Are you craving simplicity this summer? Do you feel the urge to actually enjoy the season instead of being tied to your computer all day? On this podcast, we talk a lot about how results require effort. But if you’re looking to scale back your summer marketing without losing the momentum you’ve worked so hard to build, I have some advice.
Now, I know the more spiritual or “woo woo” crowd might say that taking a break won’t hurt your business. But the reality is that most of us need to keep showing up consistently—even when the sun is shining, even when we’re not feeling it, and even when our client roster is full.
I’ve mentioned this on past episodes—or at least I think I have. Back in 2021, when I was completely overwhelmed with clients, I stopped marketing altogether because I didn’t need to bring in more work. At the time, it felt like the right move. But in hindsight, marketing serves a purpose beyond just attracting new clients. It helps you nurture the clients you already have. They’re still paying attention. They still want to feel connected. If that kind of connection matters to you, and it does to me, which is why this podcast exists, you need to keep showing up.
So today, I want to share how you can simplify your marketing this summer without disappearing entirely. That way, you won’t find yourself wondering in the fall why your Black Friday sales aren’t where you hoped they’d be. Let’s get into it.
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Table of Contents
I’m really excited for today’s episode because I’m going to walk you through exactly how I’m simplifying my own marketing this season. Hopefully, I’ll still see strong results—though maybe I’ll need to do an update episode on that later. Either way, I want you to experience more freedom in your marketing too.
But I’m not going to give you the kind of advice that says, “Just take the summer off and everything will be fine,” because I don’t believe that’s true for most of us. Sure, that might work for some people, but if you’re serious about hitting your 2025 or 2026 goals, you likely need to stay visible. Just the other day, I was talking with someone on my team about how we need to be looking at Q4 and Q1 goals for our clients right now. That’s what drives the strategy for Q3. If someone’s launching something in the fall, we’re starting to blog about it this summer. That’s just how it works.
Take Inventory Of Where You’re Showing Up Now
The first thing I want you to do is take inventory of where you’re showing up. And I recommend doing this in two parts. First, write down where you think you’re showing up. Sometimes we believe we’re doing more than we actually are. For example, I might say that email marketing is one of my platforms, but in reality, I haven’t sent an email in three weeks.
Second, get clear on where you’re actually showing up. If you use a time-tracking tool like Toggl, that can give you some real data. If not, just make your best estimate. Then, identify which platforms reward consistency—or more importantly, which ones penalize you for taking a break.
We know Instagram tends to penalize you if you disappear. Pinterest is similar. I’ve seen clients struggle to grow their Pinterest accounts even after they hire us, simply because they were inconsistent before. In fact, sometimes it’s easier to start fresh with a new account. Instagram can be the same way.
Before we talk about which platforms to focus on this summer, just take a look at what’s already in front of you. Maybe you’ve put a lot of work into Pinterest. Even if it’s not going to drive all your summer sales, you might not want to drop it completely and lose momentum.
And here’s the truth about any platform you’re active on: your numbers are probably going to dip over the summer. That doesn’t mean your sales have to dip, but impressions usually go down this time of year. Fewer people are online, which means fewer eyes on your content. That’s normal. And if you expect that, it’s less discouraging when it happens.
Create Your Summer Marketing Plan
Once you’ve taken inventory and have a clear understanding of where you’re currently showing up, I want you to make some decisions based on both energy and strategy. I think everyone should choose at least one awareness platform and one nurture platform.
When I say “awareness platform,” I’m talking about something search-driven—like Pinterest, YouTube, podcasting, or blogging. These are the platforms that help new people discover your business. Then you also need one nurture platform, where you’re building deeper connections. That could be email marketing, Instagram, or even a podcast like this. You can choose more than one, but you need at least one of each. I call this your “dynamic duo.”
In my business, I’ve added a lot over the years, but my core funnel still looks like this: people typically find me through blog posts, and then my main nurture platform is this podcast. It’s fun that you’re here listening to it now! But keep in mind, I’ve been in business for eight years, and I now have a team. That makes a big difference.
Considering your capacity for summer marketing
For example, I recently started a YouTube channel. I record the videos, but then I hand them off to an editor. After that, someone else on my team handles the YouTube show notes and all the other details. If I were doing it all myself, I don’t think I’d have the capacity to manage YouTube. It doesn’t take a ton of time, but it’s still enough that, solo, it wouldn’t be sustainable.
That’s something to think about when deciding what platforms to focus on. If you’re doing everything from start to finish, you may want to limit the number of platforms. But if your role is mostly being the voice or the face, and you’ve got support behind you, you can potentially spread your content across more channels.
So, from a strategy standpoint, pick one awareness and one nurture platform. Then decide if there are any other platforms you want to maintain in the background. For example, maybe Instagram isn’t part of your main strategy, but you want to keep it lightly active so you don’t lose momentum.
Also, ask yourself what truly drains you. For me, it’s face-to-camera content. I struggle to stay consistent with things like Instagram Stories or TikTok. I just don’t prioritize it, and I don’t enjoy it enough to make it part of my strategy. Occasionally I’ll pop on Stories, but not consistently.
You, on the other hand, might love Stories. Maybe you enjoy sharing your daily life and behind-the-scenes moments. That could absolutely be your main nurture tool. Stories are a powerful way to build trust—I feel very connected to people I follow on Instagram Stories, even if I’ve never met them. So really think about what feels natural for you.
Once you’ve chosen your two core platforms, and possibly a few you’ll maintain in a lighter way, you’re ready to move forward.
Next, I’ll walk you through what my summer strategy looks like, and then give you some tips to help shape your own.
My Own Summer Marketing Plan
For me, I’ve got a lot of content going out, and again, that’s because I have a team. Here’s what I’m staying consistent with this summer:
Yes, that’s a lot. But I’m dialing back the quantity on some, and I’m repurposing a lot. Right now, I’m publishing three blog posts per week. One is brand new, written around a keyword I want to rank for. One is a full write-up of a podcast episode, and one is a write-up of a YouTube video that also embeds the video. So it’s three posts a week, but two of them are repurposed from other content.
That might still be more than the average solo business owner can do—and that’s totally fine. But I want to be transparent about the fact that much of my content is being reused across platforms, and I’m not creating everything from scratch.
You’ll also notice that most of my content is text-heavy. The only exceptions are YouTube and the podcast. And even those are fairly light. My podcast episodes tend to be short—usually around 20 minutes, maybe 30 if it’s an interview. I’m not here recording 90-minute deep dives every week. Same with YouTube. My videos are about 10 minutes, and they get straight to the point.
My email newsletter is also simple. It includes one story and one piece of content promotion each week. So yes, it might sound like a lot, but the key is repurposing. I look at what I’m already creating, and then ask, “How can I turn this into something else?”
Creating Your Long-Form Content
Once you’ve chosen your two primary platforms and possibly a few secondary ones, look at whether you’re creating any long-form content. That could be a blog, a YouTube video, a podcast episode—or even something like an Instagram Live, if that feels more natural to you.
Start with one piece of long-form content and look for ways to repurpose it. AI can be such a helpful tool for this. I love taking a transcript and asking, “Can you pull out a few strong quotes for Instagram?” or “Can you turn this into a carousel?” or “Can you write a promo email for this episode?” Of course, it still needs editing, but AI gives you a great starting point.
If you’re curious about using AI in your marketing, I have a few podcast episodes you should check out. Episode 42 is with Kinsey from Authentic AI, where we talk about how to make AI sound like you. Episode 41 is a solo one where I share practical AI tips for small businesses. And then there’s the original episode with Lauren deVane of Bemused Studio, where we talk about experimenting with AI in your creative process.
Just to be clear: none of this will happen by magic. If I were listening to this episode, I’d grab a pen and paper and write down where I’m focusing and how I’m repurposing. Then I’d take that plan and plug it into something like ClickUp or Notion or Enji—whatever you use to stay organized. You all know I love Enji. It’s so helpful for tracking your marketing tasks, and I’ll include a free trial link here if you haven’t tried it yet.
Like I mentioned, I’ve got three blog posts going out each week, and all of those are going on Pinterest. I’m repurposing absolutely everything. And while that might sound like a lot, it’s really not when you batch it. I’m not sitting down to write three blogs every week from scratch.
Making Summer Marketing Easier
This brings me to a few tips to make your content plan more manageable.
1. Add More Structure
First, add a little structure. I know that sounds counterintuitive—especially in summer when we want more freedom—but it really helps. Even something simple like, “I’ll record my podcast every Monday, write the blog right after, and record the YouTube video after that.” Whatever your plan is, just put it somewhere—on your calendar, in your task manager, wherever you’ll see it.
Entrepreneurs love flexibility, and I do too. But summer can be draining in its own way. It pulls us outside, tempts us to skip work, which is great, but if you’re listening to this podcast during summer, I know you’re still committed to making progress. Structure helps with that.
For example, I’m experimenting with some light structure on Instagram Stories. I’ve struggled with face-to-camera content, so I’m starting with an “Ask Me Anything” once a week (or maybe every two weeks), and a Friday “thought of the week” post (even if it’s just a text slide). I’m also planning to share each week’s podcast episode in my Stories. These are small, easy things that help me show up consistently without making it overwhelming.
On the email front, I’m trying a new format too. I’ll start with a story and then transition into a piece of content that relates to it. Nothing super salesy. In fact, I recently turned off some of my automated funnels so I could focus more on genuine connection in my emails. If you’re not on my list yet, definitely get on it.
2. Reshare old content & Use your data
Top-performing posts or pins from the past year still have value. This may sound basic, but it’s incredibly effective. That’s exactly what led me to record this episode. It was a week before release, 6:00 p.m., and I needed an idea fast. I opened up my Airtable where I track all my episodes, ran the data through ChatGPT, and asked, “What should I talk about next based on what’s been doing well?” It gave me this idea. I realized I had a lot to say, brain-dumped it all into ChatGPT, and it helped shape it into an outline—which I sort of followed.
One of the best ways to simplify your marketing is to reuse what’s already working. I had this episode—actually one of my most popular ones—episode 26, called Your Low-Effort, High-Impact Summer Marketing Plan. If you haven’t listened to it yet, definitely go back and check it out. In that episode, I shared three actionable steps for summer marketing, and it really resonated with people.
I could have just reposted it with a new intro. I know some podcasters do that, and I might try it in the future. I haven’t done it yet—my podcast is still pretty young—but there’s plenty of time for that down the road. The reason I didn’t do it this time is that I had some fresh thoughts. Not that the original content wasn’t solid, it absolutely is, but I felt like I had more to say. I word-dumped my thoughts into ChatGPT, and asked it to help me create a new outline. It was super helpful. That’s a great example of how AI can streamline repurposing your own content.
Before AI, repurposing meant digging through your archives manually and brainstorming new angles. It took a lot more mental energy. But now, you can quickly plug in your past content and let AI do some of that heavy lifting.
3. Batch Your Content
The second big tip is to batch your content—but not just by platform. Think about batching across platforms. For example, once I finish recording this episode, I’ll immediately upload it to my podcast editor. I’ll also get the transcript (I use Rev.com, but there are other tools, including free ones). If you use Riverside to record interviews, that platform includes transcripts in most of their plans, I believe—I’ll link that in the show notes.
Once I have the transcript, I’ll write the blog post, make the graphics, and schedule the content to Pinterest—all in one sitting. That way, every single task tied to this episode gets done at once.
Now, I’m not someone who can talk for hours and batch four episodes back to back. But if you can do that, it’s super efficient. Record all your episodes at once, then write all your blog posts, make all your graphics, and so on. For the blog specifically, I’ve mentioned I’m doing one piece of fresh content per month—and I’ll write all four monthly posts in one batch. That works better for me than writing one post every week.
For Instagram, batching could look like planning your post ideas first, then designing the graphics, then writing all your captions. Try to group similar tasks. It’ll make your workflow smoother and save you time.
And this is your reminder to use a scheduler. There is almost no reason to post in real time. Sure, Reels with trending sounds may be the exception, but most of your content can be planned ahead of time and scheduled to go live. Let it work for you while you’re out enjoying your summer.
Look At Your Summer Marketing Plan
To wrap up, take a good look at the plan you’ve created. Ask yourself if it feels manageable. And if you want to take it a step further, decide in advance what you’re willing to let go of if things get chaotic. This episode isn’t about hustling through summer or guilting you into a perfect plan. Life is going to happen.
I’ve already said, if Instagram Stories fall off for me, I’m okay with that. I want to stay consistent, but I’m not going to stress if I don’t hit every single mark. If something needs to be dropped, my fresh blog content would probably be the first to go, followed by email. But I’m still committed to following the general plan and showing up where it matters most.
I’m also setting myself up to actually support the plan I’ve created. That means I’m not trying to do everything myself. I’m making sure I have the right support in place, whether that’s team members or systems that help take things off my plate.
Now, I know not everyone has a team—and that’s totally fine. But think about what you can do to ease your mental load. Maybe that’s using a grocery delivery service like Instacart, setting up recurring Amazon subscriptions, or automating some basic household tasks. Anything that frees up your energy is worth considering. Because summer is meant to be enjoyed. That’s kind of the whole point of running your own business, right?
So think about what you can pare down. There’s a lot of power in actively choosing what you’re going to deprioritize. “Miss out” sounds harsh, but if you choose in advance what’s going to be a lower priority, you’ll feel more in control. That’s so much better than letting things slide and then feeling guilty or scattered about it.
As grown-up business owners, we can all decide what to focus on and what to let go of—and be intentional about it.
What I’m Ignoring In My Summer Marketing
Oh—and before I wrap up, I realized I forgot to mention the platforms I’m totally ignoring right now. Just for transparency: these are places I know could benefit my business, but I simply don’t have the capacity for them right now.
- LinkedIn: I keep getting signs that I should be on there, and I agree—it’s probably a great fit. If you have a solid LinkedIn strategy, please reach out. I’d love to have you on the podcast.
- Threads: I think I’d actually be really good on Threads if I could commit. I did it for a short while—maybe this past winter—posting twice a day, and I saw great results. But again, it’s a matter of bandwidth.
- TikTok: I’m not even trying. I just don’t think it’s the right fit for me, and that’s okay.
So yes, even though it might sound like I’m doing a ton of marketing, I’m saying “no” to plenty of things all the time. And I want that to be a reminder to you—it’s normal. It never really ends, to be honest. There will always be more you could be doing. Anyway, thank you so much for being here. I’ll talk to you next week.
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