An independent owner can never outspend or outstaff big companies. Often working with limited resources, these entrepreneurs are driven by a desire for independence. It’s a drive that pushes them to do everything from record keeping to packing to marketing.
With savvy use of traditional and digital marketing tools, solo entrepreneurs, or solopreneurs, have an opportunity to develop an intimate and unique experience for current and potential clients and gain a foothold in competitive markets.
Let’s take a look at some strategies you can use to help your business effectively market as a solopreneur.
What is a solopreneur?
A solopreneur is an entrepreneur running a business on their own—no cofounder, no employees, no supporting staff. Every responsibility of the business falls to them, from developing content marketing campaigns from scratch to sourcing materials at the best price and keeping the financials in order.
This is standard practice in ecommerce. Thanks to online stores and marketplaces, a solopreneur can run an online jewelry boutique on Etsy, dropship fitness gear from their MacBook, or sell prints of their artwork on a custom Shopify site. Marketing automation tools and artificial intelligence (AI) make it easier than ever to be a solopreneur, letting you harness this technology to create a virtual team of people.
Marketing guidelines for solopreneurs
- Choose a target audience
- Play your own tune in a noisy market
- Be a penny pincher with your marketing dollars
- Concentrate on a few relevant channels
Marketing as a solopreneur means stretching the resources you do have. You don’t have a marketing strategist at the ready or a big budget, so every landing page headline or TikTok Live needs to count. These marketing guidelines can set you up for success:
Choose a target audience
Being all things to all people will exhaust you and confuse your audiences. When you know the preferences of your target audience (aka your ideal buyer), it’s easier to develop messaging that lands. If you sell custom dog beds, uncover which types of people are most interested—how old they are, what they like, and where they shop—and focus your marketing on them. The more you narrow down your niche and segment your customers, the easier it becomes for one person to handle the load of marketing to them.
Play your own tune in a noisy market
You need to offer something big-box competitors can’t. That could be hand-crafted quality or a touching brand story. Think through your unique value proposition—the special benefit or value set that sets you apart—and build your branding atop that foundation.
Be a penny pincher with your marketing dollars
You can’t afford to use the same spray-and-pray advertising approach as big companies with deep pockets. Instead, focus on cost-effective ways to reach your audience. Rather than buying up billboards along the highway, invest in targeted social media advertising that hits your niche. Use tools like Google Analytics to track clicks and conversions and put marketing money into what works.
Concentrate on a few relevant channels
Each marketing channel (e.g., email, Instagram, search engine optimization) is another area of your business to maintain. As a solopreneur, start with just one or two main channels popular with your potential customers. A visual artist selling posters online might go all in on Instagram and Pinterest; a company selling computer keyboards might run ads in a techie subreddit.
Solopreneur marketing strategies
- Use AI and automation tools
- Network strategically
- Build an engaged email list
- Emphasize your personal brand
- Publish plenty of content
- Embrace social media marketing
- Outsource the jobs that’ll save you the most time
The smartest solopreneur strategies help you extend your marketing efforts or get support without hiring full-time staff. Avoid burnout and promote your brand with these tips:
Use AI and automation tools
Technology multiplies what a single person can do. AI apps and automation tooling help with creating content, coding up websites, or analyzing a data dump. For example, sprinkle automation throughout tedious workflows with apps like Zapier to connect your online services and move data around for you. Speed up content publishing with AI copywriting assistants (e.g., Jasper) that help brainstorm text for advertisements, product descriptions, or blog posts.
Other helpful tools include social media posting apps with AI suggestions for refining text, design generators like Midjourney for developing marketing materials, and AI agents or AI-powered chatbots for client questions.
Network strategically
Even as a one-person business, avoid operating in isolation. Aim for complementary collaborations. For example, link up with other solopreneurs or small businesses in your industry—join a Discord group, Facebook community, or in-person meet-ups to share advice and dream up beneficial collaborations. If you sell small-batch soaps and you partner with a one-person candle maker, you could co-create a spa gift set together.
Alexa Curtis founded Be Fearless Inc. in 2011 as a 12-year-old blogger writing about mental health and self-confidence. What started as her personal brand has since grown into a bustling media business that’s partnered with T-Mobile, British Airways, and Radio Disney. Curtis secured these impressive partnerships through bold cold outreach. She approached partnership building with a specific mindset.
“You need them more than they need you, and I was very well aware of that even on that first meeting when I entered with Disney,” she said on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. This mindset shaped her pitch strategy, where she emphasized her value as a partner based on the size of her Instagram following. “You need to come from a very humble side of what you think that you can give with your platform to that particular brand or media company.”
Build an engaged email list
As a solopreneur, an email list is an asset that scales; email marketing is a low-cost way to communicate with thousands of people with a single mailing. As your list grows, include timely offers to drive sales or event recaps to build community with your subscribers. Email lists are also completely under your control. You’re not at the mercy of social media or search engine algorithms—all your subscribers will see your message in their inbox.
To start, subscribe to an email marketing service provider like Mailchimp, Shopify Email, or Kit to collect subscribers and send out narrative newsletters or personalized promotions. Convince your website visitors to join your subscriber list by offering an incentive like a helpful resource downloadable on a landing page or a first-time customer discount.
Once people subscribe, stay in touch. Talk about new products and your latest sales, but also use sendouts to lift the curtain—a boutique tea brand might share behind-the-scenes videos of the owner’s recent matcha sourcing trip to Japan, while a solo stationary company might share raw sketches of their artwork.
Emphasize your personal brand
When running a one-person business, you’re the familiar face. Embrace it—build a personal brand that complements your business brand. Customers connect with people, not faceless companies. A personal brand accrues trust and distinguishes you from corporate competitors.
Consider sharing your founding story and, your personal and brand values, and revealing your personality in your marketing. For example, include a founder’s note on your website or host a Q&A on Instagram Live as you pack orders.
Keep your messaging consistent. Over time, people will recognize you and associate you with your product or service. Blending your personal brand with your business doesn’t mean everything has to be about you, but it does mean stepping out from behind a logo to build a unique connection that would be impossible for a faceless corporation.
Publish plenty of content
Investing time in content marketing is like planting seeds that can grow over time; a well-written article or eye-catching video can bring in organic traffic for months or even years.
Blog posts, how-to guides, or YouTube videos can help potential customers find you on Google or other channels, without constantly paying for ads. Focus on content creation that answers your target audience’s questions (or resolves their problems). If you run an online fitness gear store, writing a blog post on “How to Choose the Right Running Shoes” could draw in readers who then discover your products.
Learn some basics of search engine optimization (SEO) so that your website or blog content ranks higher in search results. This might involve researching keywords (terms your customers might search for) and incorporating them naturally into your site’s headlines, blurbs, and product descriptions. Also consider creating videos and hosting them on YouTube.
Embrace social media marketing
Building a social media presence should be part of your solo business marketing strategy. You can use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or LinkedIn to share content, touch base with followers, and attract new customers. You don’t have a social media team ready to jump on every platform, so zero in on those where your target customers spend their time and interact with them.
You might share quick video demos of your products on YouTube Shorts, day-in-the-life snapshots of running your business on Instagram, or helpful tips related to your niche on Threads. One person can’t churn out endless social content every day, but you can repurpose what you create. A single blog post can be broken into an infographic for Pinterest, a series of tweets on X, or a short video summary for TikTok—stretching one piece of content across multiple channels.
Social media management is about two-way interaction, so respond to comments, boost user-generated content (UGC), and thank people for shares. With one-on-one interactions, it’s probably best to avoid AI tools—people generally want to connect with people on social media, not synthetic simulations of the real thing.
Outsource the jobs that’ll save you the most time
Outsourcing is a lifesaver when you’re solo. A survey of solopreneurs found that 34% had hired a contractor in their first year. In the absence of in-house staff, you can hire freelancers for marketing support when you need it. If designing a logo or doing keyword research isn’t in your wheelhouse (and you don’t want to invest the time to learn how), outsource it to a skilled freelancer. Freelance talent sites, like Upwork, Toptal, and Freelancer, can help you source temporary talent for tasks like drafting fresh copy for a new landing page or designing memorable business cards for next month’s tradeshow.
Use some of the time you’re saving to vet potential contractors. Check their online portfolios, read client reviews, or assign a mini project before delegating a large one. Use a clear contract that defines project scope, establishes deadlines, and clarifies terms of payment. Don’t forget to outline who owns the content or creative assets produced. Strategic outsourcing frees up your calendar to focus on areas like perfecting product development or fortifying customer relationships.
Challenges of being a solopreneur
Operating as a solopreneur isn’t simple or easy. You have full control, which also means full responsibility—and that can stretch your time and abilities. You will likely brush up against these challenges as a solo business owner:
Time management
With only 24 hours in a day and no team to delegate to, solopreneurs struggle to juggle all their tasks. Serving customers while also keeping up with marketing, administration, and operations is a race against the clock. It takes discipline and prioritization to ensure important tasks, like updating your website or following up on leads, aren’t overlooked.
Other business needs
Solopreneurs might find that immediate business needs like serving current customers, fulfilling orders, and fixing problems take up the whole day. As a result, marketing activities—especially long-term ones like content planning or campaign analysis—can get put off. The solution usually lies in careful planning, such as dedicating a set time each week for marketing tasks, so marketing keeps running even when you’re busy with customers.
Competition
A solopreneur’s marketing budget is often tiny—you can’t flood the internet with ads or sponsor flashy events like large companies can. What you can do is turn this challenge into a strength by focusing on niche audiences, building personal relationships, and finding creative, low-cost marketing tactics that big brands overlook.
Marketing for solopreneurs FAQ
What do solopreneurs struggle with?
Solopreneurs often struggle with time and bandwidth, and there’s no team to share the load. Solopreneurs grapple with balancing marketing, sales, fulfillment, administration, and other tasks. This often is overwhelming and can lead to neglecting work on critical objectives like strategic planning.
What are the four Ps of entrepreneurial marketing?
The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion. For entrepreneurs, that means: offering the right product, setting a price that customers are willing to pay, distributing or selling in the right place, and promoting it effectively so people know about it.
What is the best type of marketing for solopreneurs?
There isn’t a single magic marketing method that works for every solopreneur. However, for many one-person businesses, this means forging personal connections and creating appealing content. For example, fostering a strong personal brand, building a following on one or two key social media platforms, and creating useful content or email updates that attract the right customers.
