I missed you last week. A bad cold meant I couldn’t look at the screen without my eyes watering. And since I’m a solo entrepreneur who wasn’t ahead with the newsletter content, I didn’t publish. It’s a good reminder that writing on deadline isn’t the best strategy for a solo operator.

So let’s dive into this week with a clear(er) head and eyes.

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

Q: Every marketing conversation right now seems to revolve around search algorithms or AI discovery. Should my marketing really depend on whether Google or ChatGPT surfaces my business? Or is there another way to get found?

A: Given your limited time and resources, I don’t recommend investing in traditional and AI search optimization. I’d forgo traffic in favor of being unforgettable to the right 10 people.

Here’s how to start making that real.

Repel less-than-ideal customers: Make it immediately obvious who you and your product or service are for. Also, make it clear who you’re not for — it’s a bold and necessary move.

To assess this, audit your website. Use an agentic AI tool to analyze it — give it the URL and ask it to identify your ideal customer and who wouldn’t be a fit. Does the result match your target? If not, revise until it does. You might even explicitly say who benefits from your product and service and who doesn’t. That transparency can work well in building trust with prospects.

Leave a trail: Let your prospects discover you without having to look for your name, product, or service.

Publish helpful and insightful information — blog articles, LinkedIn posts, comments on Reddit, videos on YouTube, etc. The format doesn’t matter; publishing consistent views on relevant topics can build familiarity with your target audience.

Be refound: Focus on being memorable to people who’ve already encountered you. Follow up. Check in. Stay visible to your existing network. Most solos spend all their energy on new discovery and none on re-emergence. Your next client probably already knows you exist.

None of this requires an algorithm to like you. It requires the right people to remember your brand. That starts with being clear, consistent, and present enough so those 10 people can’t stop thinking about you when the moment is right.

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: Ask someone who knows you and your business to describe what you do in one sentence. Don't correct them. Just listen. What they say or can't say will tell you exactly where your marketing needs work.

I canceled my paid ChatGPT subscription and handed my credit card over to Claude. I had contemplated the move for a couple of months because I found Claude increasingly more helpful and robust with its ideas and writing. OpenAI’s deal with the U.S. military led me to change my wallet commitment officially.

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

The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Anniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.

Learn more

Send a connection request to someone you recently met, along with a personal note. (Run out of free invites? Add their names to next month’s calendar so you don’t forget to reach out then.)

🔓Open the gates: A CMO shared a smart experiment that led him to ungate all of the brand’s content. I wrote about this week for the Content Marketing Institute.

🗓️Get it on the calendar: All accounts now have access to Instagram’s pro tools, including scheduling posts. Publishing in real time can be problematic when something pops up (see absence of last week’s newsletter here).

🍌Slip away: Google debuted Nano Banana 2 — the next version of its image-generation model. I like that it can generate accurate, legible text, something that can be problematic with some AI-generated image tools.

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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.