The Power of Two — Duo Collective Is Redefining Marketing For Multi-passionate Entrepreneurs
What does Duo Collective stand for? How did it originate?
Duo Collective speaks to the power of two. We are a team of two who bring you both sides of the brain — creativity, and strategy. It’s not just about having a beautiful brand or Instagram feed. It’s also about implementing a strategy that brings you new leads and sales.
We’ve been a Duo for over a decade, since our big-time agency days collaborating on projects for household names like Burt’s Bees, Peet’s Coffee, Clorox, Sparkling Ice, and Target. When we both realized corporate life was no longer serving us, we founded our digital marketing agency to dedicate our days to helping multi-passionate entrepreneurs crush their marketing goals without spending a dime on paid ads.
In times when one can find a marketing agency with a click of a button, what makes your brand a go-to choice by multi-passionate entrepreneurs all over the world?
We focus solely on organic growth — marketing without spending money on paid ads. Unlike other agencies, we want to focus on giving you all the tools you need to succeed rather than feeling dependent on us for your success. We give you all our secrets, and we never hold back!
With an industry trend to “niche down,” we want to help multi-passionate business owners thrive. With a clear brand strategy, a multi-faceted business can be as successful as an uber-focused niche. We’ve found a massive hole in the marketing world when it comes to helping multi-passionate business owners find clarity in their offerings. And with that, our greatest passion is to help business owners take back that confidence in their own businesses.
Creating outstanding client results could be challenging with rapidly changing algorithms on social media. Do you follow any specific strategies to get your clients high-performing results?
Everyone loves to hate the algorithm. Yet, it’s really not that complicated. The goal of any social platform is to keep you on that platform as long as possible. The only way that happens is if you create content that keeps people engaged. That’s it. If you aren’t finding success on the platform, your content isn’t working. It’s not about what time of day you posted or that you didn’t follow the correct number of people. It’s about your content.
With every client, we take a step back and identify an overarching strategy. We map out the types of content one should create to engage the audience. We test and learn, watch analytics and send out surveys to better understand how to create this content moving forward.
Our readers would love to read success stories coming from your clients. Could you share some of your client testimonials with us?
We would love to!
“To say Courtney and Abbey are lifesavers is an understatement! These kind, supportive, smart women jumped into immediate action when I came to them with major SEO, website, and google problems. As someone who knows very little about SEO, it was so wonderful to work with people who, on the one hand, majorly helped my website but also took the time to explain and educate me (no one does this)! They have been a constant support as I continue to learn. Not only did they help with my SEO, but provided me a clear game plan and numerous ideas on how to move forward, grow my audience and continue to be relevant and found via google! If you are looking for a team of incredibly supportive, knowledgeable, kind, and attentive people who will organically grow your website and google presence while also taking the time to invest if you — RUN, don’t walk to work with Duo Collective!” — Wildflower Events & Design (SEO)
“Abby and Courtney are simply outstanding. When I hired them to develop my marketing strategy for social media, they did not disappoint. From the beginning, they thoroughly explained the entire scope of the project, communicating every detail, timeline, and deliverable from start to finish. They understood my desired outcomes for the project and built a strategy and a detailed toolkit I can easily and confidently execute and manage. After hiring Abby and Courtney for my marketing strategy project, I now understand why their company name, Duo Collective, is the perfect description of the services they deliver: two women who collectively deliver superb project management skills, meticulous attention to detail, and masterful design creativity to bring your project to life. My only regret is I wish I would have hired them sooner.” — Junita’s Jar (Social)
“We would highly recommend working with Duo Collective. Abbey and Courtney designed our salon’s website, social media, and business cards. We were beyond happy with how everything turned out. They took the time and energy to get to know our salon’s feel and worked with that while making it more modern and beautiful. These ladies also take the time to ensure you understand how to utilize the different platforms they’re using. They’re super patient and worked with our timeline. They’re super friendly and so knowledgeable! After working with these two lovely ladies, we have nothing but good things to say.
Thank you SO much for everything. With love!” — Jessie Tomme Salon (branding, website, SEO and social strategy)
You can also find some more projects from our portfolio here.
Like every entrepreneurial venture, your business must, too, have gone through challenges. How did you overcome them, and what kept you going, especially when many small businesses had to wrap up in the wake of the recession?
Running a small business definitely has its challenges. When we started our business, there was a lot to navigate, but the biggest challenge was ensuring our partnership was flawless. There were no rules; we had to make them. So, this is when we hired our first business coach. She definitely played the role of both a coach and a therapist, helping us navigate this new world of business ownership. We worked together now in the same capacity as during our agency days, but running our own business felt different.
We found out early on that communication was key to our success. We had to clearly define our roles and responsibilities and sometimes over-communicate how things were going. We wanted to build a business we loved, which meant constantly pivoting when things didn’t feel right.
Defining these roles and building workflows and processes are some of the biggest things we attribute to our success today. These are the foundations of your business, and without them, you can’t grow and scale yourself to the next level.
For 2023, what plans do you have in mind for Duo Collective? Are you working on something specific for the coming year?
In the new year, we are taking a few fewer one-on-one projects and focusing on a year-long marketing mastermind for select CEOs. We always preach that organic growth takes consistency and time. So we are beyond excited to help grow these businesses for the entire year of 2023. Our hope is to make this a consistent offering for years to come.
We also have some incredible personal life changes ahead as Courtney is due with her first baby in April. This will be our first time navigating maternity leave in the entrepreneurial world, and we can’t wait to share the experience and how we planned for it on our podcast.
Your experience of 20+ years in marketing for big brands could primarily benefit our readers. What advice would you give someone starting their brand in a similar niche?
We believe that every single person has something valuable to sell or teach. Having an abundance mindset is critical when you are starting a new venture. Even if you have a business similar to someone else, YOU are different. Therefore the way you create and deliver your offering will be diverse. And people buy from people, not brands.
Don’t shy away from sharing the behind-the-scenes and defining your personality. The brands that shine are the ones that don’t hold back who they are. It doesn’t mean you need to be an outgoing extrovert (especially if you aren’t!), but you need to be authentically you.
And when it comes to marketing, find one or two platforms you genuinely love and live there. You don’t need to be everywhere and do everything, especially in the early stages. Instead, focus on consistently showing up somewhere and building your audience there first. Then you can take your analytics and expand.
What are the best places where one can find your work? Where can our readers connect with you?
Our Podcast: https://duocollective.com/duo-on-air-marketing-podcast/
Our Website: https://duocollective.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duo.collective/
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