You can still submit your marketing questions to my free office hours, which I’ll be recording and sending out next week. Submit your Qs by October 13th—I’m looking forward to answering them! 💌
The other day a client asked me how often she should send out her newsletter. A week before I’d brainstormed with a client what her most minimal version of marketing looks like now that she’s in a season of low energy. And that same week I spoke to a client whose energy is always limited because of her chronic illness, which impacts her ability to market her business.
All of these conversations are about prioritising ourselves and our humanness in our business. About how to make our marketing more human. How to do less.
These are exactly the kinds of conversations we have inside my gentle marketing programme Grow: finding the minimal, human approach to marketing that works for you.
I felt at home in Grow right from the first video. Never before have I been able to think about my business in such a calm and warm way. Astrid guides you step by step in discovering the marketing that suits you best.—Ine Muys, artist and reading coach
Four questions to help you do less in marketing
If you’re in a season of business where you need to do less, or need your marketing to be more streamlined every day, week and month, it’s time to make some choices.
These four questions are ones I return to again and again with my clients and participants of my gentle marketing programme *Grow—*indeed, these questions are at the heart of the foundational modules of Grow in which we create your unique blueprint for marketing your business.
Which parts of my marketing feel most easeful to me right now? Or, in other words, what is costing me the least energy?
What is the bare minimum of marketing to allow people to discover me?
What is the bare minimum of marketing to allow people to get to know me?
What is the bare minimum of marketing to turn my audience into fans?
The idea behind these four questions is that you first clarify what is the least demanding way to market for you right now, and then make sure that your minimal marketing covers the three stages of marketing.
Figuring out your bare minimum marketing takes some thinking and tweaking—and aims to be as minimal as possible, drawing on what you already have (for instance, website SEO, or a blog archive), and using platforms that work across as many stages as possible.
Ideally, you end up with marketing that largely ticks along in the background. Looking at how recent clients have found me, most of them have said “search engine” or “Pinterest”. While both my website and Pinterest have taken and take some work, the results of these channels is much bigger than the work I put in to them.
But what if you’re just getting started?
Even then, you can use the three stages and lean into minimal marketing. You might not have that blog archive yet, and instead focus on keeping your newsletter going while you’re going through a season with little energy. If you have a newsletter you probably also have a website or a Substack page, which allows people to discover you. And your newsletter helps them get to know you better, and even become your fans.
The waitlist for Grow is now open. Waitlist subscribers get 10% off, early access, and special bonuses — no commitment, just marketing love 💌
Why doing less is enough
Could you do more? Sure.
There is always more that you could do. But you don’t have to. And often, we just need to do less.
I love how how minimal my marketing is because really I don’t want to spend a lot of my time marketing.
I want to work with small business owners and create courses and programmes. It’s the same approach I teach inside Grow — finding a marketing rhythm that lets you focus on the work you actually want to be doing.
There is always more that you could do. But you don’t have to.
A much more extensive marketing ecosystem isn’t feasible for me and my health.
It can be really frustrating and downright annoying to have to take a slower track. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t be growing your business too. And frankly, the only way to build a truly successful business is for it to be a sustainable one, which means not to burn yourself into the ground in the process.
This is exactly why I created Grow: to help small business owners, freelancers and creatives like you design a marketing strategy that supports your energy, your needs and your desires.
I felt at home right from the first video. Never before have I been able to think about my business in such a calm and warm way. Astrid guides you step by step in discovering the marketing that suits you best. —Ine Muys, artist and reading coach
Marketing that ticks along in the background. Marketing that uses your strengths. Marketing with or without social media.
In short, marketing that is all you.
If you’d like support in creating your own minimal, human marketing system, I’d love to invite you to the waitlist for Grow—where you’ll also get gentle marketing bonuses, early access to the launch and 10% off.
Curious what Grow looks like in practice? Here’s a quick overview:
what | a 4-month hybrid group programme that combines self-paced modules with my eyes on your business — through recorded office hours, bi-weekly check-ins, and monthly live (and recorded) planning calls.
who | small business owners, freelancers and creatives who want to grow a slow, gentle and profitable business — through marketing that’s sustainable, allows time off, and fits with their life and energy.
when | 1 November 2025 – 1 April 2026, with a December break + lifetime access to all materials.
how | launching mid-October — join the waitlist to get early access, 10% off, and gentle marketing perks along the way.
how much | €990, paid in full or in 4, 6 or 8 monthly instalments at no extra cost.
Want to know more about minimal marketing? In tomorrow’s podcast I go deeper into minimal marketing, and how I use it to scale down my marketing when I need to and up what I want to listen.
Listen to a preview, and follow the podcast to get the full episode in your favourite podcast app tomorrow.
Listen on Apple podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Substack
Have a lovely rest of your week! Before I go — the Grow waitlist is live. If you’d like first access (plus a 10% discount and exclusive bonuses), you can join here. Speak to you soon x
I’m going to revisit the chart with the 3 phases as I am starting out with a new business. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed but just reading this, Astrid, has made me feel calmer again. The way you run your marketing really gives me hope I can do the same. I’m going back to the ‘Grow’ modules today! Thank you! 💕
I love your approach and I have found the chart with the 3 "phases" with the corresponding "channels" very interesting and useful ! Thank you Astrid.
We often think we need to do more, especially at the beginning, when we need to grow our business and be found by the first clients (I'm in this phase 😀) but you're right: what if the solution was doing less ? Less of what drains our energy ?
Allowing instead of pushing ✨️.