How to Build a Personal Brand Without Spending a Cent on Ads – In Just 7 Minutes with Kate Toon

Resources/Links:

• To get more tips on how to create your own personal branding, click here: www.katetoon.com/start-here

Summary

Have you been investing in ads but just can’t seem to make the most out of it?

Are you trying to build your personal brand but end up struggling with what social media channel to use?

Do you want to learn how to make your personal brand less of the mainstream and more authentically you at the cost of less?

Kate Toon is an award-winning misfit entrepreneur who works with small businesses and big brands to transform their online presence through SEO, captivating content, and all the right digital marketing moves.

In this episode, Kate shares her insights on making complex digital marketing into something simple, affordable, and profitable just by being authentically you.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 02:10 – Kate’s ideal client: Savvy business and e-commerce store owners who see the value in improving their digital marketing and are willing to invest time, money, and hard work.
• 02:24 – The problem she helps solve: I think I helped make complex digital marketing issues simple. So quick systems, processes, and just easy ways to make things doable when you have a busy business life.
• 03:33 – The symptoms of the problem: lack of time is the biggest one. Most of us are spending our time just dancing to our clients or our customers. Because we’re talking about personal branding today, fear about showing up on social media.
• 04:39 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Kate: Trying to be all things to all people. So having quite a vanilla brand that’s inoffensive, but also unmemorable and trying to be on every single channel.
• 05:16 – Kate’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): It’s really understanding who the hell you are, and how you want to present yourself. Try and think of four business values that you’d like to stand by– maybe you want to be honest, maybe you want to be whatever it is.
• 06:37 – Kate’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): To get more tips on how to create your own personal branding, click here: www.katetoon.com/start-here
• 07:34 – Q: What’s the most valuable digital marketing channel for your business? A: And my answer would be SEO, so Google and being found there, followed swiftly by email marketing.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“SEO gets people to the door, and email marketing gets them coming back again and again.” -Kate Toon Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, joined today by someone else in Australia, Kate Toon! Good day. Where are you hanging out, Kate?

Kate Toon 00:20
I’m on the Central Coast in New South Wales.

Tom Poland 00:24
Central Coast New South Wales, tucked away from the mad-rushing crowds of Sydney near the beach. And where did you hail from originally? I, as you know, I’m from New Zealand. Where are you from the big UK, somewhere is it?

Kate Toon 00:37
I am. I’m originally born in Manchester, the UK but I grew up down south near Henley. So, my accent changes depending on who I’m talking to. I’ve been here about 25 years. I’ve been here now.

Tom Poland 00:49
Oh, yeah. Yep, just about a local. Alright.

Kate Toon 00:52
Not quite.

Tom Poland 00:54
Okay, enough with history. Let’s go to the present day. Kate is- I like this, Kate. She’s an award-winning misfit entrepreneur. And if you go to her website, the first thing you’re going to hit with is the transparency and the freshness, and the authenticity. And if you can see her right now, tweaking her hair. If you listen to the audio, you can’t, but what you see is what you get with Kate. What I love about having Kate on the show is this dollop of reality that comes along with it. So, you’re not going to get some bee-stung lips, teeth-enhanced, boob-job-wearing marketing, you’re going to get someone who’s real and authentic and has been in the trenches. Someone who’s not trying to hype things up and be less you. She does, however, in addition to her wonderful personality, have a lot of expertise in Search Engine Optimization, content marketing, and captivating content, and really can show us how to make all the right digital marketing moves. So, a pleasure to have you on the show, Kate. Our subject today is, “How to Build a Personal Brand Without Spending One Cent on Advertisements”. Our time starts now. Question number one, who is your ideal client?

Kate Toon 02:10
Savvy business and e-commerce store owners who see the value in improving their digital marketing and are willing to invest time, money, and hard work.

Tom Poland 02:19
Perfect! Thank you. Question number two, six and a half minutes left, what’s the problem you solve for them?

Kate Toon 02:24
I think I helped make complex digital marketing issues simple. So quick systems, processes, and just easy ways to make things doable when you have a busy business life.

Tom Poland 02:34
A big part of what I hear from your brand is, Let’s not make a fuss out of this. Let’s just put some things in place and get it done and make sure it works.” It’s that sort of laid-back but focused approach which I appreciate.

Kate Toon 02:47
Yeah, it’s hard work. It’s less sort of artsy-fartsy, strategic la-la-loo-loo, and more. Let’s just roll our sleeves up and give it a crack because we don’t know until we know.

Tom Poland 02:57
Right. And question three, which is all around the typical symptoms that people experience who you can help. Did we define the problem? I don’t think we did. How do you define the problem?

Kate Toon 03:07
The problem is that we don’t have enough time to do our digital marketing properly. So, we never see the results that we think we should be getting.

Tom Poland 03:13
Right. And I’d imagine- let’s go to question three now. Six minutes left. One of the big issues is that people don’t know where to start. They feel like they’re paralyzed like a deer in the headlights going. Everyone’s telling you to do different things. In addition to that, question three is what would you say are some of the typical symptoms that people are experiencing who need to know more about what you do?

Kate Toon 03:33
I think lack of time is the biggest one. Most of us are spending our time just dancing to our clients or our customers. Because we’re talking about personal branding today, fear about showing up on social media. No one wants to look a fool. People are worried about, “Do I have to dance on Instagram? Is that how I have a personal brand?” No! And then really spending a lot of time on the wrong things. You know, investing five or six hours a week in their marketing, but not investing it in the right way on the right things and therefore not getting the results that they need. Very quickly, is people spend hours on Instagram because it’s easy, and it’s fun, and it’s pretty, but avoiding SEO. Whereas, and we know that 70% of all conversions start with a Google search. So, you’re investing time in the wrong things.

Tom Poland 04:19
Right. Very interesting. So that’s one mistake that people make is having fun, but not necessarily with a medium or a tactic that’s going to be effective. Question four is what would you say are some of the most common mistakes that people make trying to get into building their brand online? Four and a half minutes left.

Kate Toon 04:39
I think trying to be all things to all people. So having quite a vanilla brand that’s inoffensive, but also unmemorable and trying to be on every single channel. So, you know, trying to be on LinkedIn and Pinterest and Instagram and Twitter and doing a bad job of all and then think there might be a quick solution. Like,” Oh, I’m just going to buy this course, and do this thing. And that’s going to solve my problem.” But it’s a bit like buying a running machine and expecting to get fit just because you own a running machine. Unfortunately, you have to get on the running machine and run on it. So yeah, I think that’s it– trying to be all things, trying to be on all channels, and investing in “get rich quick” schemes.

Tom Poland 05:16
Great summary! Thank you for that. So, question five, let’s flip it, one step in the right direction, if you like. It’s not going to solve the whole problem for people, but it might take them a step in the right direction. What’s your top tip?

Kate Toon 05:16
I think it’s really understanding who the hell you are, and how you want to present yourself. Try and think of four business values that you’d like to stand by– maybe you want to be honest, maybe you want to be whatever it is. And then four personality traits that you want to be known for. So maybe you’re funny, maybe you’re detail-oriented, maybe you’re really professional, maybe you’re super knowledgeable. But just have four values, things that you stand for, and things that you won’t stand for, and four personality traits. And then every time you put a piece of marketing out there, check it back against those lists.

Tom Poland 06:00
And one of yours would be being a misfit, I presume?

Kate Toon 06:04
Yeah, doing things a little bit oddly, and taking the mick out of the standard way of doing things. I like to have- in my business, you know.

Tom Poland 06:14
Because it’s authentic, but it’s also- if it’s not unique, then it’s pretty close to it. So you stand out. So, four characteristics or values that you stand for, you don’t stand for. Make sure that’s permeating your content and marketing. Two and a half minutes left. Let’s go to question number six, one valuable free resource. Where can we direct people to so they can find out more about your work, something free that you can help people with?

Kate Toon 06:37
Yeah, so less about me and more about you. There is a personal branding workbook that I’ve given you a link to which actually helps you work out those four values, those four personality traits, and then how those translate into copy and images and photography online. It’s an 18-page workbook that will help you do all of that.

Tom Poland 06:55
There’s actually a heck of a lot you’ve got on this! Folks, let me give you the URL, and you can go and explore. It’s Katetoon. So, K-A-T-E-T, double O, N .com/start-here. You’re going to find a wealth of support and help there. There’s a free productivity cheat sheet. There’s a free Q&A you can join. There’s the free personal branding workbook that Kate just mentioned. Go get it! It’s www.katetoon.com/start-here. Last question, 90 seconds left, what’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t? And the answer, please.

Kate Toon 07:34
What’s the most valuable digital marketing channel for your business? And my answer would be SEO, so Google and being found there, followed swiftly by email marketing. SEO gets people to the door and email marketing gets them coming back again and again.

Tom Poland 07:50
Perfect. Kate Toon, thank you so much for your wisdom and insight and for sharing so generously.

Kate Toon 07:56
Thanks, Tom.

Tom Poland 07:58
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.