Why Your Small Business Needs a Marketing Generalist (Not a Specialist)
Okay, here's a fully honest truth: running marketing for your small business is hard. And I'm saying that as someone who does this for a living.
Yes, marketing is complex but that’s not what I mean. What I mean is that when you’re running a small business you’re wearing so many hats keeping the business going while providing services/good to your clients that finding the time to do the marketing is hard.
I struggle with finding the time myself, even though I’M A MARKETER. It's because I'm typically busy running marketing for my clients and supporting them that I need to hire someone to do my own. As Michael Scott (The Office) would say, “well, well, well, how the turntables [have turned]”
The “should do” trap is real.
It's easy to get wrapped up in doing everything you think you should be doing with your marketing. I'm guilty of it too. You should be on TikTok. You should have a podcast. You should be running Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn campaigns, email sequences, SEO optimization, content marketing, influencer partnerships, speaking engagements, and probably door-to-door cookie sales too.
But here's a-somewhat-unpopular-opinion among marketers: you don't need to do everything. In fact, trying to do everything is probably the fastest way to burn through your budget, not to mention burn yourself out, while getting mediocre results across the board.
So you decide you need a specialist to run your social media for you. That would help alleviate your burnout, keep you focused, and help you grow, right?
Now, I don't want to make enemies here...but STOP! Don't hire that specialist first.
You think you're investing in marketing that will work and reduce the effort on your plate, but here's what happens in reality: that specialist knows their thing really well (which is great! I love hiring people like that!), but they're looking at your business through the lens of their particular expertise. The Facebook Ads person thinks Facebook Ads will deliver the all the brand awareness you need. The SEO specialist believes organic search is the absolute best way to drive inquiries. They're not wrong about their specialty, but they might be missing the bigger picture of what actually makes sense for your business right now, and how all of their results influence the larger picture.
That leaves YOU to figure it out: to identify the gaps, the opportunities, to communicate across all of your hired specialists. If you're up for the task and you have a passion for marketing, more power to you. But for most small business leaders, that's not you.
Why a Marketing Generalist needs to be your first hire.
Specialists are incredible when you know exactly what you need and you're ready to scale, but a Marketing Generalist or Strategic Marketer is often the better first hire for small and growing businesses.
A good marketing generalist (sometimes also known as marketing consultant, fractional marketing leader, or marketing strategist) isn't just someone who knows a little bit about everything (though that helps). They're strategic thinkers who can look at your business, your customers, your resources, and your goals, then figure out which marketing efforts are actually going to move the needle. And which you’re not ready for.
Generalists aren’t married to any particular tactic. They care about what works, what feels authentic to your brand, and what you can actually execute well with the resources you have. A marketing generalist helps you identify those high-impact channels and gets them working before you start spreading yourself thin.
I love a good comeback story.
The funny part? For many years, marketing generalists weren’t exactly….celebrated. I still see job postings occassionally that say "marketing generalists need not apply." We were told to niche down. Afterall, we were told, that's the only way to grow your expertise and be taken seriously.
But marketing generalists are starting to have our comeback moment. Businesses are starting to realize they need someone to put the puzzle together. Someone who can speak the language of all the specialists and understand the intricacies. Why hire one person to do one thing when you can hire one person who can do many?
What About Agencies?
Agencies absolutely have their place, and I love working with talented agencies in specific capacities. But they probably shouldn't be your first hire either. They can be powerhouses, delivering incredible campaigns and award-winning creative, but they're often either too big for small businesses or you end up paying premium agency prices while working with junior-level folks who are still learning the ropes, or again, who are often niched down. Nothing wrong with junior talent (we all start somewhere) but when your budget is small, you're better off paying for a collaborative strategic partner who can oversee all aspects of your marketing strategy from the start.
You’ve got this!
Your business is unique, and your marketing should be too. Before you get caught up in what you should be doing, figure out what you could be doing really well. Find someone who can help you see the forest for the trees, build a solid foundation in a few key areas, bring the right the people on for you when the time is right, and then grow from there.
Trust me, your future self (and your budget) will thank you.
