Product marketing in New Zealand often looks straightforward at first. A good product, some positive feedback, and a sense that people will want it. The reality is usually more complex.
In this episode of Go Beyond Busy: The Small Business Growth Podcast, I talk with Monika Bliesze, who distributes Heat It in New Zealand. It is a small device used with a phone to help reduce the pain and itch of insect bites using local heat treatment. What stood out in our conversation was not just the product, but what happens when product marketing in New Zealand moves from early interest to real sales.
Product marketing in New Zealand starts with a mindset shift
One of Monika’s biggest lessons was realising that enthusiasm is not enough. That moment when you move from being a fan of a product to the person selling it changes everything. People respond differently. Conversations change. Questions become more direct.
In product marketing in New Zealand, this shift can feel quite sharp. New Zealand buyers tend to be practical. They are not quick to accept claims without evidence. They want to know whether something works, whether it is worth the cost, and why they should trust it.
Monika described how people initially told her the product sounded great. Once it became something she was selling, the tone changed. That is not resistance. That is the market doing its job.
Why enthusiasm needs structure
Many small business owners rely on passion when they begin. That is a strong starting point. Product marketing in New Zealand requires more than belief in what you are offering.
Clear positioning, careful wording, and a consistent message all play a part. Customers need to understand what the product does, who it is for, and what result they can reasonably expect. They also need to feel comfortable that they are not being oversold.
Monika explained that she had to step back from saying, “This is amazing,” and start communicating in a more measured, professional way. That does not remove personality. It adds credibility.
Working within New Zealand regulations
Product marketing in New Zealand becomes more detailed when the product sits in a regulated category. In this case, Heat It is a medical device, which brings specific requirements around claims and wording.
Monika talked about the need to align with MedSafe guidelines, using approved language and avoiding statements that go beyond what can be supported. Phrases like “can help reduce” replace stronger claims that might not be allowed.
Although this adds another layer to product marketing in New Zealand, it can also strengthen the message. It encourages accuracy, reduces risk, and helps build trust with customers who are already cautious.
She also pointed out that MedSafe was approachable and helpful when contacted directly. That is a useful reminder that understanding the rules early can make product marketing much smoother later on.
Using supplier support to strengthen your marketing
Another important part of product marketing in New Zealand is how well you use the resources available to you. Monika was able to access artwork, messaging guidelines, and support from the parent company overseas.
That meant she did not need to start from scratch. Instead, she could adapt existing material to suit the New Zealand market and meet local requirements. This helped her present the product in a professional way from the beginning.
For many businesses, especially those importing or distributing products, this is an area that is often overlooked. Good supplier support can reduce workload, improve consistency, and speed up the marketing process.
Building trust through distribution
Product marketing in New Zealand is not only about messaging. It is also about where and how people can buy. Monika is selling both online and through retail partners across the country, from the far north to the deep south.
This approach recognises that not everyone wants to buy online. Some customers prefer to see a product in person. Others may need it while travelling and cannot wait for delivery.
For a product designed to be used outdoors, often when people are away from home, retail availability becomes part of the marketing strategy. Placement in outdoor stores and pharmacies helps reinforce credibility and accessibility.
This is a useful reminder that product marketing in New Zealand includes distribution decisions. The easier it is for people to find and purchase your product, the more likely they are to follow through.
What this means for service-based businesses
Although this episode focuses on a physical product, the same ideas apply to service businesses. Product marketing in New Zealand is not limited to items you can hold in your hand. It also applies to how services are presented and sold.
A consultant, builder, or tradesperson may believe strongly in the value they provide. That belief still needs to be translated into clear messaging that answers customer concerns.
Buyers are asking similar questions regardless of the type of business. Does this work? Is it right for me? Can I trust this person? What result might I get?
When those questions are answered clearly, interest becomes action. Without that clarity, even a strong offer can struggle.
Key takeaways for product marketing in New Zealand
Monika’s experience highlights several points that apply to product marketing in New Zealand across many industries.
- Enthusiasm needs to be supported by clear positioning
- Customer perception changes when money is involved
- Professional wording builds confidence
- Regulations can strengthen your message when used well
- Supplier resources can improve your marketing quickly
- Distribution plays a direct role in sales
- Trust is often the deciding factor
Final thought
Product marketing in New Zealand is not about making something sound impressive. It is about helping the right people understand it, trust it, and feel comfortable buying it.
Monika’s journey shows what happens when that process is taken seriously. A product that people like becomes a business that people buy from.
Monika’s links:
https://heat-it-co.nz
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Want to read the transcript?
Welcome and Guest Intro
[00:00:00] Bernard: Welcome to Go Beyond Busy: The Small Business Growth Podcast, hosted by Christine Abela, business consultant and tech specialist.
In this episode, Christine is joined by Monika Bliesze, New Zealand distributor for Heat It. They talk about what really changes when you move from loving a product to actually selling it, and how to build trust in a new market.
[00:00:23] Christine Abela: Hi, I am Christine from Go Beyond Busy. I’m here today with Monika Bliesze who is in Papamoa in the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand, and she runs a company that are the New Zealand distribution partners for Heat It.
How are you today, Monika?
[00:00:40] Monika Bliesze: I’m good. Thank you.
From Fan to Founder
[00:00:42] Christine Abela: Very good. Tell me, Monika, what have you learned about running a business that you wish you’d known earlier?
[00:00:49] Monika Bliesze: That being absolutely enthusiastic about a product is not everything you need to know when you want to run a business. So when we came to New Zealand and realized that this product we are talking about is not available here yet, we decided we need to bring it here because it’s fantastic because it treats insect bites just with heat, which is so good to have here in New Zealand.
And we talked to lots of people and they said, whoa, that’s awesome. You need to bring it here. Yes, go for it. But then when you bring it here and actually swap sides from being a fan to being the business owner. All of a sudden people start saying, oh does that really work? Are you serious? That might be expensive. That’s new. I haven’t heard about that.
As soon as you are serious in business and want to earn money with what you do, people see you from a different angle. Yes, you need enthusiasm. You need the positivity, but you need lots of more in the back.
So this is yeah, the probably biggest thing I wish I’d known earlier.
What Heat It Does
[00:01:56] Christine Abela: So I’ve got a couple of questions coming out of that. First of all, I’d like you to explain what the product is, but I’d also like you to tell me how are you overcoming that? How are you letting people know about the product?
[00:02:10] Monika Bliesze: Let’s start with the product first for people to understand. It’s a tiny little device, and I have it here right on my house key. For the people who are listening, it’s looks like a tiny USBC or USB stick that you can directly plug into your phone. That opens an app and you can treat insect bytes just with pressing a heat plate directly to the bite site.
The local heat treatment then reduces the histamine release in the skin, and this again then helps to reduce pain and itchiness of all sorts of insect bites.
Marketing With Compliance
How do we overcome this? Yes, with starting to be really professional about it. Starting to step back from being, Hey, this thing is cool and it works, and it feels like magic. To finding a bit more a professional voice. Finding, especially with this being a medical device, finding the right wording, how to describe it, what is allowed, what claims are you allowed to make that you don’t sound like there’s influencers where everything is just awesome because we don’t wanna make promises that don’t work.
We for ourselves, know what it does for us, but that doesn’t mean that it does the same for everyone out there. And yeah, being more professional about the way, how to talk about it, how to reach out to retail partners, how to reach out to our audience on markets or shows. This probably was the main shift.
Support From Head Office
[00:03:38] Christine Abela: Were you able to get some help from the parent company? One of my previous guests on this podcast was Lukas the head company. So were you able to get some help from them to do these things?
[00:03:51] Monika Bliesze: Definitely. Yes. One of the most important things they provided for us is all of their artwork and assets. So we didn’t have to reach out and find a photographer, a videographer, and build all our assets new. So we were able to use the professional materials. They have a sheet that explains which wording we are allowed to use.
Yeah, we just fitted that together with what MedSafe wants us to do and to say, so we’re able to combine these two aspects of it. Then we always are allowed to reach out to them if we have questions. If we are not sure on how to market or how to present ourselves on social media, they always have an open ear for us and they share their own learning curve and their own problems they were facing during their journey.
They connect us with their international partners. Like we have a great person in the USA who is a salesperson, and that definitely helps a lot.
Wholesale and Retail Strategy
[00:04:48] Christine Abela: So you are selling this product, both wholesale and retail in New Zealand. Is that right?
[00:04:54] Monika Bliesze: Yes, that’s right. We have our website, our online store where you can directly buy the product, but we also are looking for retail partners all over New Zealand. Our network is quite nice. Yet I feel we are far north as Kaitaia and down south in Gore. Lots of spots in between, mostly outdoor shops.
A few pharmacies on board; that could be more. And of course we would like to find more retail partners because some people just simply don’t want to buy online. Some people, especially looking at the travelers, can’t buy online. Most of the bites normally happen when you’re out and about in the campervan or in the bush on a hunting trip.
Then normally you don’t have time to order online because you don’t have an address or you don’t stay long enough on one spot to wait for the shipment to arrive. So therefore, for us, it’s really important to find retail partners that are well known, sorted with everything they have and offer, and are willing to stock Heat It as well.
How Customers Carry It
[00:06:01] Christine Abela: So you sent me one of these devices and I really like it. I’ve got mine on a lanyard so that I can keep it with me wherever I am. And later this year I’m going to go to Stewart Island, which you didn’t mention. You said you were as far south as Gore, but you didn’t say Stewart Island.
So I’ll take it to Stewart Island and make sure it works for their nasty bity things. But how do people normally carry it?
[00:06:25] Monika Bliesze: That’s quite individual because it’s so tiny, it’s quite easy to carry it. I personally have mine on my house keys as I showed earlier. My husband has his on his car keys. What I’ve heard as well from people just having it in the kitchen drawer, but then they might not have it when they need it. But as it’s so tiny and lightweight, you also can easily just take a little carabiner hook and just click it onto your backpack.
So it’s always at hand when you need it.
Bites and Stings It Helps
[00:06:55] Christine Abela: Very cool. And so I’ve used it for, mostly for mosquito bites. What else can it be used for? Other than mosquito bites.
[00:07:06] Monika Bliesze: Basically, you can use it for every bite or sting that causes the histamine reaction in the skin. There is a certain kind of spider, I think it’s not a New Zealand spider where you should not use it because heat and the poison do not work good together. But I use it for the coastal biting midge, which to be fair is, in my opinion, way worse than the sandflies, but yes, for sandflies, wasps, bees, mosquitoes.
I’ve never seen a horse fly in New Zealand, but in Germany I used it for them as well. Yeah, so there’s lots of use cases for it. And you can even, if you are interested in diving deeper, there’s lots of reviews on Amazon where people describe where they’re using it for.
MedSafe Rules and Evidence
[00:07:54] Christine Abela: Are the rules that we need to follow to be MedSafe compliant in New Zealand similar to other countries? So you’ve been able to take the wording from other countries that are selling this. Or is it different everywhere?
[00:08:07] Monika Bliesze: I just can compare Germany and New Zealand, and Germany is really strict. And this is why all the certificates from Germany work very well here. The wording for pharmacies is basically the same. So you’re not allowed to say it does heal or it will stop. You always have to be relative, say it can help to reduce and things like that.
And you need, of course, the medical background for it. So Kamedi did a big study on it with over 12,000 treatments, where they tested different insects. And I think Lukas mentioned it when he was talking to you with the 81% reduction of the itchiness within five minutes. So this is because this is medical confirmed, we are allowed to claim that and we are allowed to claim what is in several other studies done by other researchers.
Advice for Medical Marketing
[00:09:09] Christine Abela: If somebody listening is also thinking of marketing a medical device or a medical product of some sort, what advice do you have for them in doing that? Is there special things they need to know?
[00:09:23] Monika Bliesze: I think what is important when doing so is to have a look in the regulations. And what we realized when we registered the product with MedSafe, they were really helpful. So we had them on the phone and we were talking to them. I think this is the most important thing. Be honest about what you have, what you offer, and talk to the people who are in charge.
And normally this is typical for New Zealand. What I love about New Zealand people always are helpful as long as you’re honest and then you know what you can do and what you can’t do.
Wrap Up and Next Steps
[00:09:57] Christine Abela: Very cool. Thank you very much for joining me today, Monika. I’ve enjoyed talking with you. I will put Monika’s details including the website where you can buy one of these things underneath this video. And if anybody would like to have a chat about their business, they can reach out to me for a free business strategy session. Thank you very much, Monika.
[00:10:18] Monika Bliesze: Thank you.
[00:10:19] Bernard: Head to GoBeyondBusy.com to find Monika’s contact details, or to book a free Business Strategy Session with Christine, and learn how to grow your business with the right systems in place.
12 April 2026 · Season 3 : Season 3 · Episode 15
From Product Passion to Real Sales | What It Takes to Launch a Medical Device in New Zealand
10 Min, 42 Sec · By Christine Abela
Turning a great product into a successful business takes more than enthusiasm. A practical look at product marketing in New Zealand.
