The Kara Report | Online Marketing Tips and Candid Business Conversations

Kara Duncan | Small Business Marketing Tips
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Marketing
  • Weekly

Hey there, welcome to "The Kara Report"! Each week, we’re sharing what we see real businesses doing to grow their business and expand their reach to help you grow your business and become a marketing pro. In each episode, we get granular and talk about real-world marketing strategies, what DOESN’T work when scaling your business, and host candid conversations on the latest business and marketing trends. We'll even share the juicy data we collect and behind-the-scenes bloopers as they come. No fluff, no filler; just authentic, in-depth discussions that explore the key factors that truly make a difference in your business success. After all, we know that marketing your business is about more than Instagram Reels tips and social media algorithm hacks, and great marketing also doesn’t always mean you’re running a successful, profitable business.  While we specialize in content marketing, blogging for SEO, Pinterest marketing, and website copy for our own content marketing agency, all marketing strategies are welcome (and discussed) here. Whether you're an established entrepreneur looking to refine your business or marketing strategy or just starting your entrepreneurial journey, we’re serving up valuable insights designed to help you navigate the ever-changing world of business and marketing.  We believe when you do the work, you’ll reap the rewards and we promise we will focus on results-driven action steps (not the busy work) to help you hit your goals this year. Now let’s get started!

  1. 1d ago

    142 | Your Clients Are Making Assumptions About You (And It's Costing You $$$)

    One of the sneakiest ways service providers lose money has nothing to do with the quality of their work. It’s the impression they’re giving clients about how much they can take on. I see this all the time with my business friends and my clients, and I’ll admit I’ve caught myself doing it too. We bond with clients over how slammed we are, deliver things at the 11th hour, and then wonder why the referrals and extra projects have dried up. Nobody’s going to tell you this is happening. These assumptions are never said out loud, which is exactly what makes them so hard to fix. So before we head into one of the busiest seasons of the year, I want to talk about the story you’re telling clients about your availability, and how to make sure it isn’t quietly costing you work you didn’t even know was on the table. 🎙️ In This Episode: Why bonding with clients over how busy you are might be backfiringWhat it often means when a client says “I just want you all to myself”How late (or barely on time) delivery tells clients you’re stretched thinThe extra work your existing clients might hire you for, if they think you have roomWhat happens when a client gets one step ahead of you, and why that trust is so hard to win backSimple ways to show clients you’ve got capacity, even when you’re busy behind the scenes 🔗 Links Mentioned:  Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/142 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

  2. Oct 27

    141 | This Is What's Stealing All Your Time (And Why You Can't Get Anything Done)

    At one point this year, I was spending up to eight hours a day on my phone. Eight. I’ve gotten it down to around three, which is still a lot, but for someone whose job is basically to be chronically online, I’ll take it. The surprising part wasn’t how much time I got back. It was how much more patient I became, how much less irritable I felt, and how much more I actually got done. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized my phone was only part of the problem. Between scrolling, endless business education, and asking AI to plan everything for us, a lot of us are spending our days consuming, learning, and planning, and leaving very little room to actually do anything. I don’t think most of us have a time problem. I think we have an attention problem. Today I’m breaking down the four things I see stealing it, what’s actually helped me take it back, and the one question I ask before committing to anything new. 🎙️ In This Episode: The three types of consumption quietly draining your attention (one of them looks really productive)A moment from a Dr. Becky conversation that was a punch in the gut for me as a parentThe two screen time changes that actually worked after I’d tried everything elseA simple gut check to tell whether your business education is helping or just keeping you busyWhy I’m worried about all of you making 27-page business plans for 2027What I’m doing to make sure I don’t outsource my ability to thinkThe Instagram decision literally nobody told me to make (and why it was the right call)The question I ask myself before saying yes to anything new 🔗 Links Mentioned:  Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/142 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast Podcast with Emma Grede & Dr Becky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugx2vOnxWdY Want to start a digital garden? This is the Youtube video I watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tY7Z53QJo8 Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

  3. Oct 20

    140 | Are AI Overviews Killing Blogging? Here's What the Data Actually Says

    Rumor has it blogging and SEO are dead again. It used to be every few years. Now it feels like every few months. I’m not going to pretend nothing has changed. People really are clicking through to websites less often because the AI overview at the top of Google already gave them the answer. But somewhere along the way, “Google is sending fewer clicks” turned into “blogging doesn’t work anymore,” and those are two very different statements. Because when you look at the actual numbers, zero-click searches were happening long before AI overviews showed up, search volume has roughly tripled in a few years, and most people still don’t fully trust an AI summary to make a big decision for them. For service providers who aren’t monetizing page views, the opportunity is still enormous. It just requires a more strategic blog than the one most people are publishing. I’m walking through the data I think every small business owner should know, plus exactly what I’d change about my own blogging strategy because of AI overviews. 🎙️ In This Episode: What AI overviews actually are, and why the “SEO is dead” panic is missing the nuanceWhy 60% of searches ending without a click isn’t as scary as it sounds for service providersHow Google search volume has grown since 2022 (and why commercial queries are going up)A luxury inquiry that proves high-end clients still love to research before they hireThe four changes I’d make to a blogging strategy right now 🔗 Links Mentioned:  Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/140 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast SparkToro Research: https://sparktoro.com/blog/2024-zero-click-search-study-for-every-1000-us-google-searches-only-374-clicks-go-to-the-open-web-in-the-eu-its-360/ Pew study: http://pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/ Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

  4. Oct 13

    139 | The Client Feedback Trap Nobody Warns You About (That Gets Worse As You Scale)

    Nobody wants to admit this on a recorded line, but here goes: not 100% of your clients are going to be happy 100% of the time. And the more clients you serve, the more true that gets. That's not a you problem. It's normal distribution. Some percentage of people will think you're the greatest thing that ever happened to them, a big group in the middle will get exactly what they paid for and be glad they hired you, and a small group at the bottom won't think it was worth it. At even a 1% dissatisfaction rate, volume guarantees you'll eventually get that email. The trap isn't the unhappy client. The trap is what we do next. Because most of us respond by redesigning something for the two people who weren't thrilled, and we end up making the experience worse for everyone who was. I'm sharing a slightly embarrassing example from my own business where I did exactly that, plus how I think about the line between feedback that's worth acting on and feedback that's just information.  🎙️ In This Episode: Why this gets more common as you get busier, not lessThe bell curve nobody mentions when they talk about client experienceThe change I made for two clients that a majority of my clients ignoredWhat I should have done instead (it would have taken ten minutes)When good feedback still isn't the right feedback for your businessThe difference between caring about feedback and acting on it 🔗 Links Mentioned: Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/139 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast Episode 105: My 2026 goals (and why my word is leverage): https://thekarareport.com/105 Episode 129: AI is raising the standard for everyone: https://thekarareport.com/129 Episode 75: The bold decisions I made with my new website: https://thekarareport.com/75 Her AI Club with Kinsey + Joyce: https://thekarareport.com/heraiclub Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services  Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

  5. Sep 29

    138 | How to Sound Like an Expert on Days You Don't Feel Like One

    Raise your hand if you're tired of hearing that we're in a trust recession. Same. But authority does matter, probably more than ever going into 2026, and here's the annoying part: knowing you have experience and being able to convey that experience are two completely different skills. You sit down to write the blog or record the podcast or send the email and suddenly it's who the heck am I to talk about this. Everyone's said this better. There's that one competitor everyone tags on Threads. Meanwhile you've been doing this for years. I do this for clients all day long and still have days where I can't do it for myself. So today I'm sharing five ways to borrow authority on the days you don't feel like an authority. And I want to be clear about what this is not: it's not pretending, it's not calling yourself a world-leading expert, and it's not inflating your results. We had enough of that circa 2020. This is about borrowing credibility from things that are already credible while you keep building your own body of work. Most of you have significantly more authority than you're giving yourself credit for. You just haven't taken inventory of it. 🎙️ In This Episode: Where to borrow credibility from when you don't have your own to point toThe stat mistake I see constantly (and what I do instead)One thing Google and AI both want that most of us aren't giving themHow to take inventory of the authority you already haveThe kind of proof that counts when you don't have concrete results to show 🔗 Links Mentioned: Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/138 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast The blogging app I built: https://thekarareport.com/waitlist Episode 70: Imposter syndrome has cost me thousands: https://thekarareport.com/70 Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services

  6. Sep 22

    137 | 8 Things I'd Do Today If I Wanted to Work Less a Year From Now (Part Two)

    Last week we covered the first four things I'd start doing today if I wanted to work less a year from now. This week, the other four. And I'll be honest, these are the ones with the most nuance in them, because this is where most people jump straight to "I'll just hire someone" and accidentally build a business that costs a fortune to run. Here's the thing nobody says out loud: working less isn't only an operational problem. It's a math problem. If you want the output to stay the same while you do less of it, something has to fill that gap, and that something usually has a price tag. So if your plan for working 20 hours a week involves a big team, a pile of software, and complicated systems, your business now has to make significantly more money just to hold up the infrastructure.  That might not feel like freedom on the other side of it. In part two I'm covering what I'd document before I hired anyone, how I actually think about outsourcing when profit matters more than capacity, the question I used all through 2025 to stop saying yes to things future me would resent, and why I finally sat down and did the numbers on this. 🎙️ In This Episode: Why systems should come before your first hire, not after itThe uncomfortable truth about what a team actually costs youWhich parts of your marketing you can genuinely hand off, and which one you can'tThe question I asked myself before saying yes to anything in 2025The math problem hiding underneath every "I want to work less" goal 🔗 Links Mentioned: Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/137 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast  Part 1: 8 Things I'd Do Today If I Wanted to Work Less a Year From Now: https://thekarareport.com/136 Episode 70: Imposter syndrome has cost me thousands: https://thekarareport.com/70 Katie Steckly on lifestyle inflation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUq7JzfnL9M Her AI Club with Kinsey + Joyce: https://thekarareport.com/heraiclub Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services  Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

  7. Sep 15

    136 | 8 Things I'd Do Today If I Wanted to Work Less a Year From Now (Part One)

    You've decided you want to work less next year. Maybe that's Fridays off, maybe it's a month every summer, maybe it's maternity leave, or maybe you've just been doing this long enough that you're done spending that many hours at your computer. So you open your calendar and start looking for things to delete. That's the wrong place to start. The better question is: what am I doing right now that requires me to keep doing it forever? Because most of us have built businesses that technically give us freedom. No boss, own hours, own pricing. But if you stop posting, the leads slow down. If you stop creating, nothing publishes. If you're the only one who knows how to do something, it doesn't happen. That's not a flexible business, that's a business that's completely dependent on you. In part one of this two-part series, I'm walking through the first four things I would start doing today if my goal was to work significantly less a year from now. And this isn't hypothetical. I've done this in my own business twice, I'm doing it again right now, and I've helped clients do it when they had a baby coming or a sabbatical planned or a life that needed more room in it. 🎙️ In This Episode: Why "what can I take off my plate?" is the wrong first questionThe kind of marketing that keeps working when you take a week offHow AI can quietly become a productivity hobby, and the filter that stops itThe hidden cost of every offer you've never officially retiredMy backwards approach to tracking where your time actually goes 🔗 Links Mentioned: Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/136 My private podcast on search-driven marketing: https://thekarareport.com/private-podcast Episode 105: My 2026 goals (and why my word is leverage): https://thekarareport.com/105 Episode 129: AI is raising the standard for everyone: https://thekarareport.com/129 Episode 75: The bold decisions I made with my new website: https://thekarareport.com/75 Her AI Club with Kinsey + Joyce: https://thekarareport.com/heraiclub Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services  Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

  8. Sep 8

    135 | The Secret Q4 Marketing Strategy Most Entrepreneurs Skip (and Will Regret in 2027)

    We all know the cycle: pushing out daily Instagram posts, scrambling to keep up with the algorithm, and wondering if it’s even worth it. The highlight reels of “overnight” wins make it seem like short-form content is the only way to grow — but if that’s your only strategy heading into Q4, your future self is going to be exhausted. In this episode, I’m sharing the marketing play that most entrepreneurs skip until it’s too late: building evergreen content systems. Whether it’s blogging, Pinterest, or other search-driven strategies, Q4 is the best time to plant seeds that will grow into leads, traffic, and sales in 2026. We’ll talk about why relying only on Instagram is burning you out, how evergreen content gives you marketing assets that keep working in the background, and why now (not January) is the moment to start if you want your business to feel lighter and more sustainable next year. If you’re ready to move beyond hustle-mode and finally build a marketing strategy that compounds over time, this episode is for you. 🎙️ In This Episode: Why Instagram is the hardest platform to outsource How blogging + Pinterest can give you momentum for early 2027Evergreen content as an asset (and how one blog post can fuel weeks of marketing)The exact Q4 planning process I use with clients to set them up for the new yearWhy AI search (like ChatGPT and Bing) changes the game for long-tail contentA tough-love reminder: if you wait until January, you’ll miss your best window 🔗 Links Mentioned: Read the full shownotes: https://thekarareport.com/135 The app builder I'm using: https://thekarareport.com/stencil Learn more about working with our team: https://thekarareport.com/services  Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarareport

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About

Hey there, welcome to "The Kara Report"! Each week, we’re sharing what we see real businesses doing to grow their business and expand their reach to help you grow your business and become a marketing pro. In each episode, we get granular and talk about real-world marketing strategies, what DOESN’T work when scaling your business, and host candid conversations on the latest business and marketing trends. We'll even share the juicy data we collect and behind-the-scenes bloopers as they come. No fluff, no filler; just authentic, in-depth discussions that explore the key factors that truly make a difference in your business success. After all, we know that marketing your business is about more than Instagram Reels tips and social media algorithm hacks, and great marketing also doesn’t always mean you’re running a successful, profitable business.  While we specialize in content marketing, blogging for SEO, Pinterest marketing, and website copy for our own content marketing agency, all marketing strategies are welcome (and discussed) here. Whether you're an established entrepreneur looking to refine your business or marketing strategy or just starting your entrepreneurial journey, we’re serving up valuable insights designed to help you navigate the ever-changing world of business and marketing.  We believe when you do the work, you’ll reap the rewards and we promise we will focus on results-driven action steps (not the busy work) to help you hit your goals this year. Now let’s get started!

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