Testimonials

Learn why organizations of all sizes and sectors trust me to help them craft a brand message that catapults them toward tangible, impactful growth.

Testimonials

Learn why organizations of all sizes and sectors trust me to help them craft a brand message that catapults them toward tangible, impactful growth.

Client Stories

National Equipment Finance Association (NEFA)

Kate is a phenomenal leader, facilitator and brand expert. Her work and support has helped our organization develop a new vision, mission and buyer criteria personas for each of our member segments. I highly recommend Kate!

Chad Sluss

Right Space

We found Kate through a podcast she was a guest on and knew right away that she could help us with our needed rebrand. We sold off a main division that incorporated most of our current brand and needed help writing our new story. She systematically helped us clarify our core values, target customer, and our brand message. Through this we found our new name and brand that we all love and are excited to roll out. Kate really helped us by pulling this information out of us. We knew our business and customers but were struggling to explain it all clearly. We are thankful for her and are proud to tell our story loud and clear now.

Richard Henry

Upward Path Institute

Kate has been fabulous to work with. She has a clear set of guidelines and a process to support the company through the rebranding process, while still creating space for it to be very personalized. She is extremely professional even while pushing back, and all of her advice is backed up by research and data. She is very patient, especially while we were going back and forth making decisions and revisions, and she kept us on task and met our deadlines. Additionally, she has a slew of amazing partners across industries who do incredible work as well. I would absolutely recommend Kate for anyone interested in rebranding, refining their brand, or seeking general marketing advice for their company!

Ana Maria Soler, Ed. D.

Santa Barbara Ketamine

Kate is truly a branding genius! She helped my husband and I go from clueless to a complete buttoned-up brand in just 8 calls with her. Bonus – her process is totally fun! I didn’t have to do any homework (which is what we were afraid of a busy entrepreneurs) and I feel rock solid about how to position ourselves in the marketplace. I can’t say enough about how professional, knowledgeable, diligent, and fun Kate is! Work with Kate, your business will thank you!

Brittany Drozd

Michael W Kithcart

I loved working with Kate! She helped refine my positioning and voice for my coaching and consulting business. She creates such a positive experience from start to finish. I loved having her as a thought partner to clarify my position and how I help leaders actualize what they’re truly capable of. I wish Kate could be by side all the time, making my thoughts and words 100% better. Kate gets entrepreneurs and asks questions that helped me both with my brand and my business.

Michael Kithcart, M.A.

Code Pros

Kate helped revamp the foundational elements of our brand at Code Pros. Her expertise, insight and wordsmithing abilities helped us come up with a straightforward messaging strategy that resonates with the people we want to work with. And what more could you ask?

John Eckhardt, President

Schuler Shoes

I was introduced to Kate through her Master Class at the Minneapolis Digital Summit. The class was unexpectedly excellent! Kate is engaging and wicked smart. I was so impressed, I knew we needed to continue the journey. Kate’s process works! Her ability to distill information and clarify our brand is AMAZING! And SPOT ON! She is also able to unify leadership with how sync and memorable the final product is. We are delighted with the outcomes!

Kari Palmer, Marketing and Creative Executive Leader

Volando Tequila

Curious. My first thought and feeling when I was first connected with Kate and the idea of a Brand Architect. Founding an ultra-Premium Tequila company and ramping up for a launch in the US, we wanted to set ourselves up for success in an extremely competitive space. After our first consult, I learned a lot about myself and our brand and could see how much value Kate was about to bring for us. In the end, it was more than I could have imagined. Kates approach was thoughtful, strategic and well designed to get us to the end. We have walked away with what is now a byproduct of her process and we believe has given us an extra edge. We are better from the experience and now resonate our products with our customer base by staying true to our brand messaging and core values. Could not recommend kate highly enough to any brand, new or established. You don’t know, what you don’t know.

Jesse Ross, Founder & Operations Executive

IGEN

HIGHLY recommend Kate as a brand strategist! Within a few weeks, she helped us completely clarify our brand message. She met us where we were and gave us actionable steps to move our business forward. We were spinning our wheels before Kate; now we have the knowledge and the roadmap to implement our core message, launch a new platform, and speak to our target market in a way that resonates with them.

Liz Wickman, Marketing Manager

ProsperStack

I was first introduced to Kate during our time in the BETA accelerator. Her branding workshop was one of the most impactful we had there and I left hoping we could work with her one day.

Fast-forward 18 months and we were in a position to work with Kate directly. Her process is great! For non-marketers/branders like myself, she has a unique way of getting the information needed from you to create a clear, concise brand that you can scale with.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Kate to anyone looking for similar services – her sessions fly by and you leave each of them feeling a sense of accomplishment. Thank you, Kate!

Tony Sternberg, Co-Founder & CEO

Giften Market

Kate is a MAGICIAN. Truly. It amazes me how effortlessly she pulls information from you, quickly distills into the most important and actionable elements, and turns out the finished product with a TA-DA! I don’t think I’ve ever nodded so much and yelled “NAILED IT!” so many times on a Zoom call. The best part of this process? It’s actually fun.

We’ve had “dial in our brand messaging” on the backburner for quite some time now (thinking it would be a time-consuming drag)… but then we met Kate and learned quite the opposite. Thank you, Kate – you’re one of a kind!

Martha Krueger, Founder & Owner

Elite Online Publishing

Kate’s process was eye-opening. For years, we’ve been struggling to find a way to differentiate ourselves from other publishing companies, and it seemed like no matter what we did people weren’t getting our brand or message – but with her guidance, everything came together! We ended up creating an incredible strategy that gives us an advantage over these other companies.

Jenn Foster, Publisher

COLAB

Working with Kate was a breath of fresh air. We work in an incredibly crowded field and have struggled to articulate what differentiates us from our competition for years. By following Kate’s process we were able to create a brand and messaging strategy that absolutely gives us a competitive advantage.

Eddie O'Leary, President & Founder

Authentic Brand

I hired Kate to help my client with a multi-layered brand architecture project. There was no on-boarding, long-winded agency process – she got right to work leading the client team through down and dirty working sessions. Through Kate’s methodology and her high energy demeanor, she devised an actionable message map and brand guidelines that we in turn were able to put into testing within 6-7 weeks. I adored working with Kate and will continue to recommend her when needed.

Heather Battison, CMO

First Bank of Baldwin

Our bank just finished working with Kate on our rebranding project. Kate has a unique personality and an ability to pull ideas from each team member. I especially enjoyed her ability to get people out of their comfort zone yet do that in an enjoyable and productive way. Kate showed up to every meeting well prepared and full of energy. Very pleased with the outcome of our work with Kate. I highly recommend Kate, hire her, you will not be disappointed.

Shane Bauer, President

NutriFresh Services

Kate did an amazing job and I highly recommend her services. She expertly guided our team through the brand playbook process. Her enthusiasm, creativity and passion for Branding and Marketing are evident at any stage of the journey!

Guy Ironi, CEO

Lunar

I’ve worked with Kate twice now across two different brands. In both cases, the experience of working with her and the end result of that work was phenomenal.

Her ability to reach deep into your brain, pull out the ideas that define your brand, and help you synthesize those ideas into polished brand messaging that connects with your customers is second to none.

In addition, she’s one of the most organized people I know, and the way she runs her process is super tight. This leads to a highly efficient experience.

Unless your brand is already the best it can possibly be, I would highly recommend working with Kate.

Ben Segarra, Serial Founder & Product Designer

Weigel Media Group

Kate DiLeo found what was unique about my brand and brought it out in a clear concise way that I struggled to do myself and I’m a trained journalist. Kate ask thorough questions and brings decades of knowledge and experience to the process. She was attentive, empathetic and enthusiastic throughout the whole process. Her brand document was clear and powerful and my web designer was able to use it craft a website I’m proud of.

Rafer Weigel, President

Propulsion Digital

Often companies that are in the business of creative and visual communications of any kind, fancy themselves as being perfectly capable of developing and communicating their own brand and messaging strategy. Working with Kate, we found a conduit and a process that helped us identify the right ingredients that make up our brand and value proposition. Kate had a methodology and unique energy that allowed us to work in “real time” through the process. A fantastic facilitator, Kate is able to encourage collaboration and solid strategic thinking among the participants and ultimately leads to an outcome that is powerful and actionable.

Jonathan Mogck, Sr. VP Marketing and Business Development

Keystone Group International

Kate has an incredible approach. Her brand playbook was thorough yet efficient and effective, and her gift for listening allowed her to navigate the conversation to keep us moving to consensus every step of the way. Not only can we clearly articulate who we are and what we do, we got an implementation plan on how to integrate all the new messaging in our pitches, website, and collateral. Our entire team was thrilled with the outcome and we highly recommend Kate!

Jen Lindahl, Chief Growth Officer

Nebula Media Group

In the spirit of KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) … and you thought it was different :). In over my 20+ years of being a serial entrepreneur, and working with many types of agencies, I have to say from the point of meeting Kate for the first time to working with her – the entire experience was fantastic. I appreciated many things – the positive attitude, the ability to be real in every encounter, the succinct manner of each meeting, her knowledgebase, the ability to bring out the critical elements that matter, and then wrapping it all up in a nice package that can be continuously utilized.

I’d highly recommend Kate – you’ll regret it if you don’t.

Mark Pound, COO

FYC Labs

Working with Kate DiLeo to develop our brand was a fantastic experience. Kate’s brand playbook exercise was thorough and allowed our team to answer the hard questions and remain focused on our goals while having fun! She helped us define our target audience and build a brand voice that captured who we are and what we want to accomplish. With super clear and concise messaging, we are now ready to enter the market and grow our business. I highly recommend Kate– she is so easy to work with and will do an excellent job building or elevating your brand!

Justin Fortier, CEO & CTO

SaaScend

Kate helped our company to truly solidify our brand and give us a north star. She took the time to gain a deep understanding of our business and our target audience. The brand playbook that she put together gave an extremely thorough picture of each of our buyer personas as well as the voice that embodied our brand. Not only did we have a clearer direction for the messaging, but she also equipped us with the steps for implementing everything into our conversational pitches, websites, and content. She is a branding expert through and through that considers the impact at every area of the business.

Craig Jordan, Founder & CEO

Stadia Ventures

Kate is a friend, a partner and brilliant at what she does. Kate can benefit any organization, no matter what size and has the unique ability to understand and show empathy to people. We have a saying that we only work with “good people” – Well, Kate meet’s that and so much more. She has truly benefited our startups, been a great partner, and through her actions with our companies we realized the need to hire Kate for us. The experience was needed, successful and effective. We now use what she built on a daily basis. I 1000% recommend Kate to any company looking to leverage her skills to build your brand story. You won’t regret it.

Alex Chalmers, Managing Partner

Good Leadership

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Kate. We were impressed with the time she took to understand our business, and how she pushed us in the right direction to where we wanted to go with our brand.

Kate’s ability to take rough concepts and craft them into catchy and eloquent phrases that propelled our brand into its next iteration are unparalleled. I whole heartedly recommend any one who is looking to step up to the next level in communication work with her.

Paul Batz, CEO and Founder

Authentic Brand

I never thought I’d engage an external brand / messaging expert to help shape our brand story. After all, marketing is what we do, and storytelling is a personal passion for me. However, as the CEO and Founder of a fast-growing firm, I found myself facing the same messaging myopia that our clients experience. I was just too close to the story, and it was becoming too complex. Enter Kate, with her magical ability to make complicated stuff simple. Through a series of interactive (and fun!) workshops, Kate unlocked the most powerful and unique pieces of our brand story. She equipped us with a framework to train our team, and share a clear and consistent message across all of our channels and in every interaction. We could not be more pleased, and are delighted to recommend Kate as an Ally Network provider to our clients, as well!

Jennifer Zick, CEO

The Carolyn Brand Group

Kate is an extraordinary business professional. I had the pleasure of being her client. She codified my brand and took it to another level. Kate’s finished product created the basis for my website and social media. I walked away more confident about explaining my brand to prospects after my time with Kate. Kate is caring and considerate. Kate gets to know you and crystallizes your brand and persona while ensuring you come across as yourself. I highly recommend Kate and her services.

Carolyn Brand, CEO and Fractional HR Leader

BurnRate.io

We met Kate at an online happy hour, and I was intrigued by the clarity and simplicity of her introduction. I knew our messaging needed work, but as a founder I’m always weighing where to invest our capital. My instincts told me we should enlist her help, and my instincts weren’t wrong. She said our case was one of the most challenging she’d ever seen, but she took it on with a cheeriness and passion that made it approachable and fun. The result was better than I expected, and we’re really excited for the new direction we’re taking. Kate’s ability to dig in and help you articulate your “why” is unparalleled. She was methodical, meticulous, and masterful. I could not recommend Kate’s process highly enough.

Robert McLaws, Co-Founder and CEO

Cappers Applications

We are in the process of branding and launching a new SaaS product and Kate was able to quickly and efficiently help us organize our thoughts and keep focused on the target clients. Very responsive and professional in all aspects of the assignment, she really helped us to help ourselves fully appreciate all aspects of our brand and how best to formulate our launch strategy. Her approach is rigorous, yet able to incorporate the necessary flexibility for the branding of a niche product. Looking forward to working with her in the future!

Liza Karpilovski, CEO and Co-Founder

BabaFi

From the moment we decided to begin working with her, Kate put us on a steady, direct path of discovery and incredible business value. We were particularly aggressive in scheduling our branding sessions with her, something I would recommend to you as well. As a result of this, Kate assembled a magnificent brand book for us within a matter of weeks. I am not exaggerating when I say that all Kate required of us was that we think hard and apply all of our expertise verbally while she took on all of the hard work of assembling the entirety of our branding and messaging work within a single efficient, comprehensive document. Work with Kate.

Andrew MacDowell, CMO

Myriad Creative

Kate’s insights, attention to detail, and ability to put words to your thoughts are second to none. I actually first met Kate at a marketing conference. She was speaking about the three pieces to a successful brand (the brand trifecta). She discussed the importance of being able to quickly, clearly communicate what makes you and your business different and better.

Towards the end of the talk, she had time for one question from the audience. I decided to put her on the spot and asked her why she was the best brand strategist in the world. Without hesitation she listed her tagline, value proposition statement and differentiators. The girl knocked it out of the park and everyone attending immediately burst into applause and cheered.

I immediately knew I wanted to work with Kate to help focus my own company’s branding. The weeks that followed were priceless and I’m beyond thrilled with the outcome. I’ve been recommending Kate to everyone I know.

Jon Wenzel, Founder and Creative Director

Chainstarters

Clearly one of the best decisions I have made to date as the Founder and CEO of Chainstarters is engaging the services of Kate. I really believe that the branding help we got from Kate has been an essential ingredient in accelerating the growth of our company. Kate was able to quickly uncover Chainstarters’ true identity, and more importantly, our purpose. By the end of our sessions, I had a complete playbook that I regularly revisit in order to make sure that everything I do is consistent with our brand.

Mike Berson, Founder and CEO

Hello Temp

I first met Kate through the BETA.MN startup accelerator where she was presenting on the importance of message and brand to our fellow startups. If you are like me, you have a vision for your business, but it can be challenging to get the vision from your head onto paper. That is where Kate comes in! She was able to use a framework to extract the vision from our minds and get it into a full and cohesive branding playbook. The entire process was energizing, highly motivating, and might I add FUN. Working with Kate is the very definition of 1+1=3. She should be the “secret weapon” that every startup uses to supercharge their go-to-market efforts.

Ryan Tlustosch, CEO and Founder

Options Minnesota

I would highly recommend Kate to anyone looking to build a successful brand! She helped us do a large company rebrand for our family of companies where we ended up with individualized branding for each of our organizations that still maintained the overarching coordination we needed. She made the process fun for our entire team, and she maintained consistent communication throughout the entire project. She continued to check in after the project was completed and ensured that we had everything we needed for a successful launch!

Jasmine Rognrud, Marketing and Outreach

Nix Biosensors

Kate has a very deliberate, no-nonsense approach to helping her clients achieve their objectives. I appreciated her willingness to flex the process to expedite the critical pieces of our branding project. Her demeanor was consistently pleasant, mixed with a level of persistence throughout our engagement. The end result has been intrinsic to our thoughtful evolution as a new brand and I would absolutely work with Kate again.

Colby Connell, CRO

Twin Cities Film Fest

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Kate and work with her on a Brand Refresh project for my Non Profit, Twin Cities Film Fest (TCFF). Kate’s approach and dedication to her work is exemplary. Throughout the project, Kate kept an open mind and truly listened to every bit of information we provided her. She did a fantastic job in asking the right questions and empowering our internal team to think beyond the ‘basics’ and dig deeper into what our brand currently represents and what it should represent moving into the future. Kate’s diligent communication and her leadership throughout the entire process was excellent. I would highly recommend working alongside Kate.

Jatin Setia, Founder and Executive Director

Filmily

We met Kate through her involvement as a mentor on Stadia Ventures. We were so impressed with her evident skill as a mentor, we hired her to complete a deep dive into how we positioned our brand. In a few short weeks Kate completely reconstructed the vision of the company. She has an unparalleled ability to understand a complex product offering and deliver a simple and effective means of communicating it. She transformed our sales messaging across all our marketing materials, aligning them with a central, clear and impactful brand.

Ian Kenny, Co-Founder

Hoby Wedler

We’ve been in business for several years and have worked with a wide variety of brand positioning and brand messaging consultants. Working with Kate DiLeo has been nothing short of amazing. Kate is punctual, extremely attentive, vastly intelligent, and brings so much good-natured energy to her work. She is an excellent writer and has an unparalleled ability to listen intently, distill what she’s heard, and perfectly position and write messaging for brands. Our work with Kate was nothing short of incredible and I recommend her services wherever I can.

In particular, we run a marketing and creative firm called Senspoint and we look no further than Kate to work with us on brand messaging and positioning. She’s truly the best in her industry that we’ve had the pleasure of working with, and we have worked with many branding experts across a wide variety of industries. Kate is an outstanding individual with impeccable work ethic, extraordinary intelligence, and the keen ability to listen so well. She literally brings the best out in the brands she works with and finds niches in her clients’ work that they do not see. We would always recommend Kate above all others in her industry and can’t wait until the next time we get to work with her.

Hoby Wedler, Partner and Sensory Innovation Director

Strategy 17

I would like to recommend to everyone to give Kate an opportunity to build your brand. Kate has an amazing approach to draw out the valid knowledge from you that is required to build a strong and attractive brand that aligns with your company’s stance toward business. She very quickly was able to harness my company’s strategies and goals to put together my brand. Thanks to Kate, I’m now internet fabulous! Great work Kate!

Jennifer Kruse, Owner and Sustainability Strategist

CorTalent

The work that Kate has done for us at CorTalent was worth every penny spent and has proven to be invaluable to us! We have hired numerous marketing professionals to help us over the last 11 years but we felt like we were always missing a cohesive story about who we are and how we differ from our competitors. Kate helped us create a brand playbook that drove the re-write of our website, collateral and content. More importantly, it serves as an extremely important document and process to keep our internal team focused on the who, what and why of CorTalent and has helped us on-board new team members and strategic partners. This is the best and most cost-effective work I have ever outsourced and I recommend Kate and her service offering to other business owners all the time!

Mary Nutting, Owner

Youth Lens 360

Working with Kate was one of the best decisions our company made. We have been in business for five years and I have been a part of a lot of startup branding workshops. Nothing came together as easily and efficiently as my work with Kate. Since our time together, we have seen legitimate impact in our business, and I continue to refer her to partners and clients. I highly recommend working with Kate.

Dario Otero, CEO

Westcott Multimedia

Kate is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is able to interpret and understand the core components of your business and translate it to an easy-to-understand compelling brand message that can be used to communicate effectively internally, as well as with current and potential customers. I would highly recommend working with Kate if you’re looking to elevate and expand upon your companies brand.

Kristin Grant, CEO

Prescient

Kate was incredible in creating the framework to translate a highly complex product into value-based messaging. Outside of being enjoyable to work with, she brings a strong understanding of the AI space and overall strategy to our public perception.  I’m confident we’ll be leveraging her expertise as we continue to scale.

Mike True, CEO

Proofpoint Marketing

Kate the wordsmithing, brand-whispering Great. Kate DiLeo should be the only person on your mind when it comes to brand messaging – whether for a new venture or to dust-off the tired verbiage of your existing company website. Her method is strong, bulletproof, and gets all the stakeholders engaged and on the same page. Her commitment to her craft is humbling and motivating. Her ability to dive into the essence of your brand and pull out all the thoughts, desires, and wished-for outcomes that you were looking to achieve in powerful, succinct and descriptive words is incredible – and then some. Kate delivers an elegant and eloquent end-result in the form of the content you’ve always wanted for your company, as well as an actual leave-behind document that details the entire process, from start to finish, with ideas and ways to keep the good content times rolling. She invests fully in her clients, and for the duration of the engagement, you truly feel as if Kate is a part of your team, rooting for your success. If you’re in need of fresh content that not only describes what you do better than you can say it now, but also content that hits hard as part of your sales and business development process, look no further. Kate the wordsmithing, brand-whispering Great is your partner in brand content success.

Gabriella Israel Grinberg, Co-Founder

Crew Me Up

Working with Kate was an experience that has lit a fire under our company, Crew Me Up.  We came into the experience with a lot of brand pieces, but no cohesive picture of how we want to represent ourselves.  During our first session, Kate created an inviting environment where my team thrived.  As we discussed our mission, our values, and our audience, she took notes and drilled down our verbose back-and-forth commentary into easy-to-digest statements that we immediately began implementing to speak to investors and partners. The response has been overwhelmingly positive! Now when I tell people about Crew Me Up and they ask, “Well what do you do?”, I have clear and concise statements in my toolkit to close the deal and pique interest. Thank Kate!

Josh Friedman, CEO

Skol Marketing

We worked with Kate to help us refresh our brand messaging. It was to great to work with her. I loved the questions she asked and the process that really got us to where we love right now with our messaging. The process was exceptional and I couldn’t be more happy about the end result. I think Kate brings a very unique and special perspective to branding and enjoyed working with her very much. Skol!

Ben Theis, CEO

Financial Navigation Group

Kate made this process so fun and easy! She has a clear, straightforward process that works! In the end, we have a complete brand playbook – everything we’d been thinking and feeling about moving our business forward clearly written down! We are excited to roll this out to employees, clients, and prospects! Thank you Kate – your amazing energy and excitement for what you do is contagious and we appreciate you! Bjorn & Emily Zellner

Emily Zellner, COO

Cornerstone Paradigm Consulting

I hired Kate after going through branding exercises several times with several other branding specialists. Frankly, I was already frustrated when we met and a non-believer that anyone could really understand what we do without trying to pigeonhole us into a box they could understand. Kate understood we are and have to be agnostic, she clearly understood my business and exceeded my expectations of what we could accomplish for branding and messaging. I have coined the saying I have been “kate-a-fied,” we are forever changed after working with Kate. I’m so happy we met I could never have accomplished what we accomplished alone or with the plethora of branding and messaging people out there.

Amanda Russo, Founder and CEO

Launch to Growth

My experience with Kate was nothing short of incredible! Every meeting she astounded our team with not only her facilitation skills but her awesome ability to draw out our messaging. It truly was one the best experiences that I have had for quite a while. Ours was not an easy one for us but she led us through the process to nail or messaging. I think that “Kate-a-fied” was mentioned in another recommendation. I could not agree more!

Gerry Henley, Founder and CEO

Cory Executive Recruiting

Kate is a guru when it comes to brand implementation. She was such a joy to partner with. Our team already had an established brand, but we wanted to turn to an expert who could help us achieve more clarity, accuracy and overall our values as an organization. Kate went above and beyond and helped our team achieve this in a collaborative environment. I would highly recommend Kate if you are looking for a brand expert. We appreciate all your help!

Kelsi Cory, CEO

COR

Kate has a powerful gift for listening. Her diverse background and wide range of talents give her many ways of connecting with a client’s story/mission/brand. Those same talents (particularly her music background) then allow her to reflect back to clients an even deeper sense of their brand and mission. The speed of Kate’s ability to understand a client and generate insight is impressive. If you are looking to Ennoble your work and brand…Kate has the gifts to deliver.

Dan Neitz, Principal

Evolve Consulting

Working with Kate on our brand has helped us cut through the noise and get really clear about who we are, who we serve, and what differentiates us from the rest. Clarity wins, and Kate is a master at cutting through and seeing the heart of your business and helping you tell an authentic story. And, she’s not only good at what she does, but great to work with. I highly recommend Kate!

Dave Newell, President

GAMEFACE.AI

Kate is so creative! We are so thankful to her for helping us with our brand. We now have super sharp and targeted messaging for every stakeholder that we connect with, whether it be clients, investors, or partners.

Jalal Shaik, Founder and CEO

Closers Media

Kate is incredible. In only a few branding sessions she pulled out of my brain what I couldn’t in five years of trying on my own. By far, the brand messaging she inspired has been our most impactful and effective messaging to date. Kate’s Brand Playbook made every session natural, fun, and honestly exciting. I don’t know of a branding expert better than Kate DiLeo, and I highly recommend her.

Mickeli Bedore, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer

Employee Strategies Inc.

Kate. Efficient. Fun. Effective. Kate is very skilled at her craft and can capture essence quickly and accurately. We throughly enjoyed the time together and look forward to seeing her clarity reduce our sales cycle time!

J. Forrest, Owner and Principal Consultant

Bauer Design Build

Working with Kate was fantastic. She made an abstract process very grounded and organized, all while allowing our team to be creative and work together to find our brand and make sure it was coming from our collective company voice. Kate does such a great job of keeping everyone on point while ensuring the process is enjoyable. Branding is such an important part of making sure our company can be working towards a bigger goal together and without Kate, we wouldn’t have gotten there.

Branton Smith, Preconstruction Services Manager

Daire Success Coaching

Kate is brilliant. She has the unique superpower of seeing the big picture AND strategizing the details. She’s relentless when it comes to getting the message right, and getting brands succinct. My brand is crystal clear, appealing, and expresses my business perfectly. She’s timely, she always delivers what and when she says she will, and her work is flawless. I am so glad I chose to work with her and would confidently trust her with my personal clients and friends.

Alissa Daire Nelson, CEO

Nology

Working with Kate allowed us think outside the box and standout from our competitors. Her branding program helped us to get to the root of our brand in ways we hadn’t, digging deep to our core values and strategies to shape and form our identity. We already knew who we were, but she helped us figure out a way to communicate it so that it is different than what the competition was saying. Kate is passionate about getting her clients’ message out and is relentless to find the best possible outcome so that it speaks to the identity of your business.

Brendon Liner, Vice President

Coalition9

In starting a new business or re-evaluating your current business, establishing your brand is crucial. The detailed process of Brand Exploration that Kate takes you through is second to none. We have partnered on multiple BACKforty clients with Kate and every single one is so thrilled with the results.

I am such a believer of her process that we invested in Kate for Coalition9. Just when we thought we had it all figured out, she brought a perspective and healthy challenge to brand establishment that in no way we could have done alone. We are beyond excited to share our brand with the world and Kate is a major part of how it will feel!

If you are looking to start a business, launch a new offering, or revamp your brand – the investment with Kate is a must.

Aaron Eggert, Founder

Merit Interiors

Kate’s branding sessions completely changed the way I view my business. She was an expert on taking what was inside of my head and helping me organize my thoughts in a way that made sense for my business. She was the guide I didn’t know my business needed. Partnering with her helped me reorganize and refocus my business. I was able to come up with a brand message and an elevator pitch that I thought I already had down. I was able to actually realize that I under priced and undervalued my services. I even have a newfound target audience. What she did for my business is invaluable and will carry on into my brand’s future. I am extremely grateful to her!

Latrice Merit, Owner

Click360

What Kate does is invaluable. Plain and simple. She takes all of the business’s various disjointed marketing thoughts and value propositions and aligns them in such a way as to create clear, coherent and powerful messaging. She builds a comprehensive road map for the business in a matter of weeks, not months, so that customers understand your unique value proposition sooner, as well as why they’re looking for exactly your business and exactly what you do.

Mike Lewis, VP of Sales & Business Development

Marketers’ Community

Kate DiLeo is an absolute delight to work with. She has a unique ability to draw words from your head and put them on paper in a way that makes your brand come alive. I have never witnessed a skill like this. She is a true branding ninja. If your brand and message isn’t clear, you’re losing out on sales. I recommend her in a heartbeat if you’re not sure if your message is clear to your customers and if you’re struggling to increase revenue. You won’t regret it.

Laura King, Founder

SBI Wealth Management

Kate really helped us build and kick-start our brand. She follows a proven process that delivered. She isn’t afraid to take action and implement! She is well connected, too. She was able to point us to trusted professionals when outside of her expertise. Lastly, she is fun to work with and collaborating together was energizing!

Brian Adamek, CEO

Manufacturing Power

Kate delivers. Our team had many ideas of how to describe our company and product but we struggled to clearly and concisely express a consistent message. Kate took the time to understand our individual perspectives, explore different ideas, and then pushed us to find the most impactful messaging and value statements. She worked very hard to provide timely communication which helped maintain the process flow and kept the project within scope. It was a very valuable and pleasurable experience working with Kate.

Mike Franz, Founder & CEO

ACThoughtful

Kate has a way with words. She simplifies and gets to the heart of what needs to be communicated with an ease that I haven’t experienced in my lifetime. If you combine that with her pragmatic approach to moving your brand and marketing approach with her excellent follow-through, you have a partner who can turn the big question of “who do I serve and how do I serve them” into simple, compelling messaging, content, and designs that power your business.

I have recommended Kate to multiple clients and watched her work infuse their brand and help them realize a growth strategy. I’ve engaged her myself to support fine-tuning my messaging, which is typically WAY too wordy.

Thanks Kate for being the partner that my clients and I can rely on to take what we already do and turn into something we can make clear to the rest of the world in a way that is meaningful to the world we serve.

Jenny Erickson, Owner & Idea Activator

Welcome Baby Care

During this crazy time of Covid19, my business needed help clarifying who my customers are and clear, consistent messaging when speaking to them. I was initially hesitant to start the process of branding and messaging, not knowing if this would help to pivot our in-home business during a pandemic. Kate was up for the challenge. She worked with me to create messaging that clearly stated how Welcome Baby Care is the safest and best option for families.

Whoa! The new, clear messaging has helped my team to focus on our customer base and to create specific marketing techniques to acquire our perfect client. Our sessions together were more conversational than hard work. Kate is an incredible word-smith who was able to put my thoughts into clear, eloquent messages. She did all the note-taking and sent me updates after each session.

I recommend Kate to anyone who is struggling with clear messaging and looking for quick results to get your branding and message out to your customers.

Tory Kielas-Jensen, CEO

Keyhubs

Kate is incredibly talented at what she does. She helped us get clear about vision, mission, values, and brand identity. She is bright, engaging, thorough, exceptional at follow-through and details, and an overall joy to collaborate with. If you are looking to get clearer about your messaging, your brand, and your marketing, Kate is the professional for you.

Vikas Narula, Creator & Co-Founder

The Saint Paul Area Chamber

As I looked at beginning a re-branding effort at the Saint Paul Chamber, I knew it needed to go beyond a new look and feel. However, with a small staff and limited capacity, it was a daunting task. Working with Kate on our brand strategy helped us articulate who we are, who we want to be, and the value we add to our members and our community. Kate is incredibly gifted and has perfected an approach that is simple, yet impactful. Her superpower is listening to a wide variety of ideas and opinions and crafting clear brand messages that tell your story.

Megan Ryan, Director of Marketing

Civic Intelligence

Be consistent and speak to the needs. Our brand had a valuable message, but we weren’t sharing effectively every time. Kate helped us clarify how to share our passion for service with our three key audiences as they are best prepared to hear it. Our meetings were operated seamlessly through virtual engagement and served to even bring my more reserved teammate into the conversation. I only wish I had worked with her in the before-times so I could have had this level of clarity when I had in-person meetings!

Jeremy Peichel, Principal

Hegarty Consulting Group

Kate possesses the unique ability to distill information about your company and articulate it into a clear and concise brand.  She worked with our multi-generational company to produce relevant and impactful statements that convey our company’s vision now and in the future.

Jason Hegarty, Vice President

See A Star

Kate helped guide us through the branding sessions with ease and it was a very enjoyable experience.  She is very skilled in her area of expertise and I thoroughly enjoyed the process with her. I highly recommend her to help articulate your brand and messaging.

Mary Tucker, President and Co-Founder

Hallmentum

I enjoyed working with Kate to update my brand. She was excellent at drawing out and distilling the core elements of my brand. It was a very collaborative experience that really helped me clarify my message. I loved that she followed up with “next steps” based on our conversation, which helped me focus how to take this to the next level.

Jim Hall, CEO

Talent Connect

Kate was wonderful to work with. She asked great questions to challenge my thinking which resulted in a much stronger program design than I would have been able to create on my own! I appreciated her high-energy and ability to hear my thoughts and translate them into a clear and articulate brand

Hannah Peterson, CEO

Become Demand Driven

I very much enjoyed working with Kate. She helped me to bring focus and clarity to my brand. With her direction and creativity, we found the words that truly elevate my brand and allow me to clearly and concisely convey my business purpose, making it interesting, exciting, accurate and understandable. I highly recommend Kate for bringing your brand into focus.

John Melbye, CEO

Ms. J – Manners Are Memorable

My work with Kate was some of the most productive than I’ve had in a while. I was bogged down with what to say and how to say it when it came to describing my brand for my business.  Kate efficiently  helped me to craft the language in record time, and her approach is friendly, engaging and professional while effective and efficient.  I was able to accomplish more in a few hours than I had accomplished in months. Kate is poised and professional; she has a way of approaching situations that are challenging while maintaining the highest degree of decorum and respect. If you are seeking someone to help you move forward with you branding, I highly recommend Kate. She’s a delight to work with and she delivers. Definitely worth the time and financial investment.

Juliet Mitchell, Owner

Goldenrod Media

Kate was incredible at extracting my thoughts, with words flying around the room, and helping me form my brand into something that was already a part of me. The process with her was not only helpful for clearly defining my message, but outlining my differentiators and what makes me unique. Kate made the whole Brand Exploration process fun and enjoyable!

Kyle Livingood, Owner

Fieldson Photography

I had no branding direction for my business when I first met with Kate. She showed me how important a strong brand message is for my clients, but even more importantly for myself as a small business owner.  Putting words to the type of work and clientele that I want to pursue has been a huge value. I have much more direction as I pursue the growth of my business. Kate’s Brand Exploration process has been amazing and worthwhile, and she also has been an incredible advocate for me in growing my business!

Adam Fieldson, Owner

Scaling Within

Kate is both strategic and tactical. I appreciate working with someone that can bring structure and order to my scattered thoughts, fill in my knowledge gaps and help create a clear actionable plan to move forward with.

Meredith Neumann, Founder