It’s been a minute since we caught up. How have you been?
I’ve been amazing, thanks! We’ve been on a wild and crazy path of growth, with a lot of ups and downs. We kicked off 2023 with a family trip to Japan for snowboarding, then headed back to the USA. We went to LA and New York for filming some television shows, opened our new office in Orange County, solidified my new partnership, and traveled to Florida, Michigan, and Atlanta to be showcased on the new TV show called “American SESH” with Pinkie Cole. We also went back to Bali to start building our new villa. However, we have been in different hotels for the last four and a half weeks, changing every two to three days because the villa isn’t ready yet, and the island is full. This is nothing new for the Unstoppable Family because we traveled like this for about eight full years, maybe not moving every two to three days, but typically every two to three weeks or months.
What are some of the biggest personal challenges you’ve faced in your life over the past year, and how have you overcome them?
Some of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced over the last year have been pretty intense. In 2022, we launched our book “Women Gone Wild” and went on a massive book tour in New York, Vegas, and LA. During the tour, we found out that the book was not written properly with the right guidelines from our publisher. We had to pull the book in the middle of the tour and rewrite it before relaunching it this year. Scaling a business and being authentic to the world can bring a lot of unexpected challenges, and I had to clear out people who weren’t serving my purpose and supporting my efforts. It was a tough year for my business, but I believe that stepping back allowed me to step back in even stronger. Now, the book is written with CMS guidelines and is available in bookstores worldwide, including Barnes and Noble, Target, and Walmart. We’re excited to go on our next book tour in Orange County, partnering with She Talks and a charity called Combat Boots to High Heels that supports women veterans with the highest suicide rate in the world. I’m thrilled to be able to create a bigger impact in women’s lives and show others that they have a strong voice. Partnering with amazing charities and other women doing incredible things allows us to change the way women work together and for me to be a stronger role model for my daughter. Even though things may not always go as planned, they will find their way, just like water finding the easiest path. That’s how we’re starting to flow.
How’s the family?
Our family is doing great, thank you for asking. We have been closer than ever, especially since my daughter Hanalei bought her first property. As part of our Unstoppable Family values, we are teaching her practical skills as she grows. She has been home-schooled for the past six years and started her first fashion company at the age of 11, making her first six figures at 12. When she decided to take a break from fashion and focus on her artwork and writing, we used the money she earned to invest in real estate for her. Now, at the age of 16, she is building her first studio apartment and learning about property development, real estate, rentals, and Airbnb. The pandemic was a blessing for us, as it allowed us to reflect on our values and what we wanted in life. We are grateful for the growth and lessons we have learned throughout the challenges we faced. Ultimately, our family’s happiness and growth together are what matter most to us.
How did the pandemic affect your business, and what strategies have you implemented to adapt to the changing market conditions?
During the pandemic, our business was not significantly affected because we were already fully online as a PR and branding firm. In fact, the pandemic made people realize the importance of showcasing their business online and restructuring their brand to invest in bigger PR opportunities. We were able to help businesses leverage the online space in a bigger way. While there were shifts in the economy, interest rates, and inflation, we didn’t see much of an impact in our business. However, we did notice that some clients started to pull back in certain areas such as PR. To counteract this, we shifted our message and focused on educating clients on the importance of building their online presence. We emphasized that if they didn’t invest in their online footprint, they risked being left in the dark because everyone else was shifting online. Our strategy of education over selling ultimately benefited us in a major way.
What new services or offerings has your agency developed recently, and how have they been received by your clients?
Our agency has been focusing on Google verification, which means ensuring that our clients are seen as experts when they or their company are searched for online. We achieve this through the creation of Google Knowledge Panels, which we call GKPs. While having a blue tick on social media is fun, being verified by Google is essential as it’s the number one search engine in the world, and where people go to find information. Our clients have responded well to this service, and we’ve shifted our payment structure from higher upfront fees to a monthly retainer, making it more manageable for clients who may have experienced lower sales throughout the year. Overall, we are pleased with the success of this new offering.
How do you help clients develop and communicate their brand story? What’s different about the way your company does that?
The more people are talking about you, and the more people are seeing you, the more they decide that you are the right one. So I use the example that branding and personal branding, when you are selling for yourself, or for your company, is like you standing in Times Square with a megaphone saying ‘Look how great I am!’ What we do in our agency and how we help clients achieve higher visibility and more brand credibility is we place them in top tier publications. And it’s as if there is, for example, a Forbes magazine representative standing in Times Square, saying that business or that brand is credible. It’s a whole different perspective. And a third party is validating your business, your services. That’s what we do best – we help someone else tell the story about the brand, so that there’s not only more consistency, but they’re being seen or heard in a different way. When someone recommends or refers someone to you, you take that with a lot more trust than if you’re just searching for yourself.
What new collaborations have you made, and how do you see the online marketing space developing over the next 24 months?
I recently partnered with Jonas Muthoni, CEO of Deviate Agency, to create a new company called Be Unstoppable. This collaboration allows us to provide the best in PR, SEO, and paid advertising to our clients. By combining our expertise, we can help our clients increase their visibility and organic traffic while reducing their ad spend. Additionally, we launched Wild Magazine, which is now available in both print and digital formats. (www.wildmag.com). Thanks to Jonas’ software development skills and his company’s strength, the magazine was recognized by Google as a news source within eight months of its launch. This recognition has allowed us to compete with top publications worldwide. We are continuously working to tell more stories, including a new section for men similar to Forbes Women. Looking ahead, I believe the online marketing space will continue to evolve rapidly over the next 24 months, with a focus on personalization and creating unique customer experiences.
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in branding and marketing, and what resources do you rely on for inspiration?
I keep myself up to date by closely monitoring the marketplace and staying attentive to the latest trending strategies. However, I also make sure to learn from the pioneers of copywriting, marketing, and branding because these are the principles that endure in the long run. While there are many fleeting tactics that people can use, focusing on the fundamentals such as consistent storytelling, SEO, paid advertising, and PR is what will never go out of style. We always keep an eye on emerging trends in the marketplace, analyze where the buying power lies, and pay attention to what people are discussing, so that we can share these insights through our magazines and stay ahead of the curve.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs and business owners who are struggling to establish a clear and effective brand identity, and how does that relate to your own story of overcoming challenges and seeking new depth in business?
My advice to people is to get very clear on the one client or customer that you can help the most. If you know your target market, then you will know exactly what they look for and what problems they have. I use the awareness scale to identify where our clients are in their business journey. Many businesses tend to want to help everyone, but they miss the point of understanding where their client is in their awareness scale. Are they aware they have a problem and looking for a solution, or are they not even aware they have a problem? We need to create that need for our clients and make them aware of what they do and how they can help them. In reality, clients need to see you as credible and as a solution to their problem. So, we focus on identifying where our clients are in their awareness scale and tailor our message and marketing strategies based on that.
Looking ahead to the future, what are your goals for Unstoppable Branding Agency, and how do you see the branding and marketing industry evolving in the coming years?
I believe that the branding, online PR, and digital marketing industries will continue to grow and evolve, but not necessarily in the social media space. Instead, I think there will be new platforms and apps emerging for sharing messages. However, the most important aspect of digital marketing will always be on Google, where businesses need to fully understand their clients and their problems, and create high-quality, keyword-rich SEO content to be seen as experts in their field.
As for Unstoppable Branding Agency, our goal is to continue helping our clients achieve their branding and marketing objectives, while staying ahead of the trends in the industry. We will continue to prioritize understanding our clients’ needs and using data-driven strategies to achieve their goals. We also hope to expand our reach and impact by working with more clients and partnering with other businesses in the industry. As I always say, if you’re going to create a brand, create a sexy brand, be unstoppable and always stay wild.
