"I don't have time."

It’s probably one of the most common things we hear from small business owners when we talk about marketing, and we completely understand why.

In this episode, Esther and Melanie talk about time poverty and the reality of trying to market a business when you're already doing the work, dealing with customers, answering emails, chasing invoices, managing staff and tackling everything else that comes with running a business.

We look at why posting isn't necessarily the same as marketing, how having a strategy can actually save you time, and why you probably don't need to be creating brand-new content for every platform.

We also talk about repurposing, batching content, using the conversations you're already having with customers for content ideas, and how AI can save time without replacing your personality.

Most importantly, we challenge the idea that consistency means constantly.

If you're struggling to fit marketing into an already packed working week, perhaps the answer isn't finding more time.

Perhaps it's being much more selective about what you do with the time you've got.

Do women really buy differently?

In this episode of The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast, Melanie is joined by women’s consumer expert, on-air commentator and keynote speaker Shampaigne Graves to explore what really influences women’s purchasing decisions.

They discuss why women may have a longer buying cycle, the importance of values and research, the role of emotion and socialisation, and why pressure, scarcity and insecurity aren't necessarily the best ways to encourage a sale.

Champagne also explains why trust, empathy, community and positive marketing can have such a powerful influence on purchasing decisions, and why brands need to move beyond outdated assumptions about female consumers.

If women are an important part of your customer base, this conversation might make you look at your marketing rather differently.

When you hear “affiliate marketing”, do you immediately think of influencers promoting products and sharing discount codes? There’s actually much more to it than that.

In this episode of the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast, Esther and Melanie explore how affiliate marketing works, how businesses of different sizes can use it, and why you don’t necessarily need an enormous online following to make it worthwhile.

They discuss affiliate links, commissions, recommendations, passive income and the importance of maintaining your audience’s trust. They also look at the other side of affiliate marketing: what if you want to create an affiliate programme for your own product, service or event?

From choosing the right incentives to tracking referrals and deciding whether investing in affiliate software is worthwhile, we share our own experiences and some of the things businesses should consider before getting started.

If affiliate marketing is something you’ve dismissed because you’re “not an influencer”, this episode might change how you think about it.