Fran Bellingham, Founder of Virtual Marketers, is an expert in taking new ideas, products and campaigns to market. With a 25-year background across advertising, media and marketing including TradeMe in New Zealand and the UK, she breaks down the myths costing owners time and money and shows the metrics that actually move revenue.
💬 What's one marketing lesson you wish you'd known before launching your product or service? Comment and let me know.
Episode partner: AcademyEx
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We cover:
How to market a service business without burning cash
How to launch into a new market (NZ or AU) with evidence, not guesswork
How to use digital products to attract clients and build recurring revenue
The core SaaS metrics that matter (beyond vanity numbers)
00:00 – stop wasting money on marketing
01:45 – meet fran bellingham (virtual marketers)
02:52 – marketing strategy that actually works
05:56 – hard truths about honest marketing
09:08 – what is saas (simple)
09:50 – how to validate a saas product
11:36 – enterprise vs self-serve validation
12:48 – pricing and cac basics for saas
15:29 – steps to product-market fit
18:01 – market sizing with search + ai
20:44 – onboarding, activation, retention tactics
21:24 – how much budget to test a channel
23:36 – channel testing that actually works
24:30 – nz vs australia go-to-market
26:47 – seo + ai optimisation before ads
27:44 – behaviour-based onboarding emails
29:29 – top marketing myths to avoid
32:18 – metrics that matter
39:42 – kpis that move revenue (saas, services, ecommerce) 43:15 – if you lost everything: restart plan
46:13 – awards, momentum, wellington scene
47:21 – best advice for owners (don’t take it personally)
48:50 – how to contact virtual marketers
Follow Fran
Virtual Marketers: https://www.virtualmarketers.co.nz
Follow Me
All links: https://linkin.bio/minaamso
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotesFromTheExecutivePodcast
Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/UkJ8v
Spotify: https://shorturl.at/YW7bX
