Ep119 Behind a Canva template social membership with Kayla Butler 

Show Notes:

Connect with Kayla here: https://ivorymix.com/ 

Follow on instagram: @the_ivorymix

Follow on Youtube: youtube.com/ivorymix

 

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Show Transcription: 

Tina

Hey, friends, welcome to Episode 119 of her Empire Builder podcast. It is so great to have you here today.

Today, I'm talking to the incredible Kayla Butler, the lady behind ivory mix, and one of my favourite things about podcasting is getting on super interesting people. And Ivory mix is a product that we have used in our business for about the last six months. And we have used her stuff in terms of Canva templates and amazing stock photography on our website. And always I'm intrigued when I love a product to go who is the human behind this product. And so reached out to Kayla and in so lucky to be able to have her on and asking all the questions about social media and behind ivory mix. So formally, Kayla's bio Kayla Butler is the founder and CEO of ivory mix where she works with content creators to improve their organic marketing and content strategies. Kayla believes success comes from simplification. Yes, imperfect action and having fun. She's supported over 2000 members, including me in growing their audience income and impact inside of the ivory mix membership and she's recently launched a mission to help 100 women in 2021 develop a signature offer and reach six figures with her new program, the level up launch accelerator. So please welcome her to the show. You're going to get some good Insta tips, and maybe be inspired to use some of her Canva templates. I mean, let's take a moment I said this during the episode let's take a moment to really appreciate Canva. Melanie Perkins, the lady behind Canva is like my dream interview. So we'll we'll work on trying to get Mel on to onto the show that would that would blow my mind. But here is Kayla Butler.

Kayla Butler, welcome to her Empire Builder.

 

Kayla

Thank you so much for having me.

 

Tina

Oh, it is my absolute pleasure. I always love When one of my favourite things about podcasting is talking to really interesting people. But for you, it was so exciting because we like we are obsessed with your products. And so when we're sitting there and we're sharing and and we were talking about that ivory mix to so many people, and then I was like who is this woman behind ivory mix, and I would start checking you out online. I'm like, I need to speak to her. So it's very exciting for us. So thank you.

 

Kayla

Yeah, now that's very flattering. Thank you very much. It would make me feel like blushing but that's always good to hear.

 

Tina

Yeah, so tell me um, because for a lot of people that that don't know, how did how did ivory mix actually begin?

 

Kayla

I mean, it honestly started as a creative outlet for me. I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that, but I didn't think it was going to be necessarily what it is today. I started as a hobby. It was really a blog honestly. And so I came, I come from a design background I did interior design for that makes a lot of sense for nearly two decades honestly and I that might age me but I did it for a very long time and successfully but I needed some more creative outlets because as I worked up the ladder, I kind of reached a ceiling so to speak, and I didn't know where to go. And so I found that blogging was a great outlet for me and it utilised my new hobby of photography and I realised that a lot of blogs, bloggers, female entrepreneurs online loved styled stock photography, and I like that perked my ears up like styled anything, right? Like I fall in love with. And so, if you go way back on my blog, you'll see I was blogging about architecture or photography, just in general or design in general. Even things about your home, and I as a result was playing around with the design of my blog and my website and got into creating My own styled stock photography. And then I realised that it could be done very quickly and easily. And it for someone like me like it just came natural. So I thought I would share that with other people who I was communicating with in the communities that I was in regarding how to grow your blog, or how to grow your online business. And I thought, well, let me start sharing some of what I'm working on. And I kind of went from there.

 

Tina

I do when when you've got that, that skill that just comes so naturally to you. It's always the one that works out the best that you're like, really, this is the thing like, this is so easy for me. Because I look at it, and I look at your pictures and go, I'm a hobby photographer. And yeah, that's that's not easy. Yeah. Easy for you. It's not easy.

 

Kayla

Yeah. And I totally get that. And I appreciate that. And I'm aware. And I and I can see that another people who they you know who they are. And what they love to do is not necessarily something that I could ever do. So yeah, definitely have to look for those things for sure.

 

Tina

And when you when you started, were you just doing the stock photography? Or when did you introduce all of the, because what we know and love you for is your Canva templates. So yay, all come about.

 

Kayla

So our Canva templates came as a result of how people were using the stock photos. And honestly, I love design, I love strategy, and marketing. And in my background, as an interior designer, when you work as either a small business owner or in a small business, you do a lot of things anyways, marketing sales, you know, just to do all the things. Yeah, yeah, it's not, it's not your typical corporate environment just as a as, as, as an industry. So I had a lot of skills anyways. And so going into building out the membership and listening to our audience and looking at what they needed and what they how they used the membership and the stock photos. It just was a natural fit for things that I was interested in talking about and creating and also their needs. And it just expanded the use of stuff we were already creating. And so that's how we got into the Canva templates. And, and really wanted to create something more than just, you know, one or two Canva templates, we wanted to be a strategy and a system. And so we kind of package our Canva templates in 30 days sets. Now. I mean, it's been it was sort of an evolving thing. But now we realise that if we put it in 30 day packages that are strategic based on the type of content that people create, in order to create engagement, in order to nurture their audience in order to launch a product in order to, you know, convert someone into a sale. It's a long, it's a long process from day one to the end of the month. You know what I mean? And so requires so many different things.

 

Tina

Should we just get to like tip our hat to Canva the amount of times in a day, I'm just like Canva Canva. It's I love it. I'm in I'm obsessed. I love Yeah. So how do you deal with because I know, you know, so many people in the online world, one of the biggest things you deal with is copycats and competitors copying their work, which I know you get a lot as well, but you actually make yours available. So how do you continue to get that point of difference in in such a crowded market?

 

Kayla

That's a really good question. And I think I get that a lot from people who are in our community who are looking to grow things as well. And the number one, I try not to pay attention to what other people are doing. So I try to keep my point of perspective, clean or cleansed of other influences. So that all decisions around what types of content we're creating for our members to use is based on actual necessity and needs. And that is how I believe we stay stand out and are different in the sense that we really listened to our community. And I know that everybody probably tries to do that. But the difference is, is that we know what it's like to grow viral content or across different channels like YouTube or Instagram. So not only are we creating it, but we know what works to create more viral or more engage engaged with content.

 

Tina

There's a difference in the content that we put out that's more engaged with than necessarily popular. Like I was talking about some of mine that I've been doing recently that, you know, didn't necessarily have as many likes. But they had a huge amount of comments and click throughs into inquiries to do work and to do our programs and that sort of thing. How do you distinguish between that different stuff? And what have you seen is the difference in things that have just, you know, really liked and really, actually have a tangible business difference?

 

Kayla

This is a really good question, because a lot of people don't realise that they think that every single piece of content should get the same or similar results. And every piece of content has a different. A different objective. Yeah, there's a different objective behind the scenes. And so you could so in terms of content, how do I distinguish between that? Well, I have nine buckets of content that I have sort of developed into like a system. And so every bucket I have expectations on. And each one is unique. And so based on the bucket, or the content type, I'm I have expectations.

 

Tina

what's an example of a couple of those buckets?

 

Kayla

Yeah, so I mean, in general, it's generally three basic buckets that are divided into nine, so three through three. So the first three are building your audience content that grows your audience. And then the the second three are things that build your brand. And then the third set are things that actually sell, you know, sell your offers. And so in terms of the individual nine, like an example of a piece of content that would grow your audience is going to be you know, your your typical value content, like sharing a resource list or giving a tutorial or something like that. Whereas building a brand, and content that supports that bucket is going to be things where you share your beliefs, or maybe behind the scenes or share your brand story or things like that. Whereas something that actually sells is going to be, you know, like a walkthrough of the website, or you know, like client testimonials. Of course, client testimonials and walkthrough over your website aren't going to get as many shares saves, you know, maybe likes, but they might get a tonne of comments, and a tonne of click throughs, whereas stuff that builds your audiences, that's where you have to expect more likes more shares, maybe a lot of comments, but that's where, so it kind of trickles down from there, if you kind of view it as like a upside down triangle or a funnel, so to speak, your engagement level on the like, likes and viral aspect diminishes, but the quality.

 

Tina

When you talk about the 30 day, like strategy kind of packs that you get, which I'm a member of your every next membership and love it. But how like, what's the the kind of balance between those three buckets that you recommend people having?

 

Kayla

Um, well, that's a that's a good question, as well. And I give options to different business models and different types of businesses. Because for it's not just a one size fits all.

Yeah, so I and I do that strategically as well. Because, you know, there, there is an opportunity for me to be like, here's your camera template, here's your photo, here's your caption and post this on Monday and post this on Tuesday. But then everybody begins to have the same content, the same strategy, and so and across businesses, it doesn't work.

So if I were to go through the nine content types, or the sort of three bigger buckets and divide it on your, you know, maybe your coaching business, so to so to speak, if that's what we're working on, then I would say, if you're aimed at getting, you know, 10 clients a month, then I would base your content on your strategy for how do you get 10 clients a month? So is it with a webinar once a month, or are you booking calls every day? And if you're booking calls every day, then you're gonna want to rotate through those three buckets every week. Yeah, right. But if you have a webinar that you're hosting once a month, then you got to spread that across the month. Yeah. So you want to in the front end of the month, build your audience and work on audience growth, content, and In the middle of the month, talk about your brand and promote your webinar date and then at the end, sell your offer. So that's what I mean, like, it really depends on your business model, but they all work. So you just kind of have to rearrange it.

 

Tina

Yeah. And so when you're doing that, because I know a lot of people, especially if they're coming up with their own social media content, as well, how many hours a month Do you devote to getting those 30 pieces of content?

How many? Can we go a little bit deeper with your question? Do you mean in terms of if someone were to take the templates, how many hours it would take them to I don't know,

about you? How many hours do you spend doing it? Um,

well, luckily, I have a team now that supports our growth. So if I were to say how many hours it takes us to create 30 days worth of Canva templates, you know, it might be 16 hours or less, maybe eight, it depends on a few things. And like if we're exploring a new niche, and a new a new business model with new Canva templates, then it takes us a little bit longer, because we have to do a little more research. But yeah, I mean, what what goes into creating the Canva templates is the research and then the execution. And so the research probably is really the front end heavy part of it. So it takes us a little while longer.

 

Tina

It's so good. Isn't it the impact that you can have with the with the low input of time? It's beautiful.

 

Kayla

Yeah, yeah, it really, really is. And, yeah, it pays to have experience too. So it you know, sounds easy, but there's a lot of years yeah, at this point.

 

Tina

But I mean, I use I use a couple of templates. And then we create a whole heap of stuff for our ourselves as well. And so I spend like a whole day every month on Yang the socials ready for that month, like it's and that's an investment, but it is. It's so worth it.

 

Kayla

It is worth it. And I love that you do that, because batching out the content.

 

Tina

Oh, batching it's my love language.

 

Kayla

Yeah, it is mine too. And it creates so much focus and impact. So I mean, on my calendar, I I block days just for certain content, and then or certain, you know, things that I'm working on that way I have more freedom in my schedule as well. Yeah. I don't spread it across multiple days. But yeah, I sounds like you're doing it the right way. Like all in one day.

 

Tina

Yeah, I find it heaps more continuity as well, when when I missed that one day, if I'm a bit behind and can't carve that out. And then I've got like a week where I'm playing catch up and go, Oh, what are we posting today? It's just this like heaviness there. And it doesn't have as much continuity as when I do it in one hit and think about strategically What have we got coming up? What are we looking at? Let's look at the marketing calendar. And then, like you said before, with the different buckets and the different types of content, making sure that that's aimed at the different different objectives that we have.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

So when did you decide because I love your business model in that you've got the membership is your main, the two main part of the business isn't at the membership that goes on?

 

Kayla

Yeah, at the moment, for sure. And I don't see that going anywhere, anytime. And yeah.

 

Tina

When did you When did you make the shift from going like I'm selling stock photography into let's make this a recurring revenue model?

 

Kayla

I shifted into creating course, material around. I mean, I've always dabbled in trainings and creating mini courses and things like that. But I actually last maybe two years ago, said, I'm not creating any more courses, no more mini products, like I just want to focus and have one thing that we're doing, because marketing became so much easier. And that's when revenue started to double and even triple at that point, because all the marketing and the messaging became more simplified, but my love for coaching or teaching, marketing and, and helping people get results with what we were creating didn't go away. And so I just started adding course material and marketing content in terms of like, lessons and things like that. And the membership really last year. Yeah. As a like, core thing.

 

Tina

I love that. Yeah, yeah. I do think it's like it's a mistake that a lot of people make and I made myself at the start. When I went into online business was, at one point, I had like 27 different offers that I was talking about, okay. No one knows what they're supposed to do. And there's just too many options. And it makes the makes the message so diluted. And it also meant that, you know, other people in the industry didn't share what I was doing so much, because I was actually covering so much ground. Whereas then when I went, yeah, and really like, you know what, this is my lane. This is where I'm sticking. This is my one thing, then it went so well in terms of marketing message, but also allowed other people to go Alright, that's her thing. This is my thing. We can actually work together now.

 

Kayla

Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. And it's very powerful. And it's got this like, compounding effect.

It just builds and builds and builds and builds in terms of you become the, you know, you've got the expertise. You're the niche expert. And then you can, like you said, collaborate with other people who have equal, but different skills.

 

Tina

Yeah, that's it. That's it. And so like you through a heavy focus on Instagram, which I love because Instagrams so highly converting and engaging, what changes have you seen over the time that you think people need to be aware of when they're putting together all of their social content?

 

Kayla

Oh, in terms of content, in general, there is a big need and want for that shorter form video content. And But still, like with substance, yeah, you know, and in terms of, you know, businesses and online businesses, so I mean, of course, there's Tick Tock and reels and things along like that, that's just entertaining. But from a business aspect. You know, your longer form videos like YouTube video content, it's still very relevant. But there's this need to repackage it in a impactful way, in 15 seconds, shorter form video content. So like, so that's really where things are going. I mean, they've been going that direction, but it's not going anywhere. And whether you're on Instagram, or you're, you know, you have a YouTube channel, or you're starting to dabble into Pinterest, that 15 second video can be on any of those now with now they have YouTube

interested in video as well.

Yeah, you can share and they reckon, yeah, they recommend that your video is shorter, like 15 seconds. So yeah, it's it's incredibly powerful and shareable. unsavable, and all of the great metrics that you need.

 

Tina

Yeah. I mean, reels have blown my mind in terms of reach, and the, like, interaction that has come from it. I'm going like these tiny, tiny, tiny little videos, and they're just they're getting pushed out everywhere. But all that so because because reasons. So, so quick, and so digestible, and so kind of looking, taking an action and then it's gone. Is there, like it's a little bit more scrappy? So what I'm asking is because everything's so do you think it's as important now to be so perfectly curated in the feed? Or can it have those beautiful posts, and then have some messiness to it as well?

 

Kayla

Absolutely. I think messiness is required. Yeah, um, just because it shows, especially for the smaller business owner, it shows your humanity and that you're human. And people really, really love that. They love it when you're not as polished. Yeah, yeah. And I think it really depends on the brand. I mean, there's gonna be some brands where it just doesn't fit at all. But I do think there is some craving there, even if, you know, I would test it. And I do find that the less curated feeds, you know, they it's all based on value and engagement.

 

Tina

I tried for ages to have the not Vader's I tried for about three months to go, like, have my system with like a quote, and then the picture and then of that thing, and like the whole setup, and then it just did not work because I go to post something on the fly and then be like, Oh, I can't put that in or it's gonna ruin the pattern.

 

Kayla

Yeah, I stopped caring about the pattern. I think after a while, you start to realise like there's certain things that really work and achieve the results that you're looking for. And how it looks on the feed as a whole isn't really is really low on the priority list. Yeah, you want it you want it to work for your business goals not necessarily the aesthetic.

 

Tina

that that is absolute gold right there that's exactly it. It's always going like what does that customer need and want and then we can give that to them and a lot of them well I think a lot of people don't even know that we did blue PINK BLUE pink and then we check the yellow in there like no one cares..

 

Kayla

Yeah, yeah, I mean it might get you a follow every now and then depending on if someone like just checks out your profile after seeing one post but really what gets people to follow is is does this bring value? Yeah. And so if they're if you if you're in an industry that is aesthetic then there is a benefit to doing that. There is some benefit to doing that. But I mean, otherwise, not not too much.

 

Tina

I love it. Awesome. Oh Kayla, it's been an absolute pleasure.