Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Business Boost Lunch & Learn.
We hope you left feeling inspired and equipped with fresh ideas to elevate your business in 2026. Read on for the top takeaways and download a PDF copy of the presentation below.
⚡ Key Takeaways
Creating an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Defines your most valuable customers through demographics, firmographics, and psychographics.
Your ICP helps you target those who are most willing to buy.
Key takeaway: Every business and industry will have a unique ICP.
Building Your ICP
Demographics: Age, gender, location, income/revenue, company size, occupation, education.
Psychographics: Personality traits, lifestyle choices, values, beliefs, attitudes, motivations.
Building a Marketing Plan
Focus on the essentials: Goals & KPIs, your Target Market, a SWOT Analysis, Competitor Analysis, Brand Positioning, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Activities / Channels and Budget
Key takeaway: A marketing plan is a living document—it evolves throughout the year.
Building a Marketing Budget
Apply the 70-20-10 rule for allocating spend:
70% of budget on proven marketing activities.
20% of budget on new and emerging trends.
10% of budget on “next” ideas that are untested.
Key takeaway: Leverage tools like Xero to manage marketing spend effectively and understand ROI.
Benefits of AI for SMBs
Levels the playing field for small businesses.
Delivers insights into customer behaviour for better acquisition and retention.
Automates repetitive and manual tasks.
Enables data-driven decision-making and faster market responses.
Supports scalability during economic uncertainty.
Key takeaway: AI is a powerful equaliser that helps SMBs do more with less.
Marketing Automation ROI
Marketing automation offers an ROI of 5.5x per dollar invested (Nucleus Research).
Simplifies repetitive tasks like email scheduling, segmentation, and follow-ups.
Key takeaway: Automation delivers significant efficiency and revenue gains.
Before You Advertise on Meta (Facebook & Instagram):
Define your business goal (leads, sales, awareness, appointments).
Prepare a simple landing page or lead form.
Have a content kit ready (3–5 photos, 1–2 short videos, headlines).
Set up your Facebook Page for your business and an Instagram Business Account. Plus a Meta Ads Manager account or a tool like Constant Contact.
Key takeaway: Get your message in front of the right people consistently, and your business will grow.
Boosting a Post vs Setting up a Campaign:Key takeaway: Boosting builds awareness, but campaigns drive real results.
Campaign Structure & Targeting
Campaign: Objective (leads, conversions, traffic, awareness).
Ad set: Targeting (location, age, audience, budget, schedule).
Ad: Creative assets (up to 50).
Key takeaway: Keep structures simple and targeting broad; let Meta’s algorithm learn and optimise.
Creative That Performs
Creative drives 70–80% of performance.
Use problem/solution angles, testimonials, demos, and UGC-style content.
Be authentic — show real people, clear CTAs (“Book now”, “Learn more”).
Key takeaway: Creative quality and consistency beat large bursts of spend.
Budgeting and Performance
Start small ($10–$20/day) and allow 5–7 days for learning.
Monitor CPL (cost per lead), CPC (cost per click), and conversion rate.
Key takeaway: Start simple, learn, and scale gradually.
How to Hook Your Readers in Seconds
Ensure your content is engaging! You only have a few seconds to capture the readers attention before they continue their scroll.
Use engagement metrics like clicks, opens, watch time, and more.
To boost email and social media engagement, try these tips:
Your sender ('from') name, subject line, pre-header text and expectancy all help drive an email open. Ensure they're setup correctly, and personalise where possible.
Your content, call-to-actions (such as button & other key links), personalisation and relevancy all drive email clicks.
For social media engagement, ensure you use crisp & sharp imagery. Try short-videos (like reels), as these are prioritised by algorithms. Be entertaining, educational or emotional. Use user-generated content (known as 'UGC') if available.
Key takeaway: When creating your email, start with a layout similar to this:
Hot tip: At the time of writing, emails sent on Friday’s have the best open & click-through rates.
Use email automations, such as a 'welcome' email to save time. This is great if you're offering an incentive to join your contact list through a lead magnet or website sign-up form.
Connect Xero to Constant Contact to automatically sync contacts, target them with relevant messaging (tied to financial data), spot customers who’ve been inactive & trigger a win-back email.
📁 Downloads
📚 Other Resources
Get a free email template: We’ll design and add it straight to your account.
Step-by-step guides: Quick tutorials to make the most of Constant Contact.
Marketing Drop-in Hour: Join live for to get your questions answered by a marketing expert.
