How Much Time Should You Spend on Marketing Each Week? A Realistic Guide for Small Business Owners

Most marketing advice assumes you have plenty of time. Post every day, start a newsletter, film some videos, write a blog, reply to every comment. If you run a small business, you've probably read lists like that and felt tired before you started.

So how much time should you actually spend on marketing each week? This guide gives you an honest answer, shows you how to work out your own number, and suggests what to focus on whether you have one hour a week or a full day.

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The short answer

There's no single right number. The right amount is the time you can keep up every week, spent on the one or two activities that actually bring you customers.

For many owner-run businesses, that's somewhere between one and five hours a week. That's enough to make real progress, as long as the time is protected, regular and pointed at the right things. Consistency matters far more than volume: two focused hours every week will usually beat a burst of ten hours once a month followed by nothing.

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What other small business owners spend

If you feel you don't spend enough time on marketing, you're in the majority.

In a Fiverr survey of nearly 6,000 small business owners across 25 countries, published in May 2025, 70% said they spend less than five hours a week on marketing. In LOCALiQ's small business marketing trends report, 53% of the small businesses surveyed spent between one and ten hours a week, rising to 57% among businesses with ten or fewer employees.

Neither survey is Irish, and both are broad, but they tell the same story: most small business owners are fitting marketing into a few hours a week, alongside everything else.

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Why "how many hours?" is the wrong first question

Hours only matter once you know what they're for. Before you set a number, I'd start with three things:

• You. What do you want the business to look like in a year? More customers, better-fitting customers, steadier income, or more time off?
• Your business. Where do your customers come from now? A local trade, a professional service and an online shop need very different kinds of marketing.
• Your time. How many hours can you genuinely give, every week, without something else suffering?

The last one is the one most plans ignore, and in my experience it's a big reason plans fail. I've worked with clients whose previous agency had left them with around ten hours of marketing work a week. It looked impressive on paper and was never going to happen alongside running the business. Once we built a plan around the time they really had, things started moving.

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Work out your real number

Try this before you plan anything:

1. Look back at the last four weeks. Roughly how many hours did you spend on marketing each week? Include social media, your website, email, networking and replying to enquiries.
2. Look at your next four weeks. Where could a regular slot realistically go? Be honest about busy seasons, school runs and the jobs only you can do.
3. Pick a number you could keep up even in a bad week. That's your baseline. If a week goes well, you can do more.
4. Put it in your calendar. Same day, same time, every week. Marketing that waits for spare time doesn't happen.

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What to do with the time you have

Here's how I'd suggest using different amounts of time. These are starting points, not rules.

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One hour a week

Focus on being findable and keeping in touch.

• Keep your Google Business Profile accurate, and add a photo or update.
• Ask one or two recent happy customers for a Google review.
• Reply to any reviews and messages you haven't answered.
• Post once on the one social channel where your customers actually are.

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Two to three hours a week

Everything above, plus one thing that builds over time.

• Post two or three times a week on your main channel, ideally planned in one sitting.
• Spend half an hour a week following up with past customers or contacts, by email or in person.
• Once a month, improve one page of your website, such as clearer wording on a service page or a better contact page.

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Four to six hours a week

Everything above, plus something that keeps working after you've done it.

• Write one useful article or guide a month that answers a question your customers often ask.
• Send a short email to your customer list once a month.
• Go to one networking or industry event a month, and follow up with the people you meet.

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More than six hours a week

At this point marketing is a significant part of your week. Make sure you're tracking which activities bring enquiries, so the time goes where it pays. If marketing is taking time away from the work only you can do, it may be cheaper to get help than to keep doing it all yourself.

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Where the time usually goes to waste

• Being on too many channels. Three half-hearted social accounts take more time and achieve less than one done well.
• Starting from a blank page every time. Deciding what to post on the day is the slowest way to do it.
• Chasing every trend. New platforms and formats appear constantly. Most aren't worth your limited time.
• Not knowing what works. Without asking "How did you hear about us?", you can't tell which activities to keep and which to drop.

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How to make a little time go further

• Batch the work. Plan and write a month of posts in one sitting, then schedule them.
• Reuse what you make. One customer question can become a social post, a short email and a section of your website.
• Use simple templates. A standard format for posts, emails and quotes saves decisions every week.
• Stick to one main channel. Get good at one before adding another.
• Track one number. Count enquiries each week and where they came from. My one-hour marketing self-check explains how.

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When to get help

It might be time to bring someone in if:

• marketing keeps slipping off your list for weeks at a time
• you're spending hours on it without being able to say what it brings in
• you don't know what to focus on, so you do a bit of everything
• the time you spend on marketing is coming out of paid work.

Help doesn't have to mean handing everything over. Sometimes the most useful thing is a plan that fits your hours, so the time you do spend counts.

That's how I work. My Marketing Strategy starts with how much time you actually have and builds the plan around it. If you'd rather have someone to check in with as you go, my Marketing Partner service is €50 an hour with no minimum hours, so you only pay for the time you use. If you're not sure what you need, book a free consultation and we can talk it through.

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Frequently asked questions

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How many hours a week should a small business spend on marketing?

There's no fixed number. For many owner-run businesses, one to five hours a week is realistic and enough to make progress, provided the time is regular and focused on the activities that bring in customers.

Is one hour a week enough for marketing?

It's enough to keep your Google Business Profile up to date, ask for reviews and stay visible on one channel. It won't support a busy content schedule, so be selective about what you take on.

What marketing should I do first if I'm short on time?

Make sure customers can find accurate information about you, starting with your Google Business Profile and the top of your website. Then focus on the one channel that already brings you the most customers.

How do I find time for marketing as a small business owner?

Book a fixed weekly slot in your calendar, batch similar tasks together and limit yourself to one main channel. Treat it like an appointment with a customer rather than something to do when you're free.

When should I pay someone to do my marketing?

When marketing keeps slipping, when you can't tell what's working, or when the hours it takes would be better spent on paid work. Getting a plan that fits your time can be enough, without handing everything over.