Meet Toccara Karizma | Digital Marketing Consultant and Business Growth Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Toccara Karizma and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Toccara, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
The value that matters most to me is integrity and I think it is what has fueled my business.

I am the first to admit I work in a snake oil industry of “bro marketers”, smoke and mirrors, and empty promises. Most of our clients come to us completely burnt by their last agency. I’ve seen it all and it’s just as upsetting to me as it is to the clients who come to us.

I think what has set me and my agency apart is that we develop deep, meaningful relationships with our clients, full of transparency and integrity. If we mess up, we tell them. If we didn’t hit our revenue goals, they are the first to know. If we don’t think we can get a potential client results, we won’t take their money and will actually tell them they are better off doing X, Y, or Z and saving their money at this time.

We provide full reporting every Monday so nothing is hidden from them. We don’t overcharge or hide fees. We show up on camera at every client meeting, twice a month, to collaborate and strategize with them.

We are 100% their true partners in growth. When they win, we feel like we win. If they lose, it’s a hit to us too. I think a lot of agencies see clients as dollar signs and nothing else. For us, it’s just so much more than that. It’s never about the money. It’s always about being in our joy and our passion, and being in service to our clients, and everything else flows from there.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’ve been in the online space for over 14 years now. I started my own eCommerce store back in 2007 and successfully grew it to an international brand. After several years I realized I didn’t like packing orders, creating new products, investing money far in advance of getting sales, and more. But I did LOVE the ins and outs of growing a brand online. As the daughter of two entrepreneur parents and armed with a Business Economics degree, I decided my efforts, skill set, and passion were best used growing other people’s businesses.

So the fact that I actually have years of experience growing my own successful eCommerce brand has really given me a unique perspective on the unique experiences, road blocks, and strategies that eCommerce businesses deal with day-to-day. And because of that, I am able to relate to and understand our clients much better than most ad agencies. Because I have been in the weeds before just like them!

I started by just running Facebook ads for clients and that was what we were best known for, but as time went on, I learned that relying on a single source to drive traffic, sales, and new customers is a very weak strategy. It’s like building your castle on someone else’s foundation. And what if that source disappears tomorrow? Your business will disappear too. So the risk of building a business solely on Facebook started to become too large of a risk and I realized it was in our clients’ best interest to be omni-channel with their marketing.

So we became a full-service digital marketing agency and now provide SEO, email marketing, Google and YouTube ads, organic social media management, website CRO and audits, and more. This doesn’t mean we are generalists in every area. No, no, no. We have specialists plugged in to every marketing service we are running for our clients who all collaborate together, meet both internally as a team and with the clients, and more. So it is like our clients have a full marketing department at their fingertips with our agency. Providing full marketing services helps skyrocket our clients’ growth, increase their revenue more rapidly, lower their platform risk, improve results on all platforms, and so much more.

So this journey has been an ongoing one where we are constantly learning, improving our services and offerings, and expanding into new areas of marketing services for our clients.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So, I am from LA, specifically Agoura (or I like to say Malibu to sound super chic and hip). If it was someone visiting me in LA, I definitely would take them to Malibu, on a drive on PCH, through the back streets I grew up driving, like Mulholland Dr. and Kanan Rd., or to Venice Beach and Santa Monica for the full authentic SoCal experience.

My favorite places to eat while in LA are Sage Plant Based Bistro and Brewery in Echo Park and True Food Kitchen.

I’ve lived in Kona, Hawaii for the past 16 years, and if they were visiting me here I definitely would take them on the Captain Cook hike down to the ocean with some of the best snorkeling on the island. And I would take them to The Coffee Shack before that hike because the views of Captain Cook are absolutely breathtaking and a great way to get energized for the hike.

I would take them to any of our beautiful white sand beaches, like Kua Bay, Hapuna, Makalawena, Mauna Kea, A-Bay, and so many more so they could experience the gorgeous turquoise waters and white sand that everyone envisions for Hawaii.

If they want to explore all the island has to offer, I would encourage them to drive over to the Hilo side to see all the tropical, lush landscape and waterfalls. And I definitely would recommend some good hikes to them, like Pololu Valley and Waipio.

For food, I definitely would love to spoil them with a 5-star dinner experience at Four Seasons, Mauna Kea, or the Mauna Lani. I’m plant based, so I would also love to take them to some of my favorite hidden vegan gems in town.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I love this! Diving deep into mindset and marketing principles has helped me tremendously in my success. Some of my favorite books that have significantly impacted my success are:

Follow Your Passion, Find Your Power by Bob Doyle
The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Website: https://www.toccarakarizma.com (free marketing resources, marketing blog, consulting, digital courses and more) and https://www.karizmamarketing.com (ad agency)

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