In the latest episode of Plant Based on Fire, Bryan sits down with Tifany Maza, a seasoned digital marketing expert and founder of the Google Partner Certified Digital Marketing agency, Tykio, and the cruelty-free eCommerce business, Not To Die For. With over a decade of experience, Tifany has crafted multiple cross-channel media strategies for well-known companies like Royal Caribbean, Sony, Nestlé, and more. This episode delves into her journey, the challenges of marketing vegan and cruelty-free products, and her vision for the future.
Starting the Journey
Tifany’s journey began in the world of digital marketing, but it took a significant turn when she adopted a vegan lifestyle.
"When I went vegan, first I started saying no to non-vegan businesses,"
she shared. This decision aligned her work with her values and opened doors to new opportunities. With a background in advertising and a passion for helping businesses thrive, Tifany leveraged her skills to create a unique niche for herself.
Challenges in Marketing Vegan Products
One of the unique challenges Tifany highlighted was the difficulty of expanding the reach of vegan products beyond the vegan community.
"It's quite challenging because you don't want to stop saying that you're vegan so that you don't lose your audience, but you also want to reach audiences that are not necessarily vegan,"
she explained. This balancing act requires careful segmentation and personalized marketing strategies.
Tifany’s approach involves tailoring messages to different audiences. For vegans, she prominently uses the term 'vegan', while for non-vegans, she focuses on health benefits or sustainability aspects.
"Breaking down the audiences to talk the same language they do"
is crucial for expanding reach without alienating core customers.
Ethical Considerations in Marketing
Ethics play a significant role in Tifany's work. She emphasizes the importance of not just claiming cruelty-free status but proving it.
"It's not illegal to say cruelty-free even if you're not,"
she pointed out. Tifany's meticulous vetting process includes reviewing ingredients and verifying certifications to ensure the products she markets truly align with ethical standards.
The Power of AI in Digital Marketing
With AI revolutionizing various industries, Tifany also discussed its impact on digital marketing.
"AI helps a lot of small businesses,"
she noted. While AI-generated ads and images can be beneficial, Tifany’s experience shows that authentic, real images still perform better. This insight highlights the balance between leveraging technology and maintaining authenticity in marketing efforts.
Insights You'll Gain From This Episode
Targeted Marketing Strategies: Learn how to segment audiences effectively to reach both vegan and non-vegan consumers.
Ethical Marketing Practices: Understand the importance of rigorous vetting processes to ensure products meet ethical standards.
Leveraging AI: Discover how AI can aid in creating effective marketing campaigns, especially for small businesses.
Customer-Centric Approach: The importance of focusing on product effectiveness and customer needs over just ethical claims.
Personal and Professional Growth: Insights into how adopting a vegan lifestyle can transform professional trajectories.
Looking ahead, Tifany is focused on growth for both Tykio and Not To Die For.
"The idea is to add more products and categories,"
she said, aiming to make cruelty-free shopping easier for everyone. For her agency, the goal is to continue expanding and working with more ethical and sustainable brands.
Tifany’s journey is a testament to how aligning business practices with personal values can lead to fulfilling and successful ventures. Her dedication to ethical marketing and innovative strategies offers valuable lessons for plant-based entrepreneurs looking to make a meaningful impact.
To learn more about Tifany’s work, visit Tykio and Not To Die For. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn for personalized advice and insights into digital marketing.
Subscribe to the Plant-Based On Fire podcast on your favorite streaming platform today and stay connected with our ongoing exploration of the complex plant-based business world.
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>Episode’s Transcript
Please understand that a transcription service provided the transcript below. It undoubtedly contains errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions.
Bryan (00:00.878)
Welcome to Plant Based on Fire, where we talk about plant -based businesses and their inspiring stories to thrive in our industry. I'm your host Bryan, and the best way you can support our podcast is click that subscribe button below, please. You can also let us know what you loved about our episode today and suggest even more awesome guests that you'd like me to interview. So joining us today is Tifany Mazza. She's the founder of Tykio. Did I say it right this time? Tykio, which is a Google certified digital partner, and she will guide your business to stay relevant. And she's also a dual entrepreneur. She also has Not To Die For, it's a curated vegan and cruelty free shop. So welcome to the, to the show, Tifany.
Tifany Mazza (00:31.146)
Thank you.
Tifany Mazza (00:52.65)
Thank you, Bryan. Thank you for having me.
Bryan (00:55.182)
Really appreciate you being a force of change out there in the world. And I'm just so curious what inspired you to start your journey with both companies, really.
Tifany Mazza (01:07.53)
Yeah, sure. So the agency, I have it since being non -vegan and I always love digital marketing and helping other businesses thrive. But when I went vegan, first I started saying no to non -vegan businesses. There was a company that they were like a hunting company and they would be like, hey, we want to work with you. And I'm like, no, sorry. But then, yeah, I started focusing on...
Bryan (01:31.662)
Yes.
Tifany Mazza (01:37.834)
or like not only vegan, but also sustainable businesses. And that's how like the agency shifted in the past years once I went vegan. And then Not to Die for started kind of as soon as I went vegan, like I realized that like the food part wasn't difficult at all for me. But when it comes to personal products and like pretty much everything it's like has animal ingredients like soap, shampoo.
Bryan (02:04.238)
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (02:08.49)
deodorant, everything, or they are not cruelty free or something like that. So I was like, okay, like I'm going to curate the products because this is like to read labels is annoying when it comes to those things. Most people don't even know that San Francisco animals, that they are very hard to pronounce ingredients that are pretty much everywhere that have animal ingredients. So what...
Bryan (02:29.07)
Yes.
Tifany Mazza (02:34.698)
I started doing with my team, like with the agency, we built Not to Die for like everything that has to do with the, yeah, with the brand. We built it and I started curating products so that we can showcase them there and make vegan's life easier when it comes to shopping to those kind of products.
Bryan (02:53.07)
I love it. I was checking out both the sites. They're very well done. And I can tell you're definitely an expert in this space. What do you find as some of the unique challenges of digital marketing for plant -based and cruelty -free brands compared to conventional brands?
Tifany Mazza (03:13.514)
Yeah, so I see that there are a lot of vegan businesses that are like, they are doing great with the vegan niche, but then when it comes to expanding, it's kind of difficult because you don't want to stop saying that you're vegan so that you don't lose your audience, but you don't know. You also want to, eh, kind of reach audiences that are not necessarily vegan. And it kind of has like a negative, eh,
concept for many people, like the word vegan only, it's like, you know, some people don't like it for some reason, but so I think that it's quite, that's what I'm seeing that is quite challenging. So when we trying to find words like plant -based or animal -free, like other ways to communicate, I think that's, I've seen many brands that that is like quite a talent to kind of.
Bryan (03:45.102)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (03:49.87)
Yep.
Bryan (03:56.91)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (04:06.67)
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (04:11.69)
please everyone, but at the same time being a niche kind of brand.
Bryan (04:18.254)
I agree as I've interviewed so many guests on the show here. That's something that comes up all the time. It's like that they're very down the vegan path or they're very like, I tried to disassociate a little bit. So I think there's room for everybody across that spectrum. I mean, as long as we're helping move that initiative forward, whether you're tricking them or not really tricking them, but being more vague about it than, than not. So I agree with you, but it is a challenge when you've tapped out of a certain niche and you're trying to expand it.
to a new niche.
Tifany Mazza (04:49.578)
Yeah. One solution that I'm finding it's kind of like the good thing about digital marketing is that you can create segmentations, like very detailed segmentations. So you can target vegans and tell them and use the word vegan. But if you are targeting non -vegans, then you can use other kinds of words. Let's say it's we're talking about food. You can go towards like the healthy aspect of it or, you know, kind of communicate something that will appeal more to that person.
Bryan (05:04.302)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (05:18.35)
Great.
Tifany Mazza (05:19.114)
So it's kind of breaking down the audiences to be kind of to talk the same languages they do and being very personalized kind of marketing.
Bryan (05:27.15)
Yep, absolutely.
Bryan (05:32.366)
Do you have an example of a successful campaign that you've helped with? I know when I was looking at your website, I think you just launched or helped contribute to VDog. And I don't know if that's one example you could talk about, but how have you helped and what made it so effective?
Tifany Mazza (05:50.41)
Yeah, there's one example. But then, let's see, because I'm trying to think of the right example, because I don't have the metrics handy, but I like to speak with numbers. But we do have an example of plant -based food. That they were like pretty much what I.
Bryan (06:01.87)
Yeah, for sure.
Tifany Mazza (06:19.466)
just said, like, instead of focusing on like the vegan aspect of it, to like, we would create different audiences. Those who are vegan would receive the vegan creatives and those who were not vegan, but were interested on like, like eating healthier or they were going to those, they were going towards that direction. Then we would communicate it differently.
Bryan (06:28.046)
Right.
Tifany Mazza (06:49.098)
not even saying plant -based, but like the benefits of that product in terms of health. So it's kind of, yeah, adapting the communication depending on the audience.
Bryan (06:49.166)
Yeah.
Bryan (07:01.934)
For sure. For sure. Yeah, that's exactly right. I think it's a walking that spectrum and stuff. So what, what about the ethical side of it? Like how do you, how do you teach your clients some of the ethical things? Cause I'm sure you can counter that and, or how do you sort of help them align with some of the standards that are out there?
Tifany Mazza (07:08.17)
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (07:23.818)
So in terms of.
Bryan (07:26.894)
It's... it's...
Tifany Mazza (07:27.114)
Like you mean the clients when it comes to those that are going to buy the product or more like the agency clients. All right.
Bryan (07:33.774)
Yeah, I guess it's just, it's just tapping into the ethical aspects of the marketing side of it, right? Like that this is the cruelty free or this helps the planet. is there, is there something like, if you worked with any B corporations that, you know, have, you know, beyond the profits and those kinds of things, like, how do you point out some of the values of, of the ethical side of it?
Tifany Mazza (07:39.37)
Good.
Tifany Mazza (07:54.186)
Bye -bye.
Tifany Mazza (07:59.05)
Yeah, something that I've seen in the past years, like working with different vegan businesses is that people don't, of course they do care about the like sustainability, like them being vegan, but now, but if the product doesn't work, then they won't care much. So the thing is not only the product being vegan or plant -based or sustainable, but also products that work.
Bryan (08:17.774)
Right.
Tifany Mazza (08:27.146)
and show them the real benefit. And then the fact that they are vegan or sustainable will be more of a secondary thing. Because that's something that I notice a lot that many businesses are focusing on the sustainability and vegan aspect of their product. But that's great. A great thing to show. But that shouldn't be the main thing to communicate. What people want is something that works. So.
Bryan (08:44.142)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (08:55.054)
Great. Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (08:57.418)
Yeah, that's something that I've seen a lot too.
Bryan (09:00.142)
Got to walk that fine line at times, right? But you're a Google certified partner, so congratulations. That's not an easy thing to get accomplished. How do you see the technology playing into some of our digital marketing strategies? I know AI is taking over the planet right now, so.
Tifany Mazza (09:08.394)
No. Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (09:19.178)
It is. Yeah, it is. And it's fun to see how everything changes in terms of digital marketing because of AI. So it's been changing even before AI started being very popular. In digital marketing, we've been seeing this for years now. But yeah, in terms of how you create the ads, you...
Bryan (09:26.542)
Yeah.
Bryan (09:40.046)
Mm -hmm.
Tifany Mazza (09:47.978)
have a lot of tools now like AI generated ads, not only in terms of copy, but also the images. And that I feel like it helps a lot smaller businesses. And we actually did an A .B. test recently with one brand with AI generated images versus more like real and authentic images. And the real ones were better. But if you don't have the resources to like do a like...
Bryan (09:58.734)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (10:10.126)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (10:14.03)
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (10:16.906)
professional photo shoot and stuff, then you can use an AI one, it still works. But I would still recommend using professional photos with the product and stuff. But yeah, honestly, AI definitely help a lot small businesses.
Bryan (10:28.622)
Yeah.
Bryan (10:36.142)
Yeah, it's going to be exciting times as we see that continue to change over over time.
Tifany Mazza (10:39.37)
Yeah, everything is doing something very fast.
Bryan (10:42.894)
And it's something like as I, as I sort of coach and mentor some of my clients on what I do, I always say it's so important to figure out what it is that we're going to measure. So, you know what I mean? Like we want to make sure when we put this money in that we're measuring it and we can see where is the best place that it got used and stuff. How do you sort of define the measurements and success of the marketing campaigns?
Tifany Mazza (11:06.282)
Yeah, 100%. Like the first thing is to determine the key performance indicators, right? If it's an e -commerce, it will be sales, revenue, cost per acquisition. But if it's more of like a contact form, then you will want to know the leads, the cost per lead. And yeah, it varies a lot from business to business. But yeah, everything that has to do with measurement, I think it's very important. The first thing you have to have in place, because if you know like...
You don't, you won't know what works and what doesn't work for your business. So yeah, that's.
Bryan (11:39.31)
That's right.
I love it. Well, on the, on the, on the e -commerce side of what you're doing here, I noticed on your shop, you have got some of my favorite things is the lip balms and the deodorants and stuff that come in the cardboard packaging and stuff. Like it just, the website looks, looks beautiful. And it does seem like you have a lot of great products. How do you, how do you.
Tifany Mazza (11:57.738)
Yeah.
Thanks.
Bryan (12:07.662)
So how do you pick and choose which products go on the platform? And then how do you vet them for the cruelty free side of it or, or, you know, go through all of that.
Tifany Mazza (12:18.538)
Yeah, so it's like a long analysis and like a lot of ingredients reading. Because there are a lot of brands that say that they say they are vegan, but then when you get to the least, like they are not really vegan. Because it's the same with cruelty free. It's not illegal to say cruelty free even if you're not. So people can say they are even though they are not. So.
Bryan (12:33.774)
Yeah.
Bryan (12:42.478)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (12:48.074)
Yeah, it's first of all, reviewing the ingredients. Then when it comes to the cruelty free part of it, there are some, like some tools that tell you, because like it is very bug, everything that has to do with what is cruelty free or not. And there are some labels that like official labels that we, like if they have those, they are okay. But also there are some tools that will tell you.
Bryan (13:06.03)
Mm -hmm.
Tifany Mazza (13:18.73)
if they are, because there are like different levels of being cruelty free or not, because you can say cruelty free. It's a lot because you can say that you're cruelty free, but you can pay if you pay for another business to test on your products and then they give it to you, then you can say that you're cruelty free, even though you are actually paying a third party for.
Bryan (13:26.422)
Isn't that sad that we have to define it as different levels of it? It should just all be cruelty free. Right.
Bryan (13:46.254)
Great.
Tifany Mazza (13:48.65)
for them to test them. And there are a lot of tricks for being cruelty free when you're not. So that's another thing that we analyze a lot in each product. And those are the main things that if those two things are not OK, then it wouldn't be on the website at all. Then I also try for them to be sustainable, like you said, cardboard packaging and things like that. It's not easy to find.
Bryan (13:55.214)
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (14:18.282)
both vegan and cruelty free and sustainable products. So some of them are not really as sustainable. But the main priority is for them being vegan and cruelty free.
Bryan (14:27.566)
Yeah.
Bryan (14:31.566)
That's right. What advice would you give to other plant -based entrepreneurs that are looking to scale their businesses and take it to the next level?
Tifany Mazza (14:42.506)
Okay, so if they are starting, I think it's great to focus on the vegan niche. But if you want to grow, then try to reach other audiences as well. But I think that at first it makes a lot of sense to target vegans so that you can test the product and then you scale out. Once you have an audience, then you can reach larger audiences. Because if you want to reach everyone at once, then...
Bryan (15:00.75)
Yep.
Tifany Mazza (15:12.458)
you won't be as successful.
Bryan (15:16.01)
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Start with the niche. The niches are the riches and then prove it out there and then we can go after the veg curious people and try and get them to jump into the fold with us for sure. so how, how has your journey on this? I mean, you talked a little bit about, you know, before, before vegan and now after, how has your journey in the plant based world, been impacted, impacted you sort of professionally or personally?
Tifany Mazza (15:20.266)
Yeah.
Tifany Mazza (15:25.29)
Yes, exactly.
Tifany Mazza (15:44.138)
Yeah. Well, so it impacted a lot in terms of the agency. Like, like I said, I think something like I started saying no to some clients and then kind of targeting more, you know, businesses more aligned with my values so that, and because, you know, I have like more than 10 years experience in digital marketing and I, I see what works and what doesn't work. And I know that I can help businesses grow like me and my team.
Bryan (16:00.942)
Mm -hmm.
Tifany Mazza (16:13.802)
And so if I can do that with non -vegan businesses, I'd rather do it with vegan businesses or businesses that are more aligned with my views. So that was like a main switch that I made. But then, yeah, and then other than that, well, not to die for, I also started it because of going vegan.
Bryan (16:27.822)
That's right.
Bryan (16:32.366)
Hi.
Tifany Mazza (16:41.866)
But yeah, pretty much everything changed professionally. I still have, we still have clients that are not vegan businesses. They are businesses that are not non -vegan, but like travel or we have an interior design study, like things that are not non -vegan, but are not vegan.
Bryan (16:44.846)
That's awesome.
Bryan (16:53.166)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Tifany Mazza (17:11.402)
Eh.
Bryan (17:11.822)
I hear you. I have not been faced with that challenge myself yet, Amikur. I'm more in the healthcare side of things to a degree. So I haven't been faced with it directly, but I commend and applaud your efforts to go and tell the hunting group and whoever that I'm not going to work with you. So it does take, you know, when we're all struggling to find the next client and stuff like that, it does take a lot to stand up for your beliefs and your morals to not just make a buck to help it move forward. So.
Tifany Mazza (17:26.89)
Yeah, like, no.
Bryan (17:40.366)
I applaud your effort. What's the one key piece of advice that you would give somebody who's just starting their plant -based entrepreneur journey?
Tifany Mazza (17:52.074)
So, mainly to, I'd say to study well their audience and to really understand what they needs are. Cause I do see a lot of people that are like, this is what I like and what I would love to be out there. But then they wouldn't even use it or they are just like, or people don't really care much about.
that product or service in particular. So I'd say to first find what people need and want. Like what it's called in. Yeah. Yeah.
Bryan (18:27.662)
Mm -hmm. I agree. Customer, that customer discovery phase is so, so important to figure out if just because you like it, you have to make sure enough other people are going to like it so that you can make a business out of it. So what are some of the future aspirations you have for both businesses?
Tifany Mazza (18:39.562)
Yeah.
Yeah, 100%.
Tifany Mazza (18:49.098)
Yeah, just keep on growing. Like fortunately the agency is growing, just hired new people recently. So, yeah, just grow both of them. Like in terms of not to die for add more products, now we have like 80 products. So the idea is to add more so that, you know, we keep on curating. It's not like the idea is to have more categories as well. Now we have.
Bryan (19:05.23)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (19:17.294)
Absolutely.
Tifany Mazza (19:18.726)
like things like a personal care, laundry, we have some lifestyle items, but the idea is to add categories. We have some superfoods as well. And then in terms of the agencies grow and yeah, more clients are more ethical ones, more like vegan, sustainable, yeah.
Bryan (19:28.11)
Mm -hmm.
Bryan (19:40.27)
That's right.
Very cool. Well, we wish you the best of luck on your journey, continuing to grow both those businesses. I have a couple of them myself and I know how challenging it is to run more than one at a time. So I commend you on that effort too. What can we do as a community to help you and what are the best ways to get in touch?
Tifany Mazza (19:51.306)
Thank you.
Tifany Mazza (19:56.778)
Yes.
Tifany Mazza (20:06.954)
So to get in touch with me personally, I'm very active in LinkedIn. So Tiffany Matza in LinkedIn. Then the e -commerce website is notodiford .us and TKIO, the agency is T -Y -K -I -O .com. But yeah, those would be the ways to contact me.
and you mentioned like what the community can do, I don't know any feedback or comment, it's always very welcome and I like to always be in touch with like -minded people so...
Bryan (20:43.79)
That's right.
Bryan (20:47.822)
So if you need some digital marketing help, reach out to Tiffany and her company, or if you're looking for some cruelty -free products, check out nottodiefor .us. We'll put those links in the show notes, and we really appreciate you hanging out with us for a little bit, Tiffany. Thanks for being here.
Tifany Mazza (21:03.53)
Thank you. Thank you, Brian. It was great.
Bryan (21:06.318)
That is all the time we have for this episode of Plant Based on Fire. Thanks again, Tiffany, for joining us and sharing your insights and experiences with our community. Until next time, everybody, keep that fire burning.