Mari-Liis Vaher on Marketing Strategy, Resilience, and Why No One Wins Alone

In this episode of the Make It Happen by Being You Podcast, I'm joined by Mari-Liis Vaher, a marketing strategist with 20 years of experience and an entrepreneur for 15 years. At just 12 years old, Mari-Liis was diagnosed with severe scoliosis, underwent an eight-hour operation, spent six months in hospital, and was told she would never live a normal life. She went on to build a multi-million euro business, raise two children, move to Spain, write a book, and launch a global marketing community. Her story is quietly powerful.

We talk about her five-step marketing framework (featured in her book The Greatest Marketer), why strategy must always come before tactics, how to work in business with your partner without it destroying your home life, and what marketing looks like now that AI has arrived.

She also shares how the Costa Women network helped her find the missing piece she needed to finally finish her book after five years. Because as Mari-Liis says 'no one wins alone'.

What We Cover in This Episode

• How Mari-Liis rebuilt her life after major spinal surgery at 12 (and what she'd say to anyone who's been told what they can't do)
• The five-step framework inside The Greatest Marketer: Mindset, Strategy, Marketing, Communication, and Leadership
• Why marketing meetings should never start with "so, what ideas do we have today?"
• How she and her husband grew a marketing company to over 2 million euros in revenue, reached the edge of burnout, and made the brave decision to leave it all behind and move to Spain
• How COVID gave her the space to develop the framework that now underpins her whole business
• Working with your partner: the one boundary that changed everything
• How to choose your marketing platform based on strategy, not emotion
• The role of AI in modern marketing and why human connection matters more than ever
• Her current vision for 2026: global partnership programmes connecting her marketing community with business chambers in Sweden, Spain, and New York

Key Takeaways

• Strategy is the agreement on direction. Without it, every activity runs in a different direction.
• Marketing meetings should start with your business goals, not your ideas.
• If you're running on empty, you cannot build a successful business. Mindset comes first.
• Your time is your most expensive resource. Choose platforms intentionally.
• AI is a tool, not a leader. Use it for heavy lifting so you can focus on genuine connection.
• The right support changes everything. You don't have to do it alone.

About Mari-Liis Vaher

Mari-Liis Vaher is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur and author of The Greatest Marketer. With 20 years in marketing and 15 years as a business owner, she is the founder of Powerful Marketers, a global community helping business owners and marketers bridge the gap between marketing activity and actual business results. She is currently building global partnership programmes across Europe and the US and is based in Spain.

Connect with Mari-Liis:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vahermariliis/
• Book: https://thegreatestmarketer.com
• Community: https://powerful-marketers.com

Transcript

Mari-Liis Vaher 0:00

Strategy is the agreement on our direction, pretty much. Without it, every like activity rush or every department usually in a company runs in a different direction. And I always emphasize that marketing meetings cannot start with. So what ideas do we have today? Right? It has to start with our business and our sales goals and how we support them through marketing alignment.

Ali Meehan 0:31

Well, I'm delighted to be joined in the Make It Happen by Being Unit Podcast Studio by Marie-Lise Faher. Hi Mary-Lise.

Mari-Liis Vaher 0:40

Hi, great to be here, Ali. Thank you. Please introduce yourself. Thank you. I am a marketing strategist with 20 years of experience and an entrepreneur for 15 years already. So currently I am launching version 4.5 of myself as I'm I just turned 45. Yeah, and my and I love to say that it's version 4.5, not that I am 45. So right now my focus is on reaching marketing activities and actual business results. So most businesses have a gap there, and and that's that's what we do.

Ali Meehan 1:21

Okay, cool. And you've actually got a really interesting life story, haven't you, around your health?

Mari-Liis Vaher 1:29

Well, of course, yeah, thank you. When I was, it was a long journey, yes, because when I was 12 years old, um I uh was discovered, they discovered this severe scoliosis, and that really put me in the life-changing like uh situation, both physically and mentally, because it was so extensive that I needed to have the surgery. So there's a metal frame still with me, um, and um that that is something that really holds my backbone today as well. And that surgery, you know, it lasted for eight hours, and uh coming out of this um was a really, really long way because I spent like six months in the hospital, and doctors told me that I will never live a normal life again. I cannot, you know, uh jump and run and do all the fun things that kids are doing, but I was only 12 back then, so it was horrible to be honest. And it was uh uh nine in 1994, and um so it was uh we I didn't have anything besides uh you know myself, me, myself, and either uh back then we didn't have any iPads or anything that would, you know, um somehow amuse you uh while you're you know stuck in the bed. But um yeah, these doctors told me that I will never have a normal life again, that I will not be able even to have my own children because of you know, pregnancy is really uh hard for my back, and uh and I cannot like uh survive that. But today here I am. I am I don't I am not running and I don't I don't want to, but I'm not looking. I have two kids and I'm really really happy that I proved these doctors wrong and I actually um were able to to come out of this, but of course it was it took me at least five years, you know, to prepare myself and my body, but that's my journey in a nutshell.

Ali Meehan 3:53

Yeah, yeah, no, and that's a great encouragement for other people that are given a diagnosis that this is you know you can't do X because you've proved that it is possible with determination and um you've needed yeah, and I think you think you and I have done a bit of yoga together, so it proves that anything is possible.

Mari-Liis Vaher 4:14

Yeah, I it's I am still limited, but I can do a lot of things still, yeah. And I agree with you that we shouldn't even allow you know others to tell us what we can do or not. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ali Meehan 4:28

And you've recently published a book as well. So tell us about tell us about the book process.

Mari-Liis Vaher 4:35

Oh, well, yeah, the book is called The Greatest Monitor. And it was that was also a hard journey. So it was a major, it was a five-year commitment for me, to be honest. So it was a journey with you know many peaks and valleys, I would say, you know, with ups and downs. And but one of my biggest challenges was first of all, you know, to be focused and to actually do that because I I didn't took any time for just writing. I did that uh while I was working with my clients, you know, while I was with my family, you know, doing all the things we do in our normal lives. So I just took, I I am a morning person, so I um I usually woke up very early in the morning and I took these morning hours to write it, right? But one of my biggest challenges was finding the right, let's say, partner or technical publisher to handle the all the complexities you know of the publishing world, because it was new for me, it's my first book. Um, and I am very grateful to you, Ali, because thanks to the Costa Women Network, um uh I found Sara, right? Holcroft, uh which was for me the missing piece of the puzzle. So if anyone listening uh is struggling with a long-term project like that, I can say from my experience that the right support changes everything. So this is how I actually I think that that's why I finalized that because from year to year I was just I had the content, but I wasn't sure about too many things. So thank you.

Ali Meehan 6:14

You're very welcome, and that fits beautifully with your famous phrase, no one wins alone, doesn't it? As well.

Mari-Liis Vaher 6:21

Yeah, exactly. I truly believe in that. No one wins alone. We need people around us to have a lot of people.

Ali Meehan 6:26

Yeah, the greatest marketer. What do we find within its pages and who is the book actually for?

Mari-Liis Vaher 6:33

So the book um is very practical, so it provides this very systematic approach for everyone who feels that marketing is just a series of random acts, maybe. So it is a um certified framework designed now to move beyond these uh tactics and focus on long-term uh business resilience, actually. So I wrote that thinking of the business owners who need to see a return on their efforts, and um also for the marketers who wants to be who wants to be a trusted strategic partner rather than just a co-center, right? Because usually people think that oh, marketing is just taking some money and I'm not sure how it helps me, right? And the book is a five-step process, isn't it? Of course, sure. So the five-step process is the framework I just um mentioned, and um they are interconnected, like building blocks, I would say. So we start with the person, the meaning that the first step is mindset. So if you are running on empty yourself, you cannot build a successful business. And um, this is where I write about how to use very practical actions, daily activities, such as MIP time or the 888 principle to find that initial balance for yourself. Because only when you are grounded yourself, then you can move to the second step, which is strategy. Strategy is the agreement on our direction, pretty much. Without it, every like activity rush or every department usually in a company runs in a different direction. And I always emphasize that marketing meetings cannot start with, so what ideas do we have today, right? It has to start with our business and our sales goals and how we support them through marketing alignment. So that's the like the mindset shift. And I and I start with uh how to align your marketing first with strategy, and then the third step is uh marketing. And and on the third step, I talk about how to build systems to work smarter, not harder. So it is more about choosing the right actions, the right pace, the right matrix, everything that really aligns with your business goals. So it wouldn't be too much noise around your brand, right? Because oftentimes we just do a bunch of things, not thinking if we actually need to do them, right? If we there's mindset, strategy, marketing, the fourth step is communication, and uh it's all about in making sure that your message is actually understood in the right way. So I talk um models like DISC. Um, we I talk about uh learning about different generations on uh who are on the market and how they perceive information. So, what are the keywords and uh and also channels and uh and so on. And then the fifth step step is leadership, which really ties everything together. It is about managing your time and resources so you don't have to carry the weight alone, and that's extremely important when you are solopreneur, maybe, because oftentimes you need to do everything right yourself, sales marketing comes. So that's in a nutshell, the five steps.

Ali Meehan 10:07

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think a lot of us are guilty of trying to jump to the posting and creation of the content before we actually go through the earlier processes that you're talking about. So it's really important to have those five steps in place for yours as you as you work through what you want to share.

Mari-Liis Vaher 10:29

Yeah.

Ali Meehan 10:30

Do you have a favorite marketing platform? And if so, why?

Mari-Liis Vaher 10:35

Oh, that's a clever question, Maddie. Well, to be very honest, my favorite place, of course, is our marketing community platform, Buffalo Mocris Hub, where we, you know, are solving real marketing headaches altogether. But I assume that you're asking for a very tactical like platforms, and I would say for efficiency, I appreciate the platforms like uh Social Pilot, so that you can you know schedule all the posts in different channels and for professional connections. Um, I also I value LinkedIn, but the right platform like always depends on your specific goals and audience. So I just don't want you know everybody to jump into the like random platforms. Yeah. Many people struggle with platforms because of their emotional state. When you set aside your emotions and look at the you know, rational arguments, the choices become uh simple actually. And um, that's why having a you know community around like Costa Women or others, right? Um this helps you stay rational and avoid getting stuck in your feelings. And this is what we do also in our marketing community, because you know, even if you just have somebody you can share your your ideas, they can mirror back to you. Okay, do you need that? Uh how does it help you? You know, questions like that. So I would really want to emphasize that try to set aside emotions if you are doing marketing decisions because they always need to be aligned with your with your business.

Ali Meehan 12:24

Yeah, and I think that's also comes back to the strategy piece as well, doesn't it? Because many of us think we need to be on all the platforms, but actually we don't, we need to be where our clients are.

Mari-Liis Vaher 12:34

Yeah, exactly. That's so true. But it's hard because if everybody are on a specific channel and there's a lot of buzz around it, of course, emotionally we all want to be involved. Yeah, that's but every platform takes resources, and your time is the most expensive resource.

Ali Meehan 12:55

So yeah, and that again, that's something that I think we forget. We forget that our time is money, so it's a good reminder that it is. Did you have any business roadblocks as you've built your business? And if so, how did you overcome them?

Mari-Liis Vaher 13:10

Oh, I have had so many of them to be honest. I'm not lying at all. But um, between 2013 and 2018, um we had this uh marketing company which was 80% family-owned, uh, with me and my husband, right? And we um grew it back then during the five years, uh, over 2 million euros in revenue. So at first it looks like a success story, but it was truly intense. So, and even the growth can be quite hard. And to be honest, my husband and I were both on the edge of burnout. So we decided then to make a complete change. And I know people back then told us we are crazy. So, what we did uh we did an exit from this company and we moved to Spain. This is how we met, and we we came to Spain in 2018 with our children and uh with our pets. We had uh had cat and uh and turtle back then, so and this physical shift uh was something that really allowed us to see everything from the distance, and that was that was such a such a great feeling to be honest. So very and then the COVID came, right? And yeah, I remember we were locked down in Spain and we spent a lot of time um uh training and testing new ideas, and this is actually how this five-step framework was bored for us, so it was a result of taking a step back to find a better way forward. So sometimes you just need to pause for a second, exactly, not to rush into things, yeah, yeah.

Ali Meehan 15:00

And I know the listeners are gonna be asking for your top tip of working with your husband. Yes. So what would be your what would be your tip to working with your husband or your partner?

Mari-Liis Vaher 15:14

Well, we have been together over 20 years, 23 years, I think. So, and um I think um we we can work together because we have very different skills that create a very good combo. So I am not, you know, um uh I'm not good at uh finances, but he's great at it. Okay. I want, you know, and uh he doesn't do a marketing-related stuff, so and uh that's my passion. So I think that is something that helps us, but we always have had one rule because we also you know uh get to see each other at home, right? And the the rule we have uh had is that when we are at home with kids, we never talk about work things, and when we are in the office, we don't talk about the family-related things, so that we try to keep that very very very like um clear to also to our colleagues that this is where we are professional. We are not talking about uh, I'm not calling him honey here or something like or sweetie, or you know, it's he's my colleague here. And uh at home, I don't we used to have that uh in the early days where you know that we started to talk about work-related things and it creates too much tension back at home, and we don't want that. So after we somehow came up with that rule when our kids were even much more younger, somehow it uh has uh worked. But for for today, I think this is our comfort zone because we uh we are you know being doing that for a very long time.

Ali Meehan 16:58

I think boundaries are really important, so you've learned and you've brought in place a very good boundary there. So thank you for sharing that. Do you have a business role model who helped make it happen for you and why?

Mari-Liis Vaher 17:10

Well, I think he is my husband, because he's incredibly results-oriented, and I could sometimes forget about that myself because I'm very much relationship-oriented myself. But I think the other um business role model is uh our co-founder Laura, who is an exceptionally systematic person. So again, I think those different skills are needed, and um, and we um we don't go into others' um like playground, if I may. Yeah, that's the saying, right? But um, so that's my like my inner circle, and um, and I really respect uh them. And um, but externally I have followed a lot of classics, uh Seth Codin, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield for years, right? But I'm also very much inspired recently by Brene Brown, for example. I'm still following Simon Sinek's podcast, I love it, and um Lewis House, I don't know, Jason Bartlett, a lot of come up.

Ali Meehan 18:18

Yeah, have you listened to Stephen Bartlett's interview with Simon Sinek? No, that is a really good episode.

Mari-Liis Vaher 18:26

Oh, they're two together. I should get it together.

Ali Meehan 18:30

Oh, thank you for that. You're welcome. And actually, they talk about AI. So, um, how would you define marketing now that we've got AI's arrival? Do you think that we're shifting towards more purpose-led content? Or yeah, what should we do?

Mari-Liis Vaher 18:50

I think there is so much AI everywhere, and uh and thanks to that, people are coming back to the real relationships even more and more. So I feel like marketing today is kind of bridged between human purpose and business growth, maybe, because I also see that many people fear AI, but it is actually a tool that can help us to be very efficient, right? We know that. So I think we should use technology for the heavy lifting so we can focus on listening deeper and building those genuine connections, which are even more and more important. AI won't replace you, I don't think so. But a person using AI to improve alignment might replace you. So I think we should all stay focused on you know on our purpose and use the tools to support it, um, not lead it. So we can do much better uh work and more efficiently and so on. So, and we still should uh use AI to you know stay on track.

Ali Meehan 19:59

That's a great answer. Uh a quick fire round. Have you read a book recently that made a difference to your life? And if so, why?

Mari-Liis Vaher 20:09

I'm reading a lot of books, but um the one that uh is still with me is procrastination on purpose by Rory Waydon. Okay, because we shouldn't do too many things at once.

Ali Meehan 20:22

So yeah, I think the whole thought around women being able to multitask is a complete fallacy. Nobody can multitask at all.

Mari-Liis Vaher 20:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ali Meehan 20:32

What is your superpower?

Mari-Liis Vaher 20:34

I think it's my positivity. People are often surprised by it, but I truly believe that things are never as bad as they seem. So there is always a way forward. Yeah.

Ali Meehan 20:45

What's something that you'll achieve by the end of 2026?

Mari-Liis Vaher 20:50

Well, I dream of that we establish our global partnership programs. You know, we are connecting uh our marketing um community for uh with business chambers and organizations globally. Are you doing it area by area or are you yes? We are doing that area by area in Sweden, in uh Spain, and also in New York, which I will be soon. Okay.

Ali Meehan 21:16

What would be your advice for from Mary Lise to yourself looking backwards? So Mary-Lise in the future, maybe she's version 5.0. What would be your what would be your your advice to Mary-Lise?

Mari-Liis Vaher 21:32

Maybe at 4.5 I would say you cannot rush the process very slowly.

Ali Meehan 21:41

And how best can people connect with you? So find the book, and you've got a marketing um platform. So how can people best connect with you? What's the best place to find you?

Mari-Liis Vaher 21:54

Well, thank you. Personally, people can find me on LinkedIn, I'm really active there. Um But uh the book landing page is thegreatestmarketer.com and our marketing community is at powerful-marketers.com address. So everybody welcome to uh to see what we are doing.

Ali Meehan 22:14

Perfect. Good. Well, thank you, Marilise. It's been really interesting to talk to you and hear a bit more of your story. And I look forward to seeing you in Spain again soon. Yeah, thank you. Likewise. I really hope you enjoyed this latest recording of the Make It Happen series. And I'd love you to subscribe to our podcast channel. We'd love you to continue hearing more of our Make It Happen interviews. If you're not a member of Costa Women yet, but you're a woman who is living in Spain or a woman who is thinking about moving to Spain, do come and join us at costowwomen.com. It's completely free to join. In the meantime, I look forward to sharing more Make It Happen interviews with you. Bye for now.