052 Experience the Difference of Long-Term Marketing with Kara Duncan from The Kara Report

 Let's talk about the struggle we all know too well: keeping up with social media. Imagine focusing on the platforms that truly work for you and using strategic tools to lighten the load instead. Today on Keeping It Candid, I'm talking to Kara Duncan from The Kara Report, who shares insights on how to create a sustainable marketing strategy, the long-term magic of blogging, and the wonders of AI in content creation.


Show Notes: https://simplysandrayvonne.ca/long-term-marketing-with-kara-duncan

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Takeaways

• Engagement on Instagram is down and gaining new followers and consistent engagement is harder than ever.
• Being consistent in marketing doesn't mean you have to be on every platform every day. Choose platforms that work best for your business and focus on them.
• Blogging has long-term benefits and can drive traffic to your website for years.
• Using AI tools can help with copywriting and repurposing content for different platforms.
• Regularly evaluate which marketing tools provide a return on investment and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Chapters

00:00 The Challenge of Instagram Engagement and Gaining New Followers
06:22 Being Consistent in Marketing Without Being on Every Platform Every Day
13:42 The Long-Term Benefits of Blogging
25:07 Evaluating Marketing Tools for Return on Investment

Transcript

[00:00:00] Sandra Henderson: This year, we have been seeing a really big shift in Instagram, arguably even bigger than when Reels were first introduced and when video started being prioritized. Regardless of what kind of content you're creating, engagement is down across the board. Gaining new followers and authentic, consistent engagement has literally never been harder.

[00:00:22] I gotta tell you guys I've been on Instagram since it first launched. I had all the terrible filters and all the things that went along with it and I've had my photography business on the platform since having your business on Instagram became a thing... and I don't even enjoy being on the platform anymore.

[00:00:40] I feel like my feed is just filled with suggested posts. And if I want to look at things that people I follow have actually posted, I have to jump through hoops to try and find it. 

[00:00:48] So for me, it has really just been taking away from that user experience and then from the business side of things, it's really hard to want to put your energy into something that you're not getting any return on investment on. I've never really been one to care about getting likes on my posts and new followers and things like that, but at the same time, when you put a lot of work into something and there are crickets after you put it out there, it is so frustrating and so so draining. 

[00:01:14] And so that is where my guest on today's podcast comes in. Kara Duncan is the writer behind The Kara Report, a content marketing agency serving women-owned service-based businesses, specializing in website copywriting, along with offering done free marketing services to get your business found in a sustainable search-driven way using Pinterest and blogging. She's worked with both six and seven-figure businesses across a variety of industries from wedding pros to course creators, fashion designers, and more.

[00:01:42] I am so excited for you all to hear the amazing things that she has to offer during this interview. But selfishly, I knew that I had to have Kara on the podcast because I know she genuinely knows her shit, and any conversation with her always leaves me with a smile on my face, so I will literally take any chance to connect with her.

[00:01:59] We talked all about how you can be consistent in marketing without showing up on every platform every day, the long-term benefits of blogging, and how you can use AI to help you with Pinterest and copywriting. And we're going to get right to it after the intro. 

[00:02:13] Welcome to Keeping It Candid. I'm your host, Sandra Henderson, an international wedding and family photographer and business coach. I help wedding photographers use systems to build out the back end of their businesses to gain control and continue to thrive no matter what life throws their way.

[00:02:28] And on a more personal note, I'm a strong enneagram three wing two who is obsessed with I'm obsessed with tacos, and my love for travelling combined with navigating chronic illness life are just two of the many things that drive my passion for all things systems, workflows, and beating burnout as a business owner.

[00:02:43] Join me every week for a candid behind-the-scenes look at what it's really like working as a wedding photographer, where I'll give you actionable steps to take your business to the next level. Absolutely no fluff here, friends, so go grab your favourite notebook and pen and let's dive into this week's episode.

[00:03:01] Kara, thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast, but before we dive into all the good things that I know are coming our way this episode, I would love it if you could just take a quick second to introduce yourself and let everybody know a little bit about what you're all about.

[00:03:16] Kara Duncan: Yeah, I'm so excited. I love your podcast. I'm Kara. So my business is The Kara Report. We do a done for you blogging, Pinterest and website copy. And I'm a former destination wedding planner. And actually the business is still open and subcontractors just do the actual wedding planning work. So it's kind of cool that I get to kind of treat my first business like a client and like experiment with marketing and all that kind of fun stuff.

[00:03:41] But I don't do any of the planning. I'm full on marketing now. So it's been super fun. 

[00:03:46] Sandra Henderson: That's awesome. I absolutely love. I mean, I've been in the wedding industry for about 12 years now, and so one of my favorite things at this point is just seeing how people's careers progress, the things that change the things that were important to people at one point that aren't important at another point.

[00:04:02] And so it's super cool to see, like, What being in the wedding industry can lead to without it, like, you know, you going from planning weddings to planning birthdays, like you were able to still stay in the wedding industry and be a part of it all without having to keep planning events over and over again.

[00:04:21] Kara Duncan: Yeah, I totally agree with you. Like it's, it's so interesting to watch people's careers progress in like unexpected ways, like I feel like a natural trajectory is like you said, like you go from wedding planner to maybe more event planner or coaching or like you progress that way. But it's really cool when people do not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's just really cool when people branch off and like, like you do systems and blogging and that kind of like, it's fun to see people like explore different interests and then do what they like.

[00:04:49] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, I totally agree.

[00:04:50] Kara Duncan: I know, possibilities are endless. 

[00:04:51] Sandra Henderson: Right? Yeah. I mean, as like, more and more we saw over the last few years, people are just Flocking towards opening small businesses and being entrepreneurs. So there has, there's definitely no shortage of avenues that you can take when, you know, if you ever reach the point where you're just tired of what it is that you're doing right now, which I can totally relate to.

[00:05:13] I, I always, whenever I talk about this, I'm like, God, I hope none of my wedding clients are listening because I love them and I don't want it to sound wrong, but like, it's definitely time for me to be phasing myself out of the wedding industry over the next couple of years. So yeah, clients, if you're listening, don't worry, everything's still good.

[00:05:29] You'll, nothing will happen to your booking. 

[00:05:32] Kara Duncan: Yeah. Not tomorrow. Just in the future. Yeah. Just in the future. 

[00:05:36] Sandra Henderson: And so I am so excited to dive into all things consistency in marketing with you, because when it comes to marketing and copywriting and all the, that side of like the creative side of your branding, you are the first person I think of.

[00:05:51] So I know listeners are going to have so many takeaways from this episode. But why don't we kind of like start things off right in the beginning at the very basics and talk about what it means to be consistent. consistent in your marketing. Does it mean that you have to show up on every single platform every single day?

[00:06:09] Kara Duncan: Yeah, I love this question because I also think, okay, so much in marketing is like, there's the people that are like, consistency is the most important thing. You have to do everything every single day. Like that's how you get results. And then there are people that are like, consistency can mean anything.

[00:06:24] Like just. You know, blog once a year, like, whatever, as long as you're consistent. And you're like, there is a balance where you're like, okay, how consistent? Like, first you have to choose something that is consistent. You know going to be possible for you to actually execute on but you also have to look at like what consistency means to actually get results.

[00:06:44] So like and it's different per platform which is something you should think about when you choose your platforms. Like for example, one post per week on Instagram is consistent but it's likely a waste of your time because in my opinion with the algorithms today like it's not going to go. Grow your followers.

[00:07:00] It's not really enough to nurture your followers. Like, it's like, if that's all that you have the time for, that's all you have the time for. And there's no judgment around that, but it's like, maybe explore other avenues where that time could be better spent. Like one blog post per week, for example, is more than enough to be consistent.

[00:07:16] So by doing like less platforms, well, you know, you can be more consistent while still getting the results that you want. 

[00:07:25] Sandra Henderson: I think it's so important what you were just talking about, about kind of like thinking what you have the capacity for and not necessarily having to show up on the same platforms as everybody else.

[00:07:35] Because like you said, like one post on Instagram a week is probably not going to get you very far, but one blog post a week could be giving you a return for years after this. And so just kind of like, Exactly. And so I think just give it people giving themselves permission to do things differently is something that I am always advocating for because you don't, you don't have to be on Pinterest or sorry, I shouldn't, you should be on Pinterest, but like, you don't have to be on Instagram.

[00:08:03] You should be in all the places, but you don't have to be in all the places. Like, I think there are so many successful businesses out there that are not on all the platforms every single day. So I'm so glad that you brought that up. 

[00:08:14] Kara Duncan: Yeah. And I think like we see as like. Confirmation bias, right? Like, we're seeing that everyone's telling us we have to be on Instagram, but it's like, where are people telling us that on Instagram?

[00:08:26] Right? So you're like, you're listening to people that believe Instagram is the best way, but there are a lot of people that are just not active on Instagram that are still running profitable businesses, but you're not there. Seeing them because you're only looking at on Instagram. 

[00:08:38] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, absolutely. And I always think too, when I see people saying like, you have to post two reels a day and you know, a static post and show up in your stories 10 times, like they come up with all these numbers on how many times you should be on Instagram in a day or how many times you should be posting on TikTok in a day.

[00:08:56] But the goal and like the information they're giving is not wrong, but the goal is to get more followers. And so when I hear photographers like focusing so heavily on like, well, I'm not showing up on this platform enough. I always ask them like, well, what is your goal? Is your goal to have 10, 000 followers or is your goal to book clients?

[00:09:15] Because these tips that they're giving you are, if you want to. Yeah. 000 followers. It's how to succeed on Instagram. It's not how to succeed in your photography business. 

[00:09:25] Kara Duncan: Yeah, I totally agree with you. There's such a pressure to hit like a certain metrics and especially in the wedding industry. I know you have listeners across, you know, industries, but sometimes it's like, how many clients do you need?

[00:09:38] Like we don't need a thousand followers to get the amount of clients you want. 

[00:09:43] Sandra Henderson: Oh, such a good point. And I think that like. The amount of clients that would come along with having like a million followers on Instagram, I don't have the time for that. I don't know anybody else who has the time for that.

[00:09:55] So if that, if that applies to you, then all for it. But I definitely do not want the client influx that may come along with having that many followers. I'm current, well, words are going to be a struggle today. But I am like totally okay with not like being an influencer and not going viral, my client load that I have.

[00:10:13] Coming from my blogs and word of mouth and things like that is totally manageable. So I think just like your overall capacity is super important to think about too, when you're vying for goals, like having all these followers and things like that. 

[00:10:26] Kara Duncan: Yeah, 100%. 

[00:10:28] Sandra Henderson: We talked a little bit about if it's important to show up in all the places every single day.

[00:10:34] And one thing that was a huge game changer for me going back to Instagram again, cause I think that's like the platform that we all think about the most when it comes to our marketing. With somebody saying like, if you're in your stories and you're replying to messages and you're posting, those are all forms of showing up on Instagram and being consistent.

[00:10:54] It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have a static post seven days of the week. You could have a static post. Three days of the week and be showing up in your story six days of the week responding to DMs. And that is still you active on Instagram. 

[00:11:08] Kara Duncan: Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. I think there's like so much pressure.

[00:11:12] Yeah. To, like you said, mean that showing up means posting and it doesn't necessarily, there are so many other ways. Like, I like to think of like, I think a lot of this. Stuff that goes like viral on Instagram or advice on Instagram is about using Instagram as like a top-of-funnel strategy, right? Like, it's like, how can I get the absolute most people to find me?

[00:11:36] Which is like, okay, reels. I feel like that's a general thing that people are agreeing on. If you want more people to find you, reels are kind of where it's at. But it's like where I find Instagram to be so effective is like as a nurture. Right. So that's in your stories and in your DMs and like commenting on other people.

[00:11:53] Like I don't really use Instagram that much for my business. And I just like literally only pop on like every couple of days to like check what my clients are doing. And. That's a good one for me to connect to them. And like, even though they're already clients, I'm not getting extra clients from it, it's like a great way for me to like nurture that relationship and stay in touch with their business and show them that I care about them and your clients might feel the same way.

[00:12:20] And even in the wedding industry, like I kind of said, I use my other wedding business to test things. And like our Instagram strategy is literally like, we'll do a post whenever we book a new client. Yay, the countdown begins. Do you know what I mean? And so it's like, that is sometimes very, very infrequent.

[00:12:38] And also We just like to update old blogs because we wrote a ton of blogs in like the first few years and now we just update them. Like we haven't really published a new blog in three years, like since COVID. Oh, that's amazing. And it's like, Google's our number one referer. It's amazing. 

[00:12:57] Sandra Henderson: I hope that gives everybody listening a little bit of motivation to hit their blog because some of my most successful blogs like I have one for fall mini sessions that written back in 2017. And now it's 2023. And these are still. sending hundreds of people to my website. We have Magnolia trees in London and I have actually keyworded all of my blog posts for Magnolia trees to cherry blossoms because that's what people are looking for in the spring.

[00:13:27] And we don't have any cherry blossom trees here, but most people don't know that they're not cherry blossoms. And so I, this. April and May had 1500 people come to my website from two blog posts that I wrote back in 2016. So I hope that, like, it gives people a little bit of motivation to see what the power of taking that time that you have instead of, you know, Trying to force yourself on Instagram seven days a week, maybe take some of that energy and pop out a blog post and just reap the benefits of that for a long time going forward.

[00:14:00] If you've done it strategically, I should say. 

[00:14:02] Kara Duncan: Yeah. Well, you know what? Yeah, to add to that, I totally agree with everything you just said. I would also say that like blogs don't necessarily always have to be perfect to rank. Like I look at my wedding business and I started it as a blog and You know, like my first blog post I look and it's like, how are these ranking?

[00:14:21] And many of them aren't right. But if you're like, some of them are, and you're like, sometimes it doesn't need to be perfect if people find it helpful and stuff like that. And then also I kind of relate it lately to like, I don't know if everyone else's TikTok is blowing up about this, but I get a lot of like print on demand, like get rich with print on demand or like, whatever.

[00:14:42] It's like the latest trend. And one of the big things that they say is like, you're going to create a hundred designs and like two designs will make you rich. Right. Or whatever. And it's like, I find the same with blog posts. Like you can't just write, you know, it'd be nice if every single blog post you wrote brought in like hundreds of hundreds of people every month or whatever.

[00:15:02] But oftentimes it's like, no, but you wrote once a week and like, let's say that's 52 blogs. And then like five or six brought you enough to fill your calendar for the year. Right. So. 

[00:15:14] Sandra Henderson: Yeah. And that would be an amazing return on investment. Is it true that publishing these blogs, like we'll keep going with this once-a-week reference that if you did publish these 52 blogs in a year and only five or six of them were actually like generating revenue for you, doesn't Google and other search engines take it as like a green check in your favor that you are constantly posting onto your website?

[00:15:36] Kara Duncan: Yeah, totally. Google like any other platform values consistency.

[00:15:41] Sandra Henderson: I know that a lot of people are feeling the weight of Instagram and especially in the wedding industry, feeling the weight of like, things being really quiet this year for bookings in comparison to how it has been the last few years. So I'm hoping that people will take advantage of this lull in bookings and really focus on blogging because that is, I know for me anyway, and for a lot of other businesses out there, it's been such a game changer. 

[00:16:06] Kara Duncan: Yeah, I think like, one of the reasons I like love blogging or like Pinterest, like you said, I kind of consider the two hand in hand, because like if you're blogging, you take the time to also put it on Pinterest, but you're like thinking of like the frame of mind people are in, like when people are on Instagram, they're just like scrolling, and when people are on Google or Pinterest like they're looking.

[00:16:26] Right. I'm like catching people at a much better time. And one of the things like, let's say your website ranks without a blog. It's like a blog can keep them on your website and like warm them up. So like if I found your website, I read a few blog posts and I hit your contact form. I'm like much warmer than if I just found your website, and hit your contact form.

[00:16:48] And then maybe I'm like, Oh, you know, I'm having fun planning my wedding. Like, I'm going to go back to Google and just like, look at other options. Right. It's like really good way of keeping people in your orbit. And again, in like a sustainable way where like, it's not like Sunday morning and you're like, okay, what am I going to post on Instagram today?

[00:17:04] Like interrupt family time or like, whatever.

[00:17:07] Sandra Henderson: Right. And for me, like, if I'm posting on the fly, that means I'm not posting because I just, I will sit there. I'm like, I don't know what to say. I don't have the energy to think of something to say, or I'll start writing and then I'll be like, okay, I'll post that later because, you know, trying to think of the good time to post, which.

[00:17:24] I go so in and out of like, there's no such thing as the good time. And then maybe there is a good time. And I'm back into like, there's no such thing as a good time. But I would save these posts and like, I'm going to post it in the evening when Instagram says it's better. And then I would just forget about it.

[00:17:37] And so like, I'm totally like I have to plan out my content. And I usually plan it for a whole month. If I can get it. Halfway through that month on schedule, then I'm pretty happy with myself but it just feels good to at least have it all laid out so that I can come in and out as my energy flows and schedule allows so that I always know what's going, even if I haven't posted for a couple of days, 

[00:18:01] Kara Duncan: totally.

[00:18:02] Sandra Henderson: You actually mentioned I want to dive into this a little bit further, but you talked about if you are blogging to please also be putting that up on Pinterest. And then I was going to raise my hand and be like guilty because I've done it a couple of times. I'm definitely not doing it every time, and it's one of those things that, like, when my schedule gets busy, I'm like, Pinterest is gone.

[00:18:20] Like, that's gonna free up at least some mental space. But I would love to talk about how you are able to utilize content on multiple platforms, and how that can help photographers be more sustainable when it comes to their marketing efforts. 

[00:18:36] Kara Duncan: Yeah, definitely. So, like, like you said, using a scheduling tool definitely helps.

[00:18:40] I love Tailwind for Pinterest. I wish other platforms Did what tailwind could do But basically, it's like yeah when you write a blog depending on how consistent you are with blogging if you're blogging sporadically, please still keep doing it. Google doesn't penalize not being consistent as much as other platforms But then maybe you're gonna create like five or ten pins and like just schedule them You know, manually on Pinterest or using Tailwind. Tailwind is nice cause you can kind of do multiple boards, which gives you more pins for your bang for your buck or whatever. 

[00:19:16] Sandra Henderson: And I think you get like 20 free pins a month on there for you or something like that. 

[00:19:20] Kara Duncan: Totally do. And, it doesn't need to be up the second that you post, like if you are blogging once a week, like, you know, schedule your pins once a month or something like that.

[00:19:29] And don't forget to do all the blog posts too is what I always tell people. So like when I'm doing Pinterest for a client, I'm not just like looking at their new stuff. I'm looking at like, what are their top performing blogs like last year during this season, or like, what's going to be, what are people going to be searching for in the winter and like prioritize those.

[00:19:49] But Pinterest is a super easy platform to batch and they don't require you to show up every day. Another thing that I do for Pinterest clients is I will download their Instagram Reels, especially the ones that don't look Instagram-specific. So like if you're putting like, read the caption on your Reels, it's a little harder to reuse.

[00:20:07] On Pinterest, you can put it in the description, but it's not a super great user experience. But for like, Ones where photographers specifically it's like, you know, there's like two seconds of a video or something and then it's like 85 different photos Like you could definitely download that and put it on Pinterest.

[00:20:23] I like to use it as a video pin Instead of an idea pin it's kind of up in the air what they're doing with idea pins They kind of said they're getting rid of it. And now they're saying they're merging it So honestly, I've seen better results with video pins lately So 

[00:20:36] Sandra Henderson: yeah, yeah, I have to quickly interrupt you because I admit I'm not a huge Pinterest user.

[00:20:43] I go on like every now and then to update inspiration for what my clients should wear to their family sessions and to look for the odd recipe. But I, so because of that, I actually, I've heard the term idea pin so many times and I keep meaning to find out what the hell an idea pin is. And now you're saying that they might actually potentially get rid of it.

[00:21:02] So please quickly explain to me, even if they are getting rid of it, what is the difference between a regular pin and an idea? 

[00:21:09] Kara Duncan: So idea pins, you couldn't add a link So they weren't okay for business owners. They were You know, maybe good for content creators, but at the same time, Pinterest followers are not as like highly valued as like Instagram followers.

[00:21:24] So like if your content, you're trying to leverage your metrics. I don't know. It wasn't really a win-win for everyone. Anyone except maybe the consumer because the consumer can have access to like zero click content like where they don't actually have to go to your website and you're sharing the recipe in like An idea pin could be like a mix of video and pins.

[00:21:43] So like think about like an Instagram stall or something like that like you so you could like in theory Pinterest wanted you to share like a how-to or like You know a whole wedding so people can swipe through and stuff like that And then they never have to go to your website But business owners didn't necessarily love using it because people business owners want it Up to their website, right?

[00:22:05] So right it was something I feel like they tried and they tweaked, you know to make work But ultimately I don't think I don't know I don't think it was super successful because then they tried adding idea pins, but it was only in beta And now I think they're gonna just get rid of it, but I could be wrong 

[00:22:20] Sandra Henderson: Today's episode of Keeping It Candid is sponsored by Aftershoot.

[00:22:25] Full disclosure, I took a break from using Aftershoot, and I've talked a lot about how incredible some other AI editing platforms are. And don't get me wrong, that hasn't changed. But I cannot deny how amazing Aftershoot's new features are, and there was no question that I had to make the switch back.

[00:22:43] Aftershoot is an AI culling and editing platform that learns your style of editing based off the photos that you've already done in the past and then applies that to new photos going forward. It's not like finding presets where you just apply it to your photos and it doesn't make any changes and you really have to heavily edit each one yourself.

[00:23:02] This actually learns your editing style and applies Lightroom settings to your photos the same way you would if you were the one who was actually physically moving the sliders yourself.

[00:23:13] With the AI culling feature, it's able to sort through photos where people are blinking, photos that are blurry, and anything else that you might want to weed out as far as duplicates and things like that, leaving only the best of the best for you to have to go through in a few minutes as opposed to a few hours.

[00:23:28] And the feature that brought me back to the platform is that all of this can now be done all in one. There is no more need to have to upload photos in Lightroom and then call them in Aftershoot and then load them back into Lightroom and then edit them into Aftershoot. But now everything can be done in 

[00:23:45] inside the platform. The only time you have to bring them over to Lightroom is if you want to make any tweaks to the individual photos themselves. It's an absolute game-changer and will save so much time.

[00:23:58] If you're interested in trying it out, I want you to head over to simplysandrayvonne.ca/resources to get a 10 percent discount using my affiliate link.

[00:24:08] That makes a lot of sense. Like from the consumer standpoint, it's nice to not have ad generated content. But. I feel like all, if not like 99 percent of the people creating the posts going on Instagram are business owners that want to redirect off the platform.

[00:24:25] So from our standpoint, I can definitely see how like that doesn't make sense and would cause a lot of problems for people. 

[00:24:30] Kara Duncan: Yeah, like it's kind of like if you go to get a recipe and you have to like scroll through the food bloggers like stuff. Story first. Life story. But yeah, it's like, okay, nobody actually wants that.

[00:24:40] So if IdeaPens just like skip to that, but then at the same time, yeah, food bloggers have to make money. Otherwise, what's the point of them doing it? Right? Right. There has to be somewhat of a win-win, because it's like, you as a business owner, like, we don't want everyone to stop creating content. And like, that's kind of how I feel about like, Google is making some changes. So people are like, a little nervous about it, right, especially if they rely on SEO.

[00:25:04] And it's like, ultimately, like, Google is Just testing things, right? They're not like permanently changing anything. Algorithms are always going to be changing. And if you like, because I think one thing that they're testing is like just an AI generated answer at the top, right? And you're like, that's fine.

[00:25:21] But if everyone that is creating the content that is ultimately like giving Google that answer if they stop because it's not worth it to them. That's not going to be good for Google, right? So it's like, it really has to be this like win win we have to do. We have to serve our customers. And then we also have to make sure that we're doing things that give us an ROI.

[00:25:40] So just balancing that and then one quick tip that I've been doing more that I want to share with repurposing your content. If I'm writing a blog post, I've started using AI to be like, create a caption from this one paragraph. Cause I think I know you have AI people coming on the show or maybe have already been on the show.

[00:26:01] But I feel like there's like a lot of like, AI is unethical or stealing other people's content or whatever. And like all valid, but it's like, you can also use it for your own content and be like, can you just make this paragraph of this blog post? You know, if your blog post has like three or four, you know, the meat of the paragraph or whatever, it's like, that can be three or four Instagram captions and you can like, and it's your own content, own ideas and that kind of stuff.

[00:26:26] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, I am totally with you. Like, all the hesitations and concerns around AI are totally valid, but I absolutely love what, like, something like ChatGPT is able to do with your own content. Like, I'll take something, a paragraph that I've written that says, It's two, three, four sentences long. I guess two sentences are not a paragraph.

[00:26:47] The English nerd in me was just raging as I said that, like two sentences is not a paragraph, but like if I have a paragraph and I want it to be longer and I'm just like struggling to elaborate on what I want to say, it's nice to be able to put it into chat, chat, GPT and just see what it says. Like I'm never using anything word for word, but it's saving me so much time getting me out of ruts that I get stuck in.

[00:27:08] And I just, I love it. I could go on forever, but the photography side of AI, 

[00:27:13] Kara Duncan: I know I'm like pro AI as well. And yeah, like you said, sometimes I'll literally be writing like three sentences. Cause I'm like looking through, you know, like if I'm blogging for a photographer, I wasn't at the wedding.

[00:27:25] Sometimes I just have to think like, okay, how am I going to put this all together? So it'll be like, you know, bridesmaids wore green dresses, the couple had a first look, this was the venue. It's like, can you turn this into a paragraph? 

[00:27:40] Sandra Henderson: Right. Turn it into a story that people actually want to read, not point form with like random thoughts about the day.

[00:27:46] Kara Duncan: Right. Yeah. It's super helpful. And like you said, it's like, literally, can I just copy and paste that? But it's like, sometimes it will give me ideas on how to like flow these like things together. 

[00:27:57] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, absolutely. Or like there's times that I'm like, no, that's 100 percent not what I want to do. And so it'll like, there's been times where it's just reframed the way that I've approached things.

[00:28:07] And so, yeah, I think there's so many benefits to it. And I'm excited to see it because this is just the beginning. At the start of it we are not even at the tip of the iceberg. So yeah,

[00:28:15] Kara Duncan: I totally agree like I had what was I writing? I wanted something about like being a wedding copywriter, like to rank on that keyword.

[00:28:22] So I'm like, Oh, write a blog about this or whatever. It wasn't chat GPT was a different one. And it literally like wrote me an entire 3000-word blog post on like But it was geared toward couples hiring a wedding copywriter for their wedding website, which you're like, to my knowledge, that's not a thing.

[00:28:40] Thank you for the 3000 words, but like, none of this is usable. Not one word. 

[00:28:46] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, when I first started playing around with it, it was definitely like writing everything to like the couple that was looking to hire a photography coach. And I'm like, no, like, that's not quite what we're going for here 

[00:28:58] Kara Duncan: and we're using it. I feel like, I'm excited. And like you said, I feel like a lot of the Instagram stuff that we see is all about, like how you can use AI to write stuff. And it's like, I'm so excited about the non-writing stuff we can use AI for, like you said, for photography and like, you know, like a fathom note taker is one that I see in almost every zoom room now.

[00:29:20] And it never used to be a thing, right? And you're like, there's like tango for SOPs. You're like. All of those things I'm like, so excited about. 

[00:29:29] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, I'm totally with you and just like, There's so many different ways we can use it. And I'm excited about all of it. So just kind of like, going back to like, we're saying, use this as inspiration and a tool to get you started.

[00:29:40] When I was first playing around with chat GPT, I was saying how, like, it was really just making everything geared towards the couple that was looking for a photography coach, which did not apply. I did ask it to just write out a workflow for wedding photographers because I was just curious as to what it would see what it would say to do versus the workflow for wedding photographers that I already have shameless, plug.

[00:30:02] I will include the link for that in the show notes because I do have a freebie for that. But the workflow that it wrote for me had the couple reaching out to the photographer to confirm their contract details one month before the wedding day. And so when I saw that, I was like, okay, guys, we don't need to worry about AI taking our jobs.

[00:30:22] Like, totally fine. We are still years away from a point where we have to worry about that because if couples are taking this advice and they are trying to finalize a contract with a wedding photographer one month before their wedding, they are going to be sorely disappointed. So, yeah, I definitely do not have any concern whatsoever at this point that AI is going to be taking my job in any capacity.

[00:30:44] Kara Duncan: I totally agree.

[00:30:46] Sandra Henderson: So that wraps up all the questions that I have for you, but if you could leave listeners with one final takeaway that will help them stay consistent with their marketing, what would that takeaway be?

[00:30:56] Kara Duncan: I think it would just be like regular check-ins on what marketing tools are providing you an ROI. And considering the best practices of a whole platform and not feeling like you have to be on one platform. Right. So like if. Like, for example, TikTok. I love TikTok. I think it's a great marketing channel. I do not have the bandwidth for, like, what it demands.

[00:31:19] Maybe I will in the future, right? And, like, the busier you are, the, you know, the more dialled in I think you have to be. Like, if you're in the start of your business, I like to say, like, Do try everything. Like, don't do everything perfectly, but try everything. Because a lot of times I think people start their photography business, obviously they start on Instagram, and they are, you know, then surrounded by people who tell them Instagram is the only way.

[00:31:42] And it's like, consider the source, right? And like, be open to other ideas. Because like, if anyone's going to tell you, you can't run a business without Instagram, like you absolutely can. Many people are, and you're just not seeing them because they're only looking on Instagram. 

[00:31:59] Sandra Henderson: Such a good point. And you were saying like, you don't have the capacity to do all the things that TikTok they claim to require.

[00:32:07] I literally just like, take, I saved my Instagram reels and I posted over on TikTok and I don't change anything. And it's been so interesting to me to see how completely differently they perform. And like, there's yet to be a reel slash TikTok that has seen It's performed equally on both platforms. It either does really well on Instagram and does horribly on TikTok, or it does really well on TikTok and it's just like mediocre on Instagram.

[00:32:34] So that has been... 

[00:32:35] Kara Duncan: which I feel like is like, where it's hard, right? It's like when you're comparing things, you're actually comparing them with data instead of like, well, I like sharing photos of my coffee more than I like blogging, which same.

[00:32:48] Sandra Henderson: Yeah. And I think it just like, hopefully, it will give people permission to show up a little bit messier. And just kind of evaluate what is working best for you to make educated decisions in your business. And if you don't have the capacity to show up in all the places, that's okay. I think like we've driven that point home a few times in this episode.

[00:33:07] And I know that that's something that I think is super important as a business owner. So I'm glad that we got to touch on it so much.

[00:33:13] Kara Duncan: Ya absolutely. 

[00:33:15] Sandra Henderson: I just have one last fun little, like, would you rather question for you? Now I know you are retired from the wedding planning industry, but would you rather plan a celebrity wedding, which like we can all imagine would probably be one of the most stressful, difficult weddings to plan, or would you rather copywrite for someone who hasn't taken the time to figure out who they are, what they do and who they want to work with?

[00:33:42] Kara Duncan: Oh, I think I would rather copywrite and the reason is because sometimes I will have people come to me like that. And even though I try and get it out of them, sometimes it's like, well, I'm just not good with words or whatever. And it's like, that's great because part of my job as a copywriter is like, I'll invent an angle that I think will work for you.

[00:34:04] Sometimes people are like, they think that they're bringing me all this not to go on another tangent, but they think they're bringing me a lot. But it's like that their ideal client is between 25 and 35 and makes 200, 000 a year. And you know what I mean? You're like, This is like, and it's so much and like, how helpful is it really?

[00:34:20] So sometimes I'm like, Oh, Hey, like after I like stalked your Instagram for the last four years, I decided that this angle is actually like what makes you different. Even though, you know, cause it's an outsider. I'm like, I've never seen that before. But as you as a business owner, sometimes you're like, I don't do anything special.

[00:34:37] Whatever. 

[00:34:38] Sandra Henderson: Yeah, for sure. It's nice to have a different perspective on it because like I was saying earlier, like, I feel like I, my consistency is all over the place. But then I have someone like you following me, we follow each other and you're able to see that. And you can give that like, different insight into how things look because.

[00:34:55] We are definitely our own worst enemies when it comes to running a small business. I think we are all going to be guilty of that. So that's nice to know that working with someone like Kara for copywriting, they're going to come in. And if you aren't quite sure what's going to happen or what you should be doing, you've got a professional to help you steer you in the right direction.

[00:35:12] I know, like for me, my ideal client was totally like the 25 to 35 for up until about a few years ago, for everybody that's listening, Kara and I work with the same business coach, Candice Coppola, I give her a little bit of a shout out. But yeah, it was like every single person who teaches ideal clients in the photography industry is like, how much did they make?

[00:35:32] What gender are they? What's their name? Like, let's come up with just a basic dating profile for them. And it wasn't until I started working with Candice and took a workshop with someone else that taught Just kind of like diving in really deep to think about what their concerns are and like what their values are in life and things like that, that I was like, oh, okay, now I understand why this is such a game changer.

[00:35:54] Kara Duncan: Yes, yeah, totally. Because you're like, well, I don't get it. I'm filling it out. Right? How come it's not working? Yeah, right. Yeah, I would vote that unless it's like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, then I'll come out of retirement, but anyone else is not worth the stress. 

[00:36:08] Sandra Henderson: This, I, I am all for little tangents, so now it's my turn to do a little tangent.

[00:36:12] But it has been like, I live for making fun of sports. I am not a sports person by any stretch of the imagination. And so like my good friends who are really, really sporty and like my best friend is like so into sports. And so like I get my entertainment from just like kind of poking the bear and making fun of it a little bit.

[00:36:31] So this whole Taylor Swift Travis Kels thing is like. Raining down from the heavens for me and like, I saw a t-shirt that was like something about here to see Taylor Swift's boyfriend play I saw another thing about how, like, Taylor Swift is visiting all these stadiums before they get turned into Mojo Dojo Casa houses, and I'm like, oh, this is everything I need in my life.

[00:36:51] So thank you, Taylor Swift, because I'm going to be, I'm going to be looking at this for months. It's just so much fun.

[00:36:58] But thank you so much, Kara. This was such a fun interview and I know listeners are going to have so many takeaways that they can apply to their businesses.

[00:37:04] Sandra Henderson: It was so great chatting with you. Thank you so much again. And I look forward to connecting with you again in the future. 

[00:37:11] I recorded this episode with Kara back in October when the media entirely revolved around all things Barbie, Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelce. And honestly, as I was listening back and doing the editing, I was seriously patting myself on the back for being able to drop the words Mojo Dojo Casa House during an interview about marketing.

[00:37:30] Now, if you want to find Kara online, you can find her on Instagram at TheKaraReport, and you can also listen to her podcast, also called TheKaraReport. It is one of my favourites to listen to, and I know that you guys are going to love it as much as I do. Now, my own takeaway from this episode confirms what I've already been feeling.

[00:37:48] I need to start putting more energy into marketing platforms that have a long-term return, like Pinterest and my blog, because it's how I will be able to stay consistent no matter what I'm dealing with health-wise. That's what drives everything I do in my systems business, that drives so much of what I talk about here on the podcast, and so it's time to start practicing what I preach and really embracing those long-term marketing strategies this year.

[00:38:12] If blogging is something that you are struggling with, I do offer a blog writing creation service. That's not something that I really talk about a whole lot because it's just something that I do when I have the free time in my calendar available, but I absolutely love writing. And off and on over the last 12 years, I have actually been ghostwriting blogs for other photographers.

[00:38:31] So what this looks like, it can be just content creation. Whether you are doing educational blog posts or if you are a photographer or a wedding pro writing about a specific wedding or photos or anything like that, we can do content that is more client-facing.

[00:38:46] And then I also have add-ons for things like doing keyword research and having your post built out inside your blog platform.

[00:38:53] All you really need to do is decide on what topics you want talked about, and give me any photos that you want included, and then I handle the rest. If you're interested in more info on that blogging service, just send me an email at hello@simplysandrayvonne.Ca and I would love to talk more.

[00:39:10] All right friends, that is another podcast episode in the books. Thank you so much for being here. Have an amazing rest of your week and I will be back next Wednesday. 

[00:39:20] Thank you so much for listening. You can find full show notes from today's episode at simplysandrayvonne.ca/shownotes.

[00:39:29] In the meantime, let's connect! You can find me on Instagram and TikTok, just search Simply Sandra Yvonne. And if you love this podcast, I'd be so honoured if you go ahead and hit that subscribe button and leave a review until next time!