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SHIFT45 GUIDES

Practical guides,
not generic advice.

Short, practical reads on strategy, AI workflows and measurement — with clear questions, useful checks and worked examples.

Latest guides

Strategy & positioning

A simple repositioning exercise for SMEs that have outgrown their old messaging

A three-column exercise to spot the gap between what your business says and what it actually does now — in an afternoon.

Strategy & positioning

How to brief a marketing consultant so the first conversation isn’t wasted

Six questions worth answering before your first call, so the hour goes on the real problem instead of fact-finding.

AI & marketing workflows

What “good enough” AI marketing output actually looks like — a review checklist

A six-point checklist for reviewing AI-assisted copy before it goes out, and a faster pass for low-stakes content.

AI & marketing workflows

Which marketing tasks to automate first, and three to leave alone

Which tasks are safe to hand to AI first, which need a tighter review, and three to leave alone entirely.

AI & marketing workflows

Building a small AI prompt library your team will actually use

Why most prompt libraries get abandoned within a month, and how to build a small one that actually gets used.

Freelance partnership & measurement

Signs you need a fractional marketing partner, not another hire

How to tell whether your business needs part-time senior input, or whether it’s genuinely time to hire.

Freelance partnership & measurement

The one marketing report worth checking weekly (and the five that aren’t)

Which number is actually worth checking every week, and which five are better left for a monthly review.

Strategy & positioning

Is it a strategy problem, or an execution problem?

A five-minute self-test for telling which one you’re dealing with — before you spend a quarter fixing the wrong thing.

AI & marketing workflows

How to brief an AI tool without losing your brand voice

Why AI output drifts generic, and the four things a real brand-voice brief needs.

Freelance partnership & measurement

How to read your lead-gen funnel before you automate any part of it

Find the stage with the worst ratio — not the smallest number — before you automate anything.

AI & marketing workflows

How to choose your first AI marketing workflow

Choose one repeatable task, check your inputs and risks, and measure the whole job with a worked content-brief example.

More guides are added regularly. If you’d like help with any of this directly, get in touch or try the AI Marketing Opportunity Scorecard.