Business with the Donnos

Join the Donno family each week as we share the real highs and lows of running a business together—mixing practical advice with unfiltered stories from behind the scenes of family life and entrepreneurship.

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Business with the Donnos

People Buy From People

February 24, 2026 • Jade Donno • Season 1 • Episode 23

0:00 | 25:54

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Tired of hiding behind a logo while your marketing stalls? We unpack why personal branding has become the most reliable growth channel for small businesses and how to start without feeling awkward or salesy. From building a real voice to avoiding the pitfalls of over-polished content, we share the practical moves that make people choose you before they ever visit your website.

We explore the sweet spot where personal and company brands support each other, not compete. You’ll hear why authenticity beats production gloss, how everyday behaviour in public can make or break trust, and what it takes to keep your message consistent without oversharing. We dig into storycraft—how to shape your journey, your mistakes, and your why into value that educates instead of pitches—so that prospects see you as the helpful expert, not another megaphone.

Community is the force multiplier. We talk micro-influencers, customer advocacy, and frictionless sharing that creates social proof, plus the hidden cost of blocking tags or user-generated content. Then we get tactical: pick one platform, post once a week, and invest ten minutes a day in thoughtful comments. Use AI for structure, not your voice, and prioritise consistency over intensity. We wrap with a simple challenge designed to get you posting a human, useful update that has nothing to do with your service—then reply to every comment to spark conversations that convert.

If this helped, follow the show, share it with a friend who runs a small business, and leave a quick review so more people can find these practical playbooks.

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Setting The Stage: Personal Brand

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Visits with the Dunners, where we talk about family visits and everything in the clean. I'm your host, Jay Dunno, and you and my dad, Paul Dunno. And today we're talking about my personal branding is the new small business marketing gold mine.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Lot of me. That was a mouthful. Personal branding.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yes, that is what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

So not like company branding.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Well, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

It should should you be doing personal branding and company branding? Should you be doing company branded? Should you be doing just personal branding? Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

So is it like today in my socks, which are my company colours?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

You do everybody, Dad is now showing his socks. He's put his foot with his trainer on on my windowsill.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Well Django's standing on it.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Django is also on the windowsill. And it's been dusted. He it has been dusted a while ago. Anyway, that's not the point. He's showing you all his socks.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

They can't see it, they can't see it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

This is a podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

But it is it is a a new era, I think, of marketing where personal brand is more effective than company branding in some cases.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Yeah, but can't they overlap?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

They can overlap.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

It's like my personal brand might be my pink socks, but that is also linked to my company.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yeah, yeah, so it can it can overlap.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

But it is a case of needing to have a personal brand as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I think. So look at like Richard Branson, for example. He is his own personal brand.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

But he's got lots of really good companies.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah, well, yeah, mildly, mildly better than us.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Mildly.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

So basically, traditional salesy marketing is losing its its touch. It's losing its return and investment for small businesses.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

So people buy from people.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

People buy from people. They absolutely do. And in an era of social media and things like that, people want you to be genuine and they don't necessarily want to see a company, they want to get to know you as a person and an individual before they buy from you.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

So if people want to get to know me, it's quite easy, isn't it? Just go and play golf.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Which is your your personal brand all over.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

My personal brand. Paul likes golf.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Paul likes golf. But that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So and cooking outside. How many people speak to me about that?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Well, yeah, people like to buy from people, so it is a case that a personal brand is is huge. If you look at like um Daniel Priestley's stuff, there's a lot about personal brand within what he's he's saying, and people tend to look up the people, they'll find you on TikTok and then they'll look at your company afterwards. Yeah. Um, apparently using a personal brand is 20 times more effective than your company brand.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Oh, blummy.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

I know, I had a stat and everything.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, well done.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Well done, me.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

So is this this like our podcast business with the Donos? That's a personal brand, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

This is a personal brand, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Not just a place for you to have a go at me.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

No, although that's fun too.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Oh, okay.

Overlap Of Personal And Company Brands

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Um so I think as well, having a personal brand rather than the company brand, you get a different sort of following, you sort of build a community as well, rather than like just having followers, and I think that's quite unique as well. Um my next point is that being polished is actually a bit of a barrier in 2026 at the moment with trust. So if you've got a really fancy fancy business video, people are actually preferring to watch the sort of makeshift ones that people are doing on their phones.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

They don't always come over as authentic, do they?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

No, and that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

So that's how you can't sort of sell your brand.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

You know, you don't want that sort of cheesy Colgate advert with like ding on your teeth or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

No, but that used to work. So ten years ago, you would have absolutely had that video. You might not have had a video at all, but if you had a video, it would have been respect that. Yeah, but there weren't as now you sort of need to have the marketing videos, whereas before people didn't really have the platforms to watch them on unless you had them on the telly.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Um or listen to them on the wireless.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

What you're showing your age here.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Well, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

So I am gonna be older than you, aren't I? Because like obviously you are my daughter, you are pregnant.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

It's true.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

You know, I'm not gonna be like 21 again, am I?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

No. Still, the wireless wireless if we're talking about fax machines and all sorts soon.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah, they came after the wireless.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Okay. Who knows? So if you're a owner of a business, you are the face of that business, whether you sort of like it or not.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yes. So I do like it by the way.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

No one can tell. But you are the face of that business, yeah. And so use it to your advantage. I think there are some arguments that if you are then the face of the business, like how do you then because we did the podcast about being exit ready, like, would the business then depend on you? Well, this is where you have company branding as well, yeah, but but your personal brand can help build that that business and other businesses if you so wish.

Authenticity Beats Polished Marketing

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Yeah, so the person your personal brand, whilst linked to your company, isn't directly linked to your company, it is literally you um promoting what you do and people buying into you.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah, people buying into you, and they don't even have to like the whole thing with the personal brand as well is that you're not salesy, so you're not going on your Instagram and being like, buy from me, buy my stuff, buy my stuff. That's absolutely not what you want to do. You want to be seen as an educator or a um somebody who really knows what they're talking about, um, an interesting person.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

But your personal brand when you're out in public is has got to be consistent, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Because I mean I heard a story this morning about um a politician that was on quite a contested seat, and he was in a restaurant, went to pay the bill, was a bit of a plonker, um, really nasty to the waiter, etc. etc. And they lost that seat in that particular town by seven votes, which could well have been that young waiter, waitress saying to their mates, don't vote for this person, they're an idiot. So your personal brand, you can easily get tarnished.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Yeah, you absolutely can. I mean, um James Corden had the same thing, didn't he? He um went to a restaurant, it was horrible to the waiter, it went viral.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, and his brand was hit. So you've got to be careful of how you act out there if you're building your own brand.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, and it's it's gotta be consistent and you've got to be ready for people to know your your business as well. Well, whatever you want to share, you don't have to share everything about your life. Um, but you want to be relatable and you want people to think you're a person and not a sales tool. Because if people think you're selling to them, they'll automatically switch off.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I remember when we first took on Twitter at the time, and it's now what is it, X or something? I don't really go on it much now. But people say, Well, why are you talking about you know walking the dog and all that sort of stuff? And I and they say, 'Well, you're not gonna sell anything on that,' I'm like, no, but I wanted them to see that actually accountants aren't just in grey suits with ties and shirts and talking about tax all the time. We actually do do have a life, and I suppose that's where I sort of laugh and joke over being you know playing golf, and that don't I? It's like, yeah, that's part of my brand. I don't enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Yeah, which is fine.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

I hardly ever talk about tax.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

No, he doesn't, although when we get on this podcast, that's all he wants to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Well, you know, except buy my stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

I have to give a pep pep talk to Dad before the podcast. Don't sell.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Which is very counterintuitive, I think.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

So if my if my growth coach uh at Goldman Sachsing, Penny, is listening, she'd be going, Yes, and that's what I told him about his presentation.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yes, yes, Penny. And guess who had to fix that presentation? That was me.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

I'll tag her in the public. Okay, she'll laugh at that.

You Are The Face Of The Business

SPEAKER_00 9:17

So I think this doesn't apply to dad at all. A lot of business owners really cringe at having a personal brand. Oh not dad. He's like, show me the camera. But like there's a lot of people that cringe at it, and I understand why. But you can think of creative ways to have a personal brand without it being cringy.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Um what do you mean, cringey?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Well, like if you're doing a video that's you talking to the camera, right? Like, people don't like doing that. Okay, we've heard it, we've spoken to people about personal brands before, and they're like, oh no, I don't want to be on camera.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Okay. Well, we're not, we're on a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Exactly. There's other ways to build your personal brand that doesn't involve being on the camera.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Um, but equally it is keeping it up and keeping consistent and just and showing up. And showing up, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

There's no good hiding behind a desk or anything. You've got to show up and you've got to be out there to build that brand, haven't you?

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yes, exactly. And and this again is something that Daniel Priesty says. I think Daniel Priesty is like sort of the master behind personal brand, so read his stuff as well. But having a story as well, everyone will have a story. Absolutely everyone has how they got from A to B or stuff they've done that's unusual. It's write that down and really have that story ready to tell people. Have your sort of pitch that's not salesy. Um, have your pitch ready to go and your story ready to go. If people understand your why and your why behind your business, they'll they'll like you even more, providing that why isn't like I just wanted to make money. Um you need something a bit more robust than that. Um because no, I know what my why is. Okay, yeah, what is it?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

It is to make business owners understand their numbers and grow with us. That's our why. But that's not my personal grand why.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

That's your personal brand why.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

I haven't got a clue.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Oh no, you need to go. Play more golf. You need to think of that, yeah. You need to think about that, but you have a good story because you did you had a business that didn't go to plan.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

No, but it did go to plan until I merged it.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Yeah, you merged the business and then that that failed miserably. Miserably. Um, and then you built this one up from scratch because you wanted to start in a new direction.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Absolutely.

Consistency And Real-World Conduct

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Um so it's got a big why with the you've done it from scratch in this business, built something from nothing to what we are now. So we have a lot of stories which goes with our our story. So yeah, as long as my belly just rumbled. Um things you can do as well. If you so some of this is about using a community as well within your personal brand, so like influencers or customers or and and things like that, and it is sort of using them as well to help you promote your business and your products. So, like, um we were looking at a business the other day, and they had an influence on their on there going to their salon and using their product, which they then shared on their Instagram, which again validates their business. So that's stuff you can do within your business marketing that uses personal brand, but maybe not your personal brand, to promote products.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, and it's also understanding who's also got a personal brand and who's got a following, etc. They don't have to be like major influencers, no, um, you know, I and I I remember well I was on Facebook the other day, and and one of our clients makes fire pits. Um, and I sort of they'd put something up, they're really chuffed with their fire pit that they've been given, they'd actually made it into a waterfall. Um and you know, they're really pleased with that, and I and I just went to them and you know, I just said, Oh yeah, we really love ours, we got it from the same person, blah blah blah. And they literally said, Yeah, we got it because you had it and you were showing it off on your Facebook, etc. or Insta. Exactly, and um, and I think that that's that's quite useful as well, isn't it? So you some people don't realise you've got a personal brand, but they are influencing others, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

And uh you don't need a lot of followers to influence no influence people, um but it is a case of of using people, and I mean me and Katie went to paint a pot the other weekend. It was exciting, it was exciting, it was very nice, very relaxing. Good, but the um I took a picture of the plate I'd painted and I went to tag the um place we're at, and they'd they disallowed people from tagging them. No, yeah, so they had that place was full up as well. There must have been about 50 people in there, 50-60 people, and no one could post about what they were doing. So they were giving themselves all of the work for ex for to start with, but also like if I'd have put on there about mine, I've got a few followers on Instagram, someone might have seen that I was there and gone, oh, I can go to Pinapot just down the road. Like that's a huge amount of influence that they are just cutting out, yeah. Um, and I haven't got the most followers, they could have had someone in there with loads and loads of followers that like me. Okay, alright. Um, but you know what? I mean, you've got to think about these things as well. Think about other people's personal brands too, as well as your own, and how you utilize them for your business. Um one tip if you think this sounds really overwhelming, you're like, oh my goodness, Jade, I'm doing I'm doing my my business social media that's taken me for ages, and now you're telling me I've got to do personal stuff as well. I think picking a platform is a good idea. So if you say, like, right, I'm gonna post on LinkedIn every single day, that's fine. If you can keep that up and stay consistent, do that, and then build it up over time. You don't have to do everything all at once, and comment on people's stuff, comment on people's stuff as well, and that's building the community around you.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Just I mean, how many people do we hear when we speak to them? Is oh, I don't have time for that.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

I mean, you know, I don't have the time to drive here, spend the time we spend on this podcast every single week, but we do it, and why do we do that?

Lowering The Cringe: Non-Camera Options

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Personal brad. Absolutely, not just for you to have a go at me, not just for me to have a go at you, no. Although, like I said, fun. Okay, but yeah, we make make the time to do these things because they are important, they're important to your business, especially if you want to grow.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah, and it's surprising there are more than one listener to this as well. Whereas you you go to places and they go, Oh, I really love what what you and Jade are doing on the podcast, etc. etc. So our brand is going out there as a family business. Yes, you moaning at me. I'm actually looking forward to when Matilda can talk.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

She'll moan at you too.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

And I can I can do this with her.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

She'll moan at you as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

She won't, she'll be great.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Okay, yeah, alright. She'll be like, no, grandad, I don't want to be on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah, whatever. No, she won't.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Um so a few steps that you can have to build your personal brand. One is to spend 10 minutes a day engaging with other people's content.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Definitely engage.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Engage.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

And give some of your you know, your stuff away. You know, give some of you away. You know, just give advice and help and support, then you know, you're then trusted.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah, and that's a really good point actually, because some people say like some people say like, oh well, I can't tell people that because then they'll know how to do it. But it's like, and they can Google, they can use ChatGPT, absolutely, like they can find the answer out. They probably won't, but like, why hide all this stuff? Yeah, that it's you know, the in you can get any information you want now, so there's no point in hiding it, you may as well position yourself as a leader in that field, yeah. Um, to really come across right, and you will sell more. And it sounds crazy, like you could do a whole video, like from our point of view, you could do a whole video on how to complete a tax return and we would get more tax return business.

Shape Your Story And Your Why

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Well, we did that year, didn't we? We didn't do it this year, um, because we're a little bit under the under the kosh this year, but I think a year or two years ago, I did one day tips for the whole of January, and other accountants were going to me, Paul, why are you doing that? You're giving it away. But we had more inquiries for tax returns by giving those tips. Yeah, because you know, whilst we might take it for granted, it it is a complex process, it's just we've been trained to do it, yeah, we make it look easy, exactly, and people they don't necessarily see it as oh, I'll copy that and do it myself.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Some people might, but other people think, oh, that person knows what he's talking about, so I'll message them. Yeah, absolutely, and I'll get them to do it. Yeah, that that is more what it looks like if you think about your own psychology of looking at people, you look at the people who know what they're talking about. You wouldn't pick someone who's an unknown.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Well, apart from my mate down the pub.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah, but then that's your mate down the pub.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

That's not the unknown to them, that's the very much the known, and that's why they listen to them. Which is a problem.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Community, Micro-Influencers, And Social Proof

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Oh, okay. We do have. New chairs, they're much nicer. They are um so yeah. So one thing I want if anybody's listening to this, I think the challenge for this week is to post one piece of content that has nothing to do with your service on your personal brand, share or potentially share a lesson you've learned from a recent mistake or a behind-the-scenes look at you and how you run your business, or a day in the life video, do something like that on your personal brand, and then respond to every single comment to start a conversation.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So just one post is the challenge before our podcast next week.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Okay. Are they gonna tag us into it?

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Hashtag you can hashtag you can yeah, you can have a hashtag with us on business with the donos um to tell us that you've done it. But you need to do it, that's your challenge.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

That is your challenge. So now we've done talking about personal brand. What is your unfiltered minute? Because you wouldn't tell me it before the property.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

I wouldn't. So the unfiltered minute only started about what's the time now? Yeah, about an hour and a half ago. You're looking like scared.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

That's like when you got here.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

No, no. So I had a call with a potential new client.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

And they've got a few little tax issues.

unknown 23:27

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So me being me looked at the whole scenario, looked at their family life, etc. etc., started asking questions. And this person went, it's just like being at a confessional. And then they said, You are the accounting priest. I just thought that was hilarious. And I did say to this person, I did say, I'm gonna use that. And then Katie went, Yes, dad's written that down already. So if you want to come to confessional, and it was it was quite it was quite interesting because yeah, you know, without giving anything away, you know, the income thresholds were being hit all over the place, and it it's stuff that chat GPT won't deal with, won't trigger at all. Um, and then you know, looking at the whole tax planning thing, we're gonna save this person probably a significant amount of money just by re-jigging it and by coming to confession.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

So I think you're the accounting priest.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I've never been called the accounting priest before. That is an absolute first, and it did make me smile.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

I don't I think this might be a first and last absolutely, yeah, reminding me of Dick Emery.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Okay, either way, as for our more mature senior members of our listener base.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yeah, fine, so accounting priests. Yes, wow, I wouldn't have guessed that.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

I know, that's what I wasn't gonna tell you.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

No, that's funny. Okay, well, my on-filter minute isn't as interesting. I'm just gonna say that we've we've we're in the process of painting Matilda's nursery. That's what we did all weekend, and it's looking very nice, and mum's up there right now doing some more of it.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Um I think that's because we said to her that she could come on the um podcast.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

She's run away.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

She's run away.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

She's run away, she's chosen painting over talking.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Absolutely.

Don’t Block Free Promotion

SPEAKER_00 25:38

But she is currently painting like little scallops on the wall to make it look cute. Yeah, it's very nice. Excellent. Yeah, so anyway, we will see you next week.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Goodbye. Tara