Overview
A boutique B2B marketing agency was drowning in operational overhead. Managing content for 15 clients across LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs meant their 4-person team spent 60% of their time on logistics (approvals, scheduling, reformatting) instead of strategy and creation. The founder reached out when they had to turn down 3 new clients because they literally didn't have capacity to manage more content calendars.
The Challenge
Each client had content scattered across Google Docs (drafts), email (approvals), Trello (calendar), and individual platform schedulers. To publish one post: writer drafts in Docs → emails client for approval → client replies with edits in email → writer updates doc → manually copies to LinkedIn, reformats for Twitter character limits → schedules in native tools → updates Trello. This took 45 minutes per post. They were publishing 60 posts/month and it was killing them.
The Solution
I built a single source of truth in Notion where all content lives, then automated everything downstream. Writers draft in Notion with client-specific templates. Zapier watches for status changes: 'Ready for Review' → sends Slack message to client with approval link. Client approves → triggers GPT-4 to generate platform-specific variations (LinkedIn long-form, Twitter thread, blog excerpt). Buffer API schedules across all platforms. Notion remains the master calendar showing what's published where.
The Process
Content Audit & Pain Point Mapping
Shadowed the team for 3 days, documenting every tool touch and handoff. Discovered 14 steps from draft to publish with 6 context switches. Interviewed clients—most hated email approval threads and wanted simple yes/no buttons. Mapped ideal state: write once in Notion, approve in Slack, publish everywhere automatically.
Notion Workspace Design
Built Notion workspace with database for all content. Each row = one piece of content with fields: client, draft, status, platforms, publish dates. Created templates for different content types (thought leadership, product updates, case studies). Set up client-specific dashboards showing their content pipeline.
Zapier Automation Chains
Built 12 Zaps handling the full lifecycle: 1) Status change to 'Review' → Slack message to client 2) Client clicks approve → Calls GPT-4 API to generate variations 3) GPT response → Creates Buffer posts 4) Buffer scheduled → Updates Notion with links 5) Post published → Slack notification with analytics link. Added error handlers for API failures.
GPT-4 Content Adaptation
Fine-tuned prompts for each platform: LinkedIn = professional tone + longer, Twitter = conversational + thread format, Blog = SEO-optimized + full article. Trained on client brand voices using their best-performing past content. Hit 85% approval rate on AI-generated variations (vs 40% in early testing before prompt refinement).
Tech Stack
“We went from turning away clients to finally having capacity to grow. What used to take 45 minutes now takes about 12. The AI-generated variations save us so much time on reformatting for different platforms.”
Customer Support AI
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