Lesson 1 — Marketing on Autopilot

By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a 30-day content calendar with: 12 social posts, 4 newsletter topics, and 4 blog post outlines — all aligned to your business goals and written in your voice.

This takes ~2 hours total, the first time. After that, ~30 minutes per month.

Step 1 — Set up your “voice doc”

Before any AI prompting, write a one-page doc that defines your brand voice. This is the highest-ROI 30 minutes of work in your business this month.

Open a doc and answer these:

1. Who’s the audience? (3 sentences — describe a real customer)
2. What’s our personality? (3–5 adjectives: e.g., warm, expert, slightly funny)
3. What words do we use? (5 phrases that show up in our copy a lot)
4. What words do we never use? (5 cliché/corporate words we ban)
5. 2 examples of copy I’ve written that I love (paste them in)
6. 2 examples of copy that’s not us (paste them — competitor or generic)

This doc gets pasted into every marketing prompt. Save it as a Custom GPT (we’ll cover this in lesson 2) or just keep it in a file you reference.

Step 2 — Set the month’s theme

A good content month has a theme — one big thing you want customers to remember. Don’t post randomly.

I run a [type of business] selling [product/service] to [audience].

Help me pick a content theme for next month. The theme should:

- Tie to my business goal: [your goal — more leads / more sales / more retention] - Be specific enough to write 12 posts about, broad enough not to get repetitive - Match the season/time of year if relevant

Suggest 5 possible themes. For each: 1-line theme statement, why it’d work, 3 example post angles.

Pick the one that excites you. That’s the easiest to execute.

Step 3 — Generate the 30-day calendar

Big prompt. Worth it.

You are my content strategist. Build a 30-day content calendar for my small business. Use my voice doc and theme below. Generate:

- 12 social posts (3 per week) — for [Instagram / LinkedIn / Twitter — pick yours] - 4 newsletter topics (1 per week) — each with a hook + 3 bullet points of what to cover - 4 blog post outlines (1 per week) — each with title, target keyword, and 5 H2 sections

Mix the post types: educational, story-driven, behind-the-scenes, customer-focused, promotional (max 1 in 5). Don’t make every post a sales pitch.

Use my voice. Match the words I use, avoid the words I don’t.

Format: a numbered list, grouped by week, with each item labeled (POST / NEWSLETTER / BLOG).

VOICE DOC: [paste] THEME: [paste]

You’ll get a calendar. It’ll be 80% there. Read through. Mark the 4–5 you like best with ⭐. Mark 2–3 that don’t fit with ❌. Run this:

I’m keeping the starred items. Replace the X’d items with new ones in the same theme. Match my voice better — these are too [bland / corporate / formal].

Iterate until the calendar fits.

Step 4 — Draft the first week

Don’t draft all 30 in one go — you’ll burn out and the later ones will sound copy-pasted. Just do week 1.

For each post in week 1:

Draft a [Instagram caption / LinkedIn post / tweet] for the topic below. Use my voice. Keep it [length]. End with a [question / CTA / no-CTA].

Constraints: - Sound like a human texting, not a brand statement - No buzzwords from my “never use” list - Open with a hook that gets the scroll to stop

TOPIC: [from calendar] VOICE DOC: [paste]

Draft → edit → schedule. Move on.

Step 5 — The newsletter

Newsletters are higher-leverage than social. One newsletter takes ~30 min and reaches the people who already chose you.

Draft a newsletter on the topic below. Structure:

- Subject line: 5 options, one of which is curiosity-driven, one is benefit-driven, one is question-form - Preheader: under 60 characters, makes the subject line stronger - Opening: 1–2 sentences, conversational, no “Hope you’re doing well” - Body: 3 short sections with H2s, each ~80 words - Close: warm, with one clear CTA (not three)

Voice: [paste voice doc] Topic: [from calendar] Length: ~400 words total

Pick a subject line. Edit. Send.

Step 6 — The blog post

Blogs are slower-payoff (SEO) but compound. One blog a month adds up.

Draft a blog post from the outline below.

Constraints: - Length: 800–1200 words - Target keyword: [keyword] — use it naturally in the title, intro, one H2, and once more in the body - Voice: [paste voice doc] - No fluff openers (“In today’s fast-paced world…”) - Each H2 section starts with a 1-sentence answer to the H2’s question - End with a useful action the reader can take

OUTLINE: [from calendar]

Edit, add real examples from your business, publish.

The repeating monthly workflow

Once you’ve done one month, the next is faster:

1. Day 1 of month — Run Step 2 (theme) and Step 3 (calendar). 30 min.
2. Each Monday — Draft that week’s content (1–2 hrs).
3. Each evening — Post the day’s social. (10 min from your phone.)
4. End of month — Review which posts performed best. Tell AI: “Here are last month’s top 3 and bottom 3. Help me pattern-match what worked.”

Common failure modes

“All my posts sound the same.” → Mix post types (story, educational, BTS). And add: “Each post should sound like it’s from a different mood — some are excited, some are quieter, some are confident.”

“It still sounds like AI.” → Your voice doc is too short or too generic. Add 2–3 longer copy samples (a full email you wrote, a real social post that performed well). Voice fidelity scales with sample size.

“I can’t keep up with daily posting.” → Don’t. Post 3x/week. Consistent beats frequent. Adjust the calendar.

“AI generates good posts but I forget to actually post them.” → Schedule them. Buffer, Later, or your platform’s built-in scheduler. Calendar means nothing if it doesn’t go live.

What you should have now

• A one-page voice doc (saved, reused forever)
• A 30-day content calendar (12 posts, 4 newsletters, 4 blogs)
• Week 1 drafted and ready to post
• A repeatable monthly workflow

Where to next

Lesson 2 — Customer Service That Sounds Like You →