I return to the webinar world next week. And with you in mind, I’ve created a new presentation, Choosing Marketing With Confidence. I’ll explore how to select the best marketing tactics for your goals and budget. It’s presented by the Women’s Business Centers of Ohio. (You don’t need to be a woman or in Ohio to sign up!)

I’d love it if you could forward this email to a friend who's in business and interested in content to help their marketing. I would appreciate it. And if you’re that friend? Subscribe today.

— Ann Gynn

🟩 ATTRACT → 🟧 CONVERT → ⬜ RETAIN → ⬛ AMPLIFY

I just returned from Insights to Impact, where I spent most of my time at Content Marketing World. But one of the biggest lessons I learned happened before I ever got on the plane: As a solo entrepreneur responsible for my own marketing, I get so entrenched in the daily work of running my business that I neglect marketing tasks that don’t have urgency. My Denver trip gave me the motivation — and a deadline — to tackle them.

So, here’s what I plan to do going forward — and it’s my recommendation for you: Act like you’re going out of town and won’t be working for a few days.

You don't have to go anywhere. Just preparing to be away will help you make progress on things you've been putting off, especially your marketing.

In the week before I left my office, I made a to-do list with two columns — one for business and one for personal tasks. I got a little ambitious. I wanted to leave things in such good shape that someone could step in (physically or digitally) and find what they need without my help.

Did I accomplish everything? Of course not.

But I made progress that I probably wouldn't have if I'd just shown up for another normal workweek.

For example, I cleaned up my icon-filled computer desktop screen so it had just three. I didn’t want the speaker tech team to see the embarrassing mess when they helped upload the slides for my writing workshops. (Some of those icons had been sitting there for two years!)

More importantly, I tackled marketing tasks that had been lingering on my to-do list.

I worked on my website to make sure it was updated and accurate. It's still not perfect, but knowing I'd be speaking to an audience and meeting new people gave me a reason to make sure my digital presence was ready for them.

In fact, I started this newsletter almost a year ago for a similar reason. I'd been thinking about launching it for more than a year. But an upcoming speaking engagement gave me a deadline. I wanted to invite the audience to subscribe, but I needed something worthwhile to offer them. 

The opportunity created the deadline. The deadline got me to act.

Preparing to leave also forced me to think about how the business would operate while I was gone. I let clients know when I'd be unavailable and adjusted project schedules well in advance. I knew that spending three days at a conference meant I wouldn't be getting three days of client work done.

So, schedule a few faux out-of-office days on your calendar about a month from now. Then, use that deadline to tackle your marketing list. Here are two big-picture ways to approach it. The details are up to you.

First, get your marketing house in order. Imagine you're leaving in a month and won't be available for several days. What needs attention before you go? Is your website accurate? Are your social profiles current? Have you followed up with prospective clients? Is there a marketing project you've been meaning to launch but never quite get around to? Do you have marketing SOPs? As a solo entrepreneur or marketer, you may skip standard operating procedures because you know what needs to be done and you’re the one doing it. But if you hired help or someone unexpectedly had to step in, would they know what to do? Documenting your processes also helps you identify unnecessary steps, overlaps, and gaps.

Set staggered deadlines over the month to address those things. Aim for progress.

Second, make your marketing less dependent on your daily attention. If you usually publish social posts in real time, try scheduling them in advance. You can use a scheduling platform or the native scheduling features in social media apps. Once you've learned how, why not make it part of your regular marketing operations?

Maybe you need to get ahead on your content. Move up your deadlines and double up on the work for a short time. Then, instead of returning to your old schedule, keep working ahead. That way, when something unexpected disrupts your week, you have a little runway before it becomes a problem.

(I'm still working on that one.)

The goal isn’t just getting things done before your fictional out-of-office notice goes up. It’s to make improvements that help your marketing run better long after you’ve returned from your imaginary trip.

You might be surprised by what gets done when you act like you’ll be turning on your out-of-office message.

Got a question you’d like me to answer in a future edition of The Hotline? Call or text Marketing By One Hotline: +1.440.661.3984.

This week: Call up your calendar and book an event for Nov. 9-11. Then get started preparing for your fake vacation.

I used Claude to help me create the slide decks for my two Content Marketing World workshops — The Writing Recipe: Build a Better Draft and The Writing Recipe: Make a Good Draft Better. It took some time to get everything right, and I made manual fixes afterward, but it was worth it. The decks had a consistent theme, with fun illustrations and colors that stood out in a sea of boring, traditional slides. That mattered because I was last on the packed three-day agenda. 

(I also used Gemini and ChatGPT, but they delivered disappointing results. Oh, and I also tried Beautiful.AI, which exists for presentation creation. I got frustrated as its AI assistant was difficult to figure out in a reasonable time. If I created decks regularly, I might invest the time to figure it out.)

Have any AI tricks of your own? Hit reply, call, or text the Marketing By One Hotline: +1.440.661.3984.

Search didn't die. It moved. 

Your buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity what to buy, and act on the answer. If you're not in it, a competitor is. 

ChatFeatured does the work to get you cited. Most customers see their first citations inside 7 days.

Start your free 7-day trial

When you have an idea for a social post, don’t put it on an idea list. Give it a publication date on your content calendar. You don’t have to write it out then, but assigning a date means you’re more likely to do it than if it hangs out on your idea list.

💰Driving dollars: LinkedIn shares five principles for turning marketing campaigns on its platform into pipeline and revenue: What Actually Drives Pipeline on LinkedIn?

🙌Dreams not necessary: “Ambition is not required. Sometimes, you’ve just got to show up.” That’s great advice from Shannon Randall, a Content Marketing World attendee. And she’s not just talking about showing up for a conference.

🎯Experiences matters: Gary Vaynerchuk and Target pros talk about how to balance algorithm-driven content and real-life activations.

Not a subscriber? Join the Marketing By One community today. Sign up for the free weekly newsletter!

Got a question you’d like me to answer in The Hotline? Email me or DM me on LinkedIn. Even better: Text or leave a message on the Marketing By One Hotline: +1.440.661.3984.