MAP IT Marketing

Is the fear of meanies, trolls and haters holding you back on using social media for your business? Or even worse - preventing you from showing up with confidence for your business?  

I want to help you turn that fear on its head.

 

I used to be crippled with fear. I was bullied as a teen so was super sensitive to negative comments, and then mixed with my ADHD rejection dysmorphia, a fear of being wrong, and a strong dislike of conflict and it would mess me up bad

 

There’s something about keyboard warriors who don’t even know us and how we allow them to ruin our day, week and worse, ALL OF OUR CONFIDENCE.

 

In this session we'll talk about what a hate comment is, how to spot actual trolls and meanies and what to do when you get one.

 

Those haters might be doing YOU a favour ! It's all a matter of how we see it. I'm going to help you reframe your thinking, and give you a strategy that will work on any platform

 

I'll walk you through a process you can use to overcome anxiety around negative comments, and then show you how to really maximise the comments (once we've determined they are hate comments) to build engagement, and community and help you find your ideal customers.

 

(This was originally a Linkedin Live - and so there may be references to comments made by some of the people watching during this episode. )

 

 

In this episode we cover:

• How I used to react to trolls, meanies and haters
• Why it’s so common for small business owners to struggle with this
• What is a hate comment (and what is not one)
• How the algorithm protects us
• Why hate comments can strengthen your community
• The two options we can take when we get a troll or a meanie commenting
• The four step RESET process you can use to transform your marketing

Important Links

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download OUR free DIY Marketing Audit checklist

Download the free workbook

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

Become a part of our Facebook group

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 

There’s something about a beautiful coat. Finding the perfect coat for you can transform your outfit into something stunning. 

In 2019 Claire launched Velma and Beverley, a bespoke coat and jacket company becoming known for its’ bold use of colourful wool and the option to select a cotton lining that bests fits your own personal style. 

The ability to showcase New Zealand wool, and then create a garment that is bought from people all over the world is a huge delight to Claire who grew up in the King Country and still holds a huge passion for farming. So much so she also serves on the board of Rural Women NZ, and co-hosts a podcast called Black Heels and Tractor Wheels, highlighting some of the incredible rural women in New Zealand.

Today we talk to Claire about what she’s learned about starting up her own clothing line, how she’s worked out what to outsource and what to keep control of, how she’s marketed her business, and what she is planning for it as it grows.

In this episode we cover:

• Where the name Velma and Beverley came from
• How Claire keeps it a NZ made, sustainable product
• Why there’s no plans to move out of made to measure clothing
• How Claire’s busines ties into the rest of her working life
• What Claire’s learned from creating a label
• How her business is part of many other rural businesses running in NZ 

Important Links

Find Velma and Beverlet coats here

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I love the power of freely available content that helps your potential customer find real gems of information from you. This is called ungated content as all they need to do is check out your social media, read a blog, watch a youtube video or a live and they can get all the goodness you choose to share. This podcast is an example of ungated contact. 

 

There are some who believe that this is the only way now to distribute our content, and then use that to build what I call in my book a sticky content web.

 

I’m a huge fan of freemium content - content that is of a high quality, and is free to access and use.

 

But I also love gated content. Gated content is content the potential customer pays for with their email address. There’s a transaction that happens where you give me your email, and I then send you something. 

 

This strategy can either draw people in closer, or push them away - and we want it to bring them closer.

 

In this episode we talk about the value of both gated and ungated content, how to make them work together and why I tell nearly every business to have some form of gated content in their marketing

 

 

 

In this episode we cover:

• What is gated and ungated content?
• What you need to make open to everyone
• Why some content should be “paid for”
• How to know which one is which
• Why some people hate gated content
• What you should never do with gated content

Important Links

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download OUR free DIY Marketing Audit checklist

Download the free workbook

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

Become a part of our Facebook group

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first time I tried Vince it was in a white paper bag, passed to me by its creator Debbie Stowe at one of my live training events. I took it home and over the next few days used it in my family cooking. Nobody noticed until I fessed up that I’d been “watering down” our meat with a dehydrated vegetable mince look alike. 

 

That of course was exactly how Debbie and her husband Nigel had imagined their vegan product would be most used. Not as a product just for vegans, but as a way to easily introduce more vegetables into family dinners, fitted into our Kiwi dinners, and perhaps dinner plates all over the world.

Considering world domination when you’re a bootstrapped food business operating out of a tiny kitchen is no mean feat, and Debbie and Nigel have had to constantly push past the fear barrier, while ensuring they’re growing at the right pace for themselves, the business and their stockists

Vince is now stocked in supermarkets as well as being sold directly. In today’s MAP IT Marketing episode, Rachel Klaver talks to Debbie about how the business came to be, the help they’ve had along the way, the impact they want to make and what’s next on the growth plan list.

In this episode we cover:

• How Vince started
• Why this vegan product isn’t marketed specifically to vegans
• Some of the challenges in growing the business
• How Debbie and Nigel work together
• What needs to happen to take Vince beyond New Zealand
• What they’ve learned working with supermarkets

Important Links

Find Vince here (including stockists)

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make (including marketers) is to assume that something it’s not a good idea simply because we don’t like it. 

Email is a great example. Everyone has an idea of what frequency of email is ok, but it’s generally far less than what is actually ok!

However there are some marketing tactics that go on that are not good for you, your brand or your business. Some of them are even against the terms of service of the platforms we’re using. 

This podcast was created after I was cold messaged on my personal facebook profile by a small business owner pitching her system. When I asked her where she got my details from she initially lied and said it was from a Facebook Group which didn’t exist (and if it did, it would have been likely her behaviour was not allowed anyway!) She finally admitted it was from software she was using to find potential leads - using the friend lists of other people she’d connected with. 

After blocking her (she would not stop), I went to my MAP IT Facebook group to ask them what marketing tactics they hated, or believed needed to stop.

So here’s our list - and my suggested alternative methods to use instead.

If you’ve ever been tempted by that offer that’s too good to be true, told to send cold emails and direct messages, or wondered how to show your best side… OR would like to join me in my need to vent about dubious marketing practices, then THIS episode is most definitely for you. 

 

In this episode we cover:

• Whether there are some marketing tactics you shouldn’t do
• Why people do them anyway?
• What marketing activity gets a bad rap and shouldn’t
• What’s ok but I personally don’t recommend (and why)
• What better alternatives are to dodgy marketing practices
• What to do if you’re on the receiving end?

Important Links

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

Become a part of our Facebook group

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Thunderpants started almost 27 years ago, selling comfortable underwear first in Nelson, then nationally and later internationally, it was like most other clothing companies. There was a woman’s range, and then later a men’s range. 

Sisters Sophie and Josie have seen many changes in what people have bought, and who’s buying. While hipster briefs were the most popular for years, ultra high waisted pairs now vastly outsell them. Their fabrics are designed and printed here in New Zealand, and feel distinctly Kiwi ( Although they are also sold in the UK and the USA to others loving the designs.

A lot can change in twenty-seven years, including how we as a society see gender, and bodies. After Sophie and Josie both experienced connecting with people close to them who were either non-binary, or trans, and started to understand for “mens” and “womens” ranges could create barriers to a whole group of their customers they made a huge yet simple change. Depending on your anatomy, you can now either order a design in a “flat fronted” or “pouch front” style.

While there has been a small amount of negative feedback, the response from their customer base has been largely positive.

Their marketing campaigns have always shown their products on a diverse range of body sizes, and now the sisters plan to take this further to help give more non-binary and trans representation, along with age and body diversity.

The idea that we as small businesses can make a positive change for communities that often feel sidelined is a powerful one. Sophie and Josie didn’t do it as a marketing gimmick, but as a strong desire to make their products more accessible.

In this podcast we talk to both Sophie and Josie about how Thunderpants started, how they work together as sisters, and how they use their values to make significant business decisions including exporting, design, marketing and more

Even if you don’t “see the point” of degendering on a website, this episode will help you hear the processes this duo went through, and why they don’t regret it for a moment

In this episode we cover:

• How Thunderpants started
• Why values have shaped how the business has grown
• What it’s like working together in the business
• The alternative market growth to exporting
• Why they degendered their website
• What has the impact for their business been?

Important Links

Find THUNDERPANTS here

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Creating a course is very very different from selling a course. Whether it’s a DIY, blended learning, or group coaching course, there’s this idea that if you make it, they will come.

That is simply not true.

Every now and again someone will create a course that happens to catch an early wave of change and it’s an overnight success. But even if you’ve got a sizable list, an engaged audience and people like you, selling spots on a course is often far more difficult than the ‘course gurus” will let on.

I learned this the hard way with the first course we ever released. I spend weeks on creating it. I did not spend the same amount of effort in marketing it! That course has now had a little under a thousand people take it, and it’s since morphed into a blended learning course with some one-to-one coaching 

I learned my lessons well by the time I launched my very first group coaching course earlier this year. The Content Masterweb is currently through it’s second intake, and we're changing the business model to have rolling enrollments in 2023.

From my own experience and the experiences of my clients, I know sign-ups are often harder than we expect. So I asked Linda Reed -Enever to come talk through the common mistakes and misbeliefs course creators experience, and how to counteract them 

Linda Reed-Enever is a marketing, public relations and branding ideas strategist with a passion for educating others. She’s a Thinkific approved expert,and works with businesses and individuals to find their point of difference, perfect their image and build their profile in the public domain.

Linda has helped countless others carve out a niche through innovative marketing strategies, public relations, course creation, social media, marketing automation, and branding. She draws on both her educational background and over 20 years’ experience in marketing and public relations to help businesses and individuals via one-on-one mentoring, courses, webinars, training and useful tools.

If your course is creating virtual dust on a website somewhere, this is the episode you need to tune into

In this episode we cover:

• Why the six-figure launches are a false goal
• What your sales page could be missing
• How often you should talk about your course
• What sort of course model is best for you
• What you need to think about if you have intake times 

Important Links

Check out Linda Reed-Enever here

Register for the SUMMIT here

Get her TOOLKIT

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If business growth is on your mind, you have five levers you can adjust in your business. The key is to know which one to work on first, and then what to do next. In this episode of MAP IT Marketing we take you through the five levers, and I show you what you can think about and change at each stage. 

 

One of the biggest differences between a marketing strategist and a digital marketing strategist is that if we’re looking at all types of marketing, we also will look at your whole business structure. 

 

The last thing that I’d ever want to do is to help you increase sales without first checking we’re selling products that are profitable, for example.

 

The five levers of profit, spend, traffic, repeat business and referral business also can help us determine the overall health of your business.

 

If you’ve got it all sorted with one right now, you just work on the next one. If you know you’ve got an issue in one area in particular, moving the lever will impact all the other areas as you change. 

 

If you’re got business growth and more profit on your mind, this is the episode for you

In this episode we cover:

• Why you need all five levers
• How to increase profit in your business
• Why understanding average customer spend is so important
• How to best understand traffic
• Why you might need more traffic
• How to invest in getting more repeat business
• Why repeat and referral business matters so much
• How to use third party referral selling

Important Links

Get the Marketing Health Checklist

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

Become a part of our Facebook group

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Out of the many undesirable traits I have, my ability to underestimate the sheer volume of any one task has to be my least favourite. Match with my confidence that “it’s all going to turn out great” and I get myself into a few too many pickles for my liking.

 

I have gotten better. But this year I discovered that my decision to self publish my book Be a Spider, Build a Web was a far bigger task than I had expected. Not only did I have to write the thing, but then I had to work out how to get it ready for publishing AND then work out how to market it.

 

And yes, I’m a marketing strategist, and I’ve had books published before. But marketing a book is working in a particular subset of marketing, and my last published book was (cough) 2008 and that was with Penguin, who did all the heavy lifting both on the publishing and on the publicity front.

 

After getting help with the publishing side, I felt I could manage the launch, until all too late I realised I was wrong (learn from me people!) So I sent a desperate email to Elizabeth Heritage, a freelance publicist who offers everything from a DIY package (that’s what I got) to a complete “done for you’ book publicity service. 

 

Thankfully she came to my rescue, and while there was a limit to what she could do, as I’d left it far too late, I immediately had a plan, and direction in where to go. I’m still implementing her plan, and I’d call the release of Be A Spider, Build A Web more of a “slow burn” but we’re getting there!

 

Elizabeth Heritage has worked in book publicity for nearly a decade, both in-house at publishing houses and freelance for small presses and self-published authors. For seven years she was the sales, marketing and publicity tutor on the Whitireia publishing course. She lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara with her whānau and pet rats.

In this episode we cover:

• How book publicity is different from other types of publicity
• How Elizabeth got into book publicity work
• Why it can help having someone else help you with publicity
• When you should think about engaging a publicist
• What authors can do to help their book be seen
• Why a publicist can get into doors you can’t 
• What your business can learn from a book publicist

Important Links

Check out The Elizabeth Heritage here

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is one constant in digital marketing. And that constant is change. Sometimes it’s a change for the better, sometimes it’s not, and sometimes so much changes at once it’s hard to work out what on earth is going on. 

 

Because I work with small business owners on marketing, I take hours a week to learn and stay updated. But with taking off a few weeks in July, I managed to miss one of the biggest (and quick to be removed) updates to Instagram in some time. I knew I needed help to work out what I’d missed, why I still needed to care about it, and what’s coming up.

Thankfully Sarah Galbraith could tell me (and you) the whole story. Sarah and I spent the Pandemic years meeting weekly on an Instagram live to talk about social media updates, and came on a bonus episode early the year. Her business The Social Approach helps Kiwi and Australian small business owners with content creation for their posts, providing both images and caption templates every month, along with support and guides. 

Instagram may have rolled back the changes I saw briefly on my feed a few weeks back, but they are coming. So listen in and learn so you’re prepared for the new ways we’ll need to use the platform to reach our target audience. Because as the platform changes, we also need to change. 

In this episode we cover:

• Why Instagram is changing
• Why they rolled out changes then stopped
• What we can expect in the next few months
• How to use your static posts within the new style
• How we’re using hashtags now
• What you can do with your beautiful long captions. 

 

Important Links

Check out The Social Approach here

Follow Sarah on Instagram

Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web

Download the free workbook

Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group

Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme

Rachel’s YouTube Channel

Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.