Loading profile data...

Loading profile data...

EBOOK

Stop Talking About Yourself: An SME guide to messaging

Stop Talking About Yourself: An SME guide to messaging
Chris Willman
Chris WillmanThe Big Brand Blueprint

Posted: Mon 8th Jun 2026

Most small business marketing fails before it's even seen. Not because of budget, channel or timing, but because of what it says and who it's written for.

This eBook tackles the most common messaging failure in small business marketing: writing from the inside out.

Describing your business from your own perspective rather than your customer's and talking about what you do instead of what they get.

What's inside

  • Why the inside-out problem is so common, and what it actually costs you

  • The 5x Why technique for getting from stated needs to real motivations

  • The Benefit Ladder: how to climb from feature to functional, emotional and identity benefit

  • A four-part value proposition template that produces something specific instead of generic

  • A positioning statement structure that brings every other piece of marketing into alignment

  • The 3-Test Messaging Audit (Stranger, So-What, Swap) for auditing what you already have

  • A full worked example showing an independent pet store transform its homepage from inside-out to outside-in

Download your free eBook now

Chris Willman
Chris WillmanThe Big Brand Blueprint
Chris Willman has spent over 20 years leading marketing inside some of the world's most recognised technology brands - building and scaling field marketing, demand generation, brand, channel and ABM programmes across EMEA. He's operated at the level where marketing decisions involve real money, real accountability, and real consequences. That experience taught him something most marketing advice ignores: the difference between marketing that works and marketing that wastes money is rarely creativity, budget or effort. It's structure. Most small businesses are handed tactics when what they actually need is a foundation. Chris has made it his mission to change that. He translates the thinking behind world-class marketing - the kind that drives serious growth inside serious organisations - into practical frameworks that founders and smaller teams can actually use. No jargon. No hype. No shortcuts that quietly don't work. Just clear, structured thinking made usable at any scale. He is the author of The Big Brand Blueprint, a seven-part marketing framework helping startups and small businesses think and act like big brands without needing big teams, big budgets or specialist expertise. Readers describe it as "the only marketing book that gives you a complete system" and "finally a marketing book that gives you the thinking, not just the to-do list." He also writes The Entrepreneurs Marketing Manual, a tactical companion for founders focused on day-to-day execution. Chris works with founders and small business owners who are done with random acts of marketing and want something that actually compounds.

Get business support right to your inbox

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive business tips, learn about new funding programmes, join upcoming events, take e-learning courses, and more.

Start your business journey today

Take the first step to successfully starting and growing your business.

Join for free