Toucan Talks

Kickstart Collective
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Toucan Talks is a podcast for Wilmington-area business owners and entrepreneurs who are eager to learn from those on a similar journey.  Each week, we talk with an area business owner about their successes, challenges, and experiences in business. Don’t worry – we keep it fun as we bounce from topic to topic. 

  1. 2D AGO

    3 Practical Tips to Improve Local SEO

    Want to show up first when nearby customers search on Google? We break down the simplest path to local visibility with three moves you can start today: fix and sync your listings, write for local intent, and build a steady stream of real reviews that you actually respond to. No fluff—just the practical steps we use with service businesses and brick-and-mortar shops to win the map pack. We start by cleaning your data across the web. Your Google Business Profile is the anchor, but Bing, Yelp, Facebook, and niche directories also feed Google’s trust signals. When your name, address, phone, hours, and categories match everywhere, your quality improves and rankings rise. We share how to audit the essentials and how listing tools like Semrush can push one accurate profile to dozens of directories so you stop chasing logins and start seeing results. Next, we shift from generic keywords to local intent. Competing for “attorney” or “plumber” everywhere is a slog; targeting “estate planning attorney in Wilmington” or “24-hour plumber near Wrightsville Beach” is achievable. We’ll show you where to place these phrases—headlines, service pages, Google Business Profile descriptions, and posts—so they read naturally and convert. You’ll hear tips on categories, service menus, photos, and updates that signal activity and relevance to both people and algorithms. Finally, we turn reviews into a growth engine. Get the direct review link from your profile, print a QR code for your counter, and send a quick follow-up email after a job. Use a simple workflow: route low ratings to your team to resolve offline and send happy customers straight to Google to publish. Then respond to every review. Thoughtful replies prove you care, calm the occasional rant, and tell Google your profile is active—boosting visibility in Maps and local search. Ready to move up the ranks without overcomplicating it? Subscribe, share this with a friend who runs a local business, and leave us a review so more people can find the show. Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    15 min

  2. FEB 3

    From Vision To Action: Mindset And Micro Tweaks For Small Business Owners

    Goals don’t stick because they’re loud; they stick because they’re aligned. We sit down with Buffy Andrews, owner of the Made Well Center for Wholeness and Executive Director of Wellness Without Walls, to reset the rushed energy of January and build a saner, more effective plan for February and beyond.  Together, we unpack how to choose goals that match your values and bandwidth, avoid performative growth, and use small, compounding improvements to move the numbers that matter. We dig into the real-life rhythm of business ownership—capacity, seasonality, and the honest recalibration that follows sickness, holidays, and shifting priorities. Instead of launching a dozen new offers, we show how micro tweaks across pricing, sales, marketing, operations, and client experience can add up to major gains. Think clearer offers, faster responses, better follow-up, and slight price adjustments that honor your service and stabilize revenue.  We also draw a bright line between alignment and pressure: how to feel when a decision is off, how to refuse scarcity-based choices, and how to keep vision as your anchor and filter. You’ll learn the “try, fail quickly, reset” loop that makes experimentation safe and productive—no cold plunges for your business, just thoughtful tests with tight feedback.  Buffy also shares how Wellness Without Walls connects people in Wilmington, NC, with mental health and wellness resources when finances or insurance fall short, underscoring why sustainable growth and community care go hand in hand.  If you’re ready to trade comparison for clarity and force for flow, this conversation gives you a practical path to progress that actually fits your life. If this resonated, follow and subscribe, share with a friend who’s building something brave, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.  Learn more about Made Well Center: madewellcenter.org Learn more and support Wellness Without Walls: wellnesswithoutwalls.co Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    17 min

  3. JAN 26

    Consistency Beats Intensity with Steady Marketing Tactics

    The first rush of January can feel electric—until it doesn’t. When the hype fades, growth belongs to the brands that show up on schedule, speak with clarity, and keep promises week after week. We unpack a practical framework for making consistency your competitive edge, even when energy dips and the calendar gets crowded. We start by reframing intensity as a spark, not a strategy. A standout video or campaign can open doors, but predictable results come from a quarterly plan anchored to one strong asset—think hero video, guide, or webinar—and a steady stream of repurposed pieces. You’ll hear how we break a single message into short social clips, simple carousels, and an email sequence that moves people from awareness to action without burning out your team. We also share how a basic content calendar, batch scheduling, and a tight approvals process protect your output on the days you don’t feel creative. Then we shift from funnel thinking to the marketing flywheel, where delight fuels momentum. Clear onboarding, timely follow-ups, and repeatable check-ins turn customers into advocates and content into a feedback loop. We talk through delegation that actually works—naming conventions, templates, and clean handoffs—so you can scale without chaos. If January got away from you, there’s still time: use February to reset, set a realistic cadence, and track leading indicators like saves, replies, and clicks that predict revenue. If you’re ready to trade random surges for reliable growth, this conversation gives you the blueprint: focus your message, plan in quarters, repurpose without apology, and let habits carry you when motivation won’t. Enjoy the episode, and if it helps, share it with a friend who needs a steady push. Subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us the one habit you’re committing to this week. Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    10 min

  4. JAN 20

    The Focus Shift: Doing Less, Better

    The fastest way to create momentum this year isn’t adding more to your plate; it’s choosing one focus and building everything around it. We dig into how a single quarterly objective clarifies decisions, reduces noise, and improves your results, then show how to turn strategy into action with simple, reliable execution habits. We start by picking a priority KPI for the quarter, like lead capture, and shaping a plan that aligns content, budget, and measurement to that singular goal. Using a dental practice example, we explore how one strong offer can drive first visits: highlight what makes the experience distinctive, keep the message clear, and make the call to action simple. From there, we get practical about testing—hold the core offer steady while you iterate on audiences, hooks, and video variations so you learn fast without losing focus. Execution is where focus lives day to day. We break down large projects into atomic steps: for video, think scripting, edit passes, color, titles, and QC; for websites, map domain and hosting setup, theme install, wireframes, copy, approvals, and SEO. Assign owners, estimate durations, and track dependencies so you can move work forward even while waiting on reviews. With tight checklists and time blocks, you’ll hit deadlines with less stress and more clarity. By the end, you’ll have a framework to do less and achieve more: choose one objective, craft one compelling offer, test with intent, and execute through detailed checklists. If the idea of fewer, better projects sounds like relief, you’re our people. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to help more builders find the show. Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    14 min

  5. JAN 12

    Creative Resets For A Calmer Year in 2026

    The rush to reinvent everything on January 1 sounds exciting until the pressure spikes and the planner gathers dust. Let's take a different route: start with a pause, get your nervous system calm, and let simple, offline creativity make space for better choices. Instead of stacking goals, we strip back the noise and build from what actually feels good and true. Kerry Mulhern, marketing consultant, social media manager, mom, and host of Reset with Kerry, joins us to unpack creative resets you can use anytime. We explore why “creativity” isn’t just painting or perfect output; it’s any small act that breaks routine and anchors attention. Think walks where you notice details, journaling without a plan, sewing a tiny project, or even trying a new restaurant. Those low-stakes, tactile moments switch off fight-or-flight, the same way great ideas pop in the shower. When the body feels safe, you can finally hear what you want, not what the feed tells you. We also dig into strengths and personality insights to guide your experiments. If your strength is community and storytelling, you might volunteer in a creative setting or gather a small group to make something together. If curiosity drives you, test a class or sport you’ve never tried. Adults rarely let themselves be beginners, but that’s where joy and community often start. From there, we walk through a simple reset circle: notice the whisper that something needs to change, pause and calm your system, use a creative practice to hold the pause, audit what to keep or cut, anchor new beliefs and priorities, and only then move forward. Repeat this across the year so your goals stay aligned as life shifts. Expect practical takeaways, a few laughs about our collective planner obsession, and permission to do less before you do more. If you’re craving clarity without the burnout, this conversation will help you reset with intention and design routines that feel human, not harsh. Listen, save it for later, and share it with someone who needs a gentler start. If it resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us the one off-screen activity you’ll try this week. Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    20 min

  6. 11/24/2025

    2026 Planning: Set Up Your Marketing Flywheel Before January

    If your marketing ends at “closed won,” you’re leaving growth on the table. We turn the funnel into a flywheel and show how small changes to attract, engage, and delight can lower acquisition costs, increase retention, and make every customer add force to the next one. We start by reframing the goal of content: not just traffic, but momentum. You’ll hear how to find the posts worth scaling, package them into lead magnets, and build clear next steps that convert attention into owned audiences. From there, we unpack the engage stage with segmented drips, timely retargeting, and sales alerts tied to buying signals, all tuned to relevance over noise. We don’t skip the human layer either—cadence, tone, and context are what turn opens into replies and replies into revenue. Delight is where compounding begins. We walk through onboarding that shortens time-to-value, simple advocacy programs for reviews and referrals, and social proof that feeds SEO and better-fit leads. Along the way we share a concrete example that loops blog traffic into leads, leads into customers, and customers into growth signals that power the next cycle. To keep it practical, we include a year-end audit framework—scale what worked, fix what’s close, and cut the rest—with metrics to watch and small tests to run. AI shows up as a support tool, not a crutch. Use it to draft outlines, repurpose long-form into clips, and propose nurture sequences you can refine for voice and accuracy. Pair that with smart content repurposing and a clear community loop, and your marketing becomes a steady engine rather than a series of one-off pushes. Ready to build a system that doesn’t stall at the bottom of the funnel? Follow the show, share this with a teammate, and leave a quick review to help others find it. Want next week’s playbook in your inbox?  Subscribe to our newsletter and kickstart your week with us. Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    15 min

  7. 11/17/2025

    The Death of Vanity Metrics: What Really Matters in 2025

    Vanity metrics look shiny—but they don’t pay the bills. In this episode, we break down the difference between numbers that look good (followers, likes, views) and the metrics that actually move your business forward. You’ll hear how we think about CAC, LTV, conversion rate, retention, and engagement quality, plus how to stitch reporting together across ads, website, and CRM so you can make smarter decisions—faster. In this episode, you’ll learn Vanity vs. value: Why engagement metrics matter contextually but shouldn’t be your north star.The business metrics that count:CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)—what you can afford to pay to win a customerLTV (Customer Lifetime Value)—how much a customer is worth over timeConversion rates across the funnel—from awareness ➜ lead ➜ saleRetention & churn—what happens after the first saleEngagement quality—signals like meaningful comments, site time, clicks, and formsWebsite signals that diagnose ad quality: Bounce rate trends, landing page fit, and audience targeting.Benchmarks & expectations: How to use industry benchmarks to sanity-check performance without chasing illusions.Reporting cadence that works: Monthly formal reports; tighter checks during ad learning and creative testing.Tooling that helps (without the headache): CRMs for sales dashboards, cross-platform reporting (e.g., Semrush), and native Shopify/Ads integrations. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow and subscribe, share this with a teammate who lives in dashboards, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. Got a question about your metrics stack? Send it our way and we might feature it next week. Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    14 min

  8. 11/10/2025

    Email Is Back: Why Email Marketing Outperforms Social Media

    Tired of chasing algorithms just to have 5% of your followers see your content? You’re not alone. This week, we’re breaking down why email, yes, email, is having a major comeback, and why it’s outperforming social media across nearly every metric that matters. We start with the obvious question: if organic reach on social is at an all-time low, where are people actually paying attention? Turns out, it’s the inbox. With email, there’s no algorithm deciding who sees your message. It’s a direct line to people who want to hear from you. You’ll hear how email continues to crush ROI benchmarks (an average of $36 for every $1 spent) and why smart marketers are shifting their focus back to owned channels. We’ll walk through how to build a healthy list without gimmicks, what metrics actually matter, and how to keep subscribers genuinely engaged. Then we dig into segmentation and personalization (how to send the right message to the right people at the right time). Whether you’re separating customers from prospects, tailoring messages by interest, or using automations like welcome sequences and cart reminders, the goal is simple: make every email feel relevant and worth opening. We’ll also share ideas for setting a consistent cadence, repurposing content you already have, and creating small but mighty automations that keep your marketing running even when you’re busy. If your email list has gone a little quiet, this is your sign to bring it back to life. Social reach is rented; email is owned. Start building something that compounds with every send. And if you like episodes that blend strategy with practical next steps, make sure to subscribe to Toucan Talks, share this one with a friend, and leave a quick review. It really helps others find us! So, what’s the one email you’ll set up this week? Get more from Toucan Talks! Watch on YouTube Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our email list // Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.

    16 min
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About

Toucan Talks is a podcast for Wilmington-area business owners and entrepreneurs who are eager to learn from those on a similar journey.  Each week, we talk with an area business owner about their successes, challenges, and experiences in business. Don’t worry – we keep it fun as we bounce from topic to topic. 

Information

  • Creator
    Kickstart Collective
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Toucan Talks
  • Show Website
    Toucan Talks