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Introduction and Guest Introduction 

Nancy: So essentially you're also training your audience So when you're building that consistency you build a desire for people to want it. Consistency goes hand in hand with discipline. You can't have consistency if you don't have discipline 

Jasmine: Welcome to Make Good Fashion, the podcast that's all about starting, launching, and growing impactful fashion brands. I'm your host, Jasmine Rennie. 

Jasmine: On today's episode, my friend and marketing professional Nancy Navas drops in to give us the latest tips and trends in the digital marketing world. . Nancy has worked for product based businesses to nonprofits from brands like Monster Energy and beyond.  

Jasmine: So Nancy has a full scope of what it takes to succeed in marketing. You're going to want to stay to the very end of this episode because Nancy is dropping some gems all the way through and she's going to give you practical tools that you can implement in your business today.  

Now, if you're on the go and you don't have time to take notes, not to worry. I've [00:01:00] created a list of all the tools Nancy mentions in this episode , in a PDF that you can download at any time. And you can find that at makegoodfashion. com forward slash digital tools. 

Jasmine: So without further ado, here's my conversation with Nancy. 

Conversation with Nancy Navas 

Jasmine: Hi, Nancy, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I'm so excited to have you here. Absolutely.  

Nancy: I'm so excited, too. This is gonna be really awesome. I feel  

Jasmine: I know it's so fun having friends on the podcast because it's, it's just, you know, we get to kiki we get to chat and about all the things. 

The Importance of Marketing in Business 

Jasmine: So before we get started, the reason why I wanted to have you on the podcast is because marketing is so essential to any business, including the fashion business. And I feel like I tell people often like if you were going to start a business, like forget business school, forget studying fashion, forget all these things. 

Jasmine: You need to learn how to become a marketer because that's what you're going to be doing. And so anyways, I [00:02:00] wanted to just hear a little bit more. about the marketing realm, the social media realm and how we can be utilizing this in our businesses. And I hate all of those things. So I'm like, why not bring someone in? 

Nancy: We fit well together because I like those things.  

Jasmine: You got it. You know, you got to find people that love your weaknesses, the things that you hate, you gotta find those things. And so yes, I just wanted to have you in because I'm like, Nancy knows all about this stuff. And she's going to help us level up.  

Nancy's Journey into Marketing 

Jasmine: So but before we get to all the good stuff, I want to hear a little bit about your background and how you found yourself in the marketing realm. 

Jasmine: So tell us a little bit about you. Yes, .  

Nancy: First of all, thank you for having me on here. I'm so excited to be here. And just to take us back, I promise I will bore you with all the details. As a child, I was always interested in the creative realm. So whether that was painting, coloring, all of those things, I was, it just captivated me. 

Nancy: And then going into high school, I even [00:03:00] took classes like ceramics and screen printing, still falling into the creative area. It wasn't until after high school when I Was going into college. I don't know. Maybe some of us were in this position where we didn't know what to do. It's like, what do I do now? 

Nancy: You know, I'm done with high school. What direction do I go in? So you're not alone if you feel this way. I went into high school. I got my master's or my bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Redlands. I ended up also emphasizing in visual and media studies, which essentially visual media studies, you're studying media and all its forms through history. 

Nancy: You take classes like photography, introduction to film, you take classes like acting. There's just so many different areas that you can really grow in the creative aspect. So that's why I decided to emphasize in that. And even then, after college, I was like, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with my life. 

Nancy: And so I ended up just starting to work retail, worked at Nike, 24 hour fitness, starting in [00:04:00] training for And the indoor professional soccer team, because at the time I started to think that I was going to go into sports broadcasting. I thought I was going to be on ESPN interviewing players. That's what 

Jasmine: I can totally see that for you, but  

Nancy: I thought, I genuinely thought that's the route that I was going to go in, which is why I ended up getting my master's in sport management. 

Nancy: Thinking that's the route that I was going to go in. Well, let me backtrack a little bit. When I was in Nike, I met a friend who she was interning for monster energy. And she told me about an internship with them. And at the time, like I said, I was like really focused on becoming a sports broadcaster. So I didn't really pay any mind. 

Nancy: Fast forward a year later. I'm in the same position and I'm, I'm telling her, okay, let me give this internship a shot. So I interned for monster energy. I ended up landing in their operations and marketing department. Absolutely loved it. Had a blast. Did some traveling, you know, with super cross [00:05:00] UFC, all the non traditional sports. 

Nancy: I was involved in the marketing aspect, the hospitality aspect. So I got to learn a lot there. And then after that, now I. Fast forward to today, I'm at a nonprofit where I'm still working in marketing, but this time specifically focused in digital marketing. So, just you, you get a little scope of sometimes you never know exactly where you're going to end up, but you come, you come across, you know, paths with people that will take you to the place, you know, so never burn your bridges, wherever you go. 

Nancy: Yeah, so that's how I'm, I'm here in the marketing, the marketing world.  

Jasmine: I love it. You've had like a full scope from like product based business to nonprofit and now more in the digital marketing space. So how many years has it been since you've been in this industry? Oh my  

Nancy: gosh. Okay. Let me take me back. 

Nancy: 2014. Probably since 2016, 2017. Okay. And back. Yeah. So almost, well, almost [00:06:00] 10 years. So like seven, seven years or so. Yeah.  

Jasmine: Yeah. Wow. It's been a long time. So during that time, I'm sure that you've seen so much change in the industry. Like I feel like marketing trends are changing, especially in the digital marketing realm are changing all the time. 

Jasmine: And it's like, It just feels so challenging to keep up with everything going on, everything happening. And so I'm just curious, in today's world, like, what is working, like, where should businesses be putting their focus to build brand awareness to build community for their businesses?  

Current Trends in Digital Marketing 

Nancy: Yeah, no, that's a great question. 

Nancy: And like you mentioned, social media marketing is always changing. You go from traditional marketing, which essentially is your ads, your billboards, you know, the ads that are on the magazines, newspapers, that's more so of the back in the day, but that still complements the new digital marketing today. So if you want to be effective as a company, [00:07:00] depending on obviously your budget, because traditional marketing is a lot more. 

Nancy: Expensive than digital marketing, right? I mean, you can pour a lot of money into digital, but when you're talking about billboards, commercials, you know, that does add up. So now, as far as trends go in the digital marketing space, I a, a big trend that I'm seeing today is. I don't know if you've heard of this term before, but it's edutainment. 

Nancy: So it's essentially, what the heck is edutainment? So essentially, I don't know if it's in the dictionary, but you know, you know what it is. Once I'll explain it, you'll know what it is. So edutainment is education and entertainment at the same time. So you see a lot of those videos of how to like, you know, get ready with me. 

Nancy: Let me show you how to contour my nose or let me show you how to style this jacket. So it's a lot of just. the organic aspect of marketing where it's like I'm showing you how to do something and it's also at the same time entertaining for you. So it's educational, it's informative, but at the [00:08:00] same time you're having fun watching it. 

Nancy: So that's a big trend that's happening right now. Obviously, with the platforms like TikTok, Instagram, you see it, but the main one is on TikTok where you see that a lot, so.  

Jasmine: Yeah, I'm seeing that so much, like, so many tutorials, how to's, all these things that are like blowing up, which I think is like, Great, because, you know, when we're selling products, I think when it comes to marketing, it's not just all about sales, sales, sales, sales, right? 

Jasmine: Right. We have to also add value to our customer or following and so I feel like that's a great way, but I'm also thinking like, how does that translate for like fashion brands? Like how can fresh fashion brands get into this? Yeah,  

Nancy: so as far as the fashion industry goes, I mean, you can use it like I was saying how to style certain pieces. 

Nancy: Yeah, your clothing. [00:09:00] It could also be sometimes looking behind the scenes. So some BTS of how a certain cloth is created a certain materials like where it comes from. It's informative, but I feel like a lot of people like to like to know that stuff, you know, kind of like the unknown of what you don't see. 

Nancy: See, it's like, no, now I'm going to tell you about it. I'm going to inform you about this. So that's kind of like a form that you can do it. There's other trends like AI, artificial intelligence. I love me some AI. Oh my goodness. The things that it does, it's mind blowing. Girl, I'm scared. It is mind blowing. 

Nancy: So you can definitely use it to your advantage. But what AI doesn't have is your feelings and your emotions. So that's the human touch that you still have, you know, you have that level up with AI, you know, so you can take what they give you, but you can tweak it and make it your own. Totally. So that's a trend that I would definitely look into. 

Nancy: What are AI? Whether it's chat GBT, what are AI [00:10:00] platforms that as a fashion company as an entrepreneur that I can use to my advantage?  

Jasmine: Yeah, I've been loving AI. I find that it's we actually just did, or I just filmed a recording about how to use chat GBT in your fashion business. And I find that just like little things like creating product descriptions or creating captions and hashtag ideas for your Instagram and posting like that just all kinds of things, blog content, you give it a little topic, like create a blog content for my swimwear, you know, lifestyle blog for my swimwear brand, give me some ideas of what to blog about. 

Jasmine: And then you can tell it to blog about that thing, which like you were saying, it doesn't have a human touch. But I have found that using like, you can switch the tone, so you can ask it to write something in a certain tone. Yes, and then it'll spit it out in like a thoughtful tone or humorous tone so you can kind of align it with your brand identity, which I love so much. 

Jasmine: So I've just been like I [00:11:00] literally feel like I've hired someone, a new person in my business using AI, so it's so beneficial for like creating the content, but I'm curious, what other ways can we like get that content, content out there and build our audience, especially people just starting out, right? 

The Role of Authenticity and Consistency in Branding 

Jasmine: Like, yeah, people who are just starting out building their businesses, I think one thing that goes. You know, gets forgotten about a lot is that you need to build your audience before you even start your brand and start building that anticipation, right? And so I find that You know, people will start businesses, they'll put the product out there, and it's like crickets. 

Jasmine: Like, no one's there to buy it because they haven't done any marketing. So besides, like, the TikTok and the... Entertainment? Honestly, any time I say that, I'm like, this is so weird. Yeah, like, is  

Nancy: this even a word? It's  

Jasmine: such a weird word. It is, it is. What else should brands [00:12:00] be doing? Like...  

Nancy: Yeah, so just to add a little bit of context, so we all understand like how essential social media is to our world today. 

Nancy: So if we're looking as far as the statistics go, as of 2023, 5. 19 billion people of the global population. are internet users, just the internet alone. And so that accounts for about  

Jasmine: 65. 9 billion. Yeah. I don't even I can't even concept like how many people  

Nancy: that is. It's insane. I think there's like what 8 billion people in the world. 

Nancy: So 65% Basically, our internet users people Wow. Wow. And out of that 65 percent you're looking at 60 percent of those internet users are social media users. Okay, so really put that into perspective, social media is so big, and it's not going to stop. It's not the end of social media anytime soon. In 2027, I believe it's forecasted to grow about 75 percent of social media users, which is [00:13:00] about three and four people will have a social media account. 

Nancy: So essentially, it's I don't know if I mentioned this already, but social media is the new business card. You know, when you're talking about like fashion or you're talking about a restaurant you want to go to, what are the things that you do? Maybe Yelp, you maybe look at the website or you say, Hey girl, can you send me their IG? 

Nancy: Oh  

Nancy: yeah, I'm looking at pictures. I want to see what that food looks like.  

Nancy: Absolutely. I'm looking at stories. What's the experience like there? You know, how do people look in this outfit? So like I said, it's the new business card. So I think just As we continue this conversation, just having that in the back of your mind, like how big and how essential, you know, it is to really have a presence in social media, obviously, besides tip talk, and it depends on what you have. 

Nancy: But YouTube shorts is a big thing. I wouldn't sleep on. Okay, if you are on YouTube, it takes in and to not be afraid of recycling your content. Yes. So I literally so I work I'm one of the producers for a [00:14:00] podcast and so I, I recycle a lot of the content. So I have a content creator. He creates these clips for me and so say he gives me three. 

Nancy: I'm not just using those three one time. I'm using it on shorts, the same one on TikTok, on Instagram. on stories, you know, so and then you have to really have a strategy, which we'll probably go into later. But yeah, so I think that's a big thing to keep in mind is just understanding the digital marketing space. 

Nancy: And like you said, it's before you go out there, it's truly for what I'm seeing is, is when a brand is confident in their identity and it's not so much, Oh, they're going viral for this. So I'm going to do this. Yeah, that's, that plays a part, but I think it's understanding and being confident in who you are as a brand. 

Nancy: That's a word. It's so important because people can smell fake, like even through the internet sometimes. You know, so I think it's really [00:15:00] important when you see somebody who's so like your brand, you know, You see somebody who's authentic and who who stands firm in in their brand? It's like wow people want to follow that people want to know more about that people want to be that So I think that's one of the keys before you're starting To really understand and hone in what your brand is, what your product is, what is your service offer. 

Nancy: Yeah, you know  

Jasmine: what? So I think that's really important. Yeah, I feel like, I was just like so inspired as you were saying that because I'm like, that reminds me of people. Like your brand personality is like you as a person, right? So when you're being your authentic self. People are drawn to that, right? And so with brands, it's the same thing. 

Jasmine: It's a personality, right? Your brand has an identity of its own. And I think it can be so tempting to like, okay, See what everyone else is doing and I think to a certain extent it is important to know like what your competitors have going on Yes, but at the same time staying true to who you are as a brand. 

Jasmine: Yeah, it's so important So [00:16:00] I'm so glad you said that and then one other thing you were saying about the repurposing content, too I feel like that saves you so much time, right? Like you're just yeah And you could probably do that, like what you were saying, you know, doing the styling videos, doing that for like reels, right? 

Jasmine: And then putting on TikTok and then putting on YouTube shorts as well. And like having presence everywhere, which I think is so nice because you're getting to touch several different audiences and repurpose that content. I feel like YouTube, like you said, is slept on too, especially for fashion businesses. 

Jasmine: So I'm glad that you brought that point up because I'm like, Yeah, people need to get on YouTube. I feel like it's almost, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, you probably have more insight on this, but I feel like it's almost becoming easier to get discovered on YouTube than it is like Instagram. 'cause the algorithm is so funky. 

Nancy: Oh yeah. It's so Instagram is, is so funky. I mean, with your shorts, if you, if you do it correctly, when you're posting on Instagram, I mean, sorry, on YouTube shorts, you're [00:17:00] wanting those videos to be about between 15 to 20 seconds. Oh, that is. That is the challenge when you are posting. Of course, you can do 60 seconds max on YouTube shorts. 

Nancy: However, I think the most captivating ones, the ones that really go viral, aside from the celebrity ones that may be longer, it's a different story. You're looking at the ones that are between 15 to 20 seconds. So yeah, the shorts are that that could get you on the podcast. We had a short go hit 22k, which I know doesn't sound like a lot on YouTube shorts. 

Nancy: Something it is huge. Yeah, it's very very huge. So another thing I did want to add as far as like tips for brands to gain visibility is living by a content calendar. I don't think anything happens by mistake. You have to be intentional with what you do. Of course, social media can be a little tricky. So I do want to add this caveat that sometimes something will go viral and you really didn't put much work into it. 

Nancy: That does happen in the social media world. However, I think it's always important. Important to [00:18:00] go with the ladder and have a content calendar that you live by. Also studying your analytics. I think that's very important, knowing who your audience is. You know, if, if you are a brand that's streetwear, what do these people do for a living? 

Nancy: How? Like how do they live their lives? What do they like to eat? This is all stuff and data that you can gather from. From Google, like you can research this type of information. Another thing I did want to add. Can I ask you though,  

Jasmine: how, how would you research that information? How,  

Nancy: what? So, so as far as like, say, I'm looking at, I'm a brand that does street wear. 

Nancy: I would probably look at either. To start off, look at other brands that do streetwear also, and then start looking at their followers. Like it's something so simple of like, Oh, okay. These are the type of people that follow you. Okay. Looking into if some people may be private, some may be public looking into, you know, maybe if you find a couple of people on there, maybe looking, and I know this is probably going to sound weird, but looking them up on LinkedIn or looking them up on, on [00:19:00] Google and seeing like, okay, this is the type of audience, or you can probably, I think it's. 

Nancy: I'll have to give you the the stats link that I use. I don't know if it's like You can look up statistics as far as like, okay, so what percentage of people that are in the street where maybe fashion industry, like maybe what, what is their salary income or something like that? So these are just insights that just help you create when you're building out campaigns or you're building out strategies, you're like, okay, you're not going to be able to capture everybody, obviously, right? 

Nancy: But just capturing your audience as a whole, like who your target audience is, I think is  

Jasmine: important. And I think this is something you should do before you even start your social media strategy. Like before you even build your business, you should know like who you're serving, right? Like who your customer is. 

Jasmine: And then you can take that and then implement that into like the content you produce because you're producing for the specific person. And like you said, not everyone, [00:20:00] like Yes, you're going to get customers from all walks of life, but you want to make sure that you are serving your target audience really well. 

Jasmine: So I love that. Yeah.  

Nancy: Yeah. So like I said, if you take two things before you're starting any social media account, know who you are as a brand and know your target audience. Those are the foundational, I feel like, points before starting any social media platform. And this reminds me, going back to why social media is so crucial, obviously with COVID hitting, we really saw a shift in the consumer behavior, especially for the fashion industry. 

Nancy: It was no longer, let me go into the store and try the clothes on. Obviously, we're going back into that now, slowly. But I feel like e commerce is a huge part. I mean, Whatever industry you're in, e commerce is a key to your business. So just remembering that aspect as well. We never know what's going to hit and it's like, we just have to learn as a company, as a brand to [00:21:00] pivot and to be quick to jump on, you know, okay, well, we're not going to be in person. 

Nancy: Now let me do actually, I don't know if you've heard of Metaverse brand activations. Have you heard of it? No, it's the VR reality. Oh, gosh. Yes. Okay. So it's crazy because I was looking into that and Metaverse, they actually did a fashion week. So yeah, I have heard of this. Yeah, you had like Dolce and Gabbana. 

Nancy: You had like Balenciaga. You had these companies. Yeah, you go into this virtual experience. experience. So that's going to be an interesting one. I haven't dabbed, you know, too much into that. Me either. But that'll be very interesting to see  

Jasmine: as far as where that goes. Yeah, I'm  

Nancy: overwhelmed by it. I'm not, I'm not a gamer. 

Nancy: I don't really do that type of stuff. So it's going to be very interesting. But just looking at it, I was, I was, I was like, wow, this is going either to go very well, or it's going to crash. Yeah,  

Jasmine: I mean, [00:22:00] and you know, anything is possible in the future. We're always like, I feel like hesitant to like even touch anything new at first. 

Jasmine: And then it's like, Oh, this is our reality now. But you know, it's very encouraging that you as you speak about social media and like this being You know, most of the world is going to be in on social media, and this is what people are using now, like, like you said, things like the pandemic happened, and everybody shifts online. 

Jasmine: And so it's encouraging in the sense that like, social media is free to use, right? Anybody can come up with a social media account. And you can basically have your own broadcast, right? You can push out, do your own free marketing and all this stuff, which is super encouraging. But I feel like in the sense Same sense, it can be super discouraging because it feels like there are so many players out here, right? 

Jasmine: So many brands popping up every day, so many, you know, people vying for attention, right? So I'm wondering, like, how do you stand out? Like, how do you [00:23:00] keep yourself encouraged when it feels like, okay, no one's seeing my content. I'm having a hard time building an audience. It's happening so slowly for me. 

Jasmine: Like how do you You know, how do you overcome that? How do you keep going? How do you make an impact?  

Nancy: Yeah, that's a great question. One of the things which I've already mentioned would be your why knowing your why is very important when you are building a social media platform or business or brand, whatever and Avenue you're going, but really understand Standing understanding why is it that you're doing this? 

Nancy: I, I hope the answer to your question is not just money, because that's not gonna go very far. Yeah. So that can motivate you for a while, but it won't motivate you forever. So for me personally, based off what I've seen and how everything has been going. Authenticity and consistency are like brother and sister, or whatever you want to call a duo that's going to be essential to creating your brand and your [00:24:00] identity. 

Nancy: So those two things, consistency, authenticity, make sure you keep that in your pockets because that's something that you want to keep going with. So when you are going to face hard days, you are going to work on some videos that are not going to hit the numbers that you're looking for. When you remember your why you're like, this is why I'm doing it. 

Nancy: This is the people that I'm doing it for. Whether it's family that you're doing it for, whether it's a cause that you're doing it for just constantly having that as a reminder, whether you print that out and you put it in your room or you put it in your office, or it's just a constant reminder that. 

Nancy: This is why I do what I do. Then I think that's going to give you the strength to keep moving forward in building your company and your brand. When you're looking at companies like Nike, you're looking at what they have 305 million followers, I think on Instagram, that didn't just happen overnight. So I think there's a lot of misunderstanding that sometimes you can just go viral and then everything's going to be great, which yes, maybe some people have that. 

Nancy: [00:25:00] experience. But for the majority of us, that may not be it.  

Jasmine: And also, is it sustainable? You know, it's a viral moment sustainable. So yeah,  

Nancy: yeah, that is so true. When I was looking at some fashion accounts on Instagram, I was looking at like J. Crew, you're looking at anthropology, you notice that these accounts have a true authenticity about themselves. 

Nancy: And that's what a lot of comments were saying. Oh, I love how anthropology just six to their colors, or I love how J crew does this because they, they have built this, this basically a whole like following that really believes in the brand. So if you're not believing in your own brand, if you're not loving what you're building, how are other people going to do that? 

Nancy: They're not so good. They're going to fall off really easily. So those are two things. I know. It's like, oh, okay, we kind of already talked about this, but I just really want to drill that in, you know, it's that constant consistency and the [00:26:00] authenticity of what you're building is very important.  

Jasmine: Yeah, I need you, though, to drive in consistency because I think this is one of a game changer, right? 

Jasmine: Like, I think this is What sets people apart? And it's hard because I think sometimes, you know, when you're starting something new, again, a lot of people have that mentality of like instant success, instant virality, all of that stuff, right? And so if that doesn't happen right away, I feel like people can fall off. 

Jasmine: They can get uninspired because it just feels like I'm failing. Yeah, but speak to me about consistency. How why is that a game changer? And why do people need to really focus and hone in on consistency?  

Nancy: So when you have routines in life, it might be hard to maintain them But it makes life a lot more easier when you have them. 

Nancy: So speaking as far as Digital space. Speaking of consistency in the fashion industry, a lot of people fall off because they don't have consistency. [00:27:00] So when you're building in the digital aspect, I'll speak on that. When you're building a content calendar, I will get into the tools that we can use. But basically I have a routine of this is what I'm going to post when I'm going to post it. 

Nancy: These are the times I'm going to post. So essentially I'm building, I'm training my audience. At 4 p. m on Wednesdays, you're going to see a short from this podcast, you know, at 12 p. m on Mondays, you're going to see an Instagram reel from. from this podcast. So essentially you're also training your audience to understand, oh, I know they're about to drop this video, I'm looking forward to this. 

Nancy: So when you're building that consistency you build a desire for people to want it. So I think that's very important and like I said, it's tough. Consistency goes hand in hand with discipline. You can't have consistency if you don't have discipline. So I think that's one of the toughest things to human beings in general. 

Nancy: Who are you telling? In general, discipline and [00:28:00] eating, discipline, it's, it's tough. That's why a lot of people don't do it. But it's, it's, it's that instant gratification that we want. Oh, I just want to post this real, whatever time I want, whenever, and I want it to go viral. I'm sorry, that, that may not happen. 

Nancy: Or it may. But like you said, is it going to be sustainable? So when you are building, you're really building a strong foundation with consistency and discipline. So I think it's just keep going, keep going when you are building your content calendar. I didn't, we, for the podcast that I work with, I think we didn't hit a million views till after, I want to say maybe like four or five months of me, the same routine. 

Nancy: Every Monday, I'm doing this every Tuesday. I'm doing this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, but I was like, I'm not giving up. We're going to post this. We're going to keep doing this. And of course, the other thing that you do have to think about is the content. So that you are creating, is it captivating? Does it move people's souls? 

Nancy: Does it, is it, is [00:29:00] it educational? Is it informative? Is it just entertainment? What is it? You know, is it controversial enough? Is that something that your brand wants to be a part of? So okay. I think just remembering, and ever since then, we've hit multiple millions of views on the podcast for our Reels, and it's just, it's been an incredible, incredible journey, but I, we wouldn't be where we are with obviously the team and, and also the consistency that comes behind that work. 

Nancy: Yeah.  

Jasmine: And I love that because it's so real, right? Like five months. Oh, yeah. So some people that's a long time to some people not but I feel like Yeah, it's that's the reality of it. You have to stay consistent. You have to keep going. And I think, again, what you're saying is the content captivating. And again, with fashion businesses, in particular, I feel like we can get into that routine of like just posting product and it's like buying now buying now right and it's like how is that adding value [00:30:00] to your customer though right like yeah how what are some other ways that we can create content like you said we can do education how to's we can do these other things that's gonna actually add value and it's not always like we're asking people to to just buy right something exactly  

Nancy: so you can do when i'm talking about routines i don't want people to get stuck in the sense of routines are permanent because routines can be seasonal also. 

Nancy: And what I mean by that is say you're dropping a line, you're going to create this routine of maybe it's called dress up Sundays. And so every Sunday, you're going to post like, Hey, this is how this is how I look on Sundays. This is my fit Sundays. And so then people know, Oh, okay, dress up Sundays, like I want to tag. 

Nancy: You know, whatever company I wanna tag. J. Crew. J Crew. This is my dress up Sunday. Look, you know? Mm. What are the DDUS? Like whatever people come up with, you know? What's DUS dress up Sunday. Oh, . Yeah. I literally just made that up. So, but you would have to educate your audience into they, they're not, so they [00:31:00] know what it is. 

Nancy: Yeah, yeah. So they know. So you'll probably have a few posts about it. Hey, you know, doing a dress up Sunday reel. Saying like, Hey, we wanna see you in your dress up Sunday, or your dress up, or your Sunday, look, whatever it is. And so that, that just makes it fun. And you're also inviting your audience into your brand. 

Nancy: Mm-Hmm. So your brand, it does, it's not this like. Again, what you're going for, what your identity is, but you're not this brand on a hilltop that nobody can be a part of. You're basically a part of the family. Like we're inviting you into this. We want to see how you look in our latest, you know, suede jacket or whatever it is. 

Nancy: So it's just like creating that, just remembering, okay, this, this might just be a seasonal thing. We're, we'll probably do a different routine in another season, depending on what is dropping. So that's. That's what I mean about like creating routines. You want to have your, obviously your essential, your bottom line, this is what we're constantly going to do, but at the same time you want to add some variation because like you said, it can get, it can feel mundane. 

Nancy: [00:32:00] If you're feeling that it's mundane, then your audience is probably feeling the same thing. That's a good rule of thumb. Just remembering that. And I know that when it comes to making content. And you're starting up. Maybe you're a new startup company. You may not have the latest deal like DSLR camera or, you know, all of these fancy equipment, but that's okay. 

Nancy: I feel like majority of us have an iPhone, so I think it's very important. One of the video settings that I use for my iPhone when creating, whether it's personal content, podcast content is settings are in 4K 60. It's a lot more crisp. It does take up a lot more space. storage. So if you do want to offload this into like a terabyte or something like that, where you store it somewhere else. 

Nancy: So like  

Jasmine: what is that called? The external hydrate?  

Nancy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So if you want to offload those once you're done using them, or if you're done, done, you can delete them. Yeah. But yeah, so like just using what you have in your hands, what is it that you have that you can [00:33:00] really be resourceful and just make the best out of what you have just starting off that way, you know, and I think little by little as you're building. 

Nancy: These avenues will open, these opportunities will open, but I think it's just really making the best of what you have. Capturing BTS, you know, behind the scenes shoots, capturing, hey, this is a day in the life of Fill in the blank for yourself, you know, content creator of a fashion designer. We as the audience, I feel like I like to put myself in the audience shoes. 

Nancy: And I love to the day in the life. Oh, what do you do? Okay. This is what you do. And then a thing to really remember when you're creating videos, you want to create the span, the attention span of the human being. Is so short you want to create videos that are like constantly going going you don't want to see a horizontal video for three minutes unless obviously you're watching a show or something, but As far as socials go, you want to create that content that is going to [00:34:00] be just going, going, going. 

Nancy: So yeah, I think those are just some, some tips that we can implement when we are thinking about using social media and to not give up and to keep moving forward. And just remembering these other brands didn't start off because they were viral in one day.  

Jasmine: Yeah. Yeah. That's super encouraging. And I think, you know, just from my own research with fashion business, it's interesting because it seems like the UGC content does better than these polished, these polished campaign shots. 

Jasmine: Right. Because I think that. people can relate to those, you know, they can see themselves in the product when it's like, you, you GC, you user generated content where like an influencers wearing it or like just an everyday person or yeah, you're doing the behind the scenes of like how the product is made and all of that stuff. 

Jasmine: I feel like people feel like they can connect to you so much more instead of like a campaign where it's just like a model that's like super gorgeous and like it seems super [00:35:00] unattainable. Yeah. And so I think it's so encouraging because Like you said, you can use what's in your hand. You don't have to have like all the latest things, you don't have to have the fancy camera, like all that stuff that you said is so true. 

Jasmine: And I think that's a barrier for entry to some people because they're like, well, you know, that limited mindset of like, I don't have enough, it's not good enough, I can't compare to these bigger brands. And it's like, no, like, you'd be surprised like Just creating content that people actually want to see with what you have is good enough. 

Jasmine: Yeah, exactly.  

Nancy: I think that's very important. And there's some, there's so many tools out there that are for free that you can use. So I'll share some with you.  

Jasmine: Yeah, let's get into that. 

Jasmine: And the things that we need to be using right now. in our business to just be killing it at the marketing and social media, digital marketing, all that stuff. So tell us your little juicy secrets about what we should be using right now and downloading [00:36:00] immediately after we get done listening to this  

Nancy: podcast. 

Nancy: All of these are phone friendly. So once you download them, you can use them on your phone. You may or you may not have heard of these, but either way we'll call them out. So Hootsuite, Hootsuite, if you haven't heard of Hootsuite, it's a scheduling content like platform. So basically it just helps you schedule everything. 

Nancy: So I can schedule TikTok, Instagram. You can't do YouTube shorts. That's the only one that you will have to do from YouTube directly. I haven't found a one. If you do, then drop it in the comments. So we all know, but yeah, HootSuite, that's where I used to schedule everything. You can obviously schedule via Instagram, the app itself, do that as well. 

Nancy: But I like to use HootSuite because I can do multiple scheduling all at once. Once you get into it, you can probably, you know, test it out. It's for free until you have to obviously pay in order to link it to a business account, which is still fairly affordable. The other one, can I ask you a  

Jasmine: question about Hootsuite? 

Jasmine: So with [00:37:00] Hootsuite, so I've used different social media planners before. And one thing that's kind of tricky about them is that, you know, sometimes we want to do trending audio. with the videos for like TikTok and like Reel so that we can, you know, get discovered easier. Yeah. But with the planners that I've used so far, it doesn't really let you upload the music. 

Jasmine: So does Hootsuite allow you to do that?  

Nancy: So no, it won't allow you unless you already have music in your video. Gotcha. And then you are you're good to go. But something that Instagram has been doing is that if it catches a popular song that is playing, then it'll, it'll link it to the song that it plays on Instagram. 

Nancy: So it'll add it to that bunch of like, Oh, this is, I don't know guys, Jonas Brothers, like whatever song they play. And then it's like, Oh, it hears it. And it's like, we've just added it to the Jonas Brothers. Like, perfect. So that's what it'll do. Not always sometimes depending if it catches [00:38:00] it. Okay. It just, it just depends on the audio that you're using. 

Nancy: So technically  

Jasmine: you can like Put that audio in whatever system whatever program you're editing your video and then sometimes Instagram will catch it And so then you would be grouped in the people using that trending audio. Yeah Yeah  

Nancy: That's great get a notification if that does happen, okay, but yeah, so it's a hit or miss it's it's not a Like a guaranteed  

Jasmine: thing. 

Jasmine: Yeah, guarantee. Yeah, it's good to  

Nancy: know. And it's good to know. So that way you can at least implement that audio and hopefully it'll catch it. And yeah, that  

Jasmine: group, because it's such a chore to like, I don't schedule my videos because I know I'm going to have to like add the audio to it. So I just I'll schedule it within Reels if I'm doing it like that because Reels, you know, you can schedule it to go out, but it's just such a hassle because you want to do everything in one space. 

Jasmine: Right, right, right. But that's good to know. Yeah. So and  

Nancy: then you can also I mean, as far as scheduling [00:39:00] goes, but when you're doing manual posts, and you did the audio on a different app, but you want to add it to that like viral audio that is happening, you can go into your. Sound when you're uploading the reel you can go into your sound Basically hide the sound from the video and then just add the new song into the reel So it just it adds a little more work Yeah, you don't really need to do that unless you've already but sometimes What I like to do is I like to hit certain videos on like a beat. 

Nancy: So I'll, I'll use the, the audio when I'm creating the video, but then I want it to be part of the group that goes viral. So then that's why I mute the video one since I already used it and I'll add it exactly at the timing. So the timing matches up and it'll still be added. But that's only if you're doing it manually. 

Nancy: You know, uploading, not scheduling. Yes. So, there's little things. I'm sure they'll hopefully in the future figure something out. Where you can get the audio from Instagram directly. Yeah. [00:40:00] But if I'm wrong, if it's out there already, correct me if I'm wrong. Someone tell us. I don't have all the answers. I'm still, I'm still learning. 

Nancy: Yeah, another, another tool that I use is Asana. I'm pretty sure you've heard of Asana before. I've never  

Jasmine: used Asana so I'm actually very curious about how to use  

Nancy: it. I live and dream by Asana. Asana is my content calendar. It's my little black book. It is my digital Bible. I use that like I use my phone. So basically it's where I track everything on the calendar. 

Nancy: I wish I had it. I have it on my phone too. I don't know  

Jasmine: if I'm excited to like it on the screen. Yeah, the podcast listeners might not be able to see it, but YouTube can see it. So if you have it, you can  

Nancy: show us. But so Asana, it's so amazing, even especially when you have, whether you're a small company, I think it's great. 

Nancy: Or whether you're a big company of 50 or more employees, because you can assign certain tasks in [00:41:00] Asana. To your employees. So if you have a graphic designer, if you have a video content creator and everybody's on the same project, so you can see everything that's happening and you can track, okay, this Monday we're going to schedule this Tuesday, this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and so forth. 

Nancy: So it's basically a calendar, a digital live calendar, and whoever's added into that calendar can see everything that's happening. So what  

Jasmine: if you're a solopreneur? What is like the most beneficial way to use this? Yeah, so  

Nancy: you can use it as a calendar. Also, you don't have to assign it to anybody. I use it to keep my captions. 

Nancy: So I'll try to go in and create a content calendar for a week ahead or something like that, or maybe three days ahead, depending on what I'm working on. And I'll try to put in, we have a content creator that I work with. So she goes in adds it for like, a week ahead, and she'll add all her captions. So even if you're a solo person, you're a solo content creator, Go ahead. 

Nancy: And the preparation is key when you're planning out social media content. So adding in your captions adding in [00:42:00] maybe the graphics that you've already made or that you want to create adding in your ideas I think it just really helps you stay organized whether you're an individual or a company and just basically it's a useful tool to track your Day to day that's happening So Asana, and it's, it's free. 

Nancy: You can create an account for free. Okay,  

Jasmine: so my question with Asana is, using Hootsuite to basically schedule out your posts, can't you put the captions and stuff in Hootsuite? Like, what's the difference between Asana and using Hootsuite?  

Nancy: Yeah, so it's basically the look that's like a major difference how it looks so Hootsuite and you can have different looks with Hootsuite also because I know you're like, well, I have these two platforms what I have both of them if I'm just going to use one to schedule it anyway. 

Nancy: So I just personally like to track it because Hootsuite doesn't let you assign to anybody. It's just a [00:43:00] scheduling platform, you're scheduling guests, you're going to add your caption. You can see it in a calendar. So if you're okay with that alone, then you should be fine with Hootsuite by itself. But for me personally, in the job that I do, we're working with a team. 

Nancy: So we have a graphic designer, we have a content creator, we have video editors. So it makes sense to have a sauna so we can assign these tasks and keep track of them. So that's why we use both of them. But if you only see, you know, see a fit that Hootsuite, you're just going to schedule content. You'll see your captions there. 

Nancy: then that should work for you and it's always with social media and platforms. It's always a trial and error. Just giving it a shot, testing it out. Does it work for you? Does it not? And then just researching to see if there's anything else out there that may be a better fit.  

Jasmine: Yeah, so Asana sounds like it would be better for someone that has a team, but for like a solopreneur, it's probably easier just to use a whole suite for scheduling and all of that, right? 

Jasmine: Yes. Yes. Okay. Awesome. Okay. [00:44:00] So what else do you have for us?  

Nancy: Loving all these goodies. You've heard of Canva before. I'm sure Canva is a big one. If you're not a graphic designer, obviously there's programs like Premiere Pro and Photoshop that you can do, but that just entails a little more training. When I say a little, I mean a lot, a lot more training. 

Nancy: So with Canva, you're basically your own graphic designer and it's just such a helpful tool. Oh my goodness. Canva has saved so many lives. I promise. That's a big one. If you haven't looked into that one, get into Canva today. The other one is CapCut. CapCut. So it's C A P C U T. It's a video editing application. 

Nancy: So basically, you can drop in your videos, do really cool things, and then you Instagram or TikTok. So essentially... You're not like a full on video editor, but this is just like the quick and easy way [00:45:00] to create some video content that will be really, really cool that you can use for your different platforms. 

Nancy: And that one is also free. Of course, with all of these apps, you can upgrade and you will have to pay, but just depending on the level that you're in and what you want to use. then you can always create a free account. And then I think the last one which we all know of is Pinterest. Pinterest is a great account to use just to help you navigate your ideas, try to see what kind of maybe aesthetics you're looking for, what's the mood that you're trying to create. 

Nancy: So I feel like that's what we use Pinterest for a lot. And then you have different apps, which depending on your brand, when it comes to editing, we live in a world today that we're not really into the over edits, you know, where it's like a huge super contrast. We like the natural look. I feel like that's more of the direction that it's going in. 

Nancy: So There are apps like, for example, a big one is Tezza. T E Z Z [00:46:00] A, which is an app that will instantly edit your photos depending on what, what look you want. So obviously, as a beginner, as a beginner, you may not know. You may not have Photoshop, so you may not drop in all your photos into Photoshop and have these presets where you select, you know, your editing, but with Tessa, it has essentially their filters so you can apply and then that way you use the same filter over and over and over again. 

Nancy: So your page is going to have that same aesthetically pleasing look. So it just depends, like I said, what, what is the direction you want your brand in. What is the, you know, the look that you want to have. So that's one of my favorites, Tessa. I don't use it as much because now we obviously have a team where they use Photoshop and they edit on there, but if you don't have Lightroom or Photoshop, Tessa is a great, great tool to use so you can edit your photos on there. 

Jasmine: Amazing. I feel like just so overwhelmed with all the tools and I was so much  

Nancy: more I didn't mention. [00:47:00] I was like, wait, you didn't say this stuff!  

Jasmine: Okay, we're gonna have to bring you on for a part two once you get all the tools together so we can get the rest of all these things that you're telling us about. 

Nancy: Yeah. But as a startup, or even if you're already a full on company, you know, you can use these tools to, to just leverage, leverage the, the talent that you have, and just really use your time more efficiently. So you can have these other platforms helping you out. 

Nancy: So yeah. So  

Jasmine: yeah. Let's say I am starting today. I'm starting a new business today.  

Building an Audience from Scratch 

Jasmine: I'm opening up all my social profiles. There's no one following me. How do I get my first few followers?  

Nancy: Yeah, so one of the things that you can do is this is after you've already chosen your brand identity. You've looked into your target audience. 

Nancy: So now you're at the step where like, okay, guns are loaded or maybe not that description, but you're ready. You're ready to go. And so you're like, okay, I'm ready to go. So now we, one of the ways that you can increase your followers [00:48:00] is by following others. I know there's, I don't know if it's just on my end, but sometimes we want to be like, Oh, well, I don't want to have that many followers. 

Nancy: Like  

Jasmine: 50, 000 following. And I have like 10  

Nancy: followers. Yeah, I know. So I think one of the things you can do though, is look, is go and start following some accounts that either A, you're in. Inspired by B, they really fits your, your brand of what you're going for, or maybe even some competitors, you know, start, look, start following those accounts. 

Nancy: So once you start following you, you will see some people start following back. But before you even do that, I would at, I would at least have two or three posts. Even if those posts don't do very well So one thing to keep in mind when you are posting graphics or or a reel on instagram You can hide your likes. 

Nancy: So what instagram will do is will actually Move those posts to the top because you're not really so caught up in like, Oh, this is how many likes I have. So [00:49:00] Instagram will move that up in the algorithm. Wow. Okay. Hide your likes. So if you notice some posts, you can't see the likes, it'll say J crew can only see likes. 

Nancy: So that's why a lot of sometimes depending on obviously, again, what the brand is, you can hide those likes. So that's what we do for the podcast that I'm working with now. We just hide the likes. Just to give it that little extra, like, Hey, if you want to push this one up, this one would be a good one to push. 

Nancy: So yeah, that's one thing you can do start following accounts, making sure you have two to three posts before you do so people know what is this about? Because you can create a brand new account and you can have some verbiage at the top. But if you don't have a website link on there, if you don't have a link tree, link tree is a great other tool to have, especially if say you are, you are a fashion company. 

Nancy: And so you have link tree because you're like, this is our YouTube. This is our podcast. It depends if you have different links. Hey, this is you want to create a very easy checkout process for your consumers if [00:50:00] you are A company that's going to be selling a service or a product So when I go on instagram, I want it to be easy to check out to see your prices to see How do I get to your website that should be relatively at the fingertips of a consumer? 

Nancy: So that way it just makes the process a lot more easier. There's no headaches You know, people, people stay quitting. Like if they don't find something, they'll just move on to the next thing. So you don't want to lose on those out on those opportunities when you have the control of creating that environment for your platform. 

Nancy: Another thing you can do as far as just increasing your followers. It depends. Obviously you would want to be on tip talk. You want to be on Instagram. I always say Facebook is like the unpopular opinion. However, it is still important to have a presence as a company, just so that there is obviously the demographic is different, but having a presence, even if you're not posting as consistently as consistently, or you're linking it to your Instagram. 

Nancy: So that way, [00:51:00] whatever's posted on Instagram gets posted on your Facebook and you don't have to do double work. So it just depends obviously how big or small your team is on what you want to do. Another thing you can do, obviously you're curating your following, so you want to And and this might take a little bit more work, but maybe having a newsletter that goes out every week so you can start capturing some emails, you know, so that way when you are maybe starting dropping a new line. 

Nancy: Hey, this is the email chain that I'm going to send it to because they're already subscribed to my newsletter. So it just takes a it takes some time to start. curating your followers.  

Jasmine: Yeah, I think one simple thing too, that people overlook is like, who is your community that you already have around you, you know, like texting some friends, like, Hey, I'm doing this new thing, follow the Instagram, can you share it? 

Jasmine: Like, just you have to be gritty, right? So you take what you have in like, Send it out and allow people to, you know, share it and gain [00:52:00] following from word of mouth marketing as well. So I think even something as simple as that you can get a couple followers from. And a lot of times like the people that you associate with, they probably love what you're doing and maybe they have friends that also love what you're doing. 

Jasmine: And so it can be, you know, a trickle effect like that too.  

Nancy: For sure. That's a big one too. So don't lose out on sharing it with friends and family. Yeah, that can go a very long way because you just never know who's connected with who, you know, so that's a great, great point. So those are just a couple of ways. 

Nancy: Yeah.  

Jasmine: Amazing. Okay, so this is like, I think one of the most polarizing questions, the question that everybody wants to know, how often should we be posting?  

Nancy: That is a very, very, very good question. So if you're starting If you're barely starting, you know, you're like, I'm creating this social media account, you definitely want to be posting at least five times a week, like you want to start [00:53:00] creating that momentum. 

Nancy: And it depends on it depends on obviously Instagram, tik tok, and shorts. So let's focus on like Instagram right now. So when you are When you are an established, maybe business, you've been up and running for two, three, five years, creating a cadence, maybe three times, four times a week when you're posting, obviously on stories, you want to post possibly like maybe four times a week. 

Nancy: It just depends on what campaigns you're running, what it is that you're trying to push. So I just wouldn't, I really get the hives when the, when the pages I'm running go, like, two to three days without posting anything. I'm like, Oh my goodness. That's a, that's a long time for me. So three days is like really pushing it four days. 

Nancy: It's like, wow, I'm really, you  

Jasmine: don't even exist anymore.  

Nancy: You're out of, you're out of the loop now. So yeah, I was just trying to [00:54:00] say building out, obviously it depends on where you are on the spectrum, whether you're starting, whether you're established, but having, whether you're deciding to post two to three times a week, maintain that. 

Nancy: If you're trying to post four to five times a week maintain that so whatever it is that you choose To do just maintaining that so that way you create that momentum for your page So because if you're if you're going to be posting every day, seven days a week, and then you're all of a sudden you're off for like four days. 

Nancy: And then you're back. It can be tough because one of the things is like, Oh, sometimes you can get creative block. You're like, Well, what do  

Jasmine: I post? Okay, and that's my other question. Like, what do we post when we don't have anything else to post? Or like, How can we batch to like make sure that we're not, you know, falling off? 

Jasmine: Like, what is your tip for this? Save us.  

Nancy: Like I said, even if you decide to do two to three times, that's, that's fine. Just know that maybe the audience [00:55:00] building is going to maybe take a little bit more time. But as long as you're maintaining, like I said, those two to three days then I think that's, that's a good thing. 

Nancy: But obviously, you want to have a presence, you know, and when somebody is, is Say you're in a room and you leave for two to three days. It's like, Oh, okay. Like, but then I'm constantly seeing the same person over and over again. It's like, Oh, okay. Like I'm getting acquainted with this brand, you know, because I know Mondays they usually post. 

Nancy: I don't really probably see. And some people may not even remember. Like there's so many brands out there. So obviously one of the things that was already mentioned is recycling your content, whatever you do. Another thing that you can do is really understanding, and this one may take probably some more time, but understanding where, where is your like creative juices flowing the most. 

Nancy: So maybe it's taking a walk for 10 minutes. I think sometimes we, we lose out on opportunities because we don't, we don't. Like just take a minute to just let our brain kind of [00:56:00] like diffuse like, okay, let me just take, let me just take a 10 minute walk, you know, but we're so constantly, Oh my God, the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. 

Nancy: So it's really hard. And I'm very guilty of this, but it's definitely possible to step away. Whether it's your computer, whether it's your phone and saying, okay, I'm just going to take these 10 minutes to give my brain a little rest and then come back. So that's another thing you can do is just taking that time, that reset time, and then coming back to what you're doing. 

Nancy: Another thing you can do is probably. And something else that you touched on it already is just having conversations with your friends. It's like, hey, your friends follow you, your friends know what they see. So saying, hey, what would you like to see more of? Or what haven't you seen that I haven't done? 

Nancy: You know, and you can even use Instagram's polls and ask your audience, hey guys, what do you want to see from us that you haven't seen yet? You know, or what is interesting to you now?  

The Power of Collaboration and Community 

Nancy: So these are tools that Instagram already has. [00:57:00] It's just a matter of throwing up a really cute graphic or something that fits your brand and adding that poll in the middle. 

Nancy: You know, so it's just certain things where you're pulling this out of your own audience, of the people that already follow you and creating content that they're, they're going to be willing to look for because they're the ones that voted for that. So that's another thing you can do as well as far as creating. 

Nancy: Content when you get stuck and you don't know what to do Again, you can always go back to doing some research, seeing, okay, what are other companies doing? Maybe, and this is what I like to do. So, although I am in the non profit sector, I do like to look at other organizations that have nothing to do with me. 

Nancy: So, I can see, oh, maybe it's, Something that Nike is doing, maybe we can do it to just add our twist on it. So I don't want us to get caught up in, Oh, I'm in fashion. So I just have to have this, like, I just have to look at fashion brands, look at other brands, look at other, other companies that are really thriving and see how they're [00:58:00] doing their marketing. 

Nancy: See what they're using for their graphics. What are they doing for video and try to apply that into your world. It may not always work, but it's worth a shot.  

Jasmine: Yeah, so as far, let me ask you, do you have any recommendations of social media accounts that we should be watching or following to get some inspiration? 

Nancy: Yeah. So I think a big one, which I may not say this name, right. So please don't come after me. A Telfar Global. Telfar. Yeah. Yes. So Telfar, they are, I was looking at, at their page and I was like, wow, their marketing is, is really great. They have a 1. 5 million followers, which is, which is awesome. I think essentially on the outside looking in, I thought they were only a bag company, but apparently they do more. 

Nancy: Yeah, they  

Jasmine: started as bags, but they've expanded. Yeah.  

Nancy: Okay, so they're a great one to look out for. I was just seeing like, and I don't know if we talked about this already, but really utilizing your collabs. So now Instagram you are able to collab with other [00:59:00] companies, other influencers, maybe other creators. 

Nancy: And that way the audience that they have will be exposed to what you do. And then what you do will be exposed. So it's a win win. for everybody. Obviously, this is a conversation that you have with the person that you're collaborating with. Make sure you can tag them. So, so that they know that they can accept the collaboration because they show on both of your guys's page. 

Nancy: You can collab up to three, I believe it's up to three people, brands, or whatever you want to call it. So Telfar, I think did one with Uggs. Wow. Yeah. So that was really interesting.  

Jasmine: Yeah, so they probably had a product with Uggs that allowed them to, to do that. So that's great, because like you said, that post is going to show up on all of the accounts that you're collabing with, right? 

Jasmine: So it's like, maybe you have a joint post with an influencer, and that influencer You know, post it to their audience, but they're also getting directed to your page as well, which is really nice. So yeah, that's a great [01:00:00] idea.  

Nancy: Yeah. There's that one. Like I had mentioned, Anthropologie, J. Crew, those are good ones. 

Nancy: And then also looking at influencers. So I think a lot of the times we can get caught up in like a company, but you can also look at what other influencers are doing. You don't always have to stay within the fashion, fashion industry when it comes to looking at, at other pages. 

Mm hmm. So good. Yeah.  

Final Words of Encouragement 

Final words like final words of encouragement. How would you encourage someone trying to do all the things like you're trying to run your business trying to run marketing trying to do all these things? Yeah, and to really up level your business? What are some words of encouragement or some final thoughts that you would give them as they are building out their business? 

Absolutely. Is it okay if I share eight points? Yes. Oh, my God. Okay. She's just giving us everything. So this is not even a paid like seminar, I feel like I paid for this workshop. So some of these may sound repetitive, because we did already [01:01:00] mentioned them, but I still want to go through them. So the very first thing is always remember your why, why you do what you do, what's the passion behind it. 

So keeping that very close to your heart, that's important. The other one, which I believe we already mentioned as well, is don't get stuck in comparison in the comparison trap. It's so easy to be like, wait, this girl started before me, or this person's already here. Don't get stuck in that. Like you said, Jasmine, it's important to look at other brands and other companies, but just constantly remembering your journey is your journey. 

So that's another point. Another one is. Like I said, stay true to your identity to your brand, know who you are and be confident walk in that like this is the calling that you have. This is the brand that that really fuels the fire in your soul. So keep going with that and people will see that authenticity. 

The fourth point is take risk with social media. Post it. Archive it. Delete it. Repost it. Like, repost it at a different time. Maybe you truly [01:02:00] believe this video is meant to go viral. Okay. Archive it and post it at a different time. There's no social media police. Of course, obviously nothing vulgar in that sense. 

But as far as you trying out new things. Take the risk. Go for it. Try it out. I think the people that stop us the most is ourselves, because we constantly think, well, what are other people going to think? Well, they're not really paying your bill. So you go for it. Try it. You give it a shot. Yeah. The fifth point I would say is never stop learning. 

I think one of the big things, whether you're an entrepreneur, you're in the fashion industry, is that somebody that is a sponge and somebody that wants to continue to learn will always grow. I think that's very important to establish within your environment to establish within yourself that you're a person that is going to be open to that feedback, even though sometimes it may be hard to receive, because I'm speaking from experience, you know, it's like, Oh man, did I just fail, but that's a great [01:03:00] point the other one. 

The sixth point is to learn to rest and recharge. You want to, you really do nobody any good if you're not good. If you're not going to show up with, you know, with energy and you may not always show up with a smile on your face, but you got to make sure that you're giving yourself that time to really rest and recharge, whether it's. 

You take half a day, whether you take a weekend, whether you take a week vacation, whatever it is, learn what rest means to you and apply that in your life, because I think that's going to be very important for longevity reasons. The other one is seven. Learn to have fun what you're doing what you decide to do, especially if you're building your own company Just remembering you may not have fun every single moment But there should be fun moments within your journey and there should be times where you are really enjoying what you're doing because whether you're doing something that you're passionate about, you're, there's still going to be challenges [01:04:00] because that's just part of life. 

But just remembering, Oh, wow, I really am passionate about this. I enjoy this. And I actually have fun doing this. So, and the last point, and then like this one for me is one of the most important points for me. And I really have seen this. To be true is don't make it all about you. I feel like a selfless, like a selfish person may go faster, but a selfless person will last longer. 

So think about that in the company sense. Like, obviously you're a company, you need to make profit, you need to make money, but don't make it all about you. It's not about Nancy's company. This is what Nancy wants to do. It's like, well, think about the bigger picture. What is the impact that your company is making? 

What is the impact that you're making? So again, a selfish person may go faster because they're making it all about them. So they're going to [01:05:00] trample. They're going to do what they have to do to get ahead. But a selfless person or a selfless company will last longer. And, and we've seen that, you know, we've seen that happen. 

So those are some of the points that I would say. So just stay encouraged. Don't give up. Keep moving forward. And it's never too late to start anything never too late to end and restart again. So we only have this one life. So we just got to make the best of it. Nancy, you are amazing. You are brilliant. 

This was so so so good. I was thinking in my head like You should, like, create a channel called The Marketing Therapist because you are so inspirational and so encouraging, like, you make me want to be a marketer. That's good! You make it feel so, like, inspiring to do. You're making me sweat! I'm like, you're sweating! 

No, but honestly, all of these tips, it's like, things that we... That can be used not only in the marketing portion of our business, but our [01:06:00] lives. And so I love this so much. You have to promise me you're going to come back on again, because I feel like you have so much goodness inside of you. So I'm like, we just want to extract all that out of you. 

And I need all the tools that you forgot to give us this time around. Yeah, yeah, I will come back. Thanks so much for having me. I can't wait to hopefully come back soon. Yes, and if you guys are interested in using Nancy for all of your marketing things, she's actually a freelancer. And so she is available if you want to contract her in your business to handle all these things. 

Like you've heard everything you said, she said today, but you're still like, I don't want to do that. Nancy's a pro. She has worked in product based business to nonprofits. and knows all the things as you heard today. So I'm going to include all of her information in the description of the podcast episode so that you can connect with her. 

And Nancy, thank you so much once [01:07:00] again for being here. You are just a wealth of knowledge and I'm sure that all these practical tips that you've given today can be implemented right now in businesses. So I am so thankful and so grateful. for you for hopping on the episode today. Of course, it was so much fun. 

Thank you. I will see you again soon, my friend.