Freelance marketing at
small prices for small businesses. Hey, I get it! Business is hard, and lonely, especially when you’re in it on your own.
Social Media Marketing packages from just £65pm
Email Marketing | Content Creation | Canva Sessions | Logos & Branding | Printed Business Materials
FREE DOWNLOAD: www.mcnealmethod.com/free-download If you’re reading this, then the chances are that you run or own a small business, probably by yourself, and you’re more than likely feeling a little lost, stuck or just a little bit ‘meh’ about the who
le experience. In the age of the entrepreneur/ infopreneur/ the-next-big-thing-preneur, there’s a lot of pressure to succeed, to be self sufficient, to be awesome - like ALL the time, and frankly, it’s exhausting. You have to be all things to all people, have amazing products and services, provide service with a smile, look like you know what you’re doing, be confident when you’re not feeling it, and be positive when you’re feeling anything but. Not only that but you probably have the week’s meals to sort out, school runs, kids, pets .. and that’s before you even stop to consider the last time you had a day off. But who helps you. I mean ACTUALLY helps you? Yes, there may government enterprise schemes and one off local workshops but what about ongoing support and training, advice when you need it and relevant courses and workshops on the topics YOU need help with?? This is why The McNeal Method came into being. Affordable business coaching now exists! I’m a 40-something mama with a small business, wanting to help others through my experience. I don’t believe in paying for any help if you can get it for free, and when you can’t get it for free, it needs to be affordable, but still bring the results you need. No-one seemed to be providing that, which vexed me. Coaches were charging upwards of £100 an hour. Courses were hundreds of pounds. Network groups were hundreds of pounds a year. This - I thought - is not accessible or realistic for the people like us who have tiny businesses. I tell my clients, “if you can’t find a way, make one.” .. so that’s what I did, and here we are. Through my business support group, ‘The Business Owners Network’ I reach out to hundreds of business owners just like you, who find huge benefits in having somewhere they can be amongst others who they can chat with, laugh with, commiserate the bad days and celebrate the great days with. With my one to one coaching I provide affordable and practical hands on help for you and your business on any topic needed, to guide you to achieve the growth you need. From productivity to Pinterest, marketing to email campaigns, Facebook, Instagram and Advert Design, you’ll learn at the right pace for you. If there’s something you need help with and can’t find on the site, please feel free to email me!
31/10/2025
⭐️ Because YOU ARE the brand! ⭐️
If you're a performer or speaker, then do you have a personal brand? - and if not, then you need one, because you ARE the brand!
Just because you don't have a 'business name' doesn't mean you're any less of a brand! If you're trying to grow a following on your socials, are needing sponsorship, looking for paid work or are available for gigs, then a brand mark makes you look like you mean business. It adds a touch of class and professionalism that could make all the difference to your audience and future fans!
You can add it to your pictures, your profiles, your paperwork, emails, website .. anywhere you need to show up!
I have been creating lots of these recently, so I thought I'd share this service with you too. Performer brand marks are just £35, and come with a transparent version to float over pictures too.
Have a look at the examples, and let me know if you'd like one 🎼
29/10/2025
Last week I mentioned Black Friday, and said you need to be getting ready to make the most of that selling weekend.
I've been getting prepared here at The McNeal Method, and I have got some EPIC offers coming up for that weekend!
Stay tuned for more details!
27/10/2025
When milk goes off, it becomes yoghurt, which is more vaulable.
If left for longer, then it becomes cheese which is worth even more.
Just because things take a while, it doesn't mean that good things aren't happening behind the scenes.
It just means that during the journey things may not seem as you'd like them to be, and you may not be able to se the end result just yet - but trust the process - it's usually worth the wait!
24/10/2025
Ending the week strong with a client Power Planning session.
I love these meetings - they are so productive!
A chunk of the day where I can sit down with my client, get everything out of their head and down on paper. We sort through it all, move whatever isn't needed or helpful to one side, and then look at everything else with fresh eyes and make a plan to move their business into the next phase, complete with an action plan and schedule to work to.
It's so hard working for and by yourself, with no-one to bounce off, no sounding board and no-one to tell you where to go with things. Clients always say they come out of these sessions feeling much lighter, like a weight has been lifted, much clearer on what they need to do next.
If you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, confused or just fed up of going it alone, get in touch - and let's block out an afternoon to get you sorted out!
22/10/2025
A day in the life of a small business owner ..
Let me me see if I can imagine how your day plays out when it comes to marketing your business on social media ...
You wake up and think, 'I should probably post something on Facebook', then put it off until after breakfast/ school run/ gym
You get 5 minutes (if you're lucky) mid morning and think, 'I still havent posted anything, I'll sort that once I've had some lunch later'
You eventually grab 2 minutes to grab a quick snack at about 2.45pm, think, 'I STILL havent posted anything on Facebook, I'll do it tonight while I'm watching TV/ scrolling TikTok/ the kids are in bed'
You get to about 9 or 10pm and set aside 10 minutes to post, only to find you have no clue what to actually post/ didn't take any new pictures/ can't figure out how to do what you want to do in Canva/ InShot and end up posting a generic looking photo with the caption of 'Support Small Businesses!' , 'Thankyou for keeping me busy!' or the all time go-to favourite of a quote or meme.
It's exhausting, it bores you, you feel out of your depth, fed up with it and would love to never have to think about it again .. right?!
Forget it all, let me do it for you with the minimum of fuss.
I literally need a 15 minute chat with you and then you can just hand it over and never look back - from just £15 a week!!!
Drop me a message and we'll have you sorted within 24hours! .. GO!
20/10/2025
Are you geared up and ready for Black Friday??
Whether you're a retail or service based business, Black Friday is a day you should be taking advantage of! It's a day which may have originated overseas, but here in the UK shoppers have come to expect that weekend of the year to bring epic sales and special offers, so if you're not getting involved then you could be missing out on potential new customers and bumper sales.
If you're a service based business like me, then you could offer a percentage off selected services, a special offer, or you could offer a new service launch on that day!
For retailers, it's a great time to focus on stock that you may want to sell before the next season arrives or even bring in new lines to sell especially for the Black Friday weekend.
Some choose to run their special offers just for the day on Friday, whilst other run a week long Winter sale, which starts on Black Friday. Bear in mind that Cyber Monday is also a 'thing' now, so many sales and offers will run Friday to Monday!
Do what works for you - you know your customers best!
17/10/2025
This is mind blowing?!
Did you know that according to statistics (Source: Dale Carnegie), a HUGE 91% of people surveyed said that they would give a referral of a business they were impressed by BUT only 11% of salespeople/business people ask for them.
Referral marketing happens when your current and past customers tell potential new customers amazing you are. To gain more of these you have two jobs to do:
1. BE amazing
2. ASK for referrals!
That's it!
You can ask for people to refer you, you can sweeten the deal with a discount code for the referrer, or a discount for the referrer AND the new customer! Referred customers are more likely to buy, feel more trust instantly, and already WANT to like you, so the hard part's done!
What are you waiting for?! GO! Grab some referrals!
15/10/2025
Another mystery shopping experience this week!
This time, the business owner runs an online business, and just wanted to see how things looked from a customers perspective - no obvious issues that she knew of, she simply wanted to make sure she was doing everything right.
So that I have the most realistic experience of the businesses when I provide this service, all I ask for is the business name and location. I don't want links etc, I want to see how easy it is to find the business online.
I put the business name into Google and nothing really came up, no website that I could see. There were a few results referring to Facebook and Instagram posts and a directory listing.
Next I went to Facebook and typed the business name in - and LOTS of results came up this time. It wasn't a 'unique' name it seems! After clicking through to a few of the results, I found a page relating to the right location. I saw the posts, and saw one with a product I liked but there was no link to click on to buy it. Then I went to the 'About' section, and there was no website mentioned there either. This is an online business so I was really stumped!
I gave up and headed to Instagram, hoping that I might find more there.
I couldn't even find the business?! After quite a while of trying different variations of the name I finally found it - the words were swapped around in the name on Instagram. Once I looked at the posts there, the content there was much the same but I stumbled across a post which had the ETSY logo on.
Next, I tried to find the store on ETSY .. and there it was, with all the products, a healthy amount of sales and some glowing reviews BUT the business name was different there too!
A lot of other work and research was carried out, but the take-way for this business owner was to signpost and crosspost EVERYTHING! She doesn't have a website and just sells through ETSY - which is fine, but needed to be made clearer!
She hadn't been putting links to ETSY on posts as she'd heard Facebook didn't like people using external links in posts - which is true enough, but there needed to be a link to the ETSY shop in the About section at least.
She needed to add her social links in the relevant section on Facebook so I could find her more easily on Instagram.
She needed to add her Google Business listing so she more more visible on there, and generally work on her branding and being consistent throughout her online marketing - all things that she can do herself that don't cost her a penny!
As a customer, unless I found her on ETSY first, it was quite a frustrating experience, and she is so glad she now knows about this so she can make it right. As a business owner we assume that because WE know what we do and where we are that everyone else will too. They don't!
if you'd like the mystery solving for YOUR business, drop me a message!
13/10/2025
I have absolutely LOVED working on this project, from initial ideas and concept to design and launch! It's moody, it's gritty, it current and I just adore it!
Battle Of The Bands is a new initiative for the CRE8IV Little Theatre team and it's going to be epic! There are some incredible prizes up for grabs too, so if you know someone who wants to enter Battle Of The Bands at CRE8IV Little Theatre 2026, let them know! Email them at [email protected]
10/10/2025
Most people don't realise that having a simple blog on your website can REALLY help you be found on search engines!
Blogging significantly helps SEO by increasing the amount of 'indexable 'content on your website, targeting relevant keywords to attract organic traffic, and establishing your site as an authority in your niche. Regular posts also improve how often your site is crawled by search engines.
So why don't more people do it?! Various reasons: lack of time, not knowing what to write or how to write it, not being sure which keywords to use ... it can be confusing.
This is a service I offer, writing regular blog posts with images to go with them.
I can upload them to your website, or just send you the articles for you to upload.
Even one regular posts a month will give you a great boost.
This is an inexpensive way to be really proactive when it comes to SEO!
Need my help? Get in touch!
09/10/2025
A local business has a shop in a prominent position with lots of passing traffic.
They also have a website.
They have a well established team.
They have two issues:
1. Sales have slowed right down online on their website.
2. They can't understand why they've had a couple of bad reviews.
After a Mystery Shopping Experience with me, they now know that their website looked very tired and had a lot of out of date information on it. They hadn't updated in a long time, and there were various broken links in there too, which means that Google will favour other sites ahead of theirs. Buttons didn't link to anything, and it was tricky to find what I was looking for.
A lot of the products I would have expected them to sell or at least mention weren't listed at all, which meant I had to call the shop to ask if they sold the items I was looking for.
That's where problem 2 came in.
Google had the business listed as being open 9-3pm Mon to Sat, so I called at 1.30pm.
No answer, and no way to leave a message.
I went to Facebook to see if I could send a message on there.
Their page hadn't been updated since July.
I called again about an hour later, and the person who answered the call couldn't have been more sharp or unhelpful if they'd tried. I was made to feel stupid for asking if they sold the item I couldn't find online. If I was a real customer I would have given up there and then, and probably have left a bad review myself - it was THAT bad.
The business owner had no idea that any of this was an issue, and to say they were shocked was an understatement. Those issues have now been dealt with and corrected, giving them the best chance of getting back on track, and they were really lovely, and very grateful to be ahead of the problems now.
£125 versus £1000's of pounds of lost customers and bad reviews.
Find out where you're getting things right, and where it could be going wrong: https://www.mcnealmethod.com/mystery-shopping
08/10/2025
THE SECRET NO MARKETING COACH WILL TELL YOU FOR FREE.
But I will.
You'll have heard the term by now about niches, and the importance of knowing yours, and it IS very important.
Here's where I cause a stink, because most coaches and marketers will tell you that you need to know what your niche is, that you need to 'niche down' and then they'll sell you a course or download that might tell you, if you're lucky.
So let's clear things up, for free, with no catches.
Who are your customers?
You need to be really specific about this.
In the most basic terms, if you make cakes then your customer can't just be 'someone who likes cake.'
You're nowhere near done yet because there will be 50 other cake makers within a 10 mile radius and YOU have to be able to stand out. Your niche is not cakes.
So, maybe your customer is someone who needs beautifully decorated cakes.
Luxury cakes. Wedding cakes. Vegan or gluten free cakes. Last minute cakes.
Cakes for photoshoots. Dummy cakes for displays. Cheap cakes, cakes that contain only organic ingredients.
At this point, most of you right now are saying, 'well I can do all of that!'
Yes. And that's where the problem starts.
You'll go out there tomorrow and create a post stating all of those things, trying to attract all those people that like every type of cake.
Your post will fall flat, and you'll still be scratching your head.
Here's the secret.
You need to pick one. ONE.
Pick one of those things and build content around it.
For example, vegan cakes.
Talk about why you decided to focus on creating vegan cakes.
Another post about began versus dairy cakes
Another post about how it matters to you
Another post showing a review of your vegan cakes
Another post of the ingredients you use
A video of you making the vegan cake
A before and after shot of your vegan cake being made
Give a recipe for vegan cupcakes people can make at home
Suddenly you're the go-to person for vegan cakes.
You have a niche to build upon.
Your content will speak to a specific audience and they will respond.
But what about all those other areas you cover like wedding cakes and last minute cakes ..?? Well you repeat the same process for them as well. That's your second niche. Then your third.
The key to it is that when you have a niche, or an area of speciality, you have a chance to have a loyal following from those people so your content needs to really relate to them. They need to see what you're saying and think you're the perfect fit for them.
Be authentic, be relatable and be knowledgeable.
Once you start this pattern, you'll find it a piece of cake .. pardon the pun.
Let me know if this clears things up for you, and if you need help defining your niches, I'd love to help you,
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If you’re reading this, the chances are that you’re a business owner, feeling stuck, overwhelmed, fed up or just generally lost.
I get it, because I’ve felt the way you feel right now.
I tell my clients, “If you don’t change it, you choose it” and that’s what I did.
These days I’m in my happy place, doing what I love best, and that wasn’t an accident.
Situations and circumstances have conspired to bring me this point, and now I’m passing on the experience to others, to help them achieve their goals in business ownership.
My background and expertise lie in advertising, marketing, copy-writing and design, and
I have worked for large media giants, and have also managed small businesses.
My interests and speciality has always been in turning around struggling ventures, reinventing the wheel, and getting new projects off the ground.
I’ve worked in corporate land, and I had enough of it.
I took a career break whilst my daughter was born. As I was due to return to work, my mum was diagnosed with lung cancer, and I became her full time carer, but sadly she left us just three months later, when my daughter was just a year old.
The shock of her death was such a blow to my dad, that his dementia accelerated and I was then a full time carer for him. My dad passed away twelve months later.
I decided there and then that I wouldn’t sacrifice the quality of life with my family and be suck in a job I hated. I had the brains and the drive, so I was going to go it alone.
In 2015 I bought a franchise which would allow me to have a home based business.
In 2016 I launched the Business Owners Network, to give business owners just like me a place to connect to others, and through that group I found my tribe.
In just twelve months, the network had a following of over a thousand local business owners -
people who felt alone in business, who believed they were too small to matter, too inexperienced to have an opinion, to insignificant to make a difference.
They had experienced hardships, depression, redundancies and despair, but together we made each other stronger, supported and empowered. I still feel honoured every day that people want me to walk their path with them.
Fast forward to 2017, and my mentoring business was born, filling the gap in the market of supporting the tiny and very new businesses which struggle to find affordable and accessible help elsewhere. Through coaching and mentoring, educating, and connecting people to others in similar situations, I have helped hundreds of business owners and have had the privilege of working with some fantastic people.
Currently, The McNeal Method is focusing on helping more business owners, those who don’t think they can afford or are worthy of a coach for their ‘little’ business.
The difference between my approach and other coaches is that I will show you what to do, do it with you or do it for you - whatever suits you best.
We can set some goals, see what’s not working, look at new opportunities, work towards scaling your business. We can conquer social media, increase sales, help your productivity, smash your marketing, work on your database of clients, get you seen on Instagram, connect with influencers .. the list is endless, and everything I show you is from experience.
I can work with you one to one, you can join a group workshop, or you can simply learn from an online course or download. Drop me a message on the page, email me at [email protected], or call me to speak to me in person. I’m here to help you when you’re ready. My website is www.mcnealmethod.com and you’ll find a range of help on there including free downloads.
If you're ready to flick the switch and see the potential you have come to life, then get in touch - I'd love to work with you!
Much love,
Cate
