Common questions

A marketing agency runs your marketing for you. I help you run yours better.

That's the simplest version. The fuller answer is that most agencies are set up to produce work on retainer. They do your social media, write your content, build your campaigns. The business owner is the client, and the work happens somewhere else.

Mac&Ernie works the other way around. The business owner is who I work with, not who I work for. The job is to clarify your strategy, build the capability of you and your team, and help you make better decisions about your marketing and customer experience over time. I do hands-on work where it makes sense, but the aim is that you finish a project clearer and more capable, not more dependent on outside help.

In practice that means no ongoing retainers unless you specifically want one, direct access to me rather than an account manager, and a focus on marketing strategy and customer experience together. It also means the work is built for the realities of regional small business - the time and budget you actually have - not metro agency assumptions about how marketing should run.

If you want someone to take the marketing off your hands, an agency is the right call. What I do is different. The work is built so you and your team can use it, and your business keeps growing after we finish.

Mac&Ernie is based in Warragul, in West Gippsland, on Kurnai Country. I work in person across Gippsland regularly, including Warragul, Drouin, Traralgon, Inverloch, Bairnsdale, Sale and the Latrobe Valley, and into Melbourne. I also travel interstate for larger projects, workshops and conference speaking.

Most clients don't need to be near me. Strategy, coaching, training, policy work and audits all run smoothly online. I've worked with clients in regional NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, the Sunshine Coast, Auckland and beyond, mostly over Zoom, with occasional in-person sessions when it's worth the travel.

If you're in Gippsland and want to do this work face to face, that's easy. If you're elsewhere, we'll work out the right mix of in-person and online. Either way, location isn't the deciding factor.

Mac&Ernie has worked with clients all over the world but prefers to work with Australian and New Zealand businesses and community organisations. Erika’s education in marketing, branding and customer experience is specifically tailored to this local region. Some services, such as Meta business set up and secure, can be offered to businesses in most countries as it is a global platform.

My clients are mostly regional, suburban and small-town businesses, councils, community organisations and place-based brands across Australia.

They range from solo business owners to teams of fifteen or so, across industries including allied health, retail, hospitality, professional services, tourism, dairy, agriculture and local government.

What they share is being past the early scramble of a startup and caring about doing the work properly. They want marketing that fits their reality, the time they have, the team they've built, the place they actually operate in. They're often the kind of business everyone in town knows or wants to know.

Past larger clients include Latrobe City, Destination Gippsland, GippsDairy, Bendigo Bank, UNSW and a long list of small businesses and community organisations across Gippsland and beyond.

If you're a brand new business with no audience yet, you might find that booking an action hour with me will get you started and then we can talk strategy later.

My work ranges from a $47 workbook through to full strategy and training projects in the thousands. Most engagements sit somewhere in between. As a guide, you’ll find my ‘done for you’ strategic plans start around $5,000 and can be more depending on the complexity and scope of your organisation.

The Customer Ease Map workbook is the cheapest way to get something useful from me - a guided audit you can work through yourself. One-on-one strategy work and team training are custom-priced based on scope. The Do Less, Connect More coaching program is a fixed six-session investment.

I don't run retainers or minimum contracts. The first conversation is free, and I'll give you a clear quote before any work starts. Payment plans are available on most engagements, just ask.

If you have a specific budget in mind, mention it when you get in touch. It's the fastest way to know if we're a good fit.

Book a free chat or get in touch here.

Erika McInerney has a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communications, a Masters of Marketing, Certificate in CX (Customer Experience) and she is a Certified Practising Marketer with the Australian Marketing Institute which means she has been checked and approved as an expert in her fields.

In addition, Erika has spent over half of her 30 year career working in advertising and marketing roles in Melbourne and London - from account service to general manager, before starting Mac&Ernie.

In early 2016 she founded Mac&Ernie and has been working full-time successfully in marketing, customer experience and social media training and strategy since.

She has also been a volunteer and paid mentor and trainer in Gippsland and across Australian since 2016, working with organisations such as Small Business Victoria, Australian Small Business Advisory Service, Startup Gippsland, Inspiring Rare Birds, She Mentors, Ken Hore Tourism Mentoring and more.

You are welcome to follow Erika on LinkedIn where you can find out more about her career, awards and mentoring programs.

Absolutely. We need to get quite deep into your business to work out what you need to do to reach your goals.

We never share any information. In fact it’s rare that we would even talk about who we are working with. Erika is pretty old-fashioned that way so you won’t see her bragging about her clients (even if some of them are pretty brag-worthy).

One of Mac&Ernie’s business values is Integrity - this means different things to different people. To Erika it means openness and honesty and you’ll find that’s exactly how she rolls. She has built a reputation for being trustworthy, and for guiding with honest feedback that is always kind.

Mac&Ernie offers a range of smart, impactful and relevant marketing, digital marketing, customer experience and social media services - in group training, individual coaching and mentoring and strategy and planning. Please head here to view current service offerings.

In addition to what is listed on the site, we have a network of trusted creatives who provide graphic and brand design, websites, reports and more.

Yes Mac&Ernie works with some really talented and trusted creatives who we contract to provide graphic design and visual identity development.

We work with you on the brief to the creatives and project manage to keep it on track and to deliver exactly the outcome we are looking for.

Yes Mac&Ernie offers website building and, over the years we have built many fantastic sites.

We work with extremely talented website developers, SEO copywriters, photographers and videographers to bring your website project to life in a way that matters - to help you show up and get discovered online.

Ask us about our tiny site offering, where we build starter sites for businesses just starting out or with a low budget. We build you a site that will grow with you.

Every engagement starts with a free chat. No pitch, no pressure. The point is to work out what you're trying to do and whether I'm the right person to help.

If we're a fit, I'll send you a clear proposal with scope, timing and price. You sign off, pay a deposit, and we book the work in.

What happens next depends on what you've booked. A strategy project usually runs over four to six weeks with two or three working sessions and a written strategy at the end. Training is shorter and more focused. If you have an urgent and specific need, you can book in one full day, in person or online, with the work completed by end of day.

I keep clients in the loop with simple updates rather than long status meetings. You'll know where I'm up to and what I need from you. When the work's done, everything goes to you, documents, templates, thinking, all of it. There's nothing to renew and no ongoing obligation unless you want one.