I went to the store for a few items. I left with inspiration for my reply in The Hotline today,
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— Ann Gynn
The Hotline
What’s the Mulch in Your Business?
🟩 ATTRACT → 🟧 CONVERT → ⬜ RETAIN → ⬛ AMPLIFY
I barely have time to keep up with client work, let alone market myself. What should I actually be doing?
Yesterday, I stopped at Walgreens for Post-it notes. On my way to the aisle, I passed a well-dressed man with a small group circled around him, notebooks in hand.
They headed for the door, and he asked, “When you drive into the parking lot for your store, what do you do?”
I bought my Post-its and walked out to hear, “It shouldn’t be strewn in the parking lot.” He meant the mulch.
Now, I never noticed the mulch. But he did, and he wanted every one of those Walgreens managers to notice it, too.
What’s the mulch in your business? The things that your clients never know are there until they’re missing, messy, or wrong. They’re your invisible marketing. They create the trust that turns into repeat clients, positive reviews, and referrals.
Pre-distribution checks
Create and follow brand guidelines to ensure a consistent presence, from logo use and color palettes to fonts and tone of voice.
Make sure every link works on your site, in your newsletters, and on your social posts.
Check the spelling of every word and the grammar for every sentence.
Create alt text for every image for accessibility and compress each one for fast loading.
Preview newsletters and emails across devices and inboxes before sending.
Follow-through
Recap every call within 24 hours with a standard branded notes template. Identify your and the client’s next steps and assign a timeframe.
Add agenda to every calendar invite so they know what will be discussed and you don’t waste the client’s (or your) time.
Respond promptly, ideally within eight business hours, to messages and emails.
Anticipate their questions. Build an FAQ document from past client questions and include it in client onboarding and on your website.
Safety nets
Renew domains before they lapse. Use auto-renew and add a 60-day reminder to your calendar before it’s set to expire.
Back up your files in the cloud and on an external hard drive. Also, turn on version history wherever possible.
Keep software, plugins, and site tools updated.
Store client passwords and logins in a password manager, not a sticky note or unsecured file.
Establish buffers. Set internal deadlines one day ahead of the client deadline.
In that Walgreens parking lot, the man wasn’t pointing to the mess. He was teaching them to pay attention to the details, so they never become one. Do the same, so clients never notice your “mulch.” Prevent the missing, messy, and wrong.
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.
The Challenge
This week: Pick the one item on the checklist you most likely have skipped, and do it before next Friday. That's the maintenance that keeps clients from ever noticing anything's wrong.
What I Did With AI This Week
I’m interviewing the Content Marketer of the Year finalists. So, I asked Claude to help me. I shared their award-winning entries in the Content Marketing Awards. Then, I asked it to review them and uncover fresh observations. I also prompted it to conduct external research on the individual. It surfaced some previous interviews that gave me new perspectives to consider.
Have any AI tricks of your own? Hit reply, call, or text the Marketing By One Hotline: +1.440.661.3984.
Real-World Ads, Simple to Run
With AdQuick, executing Out Of Home campaigns is as easy as running digital ads. Plan, deploy, and measure your real-world advertising effortlessly — so your team can scale campaigns and maximize impact without the headaches.
The Marketing Minute
Google yourself
Do the search results reflect what you want? If not, what story do you want to be telling?
The Shortlist
🌉 Trust bridge: In a world where people trust people more than brands, influencers or creators can be helpful in your marketing. Here’s advice on how to find them from the experts presenting at Content Marketing World.
🖼️ Picture this: Google added Pics to its AI pro subscription. It provides advanced image generation and agentic video understanding.
🎯 People difference: Five Below saw its “maniacal focus” on the customer pay off. Learn how they did it.
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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.