Holistic Marketing in your TPT Business with Jenzaia DiMartile

Kirsten 0:00

Hey there, it's Kiersten? Do you have a quick second, I just wanted to give a big thank you to all my listeners who tune in to the creative teacher podcast. If you've enjoyed the show, please take a minute to rate and review. Wherever you listen to the podcast, it would mean the world to me. Thanks again, for all your support

is terrifying a little bit when I say you have to do all of the things. But there's a strategy behind it where you're taking your long form content. So a podcast like this or a longer blog post. And you're repurposing that content so that maybe somebody does want to listen to a podcast, but somebody else would prefer to read a blog post. And so you're putting the same content in two different places so that people can consume it in a way that makes sense to them. And then you're also taking that same content and you're putting it onto social media. You're not coming up with random social media posts every single day. You have that foundational piece of content, your podcast that you then pulled quote from pulled sound bites from pulled, like created a carousel that's a teaching post. And there you have like three different social media posts. But really all you've done is record one podcast or you've only written one blog.

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

Welcome to another episode of the creative teacher podcast. I have a special guest with us. And she is going to teach us a little thing or two about marketing. With everything in mind. Her name is Jen Xia. She is a teacher printer, who specializes in Facebook ads. She and her team helped clients grow their brand through strategically using Facebook ads. She also has a podcast market scale grow. And it goes into a lot of what we're going to be talking about today, which is holistic marketing. So I cannot wait for you to listen to this amazing interview. I know you're gonna get a lot of valuable information about it. Well welcome Jen Xia to the creative Teacher Podcast. I'm so glad that you have come to join us.

Jenzaia 3:43

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to chat with you today. Yes.

Kirsten 3:48

So tell me about yourself. And well. And also, of course, the listeners tell us about yourself. And, you know, tell us about your teaching experience where you are currently and all of that good stuff.

Jenzaia 4:01

things. And so I was back in: 2013

Kirsten 5:21

use I also opened my store in: 2013

Jenzaia 5:40

So it was like the Wild Wild West, it was like a Word document. It was not a PDF, like No. Or the whole document, right. Lastly,

Kirsten 5:48

yeah, like Pinterest was definitely a thing for sure. But it was more like like, you could just have something created in Word and it would sell

Jenzaia 5:59

like no cover page, just a screenshot not even not even a screenshot, like TPT would create the thumbnail for me and it would bear screenshot of the Word document. Like it was bad looking back, it was so bad. But like I I was able to like while I was in Taiwan, the first like two couple of years of my business, I bought all of my like, ebooks, and I read constantly so TPT pay for all of my eBooks. Because I was the only thing at that time that I knew, like, accepted PayPal. So yeah, and then eventually, I bought my bridesmaid dresses with the money and it started pay for like groceries and mortgage and all like it's expanded since then. Right. But it was nice that I like almost immediately was like, Oh, I can buy book like this is cool. Yeah, yeah. Even with the wild, wild west pneus of it of like,

Kirsten 6:55

yeah, and it always kind of starts that way. Like where you're like, I just want you know, to be able to buy some Starbucks without my husband and you know, getting upset or anything like that. Just then it kind of snowballs. as your business grows, you know, depending on what you're doing to grow your business. And it's amazing what can happen with like, it turns into much it just turns into a much bigger impact on not only teachers and you know, students, but also your family as well.

Jenzaia 7:25

Absolutely, absolutely. I love TPT for that. Yes.

Kirsten 7:30

So I know you did mention that you got into Facebook ads and all of that, that topic can be probably a little scary for a lot of teacher printers. I myself, I'm like, I'm still like some of my campaigns have worked. And I like go off of that. But I still have no idea what I'm doing. But like, it's Yeah, so Facebook ads are definitely a struggle for me. But I love how you mentioned the word holistic, just like it sounds like that could be something that might be beneficial for busy moms or busy teacher, sellers, and all of that. So tell us about more about kind of what you do as a VA in that side.

Jenzaia 8:12

So the whole concept of holistic is, goes with where the digital marketing space is, and where it's trending to towards more, more towards relationship building and relational marketing. And away from like FOMO based marketing, like the fear of missing out or bro marketing where it's, I have this helicopter and this $500,000 car and just follow my three tips. And you can have this lifestyle too, like that ridiculous marketing that was happening and was absolutely like part of the time. And but we're definitely now more in a space where we have to build trust, we have to build relationships. And we have to position ourselves as experts so that people can really feel confident and comfortable investing their hard earned money into your business, whether it's a product based business like TBT, or if it's a service based business, like what I have as a service provider, or VA. And so holistic marketing helps you to reach people in different ways. So you're not just using Facebook ads or you're not just blogging or just using Pinterest is terrifying a little bit when I say you have to do all of the things. But there's a strategy behind it where you're taking your long form content. So a podcast like this or a longer blog post, and you're repurposing that content, so that maybe somebody does want to listen to a podcast, but somebody else would prefer to read a blog post. And so you're putting the same content in two different places so that people can consume it in a way that makes sense to them. And then you're also taking that same content and you're putting it onto social media. You're not coming up with random social media posts every single De, you have that foundational piece of content, your podcast that you then pulled quote from pulled sound bites from pulled, like created a carousel. That's a teaching post. And there you have like three different social media posts. But really all you've done is record one podcast, or you've only written one blog, another element would be emailing your list, right? So you're hitting all of these different places. And that's what I mean by holistically marketing is really, like, zooming out, like, yeah, zooming out and getting your content and your information everywhere. And then the second piece of that is not just focusing, like I said, on paid advertisement, but you can also be promoting organically promoting by paid advertisement, and then doing things like collaborations to build those relationships. And so again, you're not just like looking at one thing, you're trying to get in front of as many different people in as many different ways as possible without burning yourself out.

Kirsten: 11:00

Yes, that's the key without burning out. And it seems like a lot, but like, everything you hit on, is a lot of what like I was just telling you off camera that I was like creating social media posts, but they're not like, random like I have. It's based off of my podcast episodes, it's based off of and then I have another set for my southern teach for teachers, I have one based on the blog posts that I write. So like it even though it is a lot of it seems like a lot, it might seem overwhelming. It's you're not recreating the wheel every time I have a new social media posts, you know, and

Jenzaia: 11:37

I absolutely don't recommend that anyone just go into it and be like, Okay, I need a podcast. And I need to put show notes out on the blog, and I need to email and I need to get on social media all at the same time. Yeah, my firm my business, I started my podcast. And then a couple months later, like, probably three months later, I was like, Okay, I'm the podcast is up and running, I can consistently get my episodes out every single week, I have a system there, I feel comfortable. Now I'm gonna go back and create the blog posts. And so that was a lot of work. Because by that point, three months later, I had like 12 to 16, something like that podcast. So and I was continuing to post new podcasts every week. But I took that time and I then created a blog. And then once I got to the point where my blog is up to date, and I can put the podcast out and the show notes, which again, are the same content, it's not different content. But I can do both of those every week. Then I started sending emails, right. And so the blogs took another three months. So now we're six months from when I started before I started sending emails. And then once the emails were up and running, that's when I started to pull in a more like strategic, if you will, social media content plan, where I'm actually pulling it. But that was the last piece that I pulled in. And it doesn't have to be that's the other thing I really like about how I go about holistic marketing and helping my clients with this, you can start with email, if that makes the most sense for you. Or you can start with a blog, or you can start with social media, like it really doesn't matter what your starting point is. But you pick one, and then you build on it from there. And then with the ultimate goal of you having content, you having emails and you having social media or a community of some sort that you're building. So yeah, that's the other piece, but like not trying to get all of it immediately. Yes, really important.

Kirsten: 13:22

That's probably the fastest way to burning out and not wanting to do anything related to marketing. So yeah, I totally am on board with the whole, like, getting really good at what you feel comfortable starting with, like, let's say, emailing your list every week. And once you get in that groove, then maybe picking something else that you think you know, might be the next best step. But just like I love the idea of how you can kind of just add on a little bit of there's not really a set timeline of like, okay, after two months, you need to go here. And then after two months, exactly. It's just like based on how you feel comfortable with.

Jenzaia: 13:58

And once you have systems and procedures in place. And whether those are really formally written out systems or procedures or just like you have a system that you do every week, and you finally feel comfortable in it. My coach always says consistency trumps everything else in the long run, which is so true. It's so true that like, if you're consistently showing up every single week and putting that effort out, then it is going to pay off. Because you're continuing to show up, you're continuing to build those relationships, you're continuing to just be part of the community. So that's what's really important is the consistency over a long period of time.

Kirsten: 14:38

I love that that's such a good thing to remember. So we did kind of touch on like the benefits of marketing holistically. But other than like, you know, being able to repurpose the content you already have. Are there any other benefits to doing this?

Jenzaia: 14:54

So the biggest benefit I think is really like reaching people and building those relationships and more Multiple ways. And a very interesting fact that's been being said in more and more circles right now is that it's no longer seven to 10 touch points before someone buys from you, which is like a really common thing, I think even a year ago, was saying someone needs seven to 10 touch points, they're now saying it's 40 to 50 Micro touch points. Now, the difference between a touch point and a micro touch point, a touch point is like reading a blog, listening to an entire podcast. Like even having a DM conversation with someone, those are big moments, right. Whereas now we're looking more at micro touch points, like scrolling past somebody's reel, and watching like three seconds of it, or even just like scrolling past and saying, like, oh, I recognize those colors that so and so's branding, right? But not even stopping, not liking, not commenting nothing like those micro touch points, seeing someone's name pop up in your email box, not opening their email, right not reading their name and the subject line, those are micro touch points. And it takes 40 to 50 of them for to take someone from never having heard of you before to a buyer. And of course, like the first few are going to be those micro touch points of like just seeing your name and the email box or the inbox. And then as it progresses, you're likely going to move towards the bigger touchpoints of they actually open the email and they read it, they actually open the email, they read it and they click and then they go and listen to the podcast, right? So there is a progression. But we just have to remember that it's taking so much more for people to get to know us to trust us and to feel confident in buying and so holistically marketing, the biggest benefit there is because you're showing up in different places. And I don't recommend copy paste, like the transcript from your podcast into the blog, trot, copy and paste the transcript into your email and then copy and paste the transcript to your social. That's not That's not what I mean. Just like but having those different spins on the exact same content, like my blog is typically more of a teaching way about going at it. And then my emails are more of a story, conversational piece. So they're all coming at it from slightly different angles. And so even if someone consumes more than one, they're getting that same information again and in taking it. So it's those touch points, that nurturing and that relationship building, which is the best part about holistic marketing, and just the focus on providing value first,

Kirsten: 17:26

yeah, oh my gosh, I love that whole, like, the whole micro touches and how it can reach like, even when somebody's not even thinking about it, because I, I have so many emails that like they send to me every week. And I actually know that like on Monday, certain people are sending emails out. And I don't necessarily open them all. But I just like, like, oh, there's that person that sends it every Monday. So that is that's really interesting that you mentioned that that's really cool to hear.

Jenzaia: 17:56

I have a podcast really listened to. And then I've saved their show. So they auto download onto my phone. And for whatever reason the topic doesn't resonate, or I don't want to listen to it. But just them popping up in like, there's a new episode like that's another micro touch point of this person is still showing up. And I'm not forgetting about them, right. Like if I hadn't saved their show, it might not pop up. And then I might not listen for six months, but because it's there and it's popping up. So that's another just all those little things where they're popping up automatically. And if you're not producing new shows or new blogs, then you're not going to do that pop up. And even if like I said, it doesn't resonate with the person that week, for whatever reason, your name won't be there at all, if you're not creating anything. So

Kirsten: 18:42

yeah, that's really awesome to think about that. Yeah. And that's a great reminder that you're not like, you feel like you're repeating yourself all the time, even though you're on different platforms, but not you know, not necessarily that doesn't have to be the case, you know, especially if you're just pulling little bits and pieces. And like you said, having a different spin on certain things, depending on which platform you're talking to your audience and

Jenzaia: 19:05

as like as a teacher, and I'm sure you'll resonate with this to have you know that there's certain people in your classroom who one way of teaching it just like instantly, like light bulb clicks. But then there's some other students that it's the third or fourth time that you approach something you teach it. And they're like, oh, oh, I got it now. Right. And so you have our entire audience is that same way some people will immediately resonate with what you're saying the very first time you say it, but then there's other people that will take three or four times before they clicks. And those crazy statistics of only one to 4% of people even see your social media, only 25 to 40% of people open your emails like so. Yes, we do feel like we're repeating ourselves, but we're putting a different spin on it and people are likely not consuming every single thing that you put out just because of how busy our lives are. How much content is being thrown in front of us. And if something doesn't resonate, and it doesn't click with them, then they're not going to remember it. Oh,

Kirsten: 20:08

that's so good thinking especially about the students, like, you'll have some students that will get everything you're talking about during the whole group lesson. But then some people do, they just need different ways of consuming the content or the information, they might need to be working in a smaller group with you at the, you know, the small group table and all that kind of stuff. So that's like six

Jenzaia: 20:27

months later, it'll be like, you understand what we're talking about where I got my lesson, and everyone else was like, what

Kirsten: 20:32

last night talking about, like, brand new brand I love. That's like, one of my favorite parts of teaching is those light bulb moments when they get that when it's like, you're working with them for that long, and they get it and it's amazing feeling. So there I know, are some listeners out there, and TPT sellers who are, you know, they are on a couple of different platforms, they might be on Instagram, they have that they might have a website or blog, or they might have an email, and they might have all of those, you know, those components, but maybe they're having a hard time managing those three or two, you know, depending on how many they have, what are some strategies to manage those different platforms that they might currently have? You know, just like, it's so it's not too unbearable.

Jenzaia: 21:21

Um, so we already mentioned, the biggest one, I think that's huge is batching. Mm hmm. And so I record three or four podcast episodes at a time. And then the second one after batching is hiring. So I no longer edit my own podcast, I have a podcast manager who does that, right. And so I batch mine, and then I send all four of them off to her. And she actually edits all four of them at the same time, she uploads all four of them at the same time. So then when I go through, and I do like my episode checks, just to make sure, like links are working and whatever, I can check all of them at the same time. And so then, I know, I do it once. And I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the month. And so that's really so those two things combined, I think are really, really helpful. And obviously, or maybe not, obviously, but it wasn't easy for me to hire immediately, right? I didn't have the the cash flow. And I didn't want to let go my baby. But just like recognizing that, yes, I can edit podcast, I also can design things in Canva, or whatever. That's not the best use of my time. Now with the designing things in Canva. I had clients who were like, these graphics aren't great. And so that was another way of like, oh, you need to hire someone for this. If something like you're not doing something up to your own standards, or if you have clients or standards and like you can hire out there are people that do all of the things. And so yeah, those are my two, my two recommendations, batch content, batch everything you possibly can. And then secondly, hire for anything that doesn't bring you joy, or is not a good use of your time.

Kirsten: 23:03

Yeah, I love that you mentioned like, recognizing, like, Yes, I can edit podcasts? Yes, I can, you know, make different graphics. But is it the best use of my time? That's a really great like, like, what else could you be doing that you might enjoy better, or that, you know, you might be the other people might be able to do better than you in some ways. So I love that perspective of like those because I know there's a lot of hesitation for for some listeners, you know, wanting to hire out being afraid to hire out that's something really great to think about.

Jenzaia: 23:39

I've had some I personally have had some really great hires, like my podcast manager was a great hire. I've also had really miss, like missed hires, where it wasn't a good match. And I think that that's just all part of the learning and the growing experience of running a business and figuring it out. So just remember that it isn't easy, but it's worth it. Yeah,

Kirsten: 24:02

I mean, it like it's like not something new with like businesses, you know, you have people who are not the best fit for a company and that they have to go their separate ways. It's like, you know, it's it's, it's always about taking that chance on those people who have the potential to help you. So love that. Yeah. So as far as like, any signs, like if you're like going at the speed of light in all of this, and you've have your blog, and you've got your email and your video, you know, YouTube channel and all of that is are there any signs, like it's starting to get a little too much on your plate? What are some signs, someone might need to slow down and cut back on the number of marketing platforms they have? So I'd say

Jenzaia: 24:54

the consistency piece if you're not able to be consistent then considering like thinking about where you can scale back is the the biggest one. Because it really doesn't matter if it's a podcast or YouTube or a blog. But if you're trying to do all three, and you kind of are sporadically doing them, and maybe there's a YouTube video this week, and then a podcast, and people can't come to count on when you're going to do it, right, like you said, with your emails, there's people that you know, are going to show up in your inbox on Mondays, there are, there are podcasts that I know, come out on Wednesdays, their YouTube videos, I know that come out on Fridays, whatever it might be, right. And so you start to your audience becomes accustomed to your rhythm. And if you can't stay on some sort of schedule, and that's not to say your schedule can't change. But you, you should be able to try and be consistent for extended amount of time. So if you can't, then that's a sign that, okay, you need to scale back and to slow down. And to figure out, maybe you cut back because one is just too complicated, taking too much time, you don't have the skills, or it's you hate doing it. Or maybe it's just not bringing in the return that you were expecting. And then not that to say you can't ever bring that back. But that to scale back, figure it out, and then come back to that piece that wasn't working and trying to figure it out when you do have more capacity, whether it's because you've hired someone or because something else, maybe a major project ended. So now you have more time to really figure out why it wasn't working. Because we really only have two main resources, we have time and we have money, right? So if you don't you either invest time into something, and you're doing it yourself or really like focusing on it, or you're investing time or money. Sorry, where you're paying someone else to invest that time into it. Oh, that's great.

Kirsten: 26:51

Those are some tips on that. And then I guess as far as like Facebook ads, I know it's not I mean, it's it's a little tricky, I guess for a lot of teacher printers out there and TPT sellers, because it's really hard to even just the interface, like very intimidating. It's so intimidating. And so it's like, it makes a lot of us want to just like, well Instagrams easier, it's like, you know, I understand all the buttons and all of that. But what if somebody's you know, kind of familiar, not really, or maybe not at all familiar with Facebook ads? How can what could we do? What are some little things we could do to amplify or, you know, kind of, I guess, get a better reach out in different avenues? As far as like where we currently are. Maybe we're on Facebook, or we're on Instagram? How can we use Facebook ads to amplify that.

Jenzaia: 27:53

So the first thing that is really important to remember is that Facebook and Instagram ads are actually the same thing on the back end, okay, and so typically, and not always, but typically, if you're advertising on Facebook, you're also on insert, you're also promoting on Instagram. And that's not very clear if you're hitting the Boost Post Button or if you're creating the the promotion within one of the apps. But they are on the back end the same thing. And I 100% agree with you. It is one of the most complicated interfaces that I've ever and I've never used Photoshop. So I know that that one is really, really bad. But it it's not an easy interface. And there's a lot of numbers, there's a lot of data, there's a lot of things being thrown at you. And it can if you don't know what to look for, it can be overwhelming. So if you're interested in like Facebook ads, Instagram ads, my first recommendation is to take it as a learning experience. And try to just learn something new every time that you go in there and do it and just baby steps each time. You're like, Okay, well, maybe I'll try this this time. Or maybe I'll try that and like something new each time. And it's okay, if for your first like six campaigns or 10 campaigns, you're just getting comfortable with like setting it up and figuring things out. That's totally fine. Just take those baby steps and moving forward. My second piece of advice is list building ads are my favorite. I don't know if that's actually a piece of advice. It's just more of a statement. I really like running list building ads where you're growing your email list or you're driving traffic towards the landing page where people opt in. And the return on that adspend is your email list is growing. So you're giving them something free of high value, and then you're getting it from that you're getting their email list. So those are my my favorite types of ads. And so between the two pieces, like just take those baby steps And then if you want an easier ad to run, I would recommend list building ads. Okay.

Kirsten: 30:05

Yeah, that's currently um, that's like the only one that I've found success with, because I can actually see like, they're actually going on my email list. So and they sound like they're actually, the target audience that I have set up for, it seems to be the type of people who should be opting in my email list. So that's the only one I've like, had success with so far. So that's something I'm going to take in mind as well as just like, if I'm going to try something new, just I'm just going to see just try it out. See what happens. So another

Jenzaia: 30:35

just a tiny piece of advice is I caution people on boosting a post.

Kirsten: 30:39

Okay, that was was questions I was gonna ask, yeah, boosting a

Jenzaia: 30:43

post, there is a time and a place for it in a strategy. But if you're just boosting a post, because the button is there and you feel like you should be, then that's not part of a strategy, and I don't recommend it. So there is a time and a place for the boosted post button, and for running engagement type ads. But it's not just because the buttons there. And I feel like I should I have personally been victimized by that. Before I really got into Facebook ads strategy, I threw at least a couple $100 down the drain. Because I had no idea where that money was going.

Kirsten: 31:15

Yeah. And I know like, it seems like anytime I've tried to boost, it's just like a bunch of random people who like are not my ideal audience anyway. So I've like stopped even trying that. So yeah,

Jenzaia: 31:29

it's part of the reason for that is it's low hanging fruit, if you will, like it's really easy for someone who's scrolling through Instagram and double tap, double tap, double tap, right? It's that people aren't even paying any attention. They're just liking everything that comes their way. And then Instagram goes, Oh, these people like a lot of posts. Let's show them a post that we want people to like. And so it's just yeah, so it can be not good quality leads and people coming into your world when you boost a post. Yeah,

Kirsten: 31:58

that's a great tip on that. Well, you seem very knowledgeable about Facebook ads in general. And of course, you know, marketing, like you've had so many great, like tips in this episode so far. So where can we learn more information about Facebook ads marketing? I know you mentioned that you offer some services, where can we find more information about that from you? So I would say the best place

Jenzaia: 32:23

to find me is my podcast. And that's tons of free tips, strategies. There's the holistic marketing piece. There's Facebook ads strategy. So you can find that at market scale. grow.com forward slash listen now. And that is the best place. Yeah, I would love for people to come and listen to the podcast.

Kirsten: 32:44

Okay. Yeah, I'll make sure to link that to as in the show notes.

Jenzaia: 32:47

Thank you so much for having me.

Kirsten: 32:49

Yes. Thank you for being a guest. I so appreciate it. I know a lot of sellers and listeners will get some awesome tips from you as well.

Jenzaia: 32:58

Yeah, well, I hope so. Thanks again.

Kirsten: 33:13

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.