A CO' Marketing research report
State of Small Business Marketing in Eastern Ontario
Nine in ten owners do their own marketing, and 86% have no plan. This report draws on a survey of 103 business owners, seven owner interviews and six voices from the region's business-support community to show how owner-led businesses market, where they struggle, and the support that builds resilience.
From the author
I'm Cheyanne O'Driscoll, a marketing strategist in Quinte West and the founder of CO' Marketing. Over eight years I've worked with more than 250 independent businesses across the Bay of Quinte and beyond.
I ran this research to find out how marketing really works inside owner-led businesses: who does it, where the time goes, and what would help.
The owners who answered are working hard at it.
What most are missing is structure, and structure can be built.
How owners market today
Owners Do Their Own Marketing, Without A Plan
Most of these businesses are one to three people. Marketing is one of many jobs the owner carries, and it gets whatever time is left. Owners are working hard at it. What's missing is structure.
87%
Do it themselves
86%
Have no plan
53%
Are self-taught
About the research
Findings From 103 Small Business Owners
The survey ran from March to September 2026, mostly in the Bay of Quinte and Kingston regions. Seven owners gave longer interviews, and six leaders from the organizations that support these businesses responded to what the numbers showed.
Why this Matters
Owners are already doing plenty of marketing. The effort is there; the structure underneath it is missing. Six findings show where.
Owners do it themselves.
87% handle their own marketing, on top of everything else.
Years in business don't fix it.
88% of owners in business five years or more still work without a plan.
The effort is already high.
The typical owner is active on four or five channels at once.
Confidence follows structure.
Owners with a plan average 3.8 out of 5. Owners working ad hoc average 2.6.
Time and results don't line up.
Half say referrals bring the most customers. Half say social media takes the most time.
Most are teaching themselves.
53% figure marketing out on their own. Only 16% have used a support program.
Referrals bring the customers. Social media takes the time.
When asked what brings in the most customers, half of owners named referrals and word of mouth. Asked what takes the most marketing time, half named social media. This is where effort goes when no plan directs it: to what can be done today, whether or not it is what works.
The pattern
Owners are caught in the random acts of marketing trap.
Owner-led marketing is the way out.
The trap is in how decisions get made: each one on its own, in the moment, with no plan behind it. The way out keeps marketing with the owner, where it already is, and adds a structure underneath it that builds on itself, fits the hours available, and grows from the relationships the owner already holds.
© 2025 LogoIpsum Barber. All Rights Reserved.