Improving my marketing strategy: lessons and insights

What am I doing about it?

There are many ways to leverage AI in 2025. It’s become ubiquitous and, at times, annoying. This isn’t the place for a discussion of complicated feelings about the implications of artificial intelligence, so I’ll spare you that, dear reader.

One thing that I know is that AI is good at teaching as long as you’re willing to put in the work. So, I employed ChatGPT to teach me how to use what they’re calling “The Everything App”, ClickUp.

I’ve dabbled with ClickUp over the years. My wife, also a small business owner and many-hat-wearer, is a gigantic fan and speaks many praises on how it helps organize and manage an endless list of tasks. My experience, til now, has been that it is more hassle than it’s worth.

I don’t have that many tasks. A notebook and whiteboard can handle this for me. \-Me, every day until earlier this week

The truth is that there are so many tasks that I should be doing, but I’m not. Not tracking them doesn’t mean they’re getting done. So, I figured that organizing marketing efforts would be a great place to start.

Leveraging AI the Smart Way

I opened ClickUp and found a template that seemed like it might work. However, there was a lot of extraneous data and uses that I didn’t find necessary. So, I started with a prompt to my young pal ChatGPT:

I'm going to use ClickUp to manage my marketing tasks. I am relatively new to using this application, so please provide insights whenever you can. Currently, I've downloaded a template called Content Management. This template includes task lists for Email, Blog, and Social. Each list has statuses Published, In Review, In Development, Concept, and Open. I would like to create guide documents for myself to go in this space as well. Based on the information I've provided, I'd like to make a plan for each of the task lists so that I can hit the ground running in May on marketing, blogging, and more. What I'm having an issue with currently is where to start. It's all a bit overwhelming, and I just want to be organized and productive.

Over the next several hours, I learned an incredible amount about ClickUp, how it functions, and what it’s capable of. As with anything, ChatGPT didn’t get everything right. Some information was outdated or incorrect. You learn to work around that.

Our conversation centered mostly around learning ClickUp, but we ventured into other categories, like strategies to keep marketing work manageable & ways to let technology do the heavy lifting on organization, so that I can let creativity flow.

The Results

Today, I can proudly say that I have a marketing system that will allow me to express myself while being strategy-focused. I’ve functionally rebuilt the entire template that I used to start, but it’s tailored to the way I work, think, and act.

My system gives me space to brainstorm and track concepts, organize them into Content Pillars, rank them by priority (how interesting I find the idea), and automatically create subtasks & checklists on the fly as I move forward.

Here’s how it works:

1. I have a list called Campaigns, where I can generate concepts as tasks.
2. When a concept is generated, I’ve set up an automation to create subtasks and checklists. Subtasks include:
3. Write Blog Post
4. Create Email
5. Social Media Post - Image or Carousel
6. Post-Campaign Review
7. From there, I can add the concept to separate lists for Blog, Email, and Social. This is where things get fun.
8. When I have some time set aside for marketing, I move a campaign from “Concept” to “In Development” and start working on the first subtask item, which has an automatically generated checklist for completion.
9. The concept then goes through other stages that are remnants of the original template I made. A typical path would be:

• Concept > In Devevelopment > In Review > Ready > Published
• Other options allow flexibility: On Hold, Needs Update

So, what does this system do for me?

It lets me jot down an idea when I have it, so that when it’s time to work on weekly marketing I can sit down and just work. When I get a blog post done, it can be repurposed into an email campaign and a series of social media posts. No more shotgunning my marketing, making random social media posts out of obligation, only writing a blog when I have an idea and time to write. I’m talking focused, branded, effective marketing.

It also lets me track other marketing efforts that are not destined to be full-blown campaigns. I can ideate and create social media posts outside of my campaigns and organize them within a comprehensive content calendar.

From a top level, I can view all of my marketing efforts in a list, calendar, kanban board, gantt chart, or timeline view. So many options, each with strengths and weaknesses! This versatility means a lot to my brain.

Content pillars keep me focused on the message. ClickUp views let me see things however I want to see them. Working smarter, not harder, is a beautiful thing.

If you’re curious how a designer/dev ends up obsessing over systems like this... welcome to my brain! I’ll probably share more behind-the-scenes soon—stay tuned.