About ACTIVATE

For those of you who missed Week 2, allow me to reintroduce myself! I’m Aaron Wesley Means, founder of ACTIVATE Business Solutions, based in Asheville, NC. ACTIVATE has served clients of all shapes and sizes from local to national for 12+ years, has trained thousands of businesses through seminars, webinars, and conferences, and is a multiple award-winning solution provider.   In this week’s Ready, Set, Send challenge we’ll address the value and impact of a multi-channel marketing strategy. Instead of thinking of your marketing as a single approach using a single channel, you’ll want to use different channels together (think email + social + texts) to create a coordinated plan that greatly increases awareness, visibility, interest, engagement, and sales.    How you use these channels together can be explained by what we like to call the “party principle.” And who doesn't like a party? Plus, at this one, you’ll have help from Constant Contact’s own party planner Campaign Builder. So let’s dive into week 4 and discover how to use multi-channel marketing to your strengths and own the party principle to become campaign connoisseurs!     Throw a Multi-Channel Marketing Bash   You’re not always in your inbox, are you? Well, neither are your contacts. Using multi-channel campaigns is a smart strategy that reaches your contacts where they are and offers several benefits:   It increases reach by catering to different channel preferences Improves engagement by building trust and familiarity Ensures consistent branding across all touchpoints Provides better data for informed decisions Drives higher conversion rates Enhances the overall customer experience Optimizes marketing spend for better ROI   So how can we leverage all of this information and make it work for you and your customers? We throw a party! *Not literally* but at Constant Contact we have what we call the party principle.  The goal is to foster a positive, enjoyable, and memorable connection between your brand and your customers. There are three different types of parties to the party principle: The big party, the after-party, and the VIP party.    Social Media - This is your “big party” where you may not know everyone because friends of friends of friends may have been invited. But, this is an irreplaceable channel for marketing your business: it allows many people to discover you. Use this channel to engage your followers and nurture them to become true fans of your product or service.   Email Marketing - Think of email as your “after-party” where the people you know will hang with you after everyone else has left. You know who these people are because you have their email address – and you can see what they like based on what they open and click on. (In Week 6 we’ll talk about how you can reward these fans with segmented offers).     Text (SMS) Marketing - Text marketing is your “VIP party.” It’s typically a smaller list than your email list, because people only give out their phone number to businesses they trust. And it’s a channel that delivers a 98% open rate. This is an opt-in list, so be strategic - share only the most valuable updates or incentives to keep your subscribers feeling special.  Once you throw your first party, you’ll see the results in real time - in increased awareness and email subscribers, more engagement with your emails and texts, and more of what you set as your goal in Week 1. So let’s try it out by using Campaign Builder!   Work Smarter, Not Harder with Campaign Builder   Constant Contact's most impressive feature to date is undoubtedly the multi-channel Campaign Builder. When paired with BrandKit (which we introduced in Week 1) it creates entire multi-channel campaigns for you - from copy to the different templates. Obviously you’ll want to choose the channels that make the most sense for your business.   Take Campaign Builder for a spin    Let's have some fun!   Click to downloadNow that we’re in a party mood, let's dive into Campaign Builder and explore which channels resonate best with your audience. Has Campaign Builder made you think differently about your marketing approach? Has it inspired you to do something different – and hear me out – something like marketing bingo? Heck yeah, it has!   Each square in our marketing bingo sheets challenges you to create multi-channel campaigns that work best for you, such as enhancing your email (think back to Week 2), creating a landing page (hey, we also did that in Week 3!), hosting an event, or scheduling a post to your social channels.   So, what are the rules? Well, this isn't your typical bingo, this is ~marketing~ bingo. So technically, there are no rules when it comes to creativity, but I suggest starting by selecting squares of actions you already do in your marketing day-to-day, and then challenge yourself by choosing squares you’d like to try. Mark off five squares in any row, column, or diagonal and you win!   Can you get Bingo?    Your Assignments   Use the Bingo card and mark off what you’re already doing and try to implement a few more, for good measure!  Bonus points if you get BINGO! Be sure to use BrandKit, if you haven’t already. This is like getting the décor for the party you’re about to throw! Create a multi-channel campaign with Campaign Builder.   How you’ll earn your badge   Download the Bingo card and check off any features or actions you're already doing, or implemented this week. Then, share your bingo card in a reply below.   Resources   Handout: Multichannel Marketing Blog: How to Create a Marketing Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide Community: Broaden Your Marketing Mix   TL;DR   Use multi-channel marketing (email, social media, SMS) to increase awareness, engagement, and sales. The "party principle" involves three types of parties: social media ("big party"), email ("after-party"), and SMS marketing ("VIP party"). Multi-channel marketing boosts reach by appealing to diverse channel preferences, enhancing engagement through trust and familiarity. It ensures consistent branding, elevates the customer experience, and drives higher conversion rates. Furthermore, it delivers better data for informed decisions and optimizes marketing spend for improved ROI. For your assignment, use the Bingo card to mark which strategies you use in your everyday marketing and try a few new squares to really see the benefit of multi-channel marketing while using our Campaign Builder. ... View more

Drive Results with Impactful Email Design   Now that you've set your goals and have a clear expectation of what you're working towards, it's time for Week 2 of Constant Contact's Ready, Set, Send Challenge! This week, we're turning our attention to the ins-and-outs of crafting the perfect email. A well-written and designed email can make all the difference in engaging with your audience and driving the results you want. Watch the video below, and then share an email you created – either in the past, or a brand new email with BrandKit, to earn your badge and get feedback from our community and coaches.    I’m Aaron Wesley Means, founder of ACTIVATE Business Solutions, based in Asheville, North Carolina. For more than 12 years, ACTIVATE has served clients of all shapes and sizes from local to national, has trained thousands of businesses through seminars, webinars, and conferences, and is a recurring award-winning solution provider.   In this week’s Ready. Set. Send Challenge, we will tackle a true cornerstone of successful marketing: your emails. The inbox is easily the most powerful and visible strategy in your marketing lineup, so it has to be great! What does that mean? Designing the perfect email starts with the basics of a great subject line, stellar branding, and a handful of critical components ranging from a featured image, font size, a call to action, or social media integrations. Be sure to plug in for Week 2 of Ready, Set, Send for a breakdown of how to execute the perfect email.     The 7 Essential Design Elements   Behind most successful projects, careful planning keeps everything on track and makes sure the results have impact (we love using the word ‘impact’). Crafting an effective email campaign is no different. Check out our 7-step checklist below and try implementing the strategies that make sense to rise above the inbox clutter.   Header: This is your From address, your Reply-to address, and your Subject line. These three elements work together to build trust and get those opens. So make sure the email is coming from an expected address - whether it’s your company name or an individual person - then hook your audience with an email subject worthy of being opened! Don’t be afraid to get creative, use a play on words, include any recent trends, or seasonal identifiers. This is also a great spot to release your inner child and include emojis.  Preheader: You’ll want to stand out from the rest with a preheader that’s unique, eye-catching, and intriguing. The preheader and the subject of the email are like the perfect couple. They have to work hand in hand, but one needs to be funnier for the relationship to last. Choose which one has the spice, but know they both equally contribute to the success of the overall email message.  Your Brand’s logo & color: To continue to build trust with your subscribers, your emails should match your brand or aesthetic. So make sure to include your logo front and center, and leverage the same colors you are using across your website, socials, or store. Leverage our BrandKit tool to save yourself time and create consistency across all your campaigns.  Image: Ask yourself if it makes sense to include an image in your email. More often than not, it always makes sense to do this. Include a photo, GIF, or video that caters to your audience best! Did you know, that if you are crafting images in Canva, you can save them directly to your Constant Contact image library to help save you time? Text: You don’t need to be a Nobel-prize winning author to compose the perfect email. Be yourself – and write what your recipients would expect to read from you, or your brand. The goal is simply to convey the main reason for your message. Call to action: After determining what the reason for sending your email is, ask yourself: “What would I like my audience to get out of this email?” Is it to click a link to your website, schedule an appointment, or discover something new? Including a call to action button directs your audience to the next step! Footer: Think of your footer like your signature. You want to include any necessary information to ensure recipients can continue to engage with you or your company, whether it’s your socials, your website, or contact details!    🗒 Feeling overwhelmed? Download our PDF cheat sheet on The Anatomy of a Perfect Email to design the perfect email faster.     How well do you know Constant Contact's hack to better emails? Take the quiz!   You can spend hours crafting the perfect communications, or you can use Constant Contact tools to cheat your way to more opens, more clicks, and more time saved. Click to see if you know these shortcuts:   How do you get branded emails in an instant? Use the BrandKit feature under Tools to ensure consistent application of your brand. BrandKit acts like a library for your logo, colors and even images, and applies them to our special Layout Templates. To take advantage of BrandKit, enter your URL or upload colors and images, make any tweaks you want, then click Create choose Email, and choose Layout templates. Your aesthetic will be instantly added to emails. How do you optimize your subject lines? There are several easy ways to make your subject lines pop. When editing your subject line in Constant Contact, check out the “recommend subject line” options to see if AI has any better ideas. To really catch a subscriber’s attention, click on the Personalize button to include a subscriber’s first name. Adding emojis might also do the trick. Finally, when you’re scheduling your email, check that A/B Test toggle under Campaign Info and try testing one subject line against another. How can I make an impression with images? We recommend using the free graphic design tool Canva to craft crisp, bold, and eye-catching images. Once you're satisfied with your creations, you can save your graphics, photos, and more directly to your Constant Contact library, making it easy to incorporate them into your emails. Have a lot of Instagram-worthy photos on your phone? Download our mobile app, and save those photos directly to your image library. How can I save myself time writing if I don’t know what to say? Use the AI Content Generator in the email editor toolbar to turn your ideas into a full-fledged email. If you’ve already used BrandKit, it will automatically pick up your voice and tone from your website.   Your Assignment: Use BrandKit to upload your assets, either by scanning your website or manually adding your logo/color/images. Review the 7 Essential Design Elements from the Anatomy of a Perfect Email handout.  Want extra credit? Challenge yourself to try something new, like using a new pre-built block layout or including a new image that best captures the message of your email. Build an email using your assets and the tips outlined in the handout and share it with the Community using the permanent URL. Not sending an email this week? Take a screenshot of your draft and include it in your reply. We'd love to see your hard work and what you’ve learned!   How you’ll earn your badge: Reply below with your email’s permanent URL or a screenshot of your draft, and you’ll receive the Week 2 badge. It will be proudly displayed on your Community profile, plus keep an eye out in your Community inbox for a larger image to share on your own social channels once Week 2 is finished.   Resources: Handout: Anatomy of a Perfect Email Blog: Email Design Best Practices Community: Creating Your First Email   TL;DR   Design the perfect email by following the 7 Essential Design Elements from the Anatomy of a Perfect Email handout and dip your toes into BrandKit. Watch the video, follow the tips, and crank out those emails for greater inbox visibility, improved open rates, and increased click rates galore!    Not yet a Constant Contact customer but want to start creating beautiful-looking emails? Start a free trial.   We’re excited to see what cool templates you come up with!   ... View more

We’re living in a fast paced, mobile-centric smartphone world. You’ve got an amazing opportunity to reach customers regularly on a device they carry with them at all times.  Learning how to supercharge your marketing and enhance the customer experience means leveraging how people use their devices day in and day out with social, email, and text in concert to drive engagement and sales. According to a recent Small Business Now Report, Emails and SMS from small businesses are the two most helpful communications to consumers when they’re making a purchase decision. Each of these channels has unique aspects that make it worthy of having in your marketing toolbox.   Social allows you to reach new people, but algorithms limit your reach. If you’re just getting started on social media, spend 15 minutes every day. You’ll want to break that up into 5-minute increments so you can really focus on the 3 goals we talked about earlier. This short amount of time will make your social media efforts more manageable and over time with this plan, you’ll be able to learn what works for your audience and your business and you’ll be able to make better decisions. And once you see results, you’ll want to invest more time and resources into our social media activities.   I don’t recommend a quantity. Focus on consistency and quality vs quantity. It always helps to plan your social media posts out so you can stay on track.     Email gives you ownership of your audience and you can reach them on your terms, but you have to compete for your reader’s attention against competitors. It’s the most visible aside from SMS as people check their inboxes regularly throughout the day, and a good trustworthy platform like Constant Contact will provide 95%+ deliverabilty.   You can improve your emails by thinking of email copy like this: a headline to grab the reader’s attention, a message body to give them more detail, and a call to action to make it clear what you want them to do.   Texts are personal and immediate — when someone receives a text they look at it — but you must be careful not to abuse this connection or you’ll turn people off. When it comes to text marketing specifically, we know that…91% of consumers are interested in signing up for texts.  [Source: Attentive SMS Marketing Consumer Trends Report 2021]   In the end, it’s the businesses that reach customers in the channels they prefer that win. And the businesses that figure out how to use these channels in concert, in a way that enhances the customer experience, are going to get the most from them. These are the businesses and organizations that send the right message to the right people at the right time in the right channels. Thank about it like this:  Social media is the big party. Great for engaging, meeting, new people. Finding those connections that may go deeper.  Email is the after-party. You’ve found your people to build deeper relationships. They say, “Yes, I want to stay connected with you.” Text is the VIP party. These are the people you really want to treat special because you connect with them in the most personal channel.   In modern day culture, our device is usually in one of three places: the pocket, the purse, or already in their hands! So take advantage of a multi-channel strategy to show up regularly to the in the place they look most!   Constant Contact provides you with easy-to-use tools, guidance, and insights all in one place that allow you to communicate with your customers through Social, Email, and Text, so you build relationships that matter most to your bottom line. And now with AI built right into the email, SMS, and social dashboard PLUS the multi-channel campaign builder you have the ability to leverage this amazing technology-team-lineup in a matter of minutes!     ... View more