Do Less Marketing

What happens to your business if you spend a month not chasing work?
Chloe Leonard is the founder and creative director of Chloe Leonard Studio, a boutique creative agency in Nashville.
Every so often, Chloe sets aside a month to step back from pursuing new business. She shares what she does with that time instead, and what it gives back to her business.
We get into where cold outreach fits alongside SEO and referrals for her, including how many DMs it takes to land a single reply.
We also talk about the "ideal answer" most business owners give about running an aligned business, and the more honest one Chloe gives.
Plus, she gets refreshingly raw about the hard stuff, from a dream client that went sideways to the proposal that made her want to throw up. (Stick around for how that one ended.)
If you're figuring out when to push and when to pull back, this one's for you.
Chloe's Website: https://chloeleonard.com/Chloe's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloeleonardstudio/Chloe's Substack: https://chloeleonardstudio.substack.com/Chloe's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chloeleonardstudioChloe's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloeleonardstudio/
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/

You can spend a year and a lot of money committing to a message before you find out if it's connecting.
Chase Pickett is the co-founder and CEO of Precision Social, a Chicago social media agency. He believes community building is the most sustainable way to market a business.
We dig into what social media can tell you that a brainstorm session can't, and the one belief Chase says you need before you post anything at all.
He also shares what his team learned from working with window washers and HVAC companies, how little gear it takes to start, and the move he makes once a post starts doing well.
If you'd rather know what's working before you spend big on it, this one's for you.
Chase's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chase-pickett-social/ 
Precision Social: https://www.precisionsocial.com/ 
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/
Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

What if the marketing for your business had to fit in ten minutes a day?
Dr. Phil Boucher is a pediatrician in Lincoln, Nebraska, and a self-described multi-passionate entrepreneur. He runs Frontier Pediatric Care, a direct primary care practice, and he helps other private practice owners get in front of their ideal new patients who desperately need their help.
We get into why he's happy to reach a smaller slice of his audience on purpose.
Dr. Boucher shares how he finds where his ideal patients already spend time and connects there. We also talk about what it looks like to build community connections by supporting the great work others are already doing.
And we dig into what he leans on instead of fake urgency or scarcity to grow his practice.
Plus, he shares how he teaches other practice owners to fit their marketing into ten minutes a day.
If you're looking for ways to share your expertise and connect with more people while still giving your core work the care it deserves, this one's for you.
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Dr. Boucher's Practice: https://frontierpediatric.care/ Dr. Boucher's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philbouchermd/ Dear Parents Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dear-parents-with-phil-boucher-m-d/id1868912952 Private Practice Matters (Substack + podcast): https://philboucher.substack.com/ 
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/ Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

What's keeping your marketing stuck?
More often than not, it isn't your strategy. It's psychology.
As marketers, we think a lot about the psychology of buying. We rarely turn that same lens on ourselves when we're trying to get things done.
In this solo episode, I dig into three of the most common marketing blockers I see, both in my own work and in the work of the people I've partnered with.
I share the tiny step that got this podcast off the ground, and the email idea I was sure was as minimal as it gets (it wasn't). I also get into the sneaky side of a commitment to quality, and why the plan that looks best on paper is often the first thing to fall off when life gets busy.
Each blocker comes with a few questions you can ask yourself to get moving again.
If your marketing momentum is gone and you can't quite put your finger on why, this one's for you.
Find your marketing style (quiz): https://downeystrategy.com/quiz 
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/
Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

Could your business run without you for two months?
Liz Wilcox left hers to go on Survivor, and it kept humming along without her. That's thanks to her intentionality, which is something that gave her momentum from the start.
Liz helps people write weekly newsletters that folks open, click, and buy from. She runs a $9 email membership with more than 4,000 members. And she got there without constantly posting on social media.
We get into how she did that in our conversation, and she shares how it was all driven by laser focus on the life she wanted.
Liz also walks through what it took for the business to survive Survivor. And we dig into how AI has made it way easier to succeed in email...by not using it.
If you wanna know what to write in your emails and how to build a business with that sort of intentionality, give this one a listen!
Liz's Website: https://lizwilcox.com/ 
Minimalist Marketing Style Quiz: https://downeystrategy.com/quizBrittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

Can you build a business without being chronically online?
Natalie Gates is a website copywriter and brand messaging strategist.
In this episode, Natalie shares the low-lift SEO strategy that brings in many of her clients, as well as how she gets referrals through relationships.
We get into what it's like to be marketers with mixed feelings around marketing, why we love websites, and whether or not we think you can grow without being chronically online.
Natalie also opens up about her pull between whimsy and structure, and how that impacts her newsletter writing.
If you're a service-based business owner who feels a little weird about marketing but knows you still have to do it, this one's for you.
Natalie's Website: https://nataliegates.ca/
Natalie's Newsletter: https://nataliegates.ca/subscribe
Natalie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wordsbynatalie/
Natalie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-gates-94163b109/ 
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/
Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

What if the systems you set up once could keep selling for you while you're off doing a jigsaw puzzle...or another 9-5?
Jordan Gill is the founder of Systems Saved Me, where she helps business owners build the templates and automations that take them out of the day-to-day. After ten years running her own business, she recently joined the team at Kit as their senior affiliate marketing manager, and still runs Systems Saved Me in about ten hours a week alongside her full-time role.
In this conversation, Jordan shares what it looks like to run lean. We dig into why she templates almost everything, and the mindset that lets her "pop up" with a new offer instead of building each launch from scratch. She talks about where she's leaning on AI to rebuild pricey tools and hand off the work that doesn't light her up.
Jordan also gets honest about the offers and channels she's said no to, and the filter she uses to decide whether something's even worth creating. Plus, her ruthless approach to her email list.
If you're tired of reinventing the wheel every time you market your business, this one's about building it once and letting it run.
Jordan's Website: https://systemssavedme.com/
Jordan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/systemssavedme/ 
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/
Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

Amanda Natividad is a marketer, writer, and Chief Evangelist at the audience research company SparkToro. She also helped coin the term "Zero Click Marketing," and co-wrote a book by the same name with SparkToro's Rand Fishkin, coming out this fall.
In our conversation, Amanda shares how she pitched herself for a dream job that didn't exist, and how she brought her natural proclivity for audience research with her to SparkToro.
We get into what SparkToro does and doesn't do with their marketing. We also chat about how leading with their unique values and mission lets them approach growth a little differently than a lot of companies.
Amanda shares how she built her personal brand (even though she recoils at that term!) and how she's thinking about adding value for people pre-ordering the Zero Click Marketing book (coming this fall).
Oh, and we get into butter bells and sourdough, because why not.
Amanda's Website: https://amandanat.com/ Pre-order the book: https://zeroclickmarketing.co/book Amanda's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandanat/ 
Margin: https://www.marginfor.com/ 
Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/ Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

In this solo episode, I share five specific ways I'm using AI in my solopreneur business...and three ways I don't.
Margin (the capacity planner I built): https://www.marginfor.com/ Website: https://downeystrategy.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/ 

Kate is proof that you can grow a business on your own terms (without paying Meta a dollar).
Kate Assaraf is the founder of DIP, a sustainable haircare brand now in 800+ independent retailers across the country. She's redirected over $5 million to those local economies.
Kate went total analog when everyone else went digital and built a cult following on word of mouth alone. We get into how she refuses to undercut her retailers, and why she hasn't run ads up until now. Kate also opens up about her internal drive and how, for her, growth sometimes means doing less.
If you've ever felt pressure to push for more in ways that don't line up with your values (but you still want to push for more), this one's for you.
Website: https://dipalready.com/ Double DIP Coconut Almond (shampoo + conditioner bars): https://dipalready.com/collections/best-sellers-1/products/double-dip-coconut-almond-full-size Hair & Body Dry Oil (Coconut Almond): https://dipalready.com/collections/best-sellers-1/products/hair-body-dry-oil-coconut-almond DIP's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dipalready/ DIP's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dipalready Brittany's Website: https://downeystrategy.com/ Brittany's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-downey/