A marketing plan for a business with a small budget and no marketing team.
Two worked allocations for a small monthly budget, four weeks of specific work to get it running, and the list of tools that cost nothing. Written for the owner who is doing this themselves between everything else.
FUEiNT Technologies is a software studio in Coimbatore, India, building custom software since 2014. This is a free plan that accompanies our article on advertising channels for small businesses on a budget — no sign-up, and nothing to download.
Two allocations to start from
Two budget levels, shown as amounts because a small business plans in amounts. Change them to yours — what to keep is the proportion and the fact that the free channels come first.
About ₹5,000 a month
- Google Business Profile
- Free — and the highest-return hour a local business will spend
- Facebook and Instagram ads
- ₹2,500
- Email — free tier of any major tool
- Free
- WhatsApp Business
- ₹1,000 for broadcast credits, or free for the basic app
- Local directory listings
- ₹1,500
About ₹10,000 a month
- Google Ads
- ₹4,000
- Facebook and Instagram ads
- ₹3,000
- Email — a paid tier once the list outgrows the free one
- ₹1,000
- WhatsApp Business
- ₹1,500
- Content and SEO
- ₹500, or your own time, which is the usual answer
Four weeks of work
In order. Each week assumes the one before it is finished.
Week 1 — foundations
- Google Business Profile claimed, filled in and verifiedHours, address, category, photographs, and the phone number that somebody answers. For a local business this outranks everything else on the list.
- Facebook and Instagram business accounts set up properlyBusiness accounts, not personal ones, or you cannot advertise and cannot see any numbers.
- An email tool on its free planAny of the major ones. The choice matters far less than starting to collect addresses today.
- WhatsApp Business installed with a catalogue and away messagesFor most small businesses in India this is where the enquiry actually arrives.
- Listed on two or three local directoriesSame name, same address, same phone number on every one. Inconsistency here quietly damages local search.
Week 2 — the raw material
- Ten to fifteen posts prepared in advancePhotographs of the real thing beat stock images, on every measure, every time.
- The first email writtenIntroduce the business, say what to expect, and give one reason to reply.
- A handful of WhatsApp messages draftedWritten in advance and read back before sending. Broadcast is unforgiving.
- The audience written down in one sentenceIf it takes a paragraph it is not an audience yet.
Week 3 — launch
- Start the paid ads smallA fraction of the monthly budget per week, so a mistake costs a week and not a month.
- Send the first emailTo everyone who has agreed to hear from you, and nobody who has not.
- Begin WhatsApp broadcasts, sparinglyTwice a week is the ceiling. This is the channel people block fastest.
- Confirm tracking is recording somethingAnalytics and the ad pixel. Do the test yourself rather than trusting the setup screen.
Week 4 — cut and keep
- Pause what is not workingStop it rather than editing it, so the comparison stays clean.
- Move budget onto what isIn steps, so you can see whether it survives the bigger spend.
- Run one honest A/B testChange one thing — image or headline, not both — or the result tells you nothing.
- Follow up every enquiry from weeks 3 and 4This is the highest-return hour in the whole month and the one most often skipped.
The tools, and what they cost
All of these have a usable free tier. Free-tier limits change without notice — check the current one before you plan around it.
| Tool | What it is for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Appearing in local search and on the map | Free |
| Meta Ads Manager | Facebook and Instagram advertising | Free to use; you pay for the ads |
| An email marketing tool | Collecting addresses and sending to them | Free tier, then paid as the list grows |
| Canva | Making the images without a designer | Free tier |
| WhatsApp Business | Enquiries, catalogue, automatic replies | Free |
| Google Analytics | Seeing what the traffic does when it arrives | Free |
What you will judge it on
Write this down in week one, before there is any data to be encouraged or discouraged by.
A small budget spent on one thing beats the same budget spread across five.
Tell us what you sell, roughly what you can spend and what you have already tried, and a senior engineer will write back with what we would do first.
Saravanampatti, Coimbatore, TN, India — 641035
தெய்வத்தான் ஆகா தெனினும் முயற்சிதன்மெய்வருத்தக் கூலி தரும்.