I wanted to take a moment to talk about the importance of taking mental breaks in marketing—especially in an era where the message often seems to be “stay consistent at all costs.” The timing of this episode is a little funny because it’s airing during the holidays but I actually recorded it at the end of October. I had decided to take a two-month break from recording new episodes. To make that happen, I started batching content for the next two months (from October to December).
Now, I wish I could say this was super intentional, but honestly, it just kind of happened. I got really ahead with batching podcast guest episodes, and then a few more amazing guests reached out to be on the podcast. That’s when I realized, “You know what? I’m only a few solo episodes away from wrapping up the year—why not just go for it?”
I was also talking to my friend Sandra from Simply Sandra Yvonne—shoutout to her! Sandra’s podcast runs in seasons, and she’s been an incredible peer mastermind partner. Sandra mentioned that during her breaks between seasons, she focuses on ways to make her podcast even better. That conversation got me thinking. To be honest, I touched on this in my episode with Candice when we talked about omnichannel marketing. I feel like systems are a wonderful thing—they’re essential for running a business—but sometimes, they can make us feel stuck.
For example, it’s easy to look back and realize you’ve spent an entire year writing blog posts in the exact same way or creating the same type of B-roll reels you’ve been doing for years. While consistency is important, I think it’s equally important to ask, “Am I improving? Am I trying something new?”
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Table of Contents
Here’s the thing: sometimes we naturally get better at what we do just through repetition, but not always. As we approach 2024—or, wow, when this airs, it’ll almost be 2025—I think it’s important to acknowledge that improvement often requires intention. That’s something I really want to dive into this week.
We Need To Give Ourselves More White Space
I think we need to give ourselves more white space and take mental breaks in marketing. In fact, I don’t know if you’ve ever watched Mad Men—it’s about an advertising agency, and I’m probably going to get the year wrong. I want to say it’s the ’60s or ’70s? I don’t know. Anyway, the show is Mad Men, and one of the things about it is that it’s very stereotypical.
The men are in advertising, they’re all drinking in their offices, having a good time, goofing off—blah, blah, blah. But one thing the advertising manager says is that they do all of that so they can come up with their best work when it’s time to create marketing and advertising ideas.
I watched that episode a few years ago, and it’s always stuck with me. Because now, in this time, we’re all trying to market our businesses, and most of us aren’t professional marketers. Even for me, I spend all day helping people with marketing, and sometimes when I sit down at the end of the day to think about how to market my own business, I come up completely blank.
We’re not robots. We’re not ChatGPT, able to constantly spit out new ideas and be innovative on demand. We need to take mental breaks in marketing.
Why I Batched My Podcast to Take Mental Breaks in Marketing
I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I haven’t been listening to as many audiobooks or podcasts this year—outside of client-related ones, that is. It’s mostly because I don’t have as much mindless or admin-type work as I used to. I’ve delegated a lot of it, which has been great, but it also means I don’t have as much drive time either.
It’s kind of weird to think about, but when I do drive, it’s usually with my toddler, and—shocking, I know—he’s not exactly a fan of business podcasts! So I just don’t get as many chances to listen as I’d like.
When I realized I only had three episodes left to batch, I made it my goal to finish them by the end of October. It feels wild knowing you’re hearing this during the holiday season—or depending on what you celebrate, during a holiday season.
That said, I really believe these breaks are so important. When we’re pushing out this much content—often by ourselves or with a very small team—it’s easy to burn out. Consistency is still important, of course, but if you want to do seasons of your podcast, YouTube channel, or blog, I think that’s a totally valid marketing strategy. That way you don’t have to batch a ton of content in order to take mental breaks in marketing.
I’ve talked about this before, especially in relation to blogging, where seasons might matter a little less to Google, but I love the concept of batching content and then taking a break—without actually pausing your output, if that makes sense. I’ll still have episodes going out until the end of the year, which is pretty cool.
During this time, I’m making a big effort to listen to a wider variety of podcasts—not just marketing or business ones like mine, but different kinds of content altogether.
How I’m Giving Myself White Space and Taking Mental Breaks in Marketing
Personally, I feel like I get a lot of inspiration from B2C podcasts. They seem to have a bit more incentive—how do I put this?—to create really great content. That’s because they’re not selling their own stuff.
Their main goal—well, I shouldn’t speak for them, but usually their focus—is to increase downloads, since they’re aiming for advertisements and sponsorships. For me, though, my goal isn’t necessarily that. My goal is to talk directly to my audience and stay super dialed in.
That said, I feel like B2C podcasts often put more effort into things I might not even notice or are more willing to try new ideas because that’s their main business. I hope that makes sense.
Anyway, that’s what I’m doing right now. If I learn anything noteworthy, I’ll probably do an episode in January about what I’ve learned while taking this break. Let’s be honest, though—I’ll still be promoting the podcast every week and probably brainstorming future ideas. But I want to be intentional over the next two months about observing what other people are doing—not to copy, of course, but to find inspiration.
Obviously, I don’t mean copying directly—you know that, or I wouldn’t be here talking about it on my podcast! But that’s what’s been on my mind, and I felt called to share it with you this week.
Batching Episodes & Taking Mental Breaks in Marketing
I know a lot of us probably aren’t working much right now, so I want to say: it’s totally okay to take breaks. In fact, we should schedule breaks, even though it can be hard to fit them into our busy schedules. That’s why batching ahead when you can is so important.
Anyway, I’ll be back next week, but for now, happy holidays! I appreciate you so much, every single week. Thank you for listening!
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