When Denise founded Slappa's Thongs, Australia's original arch-support thong brand, she was simply looking for comfortable, supportive footwear during pregnancy. What started as a personal need turned into a business that has stood the test of time, built on innovative design, authenticity and a commitment to doing things differently.

But building an original product doesn't come without challenges. Over the years, Denise has dealt with copycat competitors, the pressure to discount and the constant expectation to scale. Rather than following what everyone else was doing, she made intentional decisions about how she wanted to run her business, from staying self-funded to stepping away from traditional Black Friday sales.

One of her more surprising marketing experiments involved increasing prices instead of discounting them. The reverse pricing campaign created urgency, encouraged full-price purchases and delivered results with minimal ad spend. Alongside this, Meta ads, email marketing and authentic founder-led content have played an important role in growing the brand.

We're revisiting this conversation because Denise's approach to building a profitable, sustainable business is just as valuable for eCommerce founders today.

In this episode, Megan and Denise talk about:

- How Denise turned a personal need during pregnancy into Australia's original arch-support thong brand

- What makes Slappa's product design unique and how Denise approaches copycat competitors

- Why showing up authentically, even through unpolished videos and personal messages, helps build customer trust

- Why Denise decided to step away from Black Friday sales and constant discounting

- How a reverse pricing campaign encouraged customers to buy at full price

- Why Meta ads remain an important part of Slappa's marketing strategy alongside email and organic content

- How Denise has built a sustainable, self-funded business without giving in to the pressure to scale

Learn more about Denise:

• Slappa's Thongs Website

Learn more about working with us:

• The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now.
• Hire me and my team to run your ads. Learn more.
• Learn how to run your own ads. Click here.

Learn more about your host:

Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Goodkind Media.
As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University.

Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads.

Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn

When Carol opened The Shoe Garden in Brisbane in 2012, she was recovering from burnout and building something she knew women needed: fashionable, colourful shoes for longer feet, starting at size 10. Mainstream retailers offer women with longer feet very few options, so Carol's customers don't just buy shoes from her. They light up, and some even tear up, when they finally have real choice.

Carol's niche and loyal customer base still didn't make marketing easy. After radio ads and other efforts that didn't deliver, she started working with Lume Marketing in 2024 to run Meta ads. Comparing the year before ads with the last financial year, the results were:

- 79% growth in online sales
- 45% increase in new customers
- Around 600% return on ad spend

In 2026, Carol went a step further. She completed our 8-week program and now runs her own ads, handling the tracking, analysis and optimisation herself.

In this episode, Megan and Carol talk about:

- How Carol built a business serving an underserved niche
- Why consistency and repetition keep you top of mind with customers
- Why Carol first chose to outsource her ads, and what made her ready to take them back in-house
- How one-on-one training lets you apply what you learn to your own data and circumstances, beyond the general advice that's everywhere
- How Carol's historical data from her time as a client gave her a head start when she took over
- Why you need to either learn to run your ads well or hire experts, because doing neither stalls growth

Learn more about working with us:

• The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now.
• Hire me and my team to run your ads. Learn more.
• Learn how to run your own ads. Click here.

Learn more about your host:

Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Goodkind Media.
As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University.

Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads.

Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn

"Fire your agency" content is everywhere right now — but is it good advice? Megan (who runs both an agency and a training program teaching people to run their own ads) breaks down the truth: there's no universal right answer, only the right fit for your business and your timing.

In this episode Megan covers:

• What an agency actually is (and why the term "agency" has become diluted over the last decade)
• Why so many agencies are better at marketing themselves than they are at delivering results
• The real cost of hiring too soon vs waiting too long
• The "sleepless night test" — a simple way to know if a decision (or a fee) is right for you
• Key questions to ask yourself before hiring an agency, including whether you're ready to grow and whether you actually love data
• The red flags that mean it might be time to break up with your current agency — word salad reporting, being palmed off to a junior, order-takers, and agencies with no real strategy
• How to decide whether learning to run your own ads is the smarter move for where your business is right now

Learn more about working with us:

• The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now.
• Hire me and my team to run your ads. Learn more.
• Learn how to run your own ads. Click here.

Learn more about your host:

Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Lume Marketing.

As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University.

Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads.

Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn