The Marketing Insight Most Small Businesses Overlook

One of the biggest challenges small business owners face with marketing is knowing what to say.

They sit down to write content.

Stare at a blank screen.

Second-guess themselves.

Put it off again.

But here’s something I’ve seen time and time again, both in my corporate role and working with small businesses:

Your best marketing content ideas already exist. They’re happening every day in your conversations with customers.

When leading the marketing team in my corporate role, whenever they hit a block - we don’t sit in a room and brainstorm harder

We do something far more effective.

We get closer to the customer.

That often means:

• Getting the team on the phones

• Listening to live customer conversations

• Speaking directly to the sales team and asking - what are customers actually asking right now?

Every time we do this, clarity comes back quickly.

Because the answers are already there.

Customers tell you exactly what they care about, what they’re confused about, what’s making them hesitate, what nearly stopped them moving forward, what finally convinced them.

When content is created in isolation, it tends to sound generic, focus on features instead of reassurance, miss the real objections and feel disconnected from reality.

That’s because it’s based on what the business wants to say - not what customers need to hear.

Conversation-led content fixes that.

In corporate environments, sales teams are one of the most valuable marketing resources and often the most underused.

When I speak to them, I’m listening for patterns like:

“What question comes up on almost every call?”

“What do people misunderstand before they buy?”

“What objections slow deals down?”

“What reassures customers the most?

The same approach works even better for small businesses. You don’t need a sales department or call recordings.

You already have:

• Enquiry emails

• Discovery calls

• DMs

• Follow-up conversations

If one customer asks a question, dozens of others are thinking it.

That’s your content.

1. Capture the insight

After a call or enquiry, note:

• The question

• The concern

• The exact wording they used

Don’t tidy it up. Real language matters.

2. Spot the repetition

If the same topic comes up more than once, it’s no longer “just one person”.

That’s a content theme.

3. Write like you’re replying to them

The strongest content doesn’t sound like marketing. It sounds like a helpful response. Conversation-led content feels human, not salesy, it builds trust quickly, reflects real experience and best of all? Takes less time to create and positions you as someone who understands their customer.

When marketing feels blocked, the answer is rarely “more creativity”.

It’s usually more proximity to the customer.

Your customers are already telling you what to say.

You just need to listen.