The Visual Marketing Podcast

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There are conversations you have as a podcast host, and then there are conversations that change things for you personally. This is one of those.

In episode 14, Liz sits down with Michael King, executive coach, keynote speaker, founder of Teams.coach, and the person she credits as having the biggest influence on her business and on her as a person this year. Michael is based in Omaha, Nebraska, has two master’s degrees including one in executive coaching, has worked with organisations including Disney, Pfizer and Social Media Examiner, and was named one of the best executive coaches in both 2025 and 2026. He also hosts The Level Up Leader podcast.

But this is not a standard guest interview. Michael is Liz’s own coach. So what you are hearing in this episode is both sides of a real coaching relationship, with all the honesty that comes with that.

They talk about Michael’s journey from church music and ministry into executive coaching, why he believes authentic identity is our last competitive advantage, and why in his framework strategy always comes last. They get into what executive coaching actually is and how to tell the difference between a legitimate coach and someone who bought a course on a weekend, why most people do not know what their own success actually looks like, and what happens when a business owner finally gets out of their own way.

Liz also shares how she went from someone who would never have considered working with a coach to someone whose business and mindset have shifted significantly in six months. And they talk about Debut Websites, the product that came out of that journey, and why it exists.

If you are a small business owner who has ever felt like you were running hard but not getting anywhere, or a driven person who just cannot quite put their finger on what is holding them back, this episode is for you.

Find Michael at MichaelKingJr.com and check out his new leadership film Irreplaceable and his EP Season One, both dropping around the time this episode goes live.

Find out more about Debut Websites at debutwebsites.co.nz

Connect with C i Marketing at [email protected]

thevisualmarketingpodcast.com

Debut websites has landed, see www.debutwebsites.co.nz for more information

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There is a moment that happens in the C i Marketing office more often than Liz would like.

A small business owner comes in for a coffee. They are passionate, they are talented, they have something genuinely brilliant to offer the world. The conversation is electric. And then it turns to websites, and the light goes out.

Because the options available to them right now are either a DIY template that takes weeks, looks like everyone else's, and still does not do what a real business website needs to do, or a full agency website that costs thousands of dollars they simply do not have yet. Nothing in between that is actually built properly.

That heartbreaking moment is what Liz and the team have been trying to solve for a very long time.

In this episode, Liz sits down with C i Marketing copywriter and strategist Emily Cook, a familiar face from episode three, to talk about what they have finally built to fix it. Debut Websites is a brand new website platform created specifically for New Zealand small businesses and startups who need a proper, strategic, professionally built website at a price that actually works for where they are right now.

They cover why having a website matters more than most people think, including the fact that a properly set up website actually makes your Google and Meta ads cheaper. They walk through everything Debut includes, from a multi-page structure and SEO and AEO optimisation to copywriting, brand creation, stock images, booking system integration, contact forms, monthly analytics, and a simple backend you can manage yourself. And they share the full pricing, including a launch offer available for the first thirty websites only.

Liz also shares three practical tips for taking better photos on your phone, because great visual content does not always require a professional photographer.

If you are a small business owner or startup who has ever felt like good marketing was out of reach, this episode is for you. And the good news is, it is not out of reach anymore.

Find out more and get started at www.debutwebsites.co.nz

Connect with C i Marketing at [email protected]

thevisualmarketingpodcast.com

Debut websites has landed, see www.debutwebsites.co.nz for more information

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Welcome back to part two of this conversation with Billie Lawson on neurodivergency in the workplace. If you haven't listened to part one yet, go back and start there.

In this half, Liz and Billie tackle the big objection head on: "well, if you get that accommodation, then everyone would want it." And honestly? What's so bad about that. They talk about why measuring output instead of hours changes everything, the double standard where a neurotypical person's mistake gets brushed off but a neurodivergent person's gets treated as an excuse, and Billie's brilliant hiking poles analogy that reframes what accommodations actually are.

Then things get really interesting. Billie explains stimming, breaks down why open ended instructions like "just use your judgment" send her into a quiet internal panic, and shares the sayings she's only recently decoded, including why "I didn't sleep last night" doesn't mean what she thought it meant. There's a whole section on how differently brains can work, from vivid visual thinking to internal monologues, that will have you questioning how your own head operates.

It all lands on one simple piece of advice for every employer, manager and colleague listening: different is not weakness.

In this episode:

• Why accommodations that help neurodivergent people actually benefit everyone
• Measuring work by output, not hours, and why supported employees do better work
• The double standard around mistakes, and what "it's an explanation, not an excuse" really means
• The hiking poles analogy: capable doesn't mean unsupported
• What stimming is and what it looks like day to day
• Why "just use your judgment" is the hardest instruction Billie can receive, and how she handled it anyway
• The everyday sayings that don't mean what they literally say, from "the dishwasher needs doing" to "casual dress code"
• Visual thinking, internal monologues, and how differently our brains actually work
• Billie's advice for neurotypical people: a different way of working doesn't take away from someone's value

And keep an ear out for the new product Liz mentions mid episode. That's Debut, and it's live now. Details below.

Find out more at www.thevisualmarketingpodcast.com

The Visual Marketing Podcast is brought to you by C i Marketing, a Christchurch based agency specialising in visual marketing for service based businesses. Visit www.cimarketing.co.nz or find us on socials:

Facebook: facebook.com/cimarketing
 Instagram: instagram.com/cimarketing
 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/c-i-marketing

Have you been putting off getting your business online because it all feels too hard? Debut websites is here! It's our new starter website service built for Kiwi businesses who just need to show up online without the big agency price tag. See www.debutwebsites.co.nz and use the code PLUSONE at final checkout (after choosing your pages) to add an extra page worth $100 + GST on us.

Debut websites has landed, see www.debutwebsites.co.nz for more information

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This episode is a little different, and it might be one of the most important conversations we've had on the show.

Billie is our Photographer at C i Marketing, she also works for Liz's other business; Cirrus International and she's also autistic and has ADHD. In part one of this two part conversation, she opens up about what neurodivergency actually looks like day to day, and what it means for the workplace.

We get stuck into what masking is and why it's so exhausting, why autistic burnout is completely different to regular burnout, and how a simple accommodation like noise cancelling headphones changed everything at a previous job. Billie also shares the pattern she noticed at every workplace before this one, hitting a wall around the eighteen month mark, and what finally broke that cycle.

If you're a business owner, a manager, or you work with people at all, this one will change how you think. Because the things that look like red flags on paper might actually be your next best hire.

In this episode:

• What neurodivergency actually means, and Billie's own journey to her ADHD and autism diagnoses
• What it's like to think about ten things at once, all the time
• Masking, what it is, how it works, and why it leads to burnout
• Why autistic burnout is not the same as regular burnout, and what recovery really takes
• The accommodation that cost nothing and made all the difference
• Why the school system sets ADHD kids up to feel like bad students
• The real strengths neurodivergent people bring to a team, from creativity under pressure to pattern recognition and attention to detail
• Why "I can't do it yet" from a neurodivergent employee might mean something completely different to what you think

Part two of this conversation is coming in the next episode, so stay tuned.

Find out more at www.thevisualmarketingpodcast.com

The Visual Marketing Podcast is brought to you by C i Marketing, a Christchurch based agency specialising in visual marketing for service based businesses. Visit www.cimarketing.co.nz or find us on socials:

Facebook: facebook.com/cimarketing
 Instagram: instagram.com/cimarketing
 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/c-i-marketing

Have you been putting off getting your business online because it all feels too hard? Debut websites is here! It's our new starter website service built for Kiwi businesses who just need to show up online without the big agency price tag. See www.debutwebsites.co.nz and use the code PLUSONE at final checkout (after choosing your pages) to add an extra page worth $100 + GST on us.

Debut websites has landed, see www.debutwebsites.co.nz for more information

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When Liz's father Laurie Hogg passed away in November 2018, he left behind a thriving business, a loyal customer base, and a reputation that still precedes him in the lift and elevator industry to this day. What he did not leave behind was a rulebook.

In this episode, Liz sits down with Jahan Pitcorn, General Manager of Cirrus International, the lift components business Liz took on after losing her dad. Jahan came from a career as a senior front-end software engineer. He knew nothing about lifts, components, stock management, or running a product business. What he did know was people. And it turns out, that was exactly what the business needed most.

This is a conversation about stepping up when life does not give you a choice, building something real from scratch, and why genuine human connection is still the most powerful business tool there is.

In this episode you will hear about:

How Liz inherited a business mid-project, with no systems, no handover notes, and an industry full of people who were watching to see if they could pull it off.

Why a career in front-end software development turned out to be surprisingly good training for customer service, and the mental flowchart Jahan runs every time the phone rings

The relationship philosophy Laurie modelled and how it became the foundation Cirrus International still runs on today

How they built sales processes from the ground up, and what they wish they had known from day one

What reluctant leadership actually looks like, and why the people who never chase the title are often the ones who are best at it

The practical art of remembering the details that make customers feel valued, with real advice for those who find that harder to do naturally

Why the best customer service is not about changing who you are, it is about understanding who you are talking to

Jahan's story is not one he planned. But eight years on, customers often choose Cirrus International specifically because of him. That is the kind of outcome no marketing budget can manufacture.

Visit thevisualmarketingpodcast.com for more episodes.

The Visual Marketing Podcast is brought to you by C i Marketing, hosted by Elizabeth Slade.

Connect with C i Marketing:
Website: cimarketing.co.nz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cimarketing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cimarketing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/c-i-marketing/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CIMKTG
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@c.i.marketing.nz

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Most people think they have a marketing problem. Cliff Ravenscraft would argue it is a clarity problem.

In this episode, Liz sits down with business strategy and mindset coach Cliff Ravenscraft, who spent eight years known as the Podcast Answer Man before making a deliberate decision to shift his focus to business strategy and mindset; the work he found made the biggest difference to the people he was helping.

Cliff shares the moment he realised that the podcasters who quit were not quitting because of bad equipment or poor production. They were quitting because they had never gotten clear on what they actually wanted. That clarity problem, he says, shows up everywhere in business, and it is almost always dressed up as something else.

They also get into limiting beliefs, the danger of mistaking insight for progress, how to protect your focus in a world designed to destroy it, and the one daily practice that has been a total game changer for Cliff personally.

This is a conversation that will make you think differently about what is actually holding you back.

Find Cliff at cliffravenscraft.com or connect with him on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffravenscraft/ If you are interested in his Momentum Mastermind, head to cliffravenscraft.com/momentum

www.thevisualmarketingpodcast.com

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The Visual Marketing Podcast — brought to you by C i Marketing

Show Description

LinkedIn is the platform Liz will happily admit still scares her a little — and this episode is her getting stuck into it head-on with someone who knows it inside out.

Liz is joined by Kristian Downer, founder of Dow Social, a UK-based agency specialising in B2B LinkedIn ads, all the way from Peterborough. Kristian shares how he niched down from a side-hustle running Twitter for mates to becoming a go-to LinkedIn ads expert for everyone from small consultancies to some of the biggest names in construction and professional services across the UK and Europe.

Together they dig into why people beat brands on LinkedIn, the power of thought leader ads, and why 84% of buying decisions are made by people who already know the company they end up working with. Kristian breaks down how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a landing page, what actually belongs on your banner, whether Premium is worth paying for, and how to get your team comfortable stepping in front of the camera without turning it into "congratulations Colin from Accounts, you're our content team now."

Whether you're just getting started on LinkedIn or wondering how to make your ad spend work harder, this one is full of practical, real-world advice you can put into action straight away.

In This Episode

• How Kristian built Dow Social by niching down into LinkedIn ads
• Why people outperform brands on LinkedIn (and the psychology behind it)
• The 84% stat: why buyers already know who they want to work with
• What thought leader ads are and how to use them on a small budget
• Turning your LinkedIn profile into a landing page — headline, about section, banner
• SEO and AEO: why your profile is often the first thing people find when they Google you
• Is LinkedIn only for big business? (Spoiler: no)
• A real client case study from the construction industry
• The right (and very wrong) way to reach out and build connections
• The LinkedIn Insight Tag, retargeting, and the LinkedIn Ads Library
• Is LinkedIn Premium worth paying for?
• How to get your team comfortable being the face of your brand

About Kristian Downer

Kristian Downer is the founder of Dow Social, a UK-based agency specialising in B2B LinkedIn ads, working with businesses from small consultancies through to some of the largest companies in the UK and Europe — with a particular focus on professional services and construction.

Connect with Kristian on LinkedIn (mention you found him through this podcast!) https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristian-downer/ or visit dowsocial.com

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Find more from The Visual Marketing Podcast and C i Marketing, or wherever you find your favourite podcasts.

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Guest: Phil Mershon

Your first impression isn't the moment someone walks through your door, it's the very first time they hear about you. In this episode of The Visual Marketing Podcast, Liz sits down with Phil Mershon, fractional director of experience and speaker coach, to unpack what actually makes a customer experience unforgettable, why "showing" beats "telling" every time, and how a chiropractor's receptionist became the reason one patient will never go anywhere else.

About Phil Mershon

Phil Mershon is a Fractional Director of Experience and Speaker Coach at Unforgettable Events, based in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He has designed events for 5,000-plus attendees, maintained a 95% referral rate for over a decade, and written Unforgettable, the definitive book on experience design. Phil and Liz met at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego and have stayed in touch ever since, this conversation picks up that friendship on the mic.

Connect with Phil:

• Website: www.philmershon.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/phil.mershon
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/philmershon
• Twitter/X: twitter.com/phil_mershon
• Instagram: instagram.com/phil_mershon
• Book, Unforgettable: The Art and Science of Creating Memorable Experiences: available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

What you'll learn in this episode

• The "3 M's" framework for creating an unforgettable experience: Memorable, Meaningful, and Momentous
• Why "show, don't tell" is Phil's number one piece of advice for any business wanting to make a lasting impression
• The real story behind Phil's book Unforgettable, and why he shelved it for 18 months during the pandemic and rewrote the whole thing
• How a first impression actually starts long before someone walks through your door: your website, your first phone call, even your car park
• Simple, low-cost ways small and remote businesses can stand out (yes, even sending a gift can work)
• Why Phil recommends asking job applicants for a short video before you ever meet them: and why Liz reckons even your accountant should send one
• The power of storytelling over stating facts, and why stories are what actually drive people to act
• One small change you can try tomorrow to make your own customer experience more memorable

Quote of the episode

"If you're in business and you have the ability to show people what you want them to do, don't tell them." — Phil Mershon

Watch it

This episode is also on YouTube if you'd rather watch than listen. Perfect if you want to see exactly what "visual marketing" looks like in action.

The Visual Marketing Podcast is brought to you by C i Marketing.

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Billie did not set out to become a photographer. She got a telescope for Christmas, fell in love with space, and ended up with a camera hidden in the back of her grandfather's wardrobe instead. A few years later she packed up her life in Auckland, moved to Christchurch, and photography quietly became one of the most significant parts of her work.

She also, it turns out, can tell whether something was written by AI in about ten seconds.

In this episode Liz sits down with Billie, who works across C i Marketing and Cirrus International, for a conversation that covers both of those things honestly and in full. The first half is about photography: how Billie built a career without formal training, why the job is ninety percent people skills and ten percent technical, how to help someone who is genuinely nervous in front of a lens, and why pricing your work properly matters not just for you but for every creative in the industry.

The second half is a live test. Liz prepared four pieces of real social media copy, some written by their copywriter Emily and some generated entirely by AI, and hands them to Billie on air without telling her which is which. What Billie does next is genuinely useful for anyone who writes, posts, or commissions content. She breaks down exactly what she looks for: the M dash that exploded after ChatGPT launched, writing things in groups of three, the sentence structure ChatGPT uses almost every time ("it isn't this, it's this"), and the word simply appearing where no human writer would naturally put it.

There is also a twist. One of the four pieces fools her, and the reason why says something important about where AI writing is heading and what that means for trust in content.

Whether you are a photographer wondering where the industry is going, a small business owner trying to work out if your content sounds like you, or a marketer thinking honestly about how to use AI without losing your audience, this episode covers ground that matters.

In this episode: building a photography career without formal training, people skills over technical skill, pricing creative work honestly, AI image editing and where it helps and where it does not, the four tells that give away AI written content, spotting AI copy in ten seconds, why well trained AI now sounds human, and what that means for authenticity in marketing.

The Visual Marketing Podcast is brought to you by C i Marketing. New episodes every second Wednesday.

thevisualmarketingpodcast.com

Follow C i Marketing:
 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cimarketing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cimarketing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/c-i-marketing/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CIMKTG
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@c.i.marketing.nz

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What do you do when the business you have built disappears overnight? In this solo episode, Liz shares what she has learned from rebuilding not once, but twice.

In 2011, Liz launched C i Marketing in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes, finding a niche where others saw only devastation. Then COVID hit in 2020 and stripped away almost every client overnight. With staff, an office, and a tourism-only client base, the situation looked impossible. But walking away was never on the table.

This episode is part personal story, part practical playbook. Liz talks honestly about what it takes to keep going when the ground disappears beneath you, and shares three actionable tips you can use right now to stay visible when it feels like the hardest thing to do.

You will hear why visibility is not a luxury you earn when things are going well, why going quiet is one of the most damaging things a business can do in a crisis, and how one unpolished selfie became one of Liz's most successful social media posts ever.

Whether you are navigating a difficult season right now, thinking about a change in direction, or just want to build a business that can weather the unexpected, this one is for you.

Find all of Liz's details and connect at www.cimarketing.co.nz/podcast

Connect with C i Marketing:
 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cimarketing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cimarketing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/c-i-marketing/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CIMKTG
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@c.i.marketing.nz

Connect with Liz:
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-pitcorn-60333840/