Lessons from 200 Episodes – What I’ve Learned About Marketing & Business

We’re celebrating 200 episodes of the New School of Marketing Podcast! 🥳 In this special milestone episode, I’m reflecting on the biggest marketing and business lessons I’ve learned from hosting this show. From the strategies that actually move the needle to the biggest mistakes I see business owners make, I’m sharing my top takeaways to help you grow your business with confidence.

PLUS, to celebrate, I’m hosting a special giveaway with some amazing prizes! 🎁 Tune in to find out how to enter and be part of the celebration.

Don’t miss this one—it’s packed with insights, reflections, and a whole lot of gratitude for you, my listeners! 💛

Connect with me

Website: www.newschoolofmarketing.com
Facebook: @newschoolofmarketing
Facebook group: @newschoolofmarketing
Instagram: @bianca_mckenzie

Learn from me:

🟣 FREE MASTERCLASS: Sell more of your online course with Meta Ads
https://www.biancamckenzie.com/masterclass

🔵 AIMFUL ADS ACADEMY: Tools, resources & 1:1 support to attract more ideal clients and make more sales with proven, easy to follow Facebook & Instagram ad strategies for any budget. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/aimful-ads/

🟢 FACEBOOK ADS PREP SCHOOL: Find out what you need to know and do before spending money on ads. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/prep-school/

🟡 INVISIBLE AD FUNNEL PLAYBOOK: A practical step-by-step guide to making a big impact with a tiny budget. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/playbook

🟠 FUNNEL FUNDAMENTALS: Building effective sales funnels that drive conversions and grow your business. ...

Transcript

Welcome back to the New School of Marketing Podcast.

As always, I am so grateful to you for tuning in. Before we dive into this episode, I would love to pay my respect and acknowledgement to the Palawa people of Lutruwita, who are the traditional owners of the land on which my business operates.

I pay my respects to the elders, past and present.

Welcome. Welcome to the New School of Marketing Podcast.

And today is a big one. I'm so excited. It's our 200th episode.

First off, a huge thank you to you. Whether this is your first time tuning in or you've been here since the beginning, I appreciate you so much.

To celebrate this milestone, I'm doing something special. I'm hosting a giveaway. I'll be giving away five spots in the New School of Marketing Business Club to you lucky listeners. I will share all the details at the end of the episode, so stick around for that.

Now, for today's episode, I'm reflecting on the biggest lessons I've Learned from recording 200 episodes, working with business owners, running marketing campaigns, and navigating this ever changing digital world.

Whether you're a course creator, a coach, or a small business owner, I think that you'll walk away with some really good insights to help you take your marketing to the next level.

So let's get into it.

Lesson number one.

Marketing is always evolving, but the fundamentals stay the same.

I know, right?

The platforms, tools and trends might change, but at its core, marketing is always about the same things. It's about understanding your audience, having a clear message, and making a compelling offer.

So take email marketing for example.

Some people say email is dead, but it's not.

If you've been listening to me for a while, you know it's not the way we use it has evolved. But businesses that focus on building relationships, providing value, and making offers that solve problems, they are thriving.

So if you are overwhelmed by all the new trends, AI, TikTok, whatever.

Just remember, the fundamentals always win.

Lesson number two, Consistency wins over perfection.

If I had waited until everything was perfect, I never would have launched this podcast.

And if you've been here since the beginning, you would know that I launched in the middle of the COVID pandemic in the middle of what was one of the strictest lockdowns any part of Australia has faced, which were in Melbourne.

And my daughter was, you know, two and a half or something. She couldn't go to daycare, she was home full time. And I decided to launch a podcast. So if I had waited until everything was perfect, it would have not have happened.

And honestly, some of my best performing episodes, they weren't the ones I spent the most time perfecting. They were the ones where I just showed up, shared insights, and kept going.

So business owners often get stuck thinking that their websites, their ads, or their content needs to be perfect before they launch. But guess what?

Perfection doesn't pay the bills. Taking action does.

So you don't have to be the best. You just have to be consistent, show up, deliver value, and you will build trust over time.

Lesson number three, a small, engaged audience beats a huge silent one.

It's easy to get caught up in follow accounts and downloads, but vanity metrics don't pay the bills. I would rather have 500 engaged people who take action than 50,000 who scroll past me.

And this really applies to everything. Email lists, social media, even ads. Focus on quality over quantity.

Build relationships, answer questions, and create offers that your audience actually wants. Which requires you to know your audience and to listen to them.

Lesson number four, people buy solutions, not just content.

So many business owners put out great content, but they don't actually make offers. And content alone doesn't build a business. Selling does.

I've seen people post for years and wonder why they're not making sales. But when you actually ask for the sale and present your offer, clearly, that's when things change.

So here's a reminder. Don't just create content, create offers. And don't be afraid to sell.

You're not bothering people, you're helping them solve a problem.

Lesson number five, relationships matter more than algorithms.

We've all seen it. Platforms change, algorithms shift. But one thing that never stops working is real relationships.

The best podcast guests, collaborations, and client opportunities that I've had, they didn't come from ads or from social media. They came from conversations, from referrals, and genuine relationships.

So if you're feeling frustrated by social media or the cost of ads, you need to ask yourself, how can I actually connect more? How can I show up where my audience is and start real conversations?

That's where the real magic happens.

Lesson number six, selling isn't sleazy if you believe in what you sell.

A lot of business owners struggle with selling because they feel weird about asking for money. But here's the thing. Marketing is just solving problems for people.

If you truly believe in your product or your service, you're actually doing your audience a favor by making an offer.

Imagine If I recorded 200 episodes and never told you about my programs or my service.

That would be crazy, right?

So ditch the mindset that selling is pushy. It's only pushy when you're trying to convince someone who doesn't need what you have.

Instead, think of it as an invitation.

You're inviting people into something that will help them. You're not forcing them. You're telling them and inviting them.

Lesson number seven, Paid advertising works. But only if you have the right foundation.

I love paid ads. You all know that paid ads are my thing, right? It's what I do. It's what I've been doing for 10 years. And they can accelerate growth like nothing else.

But I've also seen people waste thousands of dollars because they didn't have the right foundation.

Here's the truth.

Ads don't fix a bad offer. They don't fix weak messaging or a broken funnel. They just amplify whatever's already there.

So before you run ads, ask yourself, do I have an offer that converts? Do I have a way to nurture leads? If not, start there first. Otherwise, you're just paying for people to leave.

Like you're literally putting fuel on a fire that's not going anywhere. You want to amplify what's already working.

And if it's not working, you want to amplify what's not working.

Lesson number eight, the best content comes from conversations.

You want to know where the best marketing ideas come from?

They come from your audience.

Some of my best podcast episodes and marketing campaigns didn't come from brainstorming. Didn't come from Google, didn't come from ChatGPT.

They came from actual questions people ask me.

Over the past two years, I have mentored more than 50 people, 50 businesses. And I pay attention to the questions they ask me. That's where my content comes from.

So if you're ever stuck on content ideas, listen to your audience.

What are they struggling with? What do they ask you over and over?

What are they asking for in Facebook groups where your ideal clients are hanging out?

Answer those questions, and your marketing will never feel forced.

Lesson number nine, Business is a marathon, not a sprint.

Most overnight successes, they actually took years to build.

Marketing takes time. Ads take testing. A lot of testing. Funnels need tweaking.

If you're feeling discouraged. Keep going. Honestly, keep going. You're learning, you're improving, and you're setting yourself up for long term success.

Lesson number 10, you're never done learning.

After 200 episodes, I'm still learning every single day.

Marketing, business and technology, they're always evolving.

And the best thing you can do is to stay curious, to test new things and to keep growing. And honestly, that's what makes it exciting. Every day is a chance to learn something new and to improve your business.

So Those are my 10 lessons of 200 episodes into my podcasting journey.

So what's next? Well, I'm not stopping anytime soon. I've got big plans for the next 200 episodes and they will be including more deep dives into advanced marketing strategies, more case studies, more real life examples, more expert interviews to bring you fresh perspective and, you know, bring on people that have expertise in areas that I don't have expertise in.

And if there's anything you want to hear about, send me a message like connect with me on Instagram. I would love to know you can find me under Bianca underscore McKenzie on Instagram.

I would love to hear what you would me to talk about.

All right, before we wrap up, let's talk about the giveaway. I'm giving away five prizes. Five winners will get 12 months access to the new School of Marketing Business Club.

This is where we dive deep into marketing strategies, business growth and real world tactics to help you thrive. The business Club is a live environment.

You get four calls each month to help you with your specific marketing and business problems. It's no cookie cutter, it's no prerecorded nothing. It is specifically for your business so I can tailor the answers to your business and to your questions.

And of course, you will be learning so much from your peers as well.

So here's how you can enter go to newschoolofmarketing.com

you'll find the link there to the giveaway, enter your details and for bonus entries, make sure that you share the link with a friend.

The more you share, the higher your chance of winning.

So this giveaway is open until 8pm Hobart time on the 11th of March 2025. So it's open for a whole month and winners will be announced through my email list.

So make sure that you subscribe so you don't miss out. And once again, thank you so so much for being a part of this journey. Here's to the next 200 episodes.

I'm so excited about this. Now here's my reminder to you. If you're ready to take your business to the next level with Facebook and Instagram advertising, make sure that you head to newschoolofmarketing.com

this is where you will find practical free resources. And if you want to grow your business but you don't want to spend all of your time on slow and unpredictable organic social media, then the Aimful Ads Academy is for you.

It's the place to learn how to be seen by your audience, attract the right people as leads and turn them into paying customers. With my proven for Ad Stack method plus as part of the program you'll have one on one access to me and I'm a marketing strategist with over 10 years of experience so you don't have to navigate ads alone.

I'm here to help you be seen, attract leads and get more paying customers.

And remember, subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. I can't wait to keep this journey going with you until next time. Take care and market your business every day.