MAP IT Marketing

It’s often only when we stop and breathe that we can see our new direction, and things finally fall into place.

As we head into a new year, hoping for the best, prepared for the unexpected (if the last two years have taught us anything - it’s to be prepared), it’s a perfect time to reflect on our business, and check in with ourselves.

Is our business leading me where I want it to? How can I change elements of my business to make it work better for me AND my customers?

It’s timely that just as I'm launching our new online marketing strategy course, that we get to hear Shelly Davies' wisdom and experience in her course launch.

Shelly Davies is a speaker, a plain language trainer, and an inspiration in terms of her own story. Her business, like so many others, was impacted by the pandemic, with her in person training and conference speaking severely cut back. 

Straight talking, and direct to the point with oodles of grace and love sums up Shelly’s style. As she says on her website: “Waffle and padding under the guise of “professionalism” is self-serving bullshit and it’s no longer acceptable” 

Shelly had tried to launch courses before. She followed formulas, tried to do what everyone else was doing. It wasn’t until she realised to show her best side she needed to show her “unprofessional” one that things started to change.

The launch week of her Unprofessional Writing School was huge, with her engaged community jumping in, enrolling, sharing and working with her to help far more people than she thought was possible in a week.

For anyone who’s thinking about launching a course or trying to work out why there’s isn’t going to plan, this is an inspiring and encouraging story. 

What we cover:

• Why this launch worked when others didn’t
• Shelly's goals and outcomes of launch week
• Why Shelly doesn’t believe anything is wasted
• How she’s carving out a business that works around her life
• How Shelly is planning to spend 2022

 

Important Links

Shelly’s Website

The school of unprofessional writing

Register interest in Rachel’s  MY MAP IT MARKETING COURSE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the end of 2021, and 2022 is looming. I’ll tell you what I’d like for the New Year. It’s very simple.

1. Some plans to stay put and work out
2. To have limited change

However the last two years have shown me that I have very little control over both of those things! And, if there’s anything I’ve learned about digital marketing, it will change no matter whether we’re ready for it or not! (even if we’re all like ‘Please, we’re still trying to cope with a pandemic here!’)

 

I’ve taken a look at the marketing changes and trends and walk through with you the eleven key trends I believe are going to impact our marketing in 2022. Have a listen, make some notes and add some of these into your own marketing strategy. 

 

If you've got questions or need some help around any of these, do join our MAP IT Marketing group on Facebook

 

Today we cover

• I0S15 and the impact on email marketing
• The rise and rise of short form video
• Live shopping
• Chatbot marketing (going deeper)
• The changes to content marketing
• The need for more customisation
• Collaborations for creativity
• The rise of audio
• Why SEO is getting visual
• The continued exodus away from Facebook
• Privacy policies

Important Links

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Register interest in our MY MAP IT MARKETING COURSE

 

Other recommended Episodes

How I repurpose content

Getting over video fears

How to get more ECommerce Sales

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year I’ve created more content across more platforms consistently than I ever have before. But I also nearly lost my own voice and style, the things that set me apart from every other marketer and content creator out there. 

 

What happened to me is so common, and can happen to any of us when we’re trying to learn new ways of doing things, and spending too much time trying to emulate others as we adapt and change. 

 

I want you to develop your own voice, style and brand. From a monetary point of view, it’s what can set you apart from your competitors the fastest, and simplest way. But it can also be the scariest and hardest thing to do. What happens if you start to show people your way of thinking, and doing things, and people don’t get it, or worse - don’t like it?

 

My liberation from trying to be like everyone else, from turning away from the culture of “same” and letting my weird show was what helped people see me, and see our business. Losing this voice stifled my creativity, stemmed the flow of ideal clients, and caused me to question my own ability to communicate to my community.  

 

Our job is to become a voice (and face) people recognise, and then allow them to consciously turn to face us, or turn away. That’s it. That’s the foundation of a personal brand. 

 

In this podcast, I walk you through how I originally developed my own voice, how I lost it, and what I’ve done to reclaim it. I also walk you through my A.R.M.E.D formula (that’s one of my “own voice” things) to explain what you can do if you want to create a message that stands out from the crowd.

 

Coming out of the blahs of sameness, I personally  feel I’m now starting to really find a new style that takes that original voice, the learnings I’ve made this year and taken it all deeper. Perhaps that’s part of the process of developing our own voice. 

 

Regardless, I’m very pleased I found it. 

Today we cover

• Why it’s important to have your own voice as a business owner
• What I did to originally develop my own voice
• What caused me to lose it
• What I did to reclaim it
• The impact of rediscovering my own voice
• The ARMED method you can use to work on your own personal brand and voice development

 

Important Links

Rachel’s instagram account (my reels)

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Register interest in our MY MAP IT MARKETING COURSE

 

Other recommended Episodes

How I repurpose content

Getting over video fears

How People Pleasing might be harming your business

Managing Marketing Overwhelm

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was day one of a new job in a new town. Toni had taken a job at a local radio station in Broome, Western Australia, and a tropical low pass went through and caused damage to buildings and businesses. 

This was the point where Toni saw that regionally based businesses can often have issues with supplies, stock levels and may need to deal with issues around internet coverage, couriers, and extra costs that small businesses in large centres don’t need to manage.

She also saw an opportunity. Many of the business owners she came into contact with were not confident in how they used social media, both to market locally and to attract domestic tourists, something that became all important when the international borders closed

Toni launched Social Project, with a focus on regional businesses, and found there is huge demand for marketing training specifically for the needs of regional businesses.

We talk through some of the benefits and drawbacks of operating a regionally based business, along with talking about one of Toni’s epic skills - instagram reels. 

I’ve always loved working with businesses in the regions without agency Identify so this episode is dear to my heart. 

Today we cover

• How Toni identified a need for social media training in Broome
• The benefits of owning and marketing a regionally based business
• The different needs for businesses marketing locally, to marketing outside the region
• Why regional businesses are often underestimated
• Why social media still counts if you’re marketing locally
• How Social Impact helps regions businesses further afield

 

Important Links

Toni’s Instagram

Toni’s Facebook

How to work with Toni

 

Other recommended Episodes

Going from Markets to selling in stores

Do you need an exit strategy?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Several months ago I was watching a Tiktok video about overcrowded beaches in Sydney during lockdown. I was stuck, feeling trapped, in lockdown in Auckland and the rule breaking in Aussie made me feel incensed.

I shared it to my personal Facebook profile, and quickly discovered (from people who were currently on that beach at that instant)  it was old footage that had been cut to look like it was new. It was a reminder to me that it’s so easy to miss a step and share something inaccurate, and how easy it is to spread misinformation.

I generally spend a lot of time checking the source of my content, whether I’m sharing it with friends, or my business page. If I see a shared post I’ll click on it, check out the profile and the other posts, and often see if I can find the original clip before I share. 

Dave Letele, owner of Butterbean Motivation, a boot camp and fitness business based in Auckland has seen first hand the impact of misinformation in his community. Many of Dave’s community are in the hardest hit parts of Auckland in terms of Covid19. He’s put his bootcamp business to the side to serve his people with a Food Share (aka a food bank), support and care for those who can not work during lockdowns or are isolating at home.   

Dave ran a vaccination drive at his Food Share, and was both celebrated and abused for it. He’s lost several of his team who have chosen not to vaccinate, many of whom share misinformation on their social media pages. 

Today on the MAP IT Marketing podcast we talk to Dave about why it’s important for creators and business owners to carefully check sources before spreading, what the impact misinformation has had for him and his business, and why checking sources before posting is so important.  

Dave is part of a campaign run by Meta (formally known as Facebook), and First Draft, an organisation dedicated to help creators and business owners to check sources, and become educated on the veracity of any information being shared. 

While we naturally move to think of this within the space of Covid19, vaccines, lockdowns and more, checking sources is a good practice to have at all times. Misinformation seeps into many areas of our lives, and social media makes it super simple for us to share and pass on stories, posts and images that are not based on research, or have been doctored. 

While it’s a given that influencers have, well, influence, business owners also often have a powerful platform and a following. We all have a choice what we post both in our feeds, and in our stories. With the rise of personal brand for small business, the business owner is often closely tied to the business they run. 

Knowing what to share, and being prepared to stand by what you’ve shared is important. If you want to share information, or a post, here’s a short checklist of actions to do first, as supplied by First Draft:

1. Try to find the original
2. Find the author or creator
3. Confirm the date
4. Seek the location
5. Undercover the motivation
6. Look for visual cues

**I’m also asking you to consider donating to the BBM Food Share. The link is in the show notes

Today we cover

• How Dave Letele started BBM and what he’s doing now
• Why it’s important for business owners and influencers to care about content sources
• What the impact of misinformation has had on his business
• What Dave is doing to stem the flow of misinformation
• What we can do as business owners and influencers

Important Links

BBM Community Kitchen and FoodBank

BBM - and Dave Letele

Facebook’s Response to COVID19 information

First Draft’s Guide for Creators

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While most of us use holidays to chill out and think of anything but business, Chanelle O’Sullivan uses that time to plan out cool business ideas on paper, napkins, anything she can find. This was the beginning of her meadery Borage and Bee,  a sparkling mead in a can sold here in New Zealand, gaining huge interest overseas. 

 

Chanelle operates Borage and Bee Meadery from her home in Glenorchy in the South Island of New Zealand, arguably one of the most beautiful places to live in the world. 

 

Mead’s core product is honey, and has no artificial preservatives, cane sugar or anything not created by nature. It’s surprisingly unsweet (for those who’ve never tried it,  the honey gets “eaten up” in the fermentation process) 

 

Chanelle is now two years deep into her business, the third she’s launched and run. This is the first business she’s developed with a clear goal for growth, and she’s spent time taking on advisors to help her think bigger. 

 

One of the defining moments was when someone asked her “What’s your exit strategy?” 

 

It was a question that stopped Chanelle in her tracks and made her rethink how her business would grow. It helped her to think bigger, and continues to help her create a strategy that serves her business now, but also helps her plan for the future

 

In this episode we talk about what an exit strategy can do for your business, and why it’s not all about “preparing to sell.”

Today we cover

• What Chanelle’s plans are for Borage and Bee Meadery 
• The benefits and constraints of running a business rurally
• The impact in getting external help
• How investors have helped the business grow
• What having an exit strategy has done for the business
• What the next steps are for Borage and Bee
• What Chanelle would love to accomplish. 

Important Links

Borage and Bee on Instagram

Borage and Bee on Facebook

Other recommended Episodes

How to build a business without a ready to sell product

Getting into the USA market - with Getting Lost

Going from Markets to selling in stores

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Find out my favourite tools, apps and online solutions that help us create content, develop materials, and keep the content machine churning without causing us all to burn out. 

I first started in marketing over twenty years ago, and I can tell you that life is so much easier now! We had to outsource anything that wasn’t in our skillset (which besides writing was everything else for me.) It was hard work to do anything clever, and so much of the work was manual.

Every year the apps get cleverer, the automation becomes more perfect, and the options become endless. 

I’m an easily distracted magpie who loves the shiny new ideas, but that’s not serving us as a business, or our clients if I’m changing things up every five minutes! I download and test a lot of solutions before we adopt them, and the apps and platforms we stick with are ones we come back to again and again. 

So today I have over twenty different solutions to make your marketing activity easier. Most have a free option, though we normally use the paid one if we can see it’s going to save us time, and money. 

That’s the secret to all of these options, for design, content , video creation and more. Try them out, then keep the ones that make your marketing easier. 

And just remember - no tool can do what it’s meant to, if you don’t know what you’re trying to say, why you’re trying to say it, and who is meant to hear it. The strategy needs to come first.

Today we cover

• What to do before jumping in and giving these tools a go
• How to find these tools
• How I assess whether a tool or app is worth keeping
• Which ones we use at Identify every week
• Why paying for a tool can help you save money and time

Important Links

A PDF of all the tools/apps

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Free Video Trimmer

Telepromoter App (Iphone only)

Other recommended Episodes

How I repurpose content

Getting over video fears

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So often as business owners we fall into the trap of growing our business, focussed on the turnover and external signs of success, and forget the biggie: Profit.

 

This was certainly true for today’s guest Jennifer McKinley whose company Cor Silver Skincare was being picked up by international markets, considered a huge success and at the same time, causing Jennifer regular financial stress. Everyone was getting paid except her. 

 

Even though Jennifer loved numbers and accounting (She was a professor's assistant in accounting at Yale when I was getting my MBA there), she still made many of the same entrepreneurial mistakes in terms of managing the cash flow of the business. She was chasing revenue instead of profitability. Now she lives by the quote: “At the end of the day revenue is vanity; profitability is sanity”

 

With the same tenacity Jennifer had applied to building her business, she learned about Profit First, a system created by Mike Michalowicz for business owners needing to get the profit back into their business.

 

The results were seriously good, and Jennifer decided she’d like to share her knowledge with other small business owners struggling to grow a business while remaining profitable. She is New Zealand’s only Certified Profit First Professional, and helps her clients apply the Profit First model to their business.

 

We’re also avid Profit First users, and recommend it to our clients. Like us, they’ve seen dramatic changes in their businesses, from solopreneurs to businesses with teams of 50+ staff.  If you know you need to make more profit in the next twelve months, and want to get a handle on it, this podcast episode is for you. 

Today we cover

• .Why Jennifer became a Profit First Professional
• What the impact on her own business was
• What focussing on profit can do for the whole business
• Why this system can help you prepare for big purchases
• Why you need a “Government’s Money account
• Why a long holiday can be a sign of health
• What other accounts you need, depending on your type of business
• How to apply this process to your own business

 

Important Links

Jennifer’s Website

Jennifer on Linkedin

Jennifer on Facebook

 

Other recommended Episodes

Your budget is not their budget with Natalie Coombe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sel Leigh created a business that pulled together her decades of experience in working across multiple government and NGO roles educating not-for-profit and business owners, and had a growing number of clients who loved her help, advice and support around helping them understand the obligations and entitlements of being in business, specifically in the not for profit, or other impact style business models. 

But Sel had a problem

Her business was soaking up hours she did not have, she was stressed and the profit coming in from the work wasn’t enough. She needed help. 

In this episode of MAP IT Marketing, we walk through why Sel needed to get some external help to reset her pricing, what mindset barriers she had to break down, and how her clients reacted to her new pricing structure.

For anyone who’s struggled to work out how to price your value, as opposed to “what you think you can get” this is a must listen to episode. 

Sel now uses the lessons and techniques she’s learned to help her clients also change their mindset and ensure they’re building a business that is profitable and healthy. At the time of our interview, Sel was still on maternity leave, which she was able to take fully, leaving a team member to look after the business, and still be paid from the business. 

Sel’s about to return to work with clients, helping them with their Impact-focussed businesses, knowing she’s built a business that still gives her time with her three young children, aligning her business with her personal values around family.  

 

Today we cover

• Why it’s good to think about profit (even with a passion / impact business)
• Why we so often don’t charge what we’re worth
• What you need to take into account when you change your pricing
• When you may need to get help
• What the biggest impact of changing your money mindset is
• What happens when you tell your clients the pricing has changed

 

Important Links

Sel on Tiktok

Sel on Instagram

Sel on Linkedin

Natalie Coombe, Pricing Expert

 

Other recommended Episodes

Your budget is not their budget with Natalie Coombe

How People Pleasing Can Harm Your Business

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you dipped your toes into using LinkedIn but are not sure if it’s a social media platform you should be focusing on? Or have you been putting effort into it but haven’t seen an increase of leads or sales from your activity? LinkedIn can become a powerful growth tool for your small business if you use it right. And it all starts with optimising your profile.

For a long time, LinkedIn has been my favourite of all the social media platforms, although I’ve been exploring new loves such as Instagram this year. No matter how obsessed I have got around creating a reel or an engaging Instagram post, I still love the community power of LinkedIn, and the potential for huge organic reach from a post without as much as a few sentences placed together is better than any other platform.  

It’s so much more than a job finding or corporate promotional platform and can provide you with the ability to build relationships with both your ideal client and other business owners like yourself around the world.

I often say to small business owners “If your target market tends to be employed, and has money, then they’re likely to be found on Linkedin.” All small business owners can find their particular target market on the platform. Like anything, it’s how you use it!

Your personal Linkedin profile helps you connect person to person with your network. Because you are talking to each other as “real people’, your profile page needs to be a well-constructed information centre of what you do, who you do it for, and how you do it, from the banner to the record of your activity. 

We walk through how to construct your Linkedin profile, explain where you need to add a call to action and explain some of the common mistakes people make when creating their Linkedin profile. 

Today we cover

• Whether you need to be on Linkedin
• Why the profile is so important
• The key elements of a Linkedin profile
• How to write a create headline 
• Why you need the headline
• Tips for writing your about us and bio
• How to use the featured section
• Why it’s important to moderate your Linkedin activity 
• What to do from here. 

Important Links

Episode 27 - Why Linkedin Company Pages could become your secret weapon

Your FREE Linkedin infographic

MAP IT -Action plan for 2022

Social Media for Boring Businesses (free webinar)

 

Other recommended Episodes

Are Case Studies your Secret Weapon?

How to Create Engaging Social Media Posts

How to Create Social Media Content as a Boring Business

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.