Teachers need digital resources at the moment, that’s a fact. They are trying to teach students online and they need digital products from Teachers Pay Teachers. If you’ve been making digital resources, that’s great! You’re giving your audience exactly what they need.
However, marketing digital resources is different to paper resources. Out with the pencils, in with the iPads! So, let’s talk about how to market digital resources.
What is digital resource marketing?
When I say ‘market’, this is what I’m referring to:
- TPT covers, thumbnails, and previews
- Instagram posts, Facebook posts, and pins
The great thing is that you can create an image and re-purpose it in nearly all of those places. But what image?
With paper products, we create marketing material by interacting with paper. So, we print and then write answers or color things in. But with digital resources, we need to create marketing material with technology.
Digital resource marketing requires tablets, laptops, and computers. We need to show our buyers what our digital product will look like ‘in-action’ when used by students on devices.
How to make the image
It’s quite simple, you have two options –
- Real photos. You can take photos (or videos) of you completing the digital activity on a device. I often take photos or videos of myself playing boom cards on an iPad. Sometimes I simply take a photo or film a video. Other times, I use the time-lapse feature on my iPhone to speed things up.
- Mock-ups. You can purchase or create mock-ups of devices. For example, this would be an iPad with a blank screen which you can use multiple times for different digital resources. You can create an ‘in-action’ feel without actually doing anything. You simply insert a screenshot or video of your activity onto the mock-up!
Here’s the steps that I take
- I take a screenshot of my Boom Cards. If I want to make a video, I screen record myself playing Boom Cards on Screencast-O-Matic. It’s a free website (Screencastify is another one you could try). This creates a video of my Boom Cards.
- I insert my mock-up into a PowerPoint slide. Then, I insert the screenshot (or screencast video) on top of my mock-up. Pro tip: Make sure to line it up correctly!
- I save my slide as a JPEG (if I want a picture) or I export as a video.
The image I make can be used on multiple platforms. If I make a square slide, it can be used on TPT covers and thumbnails, as well as Instagram/Facebook posts. If I make the slide a 2:3 ratio, I can create a pin!
where to get mock-ups
If you’re looking for mock-ups, I have some affordable ones in my TPT store. You can grab the mock-ups here. If you want to use clip art of devices instead, I have some iPad clip art you might like here.
Are you now ready to market digital resources? I hope you’ve found this post helpful!
P.S – I hope you’ve found some useful tips in this post! Sign up to my email community here or follow me on Instagram for MORE free advice. I also have lots of free tips in my TPT Facebook group. If you’re looking for all the TPT advice in one place, check out my TPT Seller Course.
hi!
I always love your mockups. I feel like with chromebooks, it’s a bit harder or laptops for the mockups, they don’t LOOK as nice as a tablet, any suggestions? I just tested it out with a resource, I did a live IN ACTION photo, I like it, but not enough for a cover, just a preview. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Diction-Word-Choice-Lesson-through-Shades-of-Meaning-for-High-School-6104425 thanks 🙂
Hey Amber, I’d suggest purchasing some laptop/chromebook mock-ups from TPT. The sellers on there have got good angles/lighting etc! Then you can insert a screenshot of your activity onto the laptop mock-up, instead of taking a real in action picture!