful of channels: search on a marketplace or on Google, social media posts, creators who post about your product, an email list, paid ads and selling face to face at markets and fairs.

You do not need all of them. One main channel worked every week, plus one supporting channel, is easier to keep up than six accounts updated once a month. The table compares the channels.

How to market a small business, step by step

This order keeps cash spending low until you have proof that a product sells.

1. Write down who buys and why

   Name the buyer in one sentence: who they are, what they use the product for and where they shop now. A candle bought as a gift and a candle bought for a holiday rental sell through different channels.

2. Fix the product page first

   Every channel sends people to a listing or a product page. Clear photos, a plain description, the price, the shipping cost and the delivery time need to be there before you send anyone to the page.

3. Pick one main channel

   Choose the channel where your buyer already searches or scrolls. A maker of personalized gifts might start on a marketplace; a skincare brand might start with short videos. Work on that one channel every week for a few months before you judge it.

4. Collect buyer emails from the first order

   Ask every buyer, with their permission, to join your email list. The email section below covers the tools and the US rules for marketing email.

5. Add a second channel that feeds the first

   Short videos can send people to your marketplace listings. A market stall can send people to your email list. Pick a second channel that pushes buyers toward the first one.

6. Test paid ads with a small, fixed budget

   Once one product sells steadily without ads, spend a small amount you can afford to lose on ads for that product, and compare the ad cost of each order with your margin.

7. Track where each order came from

   Give each channel its own discount code or tracked link, or ask buyers at checkout how they heard about you. Once a month, count orders, profit and the hours you spent on each channel, then keep what brings orders and drop what does not.

Search: marketplaces and Google

Search is where buyers who already want a product go to find it. On a marketplace such as Etsy, eBay or TikTok Shop, the marketplace brings the shoppers and you pay for that reach through fees. On Etsy, for example, the listing fee is $0.20 per listing, each sale pays a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping, and a US shop using Etsy Payments pays 3% + $0.25 per order for payment processing.

Buyers find marketplace listings by typing words into the search box. Write each title the way a buyer would search for the item, then add the material, size, color and use. Clear photos and complete details help a buyer pick your listing over the next one.

Some marketplaces also sell their own advertising. Etsy advertises listings on other sites, and its Offsite Ads rules depend on shop size: shops under $10,000 in sales over the past 365 days can opt out. If a smaller shop stays in, an order that comes from one of those ads pays 15%. Once a shop passes that sales level, the fee is 12%, mandatory for the lifetime of the shop. Either way, the fee is capped at $100 per order.

Google search sends buyers to your own store. Google says it costs nothing to appear in its organic results, and that changes to a site can take a few hours to several months to show in search, so give useful product and category pages time before you judge them.

A Google Business Profile is free, but it is not open to every seller. To qualify, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, and Google lists online-only businesses among those that are not eligible. A seller with a shop or studio that customers visit can use one; a seller who only ships orders cannot.

Social media and creators

Social media suits products that look good on camera or in use, shown in short videos of the product being made, packed or used. Post on a schedule you can keep for months, and pick one or two platforms rather than all of them.

Shops on Instagram and Facebook no longer take payment inside the app: purchases now only happen on your website. A social shop on Meta therefore needs a store with its own checkout behind it.

Creators can reach buyers you cannot. On TikTok Shop, an open collaboration makes products in your shop available for promotion to all TikTok Shop Creators, and creators who promote your product are paid a Standard commission rate that you set. That ties the cost to what they sell instead of a flat fee for a post.

If you pay creators or send them free product, the FTC's guidance for influencers in the US says they must disclose any financial, employment, personal, or family relationship with a brand, and that includes free or discounted products or other perks. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, in effect since October 21, 2024, covers deceptive and unfair conduct involving consumer reviews and testimonials, and courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations. The FTC says the rule does not prohibit giving incentives for reviews, as long as there isn’t an express or implied requirement that the reviews have to express a particular sentiment. It also says failing to disclose incentives could be a violation of the FTC Act.

Email: the channel you keep

An email list is a channel you keep if a marketplace or social app changes its rules. A buyer who ordered once already knows your product, and an email about a restock, a new color or a seasonal gift reaches them without paying for ads.

Ask for the address at checkout, at your market stall and on your website, and say what people will get, such as restock news or a discount. Send on a schedule you can keep, such as once or twice a month.

Email tools cost little while a list is small. Shopify Messaging, for stores on Shopify, includes up to 10,000 emails a month for free, then charges $1 USD per 1,000 additional emails. Mailchimp is free for under 250 contacts. In the US, marketing email to buyers has to follow the CAN-SPAM Act.

• The CAN-SPAM Act covers all commercial messages, not just bulk email. The FTC gives a message to former customers announcing a new product line as an example of email that must comply.
• Each message must include your valid physical postal address and a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting marketing email from you.
• Write honest subject lines: the subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
• You must honor an unsubscribe request within 10 business days.
• Each email that breaks the law can bring penalties of up to $53,088.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules can vary by state and by country, so check the rules where you and your buyers are.

Paid ads: when to start and how much to spend

Paid ads on Meta, Google, TikTok or a marketplace put a product in front of buyers quickly, but they cost money whether or not anyone orders. On Google Ads with cost-per-click bidding, you pay for each click on your ads.

Work out the most you can spend to win one order before you start. Example: you sell a $30 candle from your own store, and making it, packing it, shipping it and taking payment cost $12 in total. That leaves $18 before marketing. If ads cost more than $18 for each order they bring, every ad-driven sale loses money unless the buyer orders again.

Start with one product, one audience and a small daily budget you can afford to lose while you learn. Spending can go above the daily budget on some days. Google Ads says you will never pay more than two times your average daily budget for most campaigns on any one day, or more than 30.4 times your average daily budget for most campaigns in a month. In accounts with daily budget flexibility, Meta may spend up to 75% over your daily budget on some days, but no more than seven times your daily budget in a week.

Markets, fairs and local shops

Selling in person is a quick way to learn what buyers think of a product. You see which items people pick up, hear the questions they ask and find out which price feels right, all in one day.

Use each market to grow the channels you keep. Put a card with your website and social handle in every bag, and offer a sign-up sheet or QR code for your email list. Local gift shops and cafes may also stock your products on consignment or buy them wholesale.

Where Nation fits

Questions about marketing a small business