#awinewith Lauren Fraser
MEET Lauren, Founder of Thea Media
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:05):
Lauren, welcome back to Spark TV.
Lauren Fraser (00:10):
Thank you. Thank you very much. It's been a while.
Danielle Lewis (00:12):
I know, and I'm so excited because you, I pretty sure, and my memory doesn't always serve me well, but I'm pretty sure you are the first person that's come back for round two since we started the podcast. I think we started this podcast two years ago. Now you're the first return guest, and I'm so excited because obviously you're a Spark member, so I followed your journey and you're just an amazing person. So I follow your journey, so I'm so excited to update everyone on where you're at. Thank you. Well, yeah,
Lauren Fraser (00:47):
Thanks
Danielle Lewis (00:47):
For having me
Lauren Fraser (00:48):
Back.
Danielle Lewis (00:48):
I just like catching
Lauren Fraser (00:49):
Up with you.
Danielle Lewis (00:52):
It's so good, and it's so cool too, and I know we're going to get into it because business is such an evolution. I know we all kind of start out and we think we've got the right idea and we start with where we're at, but things change so much over our business journey and yeah, I'm so excited to share your story. So let's start out by just telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Lauren Fraser (01:16):
Certainly. So I run Thea Media, a digital marketing agency based on the Sunshine Coast, but we serve clients locally and nationally. In particular, serving those in health, wellness and beauty space and providing services across SEO, Google Ads, social media, paid ads, email marketing. So yeah, very much digital marketing agency focused on health, beauty, wellness.
Danielle Lewis (01:42):
So cool. I love it. And I love it because when I first met you, that's not where you were. So when I first met you, it was LMF marketing, but probably particularly focused on SEO, right?
Lauren Fraser (01:56):
Yes.
Danielle Lewis (01:57):
So why don't we, because yeah, I feel like we need to share the journey with everybody. So why don't we start there? You talk to me about that first agency that you developed.
Lauren Fraser (02:12):
Yeah, so I mean, God, as you said before, it's definitely been an evolution with the business over six years now that I've had
(02:21):
The business working for myself. So it's definitely gone through a lot of growth iterations, revisions, to get it to a place that really aligns. So yeah, originally it was LMF marketing and I ran it as LMF Marketing for four years. Started as that solopreneur, doing everything, wearing all the hats, just me. I had come from a large agency where I'd worked previously, so I'd been in that big agency land where it was very sales focused, not really customer service or retention based, and I absolutely hated that. So I really wanted to build an agency where things were done differently and you could really support small businesses. So yeah, originally offering or supporting a range of industries and business types, because as you do in the early years of business, you say yes to whatever you can and take on what you can and learn along the way.
(03:28):
But even along those initial years, SEO has always been one of my biggest interests in the digital space. I think it's just such a fantastic channel, and my passion is, and interest definitely align around health wellness. So we did naturally attract those clients, became more specialized and being able to serve them. So yeah, honestly over those first four years, it was just constant growth. It was hard work at times, but I think a lot of business owners can relate, where initially you kind of just keep going, things just keep growing and you're like, okay, well, I just want more growth, and we'll just see what happens. And then I think it was not long after we spoke last on the podcast that I took a big leap and acquired another agency to kind of try and expand on what I was doing. I had the vision of being, I guess you could say a full service, a one-stop shop for small businesses, so we could really serve 'em. I acquired a distressed agency that it wasn't profitable, but it seemed to have a lot of potential. That was back in 2022, and that was honestly one of the biggest learning curves. We've chatted a few times since then.
Danielle Lewis (05:05):
I know. And I think if you are open to it, I actually think that is a story worth sharing because there's so many lessons in it. So why don't you tell me, so when this opportunity arose, were you thinking, what was going through your mind in terms of why should you acquire another business?
Lauren Fraser (05:33):
Look, so this is where it is really interesting because you, upon reflection, you're like, oh, okay. Maybe that was different to what I was thinking at the time, but originally I was already in a place where my business was doing really well, but it was very much set up as what you call that hero model. I was the face of the business branded as LMF marketing. It was really, I guess you could say quite restricted. There was real expectations when clients came on that they dealt with me and me only. It was getting hard to try and bring on team and reset those expectations because of how we were branded and how I'd built the brand over the years.
(06:20):
So
(06:20):
One of my biggest considerations was how can I shift into a true agency model where I'm removed from being the face, I can work behind the scenes, have the team managing clients, and doing day-today, and I can make sure it all just comes together nicely. So that was kind of original thinking and where I was already at. And then when this business opportunity came up, it was a local business with a local office, local team, local clients where I still very much had a national portfolio of clients. So it seemed like a great opportunity to come into the local market as well. I'm also someone who's quite, I guess, opportunistic and optimistic, and though there were some real red flags from that initial due diligence, as I said, it's a distressed agency. It also looked like, okay, I could turn this around that won't bloody
Danielle Lewis (07:31):
Entrepreneurs were so
Lauren Fraser (07:32):
Optimistic, so optimistic.
(07:37):
And look, I definitely don't regret it, but it's just the learnings you take from that of thinking again, which I think a lot of business owners can relate to. When you start off and you start growing and you almost get caught in this, oh, I've got to keep growing and I've got to get this. And I was very much going down that path of like, oh, this is an opportunity and I can get bigger and I can add an extra 25, 30% revenue like that, and I can expand the team and oh, we can do X, Y, Z. And it didn't go that way. Damn it.
Danielle Lewis (08:18):
Oh my God. And it's interesting too, and we'll get to how it actually went in a second, but it is interesting. I know one of the conversations you and I had, I was looking to acquire a business at the time, and I was thinking, why do I need to be bigger? Is it this growth at all costs mentality? What is success? What do I actually want for the business? Sometimes I think we're so stuck in the business and in the day-to-day, and then they just keep going, keep going, keep going, that we don't actually take a step back and think about what do I want the future to look like? And yes, obviously I do want that larger presence where it's not me as the face, I want this, I want this. I was ticking those boxes, but perhaps things happen quickly sometimes, and you don't actually think about long-term what your definition of success actually is.
Lauren Fraser (09:16):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that was where upon reflection, it's like, oh, okay, maybe my drivers weren't actually as aligned as I thought, and also as I wasn't as consciously aware of them as I thought, because it was kind of about a year, maybe 10 months after the acquisition sitting down with a good friend of mine, and she just really upfront asked, why did you do it? Because at that stage, I'd had a real roller coaster of taking on new team that were quite shocked by everything that had unfolded. They hadn't had warning. There was not only poor financial management, but unfortunately poor client management. So that there was a lot of stress around that. And when my friend asked, why did you do it? It's like, honestly, I thought I wasn't good enough and I had to do it. I had to keep growing. I had to get the office, I had to have a team, I had to have local presence. I didn't have these things you should have as a business owner, and I thought this was a way to get them. And it was just like, oh God, that's why I did that. Yeah, this isn't how I like living life. I don't want to do 60 to 80 hour weeks and have all this stress and be dealing with unhappy clients. I want to go back to four days a week in happy clients and high profit.
Danielle Lewis (10:49):
Isn't it wild though? I literally want to cry, that whole idea that we're not good enough and that there is this checklist of things in business that we're supposed to tick off that makes us worthy or successful or whatever it is. I don't know. It takes a long time in business to actually figure that out for yourself, doesn't it? And unfortunately, sometimes a bit of hauling yourself across the coals to figure out what is enough and what you value and what your definition of success is. Yeah, it's a bit full on, isn't it?
Lauren Fraser (11:29):
Yeah. And I think we also do with business, just feel everything should be fine. It should always be this linear trajectory of how it's going to happen. But again, talking with friends and business friends recently, it's like, no, actually, it really is a life cycle with the business. And it's like you go through that infancy of getting everything set up and figuring stuff out, and then you almost come to those messy teenage years where it's trying to prove yourself and what do you actually want? And you try different things. And I definitely feel like for me, that was going through the acquisition, but coming out the other side of it, after a year, I am actually really proud of myself for a year after the acquisition, being able to make that hard decision of this isn't right, this isn't what I want. This isn't going to turn out the way I thought, and I'm going to stop on this path now. Which when you've invested a lot of money, a lot of time, it can be really hard to actually put the brakes on and stop and change. And I'm so glad I did before we got to a place where I was completely burnt out or we were carrying any debt or any of those situations that can so easily arise not only with acquisitions, but when you go through fast growth or big business changes. And it's like coming through those teenage years almost to be like, oh, what do I actually want?
Danielle Lewis (13:11):
Yeah. And I love what you just said around the time investment, the monetary investment you've already made. Sometimes it feels like we have to keep pushing because of all of the effort we've already made. And I love that you said you caught it at a time where you went. I hadn't pushed too far because unfortunately, I feel like a lot of people do. They just go, I've got to keep going. I've got to keep going. There's this kind of rhetoric that is, it is hard, so just keep going and hopefully one day they'll be success and that we are all a little crazy and that we do just keep pushing. But sometimes it is really valuable to stop and actually assess the situation and figure out what's right for you.
Lauren Fraser (13:57):
And look, I'll be completely honest, it wasn't easy coming to that decision. I think I delayed it. It was probably there in my mind for a while of I think this isn't right. Something's going to change, but you ignore, you push, you try different things. And when I did come to it, it was a really hard decision and I honestly felt like a failure. It was that crushing, I took this risks, I've invested this money, I've taken on all of this, and it hasn't gone to plan. And it was just that real like, oh, it's my fault and I'm a failure. But again, it's only as you move through things and it's like, oh, actually no, from everything I went through the business, now that I've rebranded, our processes are awesome. I had to really supercharge them. I've got amazing onboarding in place. We've built this epic brand that's really aligned, and I really, I trimmed back clients that I just don't want to work with because I don't like those industries, and I'm not going to bring them on just for the money. We're really back to this nice place, but only I went through what I went through.
Danielle Lewis (15:20):
And I love that you have such a positive attitude about it because I know behind the positive, it would've been really freaking hard have come out the other side and having gone through that process and now have a business that is so beautifully you, and it is because every time I see it, every time I see the branding, your social posts, I'm like, oh, that's you. So you amazing. It's awesome. So congratulations. You are the best.
Lauren Fraser (15:51):
Thank you. Thank you.
Danielle Lewis (15:53):
What was that process like when you said, okay, this isn't right. I need to create something that is the evolution that is perhaps everything that you wanted when you made the decision to acquire the business. But okay, now I've got to do it a different way. What was that rebrand, refocus process like for you?
Lauren Fraser (16:15):
Yeah, look, honestly, at first it was, as I said, really, really hard, really upsetting to be like, okay, this hasn't worked and science's got to change, but it was also within a day, within a couple of days, it was that deep sense of relief. Yes, okay. It's, it almost felt like especially I had acquired another brand, acquired other team, other clients, it wasn't mine. And especially in a small business, you really do need to have that connection to what's going on. You do need to feel, this is my team, my people who get me, these are my clients who we're aligned in our values of how we doing business, all of that kind of stuff. So
(17:13):
Though it was hard to scale back and pivot, once I'd made the decision, it was like, oh, thank God I can have a breather. Even one of the scary things was I was investing more money to rebrand. So that was a big, which again, at first was like, holy crap, should I be doing this? But just that, yeah, I guess that sense of relief and realignment, and again, nine months or eight months on now since the rebrand, it's just feels so good and so aligned. So yeah, it was scary. But I think once you, I don't know, maybe kind of look, listen or look at the signs around. Sometimes the universe is just things are really hard and it's just pushing mud up a hill and it's like, why is this not working? And then when you make a decision or a change and things just start flowing again, you're like, okay, that was the right decision. This feels good.
Danielle Lewis (18:25):
And it's really interesting because sometimes not making a decision, we've talked about putting things off and holding on for too long. Sometimes I think the not making a decision is the sign to the, you are actually making a decision by not making a decision. Yes, you actually commit. Yes. Things just fall away, unfold, feel so much flow, which is amazing.
Lauren Fraser (18:48):
And a lot of that anxiety was around delaying those decisions. As I said, I think for quite a few months it'd been building of like, this isn't right. This isn't what you want. It's not going to pan out as you expected. But I kept pushing and ignoring that, and yeah, I was so stressed, I was really anxious about things, and then it was made the decision and it was like, oh God, I can sleep again.
Danielle Lewis (19:17):
Oh, it's wild. So cool, isn't it? So this iteration of the business, what are the products and services?
Lauren Fraser (19:27):
So we have scaled back again, which is good. We've kind of expanded on services and we've gone back to our core, which is really around, you could say your, well, I guess your core digital marketing services, which is SEO, Google Ads, social media management and social media ads, as well as email marketing. My passion has always been around holistic integration of those to really cover the customer journey and life cycle as they interact online and with businesses. So yeah, we are no longer doing anything around websites or branding or excessive content creation. These are our core skills and what we do really well, and we're back to doing them, which is great.
Danielle Lewis (20:19):
That is so good. And I actually love that makeup of services as well, because I see a lot of people silo and just kind of look at, well, if I just have an Instagram manager, my life will be great. And I'm like, that's not how it works. No,
Lauren Fraser (20:37):
No, it doesn't anymore. And that's why, especially with our clients, and it's almost this full journey back to where I started, but actually living out that original vision of what I wanted, which was to be able to support small businesses with great marketing support in those key areas. Especially now I have kind of trimmed things back in the business. We can still be really affordable for growing small businesses. I really want to grow with them. So many of our clients that are with us at the moment, I've been with them for years, and we may have started in one area, and then as they were ready for it, we've expanded on their activities and what they're doing so we can really grow with them. And I think that's something like business owners need to understand. You can't just do one activity and that's it.
Danielle Lewis (21:45):
It's
Lauren Fraser (21:45):
Not going to work, as you say, in a siloed approach, but you also can't do everything at once. So you want to be quite strategic in how you're getting started with your marketing, where those first investments are, and if you are laying a good foundation to then be building upon in the years ahead.
Danielle Lewis (22:02):
Yeah, and that's really interesting because you mentioned as well the customer journey. And I think that's something that non-marketing people don't think about as much in terms of it isn't as linear as we said, as post to something on Instagram, somebody buys from you. Customers actually need to interact with the brand so many times and in so many different ways and channels to actually feel that trust and that confidence to make that purchase. Where do you think small business owners should start when it comes to thinking about the best approach to their marketing? I know that's such a wild question to ask any tips for us business owners
Lauren Fraser (22:45):
And look, and so this is where it can get so hard and so confusing for business owners because you jump online and you'll have 20 gurus telling you this is the way to do it. But the thing is, every business is going to be unique. It's going to depend on, okay, your industry, your location, who are you serving? What's your budget like operating with health, wellness, beauty businesses? And within that majority, not all of them, but majority would be service-based businesses in that space, local marketing and SEO is such a powerful one, especially if you've got, I say for startups, don't outsource your social media. That is one of the best things that they can keep in house, learn and expand their understanding on, because it's not going to be a direct lead sales generator these days. It just doesn't work like that, unfortunately. So keeping organic in-house, focusing on local marketing, ideally search for those health, wellness, beauty service-based businesses is really effective.
(24:02):
And then once you've got that pipeline filling, you've got leads coming in, you've got steady appointments, then there's opportunity to expand into potentially if you really want to push the growth and get new bookings paid, social ads going out with a proven offer. Maybe it's the intro offer you've launched, but then it's kind of looking at, okay, how do we look at that big customer journey? And maybe it's email marketing to increase retention and repeat bookings. So yeah, local businesses, local search marketing is really powerful and can set you up for the longterm if you are established with that presence. But you are trying to push for new bookings, paid social media ads is a brilliant way to generate that. You just need a great strategy and a reasonable budget behind to get started if you've kind of got those happening, but it's looking at almost tweaking all the little optimizers. Then potentially email marketing to boost retention. As I said, maybe it's upselling existing customers to products that you sell in store. So look, it really varies based on all of those factors, your business position, where they are in their lifestyle life cycle and opportunities they need to plug or things they're not capitalizing on.
Danielle Lewis (25:35):
I love it because each channel that you just spoke about delivered a different outcome. So exactly as you said, what stage is the business at? What are you already doing well at? What is your goal? Therefore, let's add this in. It's not a, you need everything all at once, which is so overwhelming, can be very costly, but it is, okay, let's look at the business where you're at, what you actually want to achieve and implement a solution. Then once we've got that humming along, let's look at the next step. So yeah, it's such a beautiful approach, I think especially for small business owners who are overwhelmed
Lauren Fraser (26:16):
And also they need to be so efficient with how they're investing into their marketing. And so I've had countless inquiries come through over the years and we want social media management. I'm like, okay, well why? What's your business goals and where are you at? We want new leads. We want 20 new leads a month. It's like, no, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. Yeah, totally. Yeah, you could spend 1500, 2000 more per month on social media management, and especially now, it's very, very unlikely you would see that return, but local search marketing, you could invest that and see full times plus return when done well with a good campaign.
Danielle Lewis (27:07):
Yeah, it's incredible. And I love that about you as an agency person that you don't just go, yeah, sure, I'll take the money and do it. Like it is that, what are you actually trying to achieve? Because I want to make sure that if I take your money, I am actually going to deliver results. Which yeah, I just think, I mean, even going all the way back to your story, when you were in agency land and the whole reason you went into business was to make sure that you looked after your customers, looked after small businesses and actually delivered on what you said you were going to deliver on.
Lauren Fraser (27:43):
Exactly. And that was even where in my kind of acquisition journey, I felt that misalignment coming through because in my mind, it's always very much been in that kind of hierarchy. You look after your customers, you look after your team, and the profit will follow,
(27:59):
But
(28:00):
When it was so compressed with your overheads have doubled, you got higher turnover of clients. It was that flip of, okay, I just need to make money. And so I just started saying yes, and it's like, well, hang on. Why am I saying yes? Because I actually don't feel a hundred percent confident or aligned with that client. So again, it's how you can get caught up in business and slightly go down the wrong path and how you can bring that back as well.
Danielle Lewis (28:33):
If somebody is listening to this right now and they're like, oh my God, that's me. I am feeling like I've up the, but I'm straight onto the wrong track. Do you have any tips for something that they can do to I guess start that process of self-reflection or self business reflection?
Lauren Fraser (28:55):
I think one of the most powerful things for me was actually talking to my business friends. I got so busy after the acquisition, I was in a bubble. I was just doing what I needed to do. I was working massive hours. I wasn't really connecting or talking to people. And you miss that. You need that. You need people who get it. My partner is a great support, but he's a government job. He's an engineer. He can't quite grasp the stress and everything that's involved. So getting back out there, having catch-ups with my friends to really talk things through was probably the biggest shifter to be like, oh God. Yeah. Okay. That was a good question. You are right. What am I doing?
Danielle Lewis (29:46):
Yeah, sometimes you need some people, you're so right. Oh my God, you don't ask yourself the right question sometimes. And it is that person that's a little bit objective and out of the emotional rollercoaster that we're on that says something and you're like, oh, yeah. It's so obvious.
Lauren Fraser (30:03):
I think especially because we get caught in comparing ourselves, and again, it's not until you sit down, you chat with people and it's like, oh, well, I've got to so-and-so's doing X, Y, Z, and then you might be like, no, they're not. They're not enjoying that. They're not happy. Or it is like, oh, okay, well hang on. Why am I chasing something or comparing myself to this phantom?
Danielle Lewis (30:25):
Yeah. Oh my God, it's so good. You said that. I remember once I caught up with another startup founder and we were talking about somebody and I was like, oh my God, they're killing it. And she's like, no, they're not. She's like, I know them. And I was like, oh. And we put out the highlight reel. I mean, I think more so today people are sharing the downside of things, but for the most part, everyone's out there going look at how much of a gigantic success I am because they're trying to get more customers trying to grow, trying to get over whatever it is they're trying to get over. So I get it. But yeah, we do compare ourselves to people sometimes that do not have the same goals as we have, are not actually succeeding in the way that we want to succeed, but we chase this version of success or business that is not what we actually want.
Lauren Fraser (31:21):
And I think agency land and marketing space as well. I think for women, it can be interesting because there's a lot of men out there and there's many of them that do an awesome job, but there's also a lot, which it's that aggressive bro marking techniques. And some of them I know and they're fantastic and they're at absolute laughs, but they're okay with burning clients.
Danielle Lewis (31:52):
Yes,
Lauren Fraser (31:53):
It's this different mentality. I think overall, and again, not everyone, but a lot of the women that I know, they care. They really care about delivering great results. They don't want to piss off a client and burn them and just whatever. We'll bring on the next one and we'll just say, that went really well in our marketing. So even that, I think you see this quick growth that other people achieve, and sometimes it is men, but it's like, I don't want to operate like that. That makes me icky.
Danielle Lewis (32:31):
Totally. And I just find it interesting because the world is small, the world is so small, people do talk. I just feel like we do have to operate from a space of integrity, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because if we want any longevity in our business, it's so crazy. I remember when I lost my first client and then they came back, they tried it themselves, and then they came back and I was like, it was because we did such a good job, but we were graceful on the way out that they came back. Sure, everyone goes through phases. Oftentimes brands will outsource, bring things in-house, outsource again. And I was like, it was because we operated from a space of integrity that that person came back, but if we were awful on the way out, if we burnt that client, that would never happen. And repeat business is just so valuable that just feel like you have to operate from a good place.
Lauren Fraser (33:37):
And sometimes that means, okay, yeah, we're putting the brakes on growth, or we're changing what we're doing, or we're saying no. And that can be hard to do. It can feel like, oh, I'm going against the grain, or I just should be saying yes or I should keep growing. But it's like, oh, no. Sometimes slowing down or stopping or changing is actually more aligned and longer term better.
Danielle Lewis (34:04):
Yeah, absolutely. Oh my God, we could talk all day. I love it. I love it. So I always love to wrap up these podcasts with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your last six years in business, what would be one piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her journey? Too many. Too many pieces.
Lauren Fraser (34:32):
Yeah. Oh, so many. I think something that's really come up and we can lose sight of so easily is that intention and having intention in your actions in business. And because again, as you're growing, it could just be easy to get stuck in this hustle bubble or lose sight. So I think one piece of advice is as often as possible kind of reflect on not only your business goals and values, but your personal ones and what you want to get out of life. And then take those intentional steps and reach out. Reach out and have those conversations usually the best way you can figure it out. Yes.
Danielle Lewis (35:22):
I love that. I've just written down the word intention. I think that is so beautiful and something that I'm going to take into my day today. It was so good to have you back. Yes, exactly. Oh my God. So good to have you back. Lauren, thank you so much for being here, sharing your story with the Spark community. You are amazing.
Lauren Fraser (35:46):
Thanks for having me.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
