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As we established with updating your account security methods, the way we manage access to our online business tools is more than just a matter of security, it can impact operational efficiency and team dynamics.   Why should I create additional users?   If your business or organization needs multiple people to access the account, you may be tempted to share your login credentials (we definitely don’t do this for streaming services…right?). This is strongly discouraged with Constant Contact accounts.    Think of the password as the key to your kingdom. The more keys that are out there, the higher the possibility of them falling into the wrong hands.   How do I create additional users?       Instead of having to share your password, you can set up additional account users and give them a role based on the amount of access needed. There are three types of users:   Account Owner - This is the only role that has access to billing information, adding additional users and changing their roles. There is only one Account Owner role allowed. Account Manager - This role can create and send campaigns, manage and grow your contact lists, and keep an eye on reporting. Account Managers cannot access billing information. Campaign Creator - This role is more limited. Campaign Creators can create and customize all types of campaigns, but cannot send them. They won't be able to access any of your contact details, account settings, or billing information.   Please note that the number of users your account can have depends on your plan. For more information on what is allowed in your current plan, visit the Plans and Pricing page in your account. Now that your account is set up and your users are rearing to go, it’s time to add your contacts! ... View more

You know how some people like to leave a spare key underneath their garden gnome? It’s a novel idea, but creates a security risk for anyone that might stumble upon it (why random people are casually looking under your garden gnome is a different matter). Why should I secure my account? As businesses increasingly rely on digital platforms to operate and communicate, and the rise of bad actors trying to expose sensitive information from organizations at all levels, the need for robust security measures is paramount.   What are the ways I can secure my account? There are three things we use to ensure the right people are accessing your account: a password, a security question, and multi-factor authentication. No garden gnomes here. Password A secure password is the primary key used to access your account. Just like many other sites, we have requirements in place when setting or changing your password. Basic best practices include: Don’t use the same password for other logins. Avoid common passwords (like Password!) Change your password on a regular basis.  Security Question When setting the security question, you will provide the answer to one of several questions that you can choose from. The answer should be unique and not easily guessable.  If you accidentally lock yourself out of your account and need to send an important email, please contact our support team. An agent will ask the security question on your account to ensure we are unlocking the door to let the right person in. Just like a password, this security question should be changed if an unauthorized user accesses your account.   Did you know we have an article on what steps should be taken if you need to transfer ownership of your Constant Contact account? Multi-Factor Authentication   In order to keep your account safe, we add an additional layer of security called multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA is an effective and standard security technology used by many online services to protect their customer’s data from unauthorized access. By using an additional means to confirm you’re the one attempting to access your account, MFA can help prevent attacks, reduce the risk of other cyber security threats, and protect your personal information from hackers.     Once you enroll in multi-factor authentication, you will need to select a secondary factor of authentication. This includes:   Okta Verify Google Authenticator SMS Authentication Voice Call Authentication   Both U.S. and international numbers are supported for SMS and Voice Call Authentication.    If you log in from a new or unfamiliar source, a prompt will appear and ask for a verification code from the secondary factor selected. This is especially common if you use multiple networks or VPNs, or clear your cookies often. We strongly advise setting up additional user profiles for multi-person access to the account. This allows each user to choose their own secondary authentication factors independently of the account owner. Please review the Plans & Pricing page to determine the number of additional users your account can accommodate. ... View more

At a glance, would people recognize your business? In a crowded digital marketplace, the importance of a cohesive brand identity cannot be overstated.   Why should I update my Business Profile?   It’s not just about filling out basic details; it’s about strategically crafting your business’s narrative. When it comes to your Constant Contact account, updating your business information helps us provide accurate tips, tools, and services to get the most out of your account.   For example, you can select the industry for your business and it’ll make the reporting metrics we provide that compares your email stats with others in your industry more accurate!   It also allows us to suggest templates that may fit emails typical for your industry. A retail business has different needs than a nonprofit (though you probably knew that already)!       What is BrandKit?     Your brand assets are important because they help provide a consistent, identifiable visual connection to your business. When a contact opens your email, they should be able to recognize who you are right away.   Uploading a logo and saving your brand colors are quick and easy ways to do this at the account level, ensuring your logo and colors are pulled in each time you select a new template. This saves time and creates a better experience for your subscribers for each email you create and send. You can upload these assets manually, but BrandKit can save you time by scanning your website and automatically pulling in your logo, colors, and images into your account. Here's how:   1. Click Tools > BrandKit.      2. Select Scan your website.      3. Enter your website in the field.   4. Click Scan for branding.     5 (Optional). Uncheck any of the assets you don’t want to import. If you don’t want to use any of them, click No, don’t use these to start over.   6. Click Next.      7 (Optional). Click + Change logo to choose a different logo from your Library or to upload a new one. At this time, you can only save one logo in your BrandKit.       8 (Optional). Click + Add color to select another color from the Basic palette or click Advanced to enter a hex value. You can save up to 10 colors in your BrandKit.   9. To remove a color, hover over the swatch and click the X.     10 (Optional). Click + Add image to add another image from your Library or to upload a new image. It’ll be saved in both your BrandKit and Library. You can save as many images here as you want.   11. If you want to rescan your website, click Scan my website.     Did you know the Constant Contact blog has a ton of articles covering many different industries and topics related to them? We are more than just email marketing, anyways. Search for your industry and get ready to learn!   Now that your business details are updated and you’ve added your most important brand assets to BrandKit, it wouldn’t hurt to review the security methods available for your account so you can keep it locked down tight. ... View more

When you get in the car, you’re supposed to check your mirrors and surroundings to make sure everything is positioned correctly before driving off. Confirming your account information so you will be set up for operational success works much the same.   Why should I confirm my account information?   Picture this: Your business is growing, you’re connecting with more customers, and your marketing efforts are just about to take off. Exciting, right? What happens if there is a hiccup with your communications because your account details are outdated or wrong? It might result in a small snafu that is easily remedied or it could damage your reputation and credibility with your audience if they are seeing conflicting or inaccurate information.   Let’s avoid that!   What information do I need to confirm?     Of course, you probably already verified your email address at this point, right? But there are a few other details to consider:   Contact Email Address and Billing Email Address   Assigning the correct main contact and billing email addresses in your Constant Contact account ensures that all communications, like service updates or billing notifications, are directed to the right people promptly. The first email address you verify becomes your default contact email, which is also used for outgoing emails and password reset notifications.    It's possible to set different email addresses for contact and billing purposes, but make sure to verify them first. This is especially important if someone else handles the billing; they need to receive all billing-related communications, including statements, updates on payments, and receipts.   Payment Methods Equally important is the timely update of your payment methods. This might seem like a small detail, but it's often at the heart of seamless service experiences. Keeping this information up-to-date ensures that there are no interruptions in your service, especially if you're transitioning from a trial period to a paid plan. Remember, it's not just about maintaining the flow; it's about harnessing the momentum without unnecessary pauses.   Profile and Business Details     Before you send out your first campaign, confirming your organization's details like the company name and physical address is not just good practice—it's a legal requirement under laws like the CAN-SPAM Act. These details appear in the footer of every email you send, reinforcing transparency and trust with your recipients.   Password & Security     Some of this information you would have already set when you created your Constant Contact account, but maybe they were acting as placeholders or someone else will be taking ownership of the account within your organization, so it’s important to know where to find it. This includes the password, account security question, and multi-factor authentication.   Anything else?   There are lots of different settings you can tinker with, but we wanted to get some of the biggest details out of the way. It’s still important to review other settings, such as the Footer, signature information, and regional settings.   We’ll also cover important settings and features in their own articles, such as how to update your business profile and BrandKit, setting up your account security methods, and adding additional users to your account.   Regularly updating and confirming your account information is more than just a checkbox on your to-do list. It’s a strategic step that helps keep your business compliant and avoid any curveballs while engaging with your customers. ... View more

It’s a common practice across many different platforms and Constant Contact is no different: you have to verify your email address.   Why should I verify my email address?   Verifying your email address is key because it makes sure the email addresses you’re using are legit and ready to go. This is especially important for the email address you use to send out your campaigns. It’s like making sure your email has the right stamp before sending it off - it helps your email reach your customers without any hitches.   How do I verify my email address?     When you add a new email to your account, Constant Contact sends you a verification email. All you need to do is click the link in that email, and voilà, you’re all set. This step confirms that your email address is active and hooks it up properly with your account.     Now, a little advice on choosing the right email to verify - it’s best to avoid using group or role emails, like admin@yourcompany.com. These can get tricky because they might complicate the verification process or let the wrong eyes see sensitive information if they’re used as the contact or billing email.   If your email address is from a personal domain (e.g. @gmail.com or @yahoo.com), Constant Contact will rewrite the ‘From Address’ to include @ccsend.com to help the emails land in the inbox and prevent deliverability issues.   Google and Yahoo changed their authentication requirements for bulk email senders in February 2024. Any email sent without proper authentication may result in bounced messages or placement in the junk/spam folder. Review the FAQ.   What happens after I verify my email address?   Once your email is verified, you can really start to make the most of your account. You can use this verified email for all sorts of things - like being the main contact, handling billing, and sending out your email campaigns.   Additionally, there is no limit to how many email addresses you can verify! Maybe different email campaigns require being sent from different email addresses, so this offers flexibility in managing your account.   Once your email address is verified, it’s time to build out the rest of your account! ... View more

  Event Marketing Best Practices   Event marketing is more than just organizing an event; it's also about crafting a journey that captivates attendees, builds brand loyalty, and leaves a lasting impact. Utilize these best practices to elevate your event marketing — before, during, and after your event.   Do you want to generate leads, build brand awareness, or engage with your audience? Having a clear set of goals will help guide your decision-making process, identify key metrics to monitor, and stay focused.   Define who your ideal attendees are and tailor your event to their interests, needs, and preferences. This will help guide your marketing strategy, allowing you to select the right channels to reach them and craft messaging that resonates.   Meet potential attendees where they are by utilizing a variety of marketing channels to maximize your event’s visibility. Leverage social media, email marketing, website promotion, blogs, online ads, and traditional media to create buzz and attract attention.   Event management software can help you manage registration, ticketing, and attendee tracking. This will make the planning process more efficient, saving you time so you can focus on other aspects of event planning.   Provide a way for your website visitors to subscribe to event updates and newsletters. Regularly communicate with your subscribers by sharing updates, sneak peeks, and exclusive offers to keep them engaged and excited about attending.   Collaborate with small businesses, industry experts, or organizations that align with your brand values. Co-marketing initiatives, cross-promotions, and shared resources will help expand your event’s reach.   Encourage attendees and participants to share their thoughts and photos on social media using event-specific hashtags. This increases your event’s exposure and creates a sense of community and engagement.   Create buzz before your event by sharing teasers, photos, and exclusive content. During the event, encourage attendees to share their own content. After, follow up with attendees and sponsors to express your gratitude and gather feedback — use this to improve future events and maintain relationships.   Gauge the success of your event marketing efforts by tracking key metrics and analyzing the data collected such as registrations, engagement, social media reach, and post-event surveys. This will help you identify ways to improve future events.   Whether you’re organizing an online webinar or an in-person event, nailing down some best practices can make all the difference in creating a successful and memorable event.   Learn more about events: constantcontact.com/event-marketing ... View more

Have you ever felt like your work doesn’t matter? You’re not appreciated? Someone else can do what you do?   Kim Jones Sneed, owner of Stuff in the Bluff, an award-winning website focused on local news and entertainment in Pine Bluff, Ark., admits to feeling this way often. There have been many times she wanted to throw in the towel.   But what’s kept her going for over 20 years is feeling like she’s serving a purpose greater than just making money.   “It’s people who help you succeed,” Kim says. “Many times, it’s just that faithful customer who will continue to do business with you, who has the faith to take a chance.”   Community has played a key role in Kim’s longevity, and she returns the favor by treating every single customer with the same care, pride, and enthusiasm.   On this episode of the Be a Marketer Podcast, host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, talks to Kim about persevering through the tough times, uplifting a community through marketing, and sending emails multiple times daily.   👉 Check out the Constant Contact Community   Meet Today’s Guest: Kim Jones Sneed of Stuff in the Bluff   ☕ What she does: Kim owns Stuff in the Bluff, an award-winning website focused on local news and entertainment in Pine Bluff, Ark.   💡 Key quote: “Running a small business can be something that can really reach beyond barriers, walls, limitations.”   👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn   👋 Where to find Stuff in the Bluff: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions. ... View more

Taking an omni-channel approach to your marketing is so important to make sure you’re delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. With the help of automation, you can attract, engage, and grow your customer list through timely marketing messages across the channels that resonate best with your customers. We're taking the most popular questions from our latest New & Next webinar and expanding upon them so you can better understand how to automate your marketing in a way that is impactful for both your business and your customers. If you missed the session with our Chief Product Officer, Russ, and SVP of User Experience, Jerry, watch the full recorded webinar below.     Need some help setting up your own automation paths? Have a question left over from the webinar? Leave your questions or automated path examples on our Automation Help page so our team can help you out!   New & Next, Easier Automation for Your Marketing: Questions and Answers are below!   Automation     Q: Is automation part of the Constant Contact subscription or an additional cost? How do I know if our account level includes Automated Path Builder? A: Automation is part of each plan (Lite, Standard, Premium) with varying levels of capability. Check out our feature comparison page for specifics.   Q: I need help setting up paths with the automated path builder for my business. Do you have any examples or use cases that I can reference? A: Visit our Community to get help with your automation! Our team is ready to help you out, and we’ve provided some helpful best practices and use cases that might inspire your work.   Q: If someone subscribed for both text and email, can you get them to receive both in an automated path? A: Yes! You can set up an automation path to send both a text and email message.    Q: Does this Nurture chain start all at the same time for every contact OR will it be contact specific so that it starts whenever they get added to a group or list to start that trigger? A: Automation events are contact-specific. As a contact performs an action, like joining a list, the automation would then kickoff for that contact individually.    Q: Can you set an end date for an automation (for example, set the automation end to be the date the grand opening event happens)? A: While you can’t set an end date, you can set up time delays to ensure that your messaging starts and stops within a certain time period after a contact enters the automation. Otherwise, we recommend deactivating the automation on the desired end date.   Q: When you set a time delay on your automation, is that delay automatically applied to new subscribers?  A: The time delay will be applied to the contacts who have not passed that point in your workflow. If others join the automation further down your funnel, they will not be affected.    Q: When you create a new automation -  do all of your existing customers that meet the criteria get engaged immediately? A: Existing and new contacts will be added to the automation when they meet the trigger criteria. Let’s say that the automation trigger is "contact added to List A". When an existing or new contact is added to List A, they will enter the automation path.   Q: How can I automatically move a contact from one list (say a welcome series) to another list (like a general newsletter subscriber list) after they finish the welcome series path? A: A contact enters an automation when they meet the trigger criteria. At this time, automation paths do not have the ability to update a contact’s list membership.   Q: I've only seen conditional branching for contact activity as click - will there be updates soon for if a contact opens an email? A: Conditional splits evaluate for email and sms clicks, SMS subscription, and shopping activity such as number of orders placed or total amount spent to date.   Q: In the automated workflow, there was a time delay option. Does that include the option to send out emails at a specified date/time from sign-up, as opposed to hours/days after the action is taken? A: Time delays are relative to the moment the contact enters the automation path and are not set to a specific date/time.   Events     Q: When can I access the new Events tool? A: We’re excited to provide all of our customers with access to the latest Event marketing tool before the end of August!    Q: How does the new Events tool improve on the old one? What does the Events tool allow me to do? A: The new events tool improves your experience for everything you need to create, manage, and promote your event. Check out this knowledge base article for more details.   Q: Does the event tool also have a way to keep track of attendance during a live event? Is there a way I can check people in? A: Coming soon, we will offer the ability to:  View the Registrants report under the “Reporting” tab to view all of your event’s registered guests  Manage an individual or multiple registrants’ order status (Canceled, Registered, Checked-in)  Check-in support using QR code scanner in the CTCT Mobile App Export your reports to see who registered versus who attended an event    Q: How does Constant Contact’s new Events tool compare to Eventbrite? A: Constant Contact’s Event marketing tool is comparable to Eventbrite in the use cases we support and features that are offered that help you Create > Manage > and Promote your event. Use Constant Contact as your all-in-one marketing tool (without the need to pay for and manage multiple platforms) for collecting, managing, growing and connecting with your contact lists. Unlike Eventbrite who charges for every ticket that is purchased, our Event platform and payment processing fees are charged at an order-level, resulting in more revenue for you!    Q: What is the cost to use event payment through Constant Contact? A: Constant Contact charges a usage/platform fee for Event marketing at a competitive 2.9% per paid order transacted using our system. We offer digital payment processing with PayPal, which has their own separate transaction fees that are charged at an order level.   Q: Does the event platform handle USD and CAD currency? A: WePay supports USD payments while our PayPal integration offers support for 20+ currencies, including USD & CAD!    AI     Q: How careful do you need to be when using the AI tool and entering information about your organization to build out a newsletter? Are there any security/safety measures set up with the AI in Constant Contact? A: We have security measures built into how we generate content, but it's still best practice to make sure you don’t include any information in your email content that you don’t want out in the public.   Q: Is the AI content generator available for all users? Is there an additional charge to use the AI content generator? A: AI content Generator is available in all packages at no additional charge.   Q: Using the AI, can it create emails based on templates we have used in the past? A: While we don’t currently offer that feature, we are exploring the best ways to improve our AI technology for email templates.   Q: Can the AI content generator obtain a tone from a previously made content? A: At the moment, our AI content tool only offers the ability to create content using pre-defined tones.   Q: When using the AI Content creator, how can a Constant Contact user ensure a uniquely worded message? A: While we can’t guarantee a completely unique message, the content is generated against billions of other messages so the likelihood of ever seeing a duplicate message is extremely low. Plus, you can always use the AI content generator as a starting point from which to further edit and personalize your content. Q: I am just starting to build lists. How do I send emails asking people to subscribe without their upfront permission to be sent emails? A: Great question! Check out our guide on the best ways to  get permission to email your contacts.   Q: Does Constant Contact integrate with my CRM? A: Check out the Integrations tab on your Constant Contact dashboard to see what software currently integrates with our platform.   ... View more

  Starting a pizzeria at age 22 might seem ill-advised — and even though Mike Bausch did it, he frankly wouldn’t advise anyone else to do the same.    But the now-owner of Andolini’s Pizza bases his customer experience on one big concept: “If you’re not impressive, by default, you’re unimpressive.” Process standardization and careful staff training provide a killer customer experience, a core part of Andolini’s brand.    With marketing, Mike wants you to appeal to the individual.    “The number one headline of marketing is connecting to the selfishness of an individual,” he says. “What the value is to them is how you have a value proposition.”   In other words, focus on what you can give the customer and how you can appeal to their why, not why you want them to choose your business. It’s about them — not you.    On this episode of the Constant Contact podcast, Be a Marketer, Mike shares what he’s learned since opening his first pizzeria in 2005 with host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact.    👉 Check out the full recording of the panel discussion featuring Mike Bausch, Candid Conversations: Celebrating Small Business Success   Meet Today’s Guest: Mike Bausch of Andolini’s Pizzeria   ☕ What he does: Mike of Andolini’s Worldwide Restaurant Group is a pizza restaurateur in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He started his first restaurant, Andolini’s Pizzeria, in 2005 at the age of 22.    💡 Key quote: “That’s where the real secret sauce is [in marketing]: automation and connection.”   👋 Where to find him: Book | Instagram | LinkedIn 👋 Where to find Andolini’s Pizzeria: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube ... View more

Evolve Your Marketing   Because digital marketing is constantly evolving and developing, small business marketers are presented with a unique opportunity — the opportunity to level up their marketing game and add new, impactful strategies to the mix. Solid, ongoing email, social, and text messaging strategies can help build relationships and create success — but what’s out there to help you understand your customers, personalize your messaging even further, and reach them in their preferred online locations?   In this three-part series, we’ll be hitting on three big ways small business marketers can take their marketing efforts from status quo to something truly spectacular through automation, personalization, and more.       Make it Easy and Scalable   The work of optimizing and fine-tuning your marketing is never done — after all, your audience is unique and constantly changing. But as a small business owner or marketer, your time is in short supply, making it a challenge to get to all the things you know can make a difference in your marketing.   Digital marketing automation can help take some of the sting (and the time commitment) out of your marketing, of course. But how can you automate something that’s different for each and every customer? The answer is the perfect combo of customization and automation: custom automations for your marketing.   Custom Automated Marketing Paths   What are custom automations and how do they work?   A welcome series is a basic marketing automation that you are likely familiar with — when a contact opts in to hear from a business, they then receive a series of emails, spaced out over a period of time, welcoming them to the mailing or text messaging list and educating them about the company and its goods or services.   With custom automations, automated email flows can be crafted to be more sophisticated and tailored to the customer by using delays, triggers, and conditional splits.   A trigger is a behavior or action a customer takes that kicks off a messaging workflow, such as subscribing to a list, having a birthday, clicking on an email link, or placing an order. A delay is the time between the trigger and when the message is sent. This can be any time period from minutes all the way up to months after the initial trigger. Conditional splits are moments in your digital marketing automation where a contact’s next communications are determined by their actions and information. Based on these splits, your users are segmented and sent down different messaging paths tailored to their activity. Splits can be based on things such as contact details, engagement activity, location, and interests.   When combined, triggers, delays, and splits determine when an email or text messaging series starts, how much time passes before they receive a communication, and how those communications change and personalize in response to their activity.   How does this help me?   Custom automations can help you achieve the best of all worlds, customizing your outreach for your business and its needs while also providing timely, relevant, and personalized content for your customers. This provides a number of benefits, including:   ✓ Time savings ✓ Consistent messaging ✓ Increased engagement ✓ Relationship building   Even in the most finely-tuned marketing plan, there is always room for marketers to improve by paying careful attention to their customers and nurturing those important relationships through evolving, personalized communications.   However, as all small business owners and marketers know, time is the hardest thing to come by when operating your business — which means constantly streamlining, automating, and improving your marketing efforts in order to run efficiently.   Adopting new tools and technologies that allow you to foster your valuable relationships across hundreds or even thousands of customers, prospects, and other supporters can take your current marketing from “good” to “great,” all while delighting your customers and saving you time. ... View more

Opening up about our personal lives via email isn’t easy, especially with people we may not talk to on a daily basis.   Marianne Mernick-Sullivan, President of Consignments Ltd, discovered that when she made a personal declaration in her weekly newsletter, it changed how her audience saw her. She wasn’t just a business, but a person just like you and me.   “I wrote about my reasons for gratitude, and it was totally off-topic,” she says. “I had people crying, saying to me, I’m so glad you shared that. My brother’s a diabetic, or I’ve had a health challenge. It just opens the customer relationship up to something bigger.”    Listen this week to hear Marianne talk about the importance of community connection, why you should have high standards for your business, and how to hire the right people.   ... View more

  Opening up about our personal lives via email isn’t easy, especially with people we may not talk to on a daily basis.    Marianne Mernick-Sullivan, President of Consignments Ltd., had difficulty getting personal in her weekly newsletter. She stuck to interior design and what was on sale in her store. But once she opened up about being a type 1 diabetic, she built a new connection with her customers.   “I wrote about my reasons for gratitude, and it was totally off-topic,” she says. “I had people crying, saying to me, I'm so glad you shared that. My brother's a diabetic, or I've had a health challenge. It just opens the customer relationship up to something bigger.”   Marianne was no longer just a shop owner to her customers—she was a person. She didn’t intend to share openly as a strategy, but it became a great tool to connect her business to her customers.    On this episode of Constant Contact’s Be a Marketer podcast, host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, talks to Marianne about the importance of community connection, why you should have high standards for your business, and how to hire the right people.   👉 How to create a survey page   Meet Today’s Guest: Marianne Mernick-Sullivan of Consignments Ltd. ☕ What she does: Marianne is the President of Consignments Ltd. Her 6,400-square-foot brick-and-mortar store sells furniture, lighting, china, handbags, and jewelry to customers in Rhode Island.    💡 Key quote: “I was basically told, This is the most stupid idea that a person has ever had, and you're going to lose this money on this. It sounds hokey, but if you believe in it and you're willing to work hard at it, you have to be willing to go for it.”   👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn   👋 Where to find Consignments Ltd.: Website | Facebook | Instagram If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions. ... View more

Evolve Your Marketing   Because digital marketing is constantly evolving and developing, small business marketers are presented with a unique opportunity — the opportunity to level up their marketing game and add new, impactful strategies to the mix. Solid, ongoing email, social, and text messaging strategies can help build relationships and create success — but what’s out there to help you understand your customers, personalize your messaging even further, and reach them in their preferred online locations?   In this three-part series, we’ll be hitting on three big ways small business marketers can take their marketing efforts from status quo to something truly spectacular through automation, personalization, and more.     Get on Your Customers' Level   So once you know and understand your customers, what’s next? Understanding them doesn’t matter if you don’t communicate with them in a way that demonstrates that understanding. One-size-fits-all marketing can feel inauthentic and fall flat, but by adding personal touches to your email and text messages, you can build relationships at scale — quickly, easily, and without having to create dozens of custom emails each time you reach out to your audience.   Here are ways to take what you know about your customers and turn it into something that speaks to them personally.   Dynamic Content   What is dynamic content and how does it work in email?   Every business wants its content to be dynamic — that is, energetic, stimulating, and progressive. But in digital marketing, dynamic content is content that changes based on the user before they ever interact with it at all.   This means you can create and send all your contacts a single email, but by adding dynamic content blocks, you can include content that changes based on your contacts’ information stored in standard and custom fields within your database. Depending on what information you set out to gather from your contacts, you can use dynamic content to personalize your email in more refined, more specific ways. Dynamic information can be simple things like name and geographical location all the way up to complex things like product preferences and donor status, depending on your database.   A great example of this would be a gardening center asking users about their preferences when they sign up: Do they plant more flowers or food plants? Do they like houseplants or luscious landscaping? Then they can use a dynamic content block in their newsletter to display a coupon targeted exactly to their users’ preferences. One on-sale orchid, coming right up!   How does this help me take my marketing to the next level?   Ultimately, the success or failure of your marketing hinges on a single factor: whether your audience responds to it. Personalizing your outreach is one way to ensure you’re reaching the right people with the right message, and that they feel the message was fully intended for them.   Search Engine Optimization (SEO)   What is search engine optimization (SEO) and how does it work?   For instance, this could mean the difference between saying “American pub-style restaurant” on your website and sa   ying “Modern pub serving American cuisine, with an expansive menu including burgers, hot wings, steak dinners, and homemade desserts.”   How does this help me take my marketing to the next level?   If you’re not an SEO expert, then it can be difficult to look at your website and see where you can make improvements. But using tools that can assess the copy and content of your website as a whole and create scoring, insights, and recommendations can be a quick, easy way to make certain you see where improvements can be made — and where you can provide your customers the exact information they need to make a decision.   Unlike other forms of content personalization, SEO efforts work to make sure you’re speaking to the right audience before they reach your website, and help you deliver the experience they expect, boosting both their knowledge and their perception of your business.   Ecommerce Segmentation   What is custom segmentation and how does it work?   Custom segmentation is the practice of creating more advanced groups of customers based on their interactions with your business. For ecommerce businesses in particular, this segmentation is based on buyer behavior.   This segmentation works hand-in-hand with your online store provider (like Shopify, WooCommerce, and others), utilizing information generated during the shopping process to create customer segments. These can be basic criteria (like whether a customer has placed an order) or more advanced (like how much a customer has spent, or what specific products they purchased). Some providers even provide individual spending projections, allowing you to segment your digital marketing to that, as well.   Ultimately, how you segment your audience as an ecommerce business is dependent on the amount of information you get — so the more thoroughly you can integrate your shop into your digital marketing (and vice versa), the more sophisticated and impactful your outreach can become.   How does this help me?   Loyal customers are the backbone of any retail business, and ecommerce is no different. By talking to your customers about how they buy, what they want, and what they need not only ensures engagement and future purchases, but also lets your customers know you’re paying attention to their relationship with you, and that how they shop with you matters.   This type of segmentation can help you to create personalized product recommendations, impactful win-back campaigns, and long-lived loyalty programs. Get on your customers’ level and you’ll find they’ll want to stay on yours, too!   Have questions? Let us know below! If you have any experience with dynamic content, SEO, and ecommerce segmentation we'd love to hear your success stories! ... View more

Evolve Your Marketing   Because digital marketing is constantly evolving and developing, small business marketers are presented with a unique opportunity — the opportunity to level up their marketing game and add new, impactful strategies to the mix. Solid, ongoing email, social, and text messaging strategies can help build relationships and create success — but what’s out there to help you understand your customers, personalize your messaging even further, and reach them in their preferred online locations?   In this three-part series, we’ll be hitting on three big ways small business marketers can take their marketing efforts from status quo to something truly spectacular through automation, personalization, and more.     Understand Your Audience   Business owners of all experience levels have one key thing in common: it’s absolutely critical that they understand their audience in order to attract them, engage them, and nurture a valuable relationship with them. Reporting and analytics tools that provide insight into metrics like opens, sends, and clicks allowed marketers to see how their outreach was working, and to improve when it wasn’t.   But understanding the customer has come a long way since then, allowing for deeper insights into customer engagement and behavior. You might be keeping an eye out on basic metrics, but here are helpful tools to dig deeper that you should be using to give your campaigns (and your business) that extra edge.   Heat Map Reporting   What is heat map and how does it work?   Just like a meteorological heat map that shows "hot spots" in the hottest part of the area, a heat map for web or email will show you where users clicked the most.   For emails, this means seeing at a glance the top links that your readers engaged with. With a quick scroll, you can follow your readers' footsteps and see where they stopped to click into your images, calls to action (CTAs), and even footer links.   How does this help me?   Obviously, if you put links in your email, they’re there for your readers to click, right? But not all links are created equally, and understanding what your readers gravitate toward can tell you a lot about your email content and how to improve it.   Are the majority of your clicks somewhere other than where you really wanted them? Your CTAs may not be clear enough or compelling enough. Is there no clear pattern of clicks? You may have too many links in your email, creating confusion, or too few links, driving no action at all. Are all your clicks occurring too early in the email, well above where the real content is? Your copy and design may be too long, making your readers stop scrolling. Are most of your clicks in the footer, on links like “unsubscribe” or “privacy policy”? The content you are sending may not be what your customers expect, or your emails may be occurring too frequently.   Checking these often and comparing them from email to email (in addition to using features like email comparison reporting and A/B testing) can help you to fine-tune your approach to fit what truly delights and engages your customers.   Revenue Reporting   What is revenue reporting and how does it work?   If you run an ecommerce business, you already closely monitor your sales and revenue. But do you know where your sales are coming from? This can be key to understanding customer behavior. With revenue reporting tied to your digital marketing, sales that can be attributed to your campaigns are automatically reflected in your analytics with their respective emails. This attribution accounts for activities like direct clicks to your storefront from a campaign, or purchases in a set time period after communications are opened.   How does this help me?   Greater visibility into your revenue streams is always a good thing for a retailer. But by looking at which campaigns generate revenue, and comparing them to one another, you can begin to see a bigger picture about what communications are effective and how to expand on that success.   By evaluating your campaigns through a revenue reporting lens, you can begin to take a closer look at things like:   Content. Evaluating your copy, photo links, coupons and other content from a revenue lens can help you determine efficacy and improve for the future. Timing. Everything from time of day to time of year can influence shoppers and their wallets. Template and design. As you experiment with templates and designs, you may start to see emergent trends in the revenue generation tied to these aesthetic changes.   Regardless of where you see positive or negative trends, these things can and should inform how you craft and send your sales-driving communications to your customers. Lean into what’s working and try something new for what’s not!   We want to hear from you! What are some takeaways you've gotten from reviewing your reporting? ... View more

Generative AI isn’t Constant Contact’s first foray into the use of AI, but it is our biggest leap yet!   Applying our years of experience to some of the core underlying technology of ChatGPT, our new AI Content Generator channels our ability to train artificial intelligence to save time by creating highly-effective written text and email generation.   “I really think that our innovation team has taken a thoughtful approach to being bot innovative and cutting edge, but also prudent,” says Russ Morton, Chief Product Officer at Constant Contact.   Russ joins the show this week to discuss how to create content that resonates with the click of a button and our company’s vision for the future of AI.   ... View more

  Generative AI is all the rage right now. Tools like ChatGPT and Bard have become content creators’ best friends. But companies like Constant Contact have used AI for many years for tasks like A/B testing email subject lines, send-time optimization, and email subject line suggestions.   Russ Morton, Chief Product Officer at Constant Contact, says generative AI is just a part of what we’re doing in the space.    “We have trained our AI such that if you give us a couple of sentences of what you’re trying to do — it doesn’t even need to be in plain English — we’ll come back to you with a really well-crafted email,” he says.   And early results show that the engagement you can get from working with our AI-generated content will only increase.   On this episode of Constant Contact’s Be a Marketer podcast, host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, talks to Russ about how we’re taking the guesswork out of email, tips for creating content that resonates with the click of a button, and Constant Contact’s vision for the future of AI.   👉 How to update your business profile in your Constant Contact account 👉 Use a recommended subject line in your Constant Contact email 👉 A/B test an email subject line 👉 Using AI-generated content as a small business marketer   Meet Today’s Guest: Russ Morton of Constant Contact   ☕ What he does: Russ is the Chief Product Officer at Constant Contact.   💡 Key quote: “There's no part of becoming a great marketer that we don’t aspire to take off your shoulders as a small business owner.”   👋 Where to find him: LinkedIn   👋 Where to find Constant Contact: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions. ... View more

  Paul Baik, President of Paul’s Beauty Warehouse, believes in taking a holistic approach to business relationships in the beauty biz. It’s never just about the customer. It’s also about vendors, employees, and the customer’s customers. That’s why he considers his business a “circle of joy.”   “We wanted to focus not on making money, but making people beautiful … We look at everything holistically now,” Paul says. And that means looking at the bigger picture by exploring what parts of the job his team does, what parts of the job his customers do, and what parts of the job his vendors do.    Paul’s Beauty Warehouse serves hairstylists, barbers, and trade schools in the Maryland/D.C./Virginia area. A “Costco for beauty” since 2006, Paul operates out of three locations and educates stylists through the company’s education program. Over the years, as his business has grown, he’s learned a few lessons.   In the early years, Paul ran a lean team consisting of his mother and just one other employee. Now he oversees 45 employees across all locations. One thing he’s learned is that customer service-driven people make the best team members. This rang especially true for Paul during 2020, as his team stepped up to pivot during closures in the hair care industry. With the help of his dedicated team, he was able to quickly begin offering online ordering and curbside pickup.     On this episode of Constant Contact’s Be a Marketer podcast, host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, talks to Paul about the challenges and victories of serving the haircare industry and why email marketing plays an important role.    Meet Today’s Guest: Paul Baik of Paul’s Beauty Warehouse   ☕ What he does: Founded in 2006, Paul’s Beauty Warehouse serves hairstylists, barbers, and trade schools over three locations in the Maryland/D.C./Virginia area. Paul focuses on providing his customers with the highest quality hair care products.    💡 Key quote: “Just do it. Start it. Email is still very relevant. Get the email out consistently to customers every week. Share anything that your business is all about. It's something that all businesses should do.”   👋 Where to find Paul: LinkedIn 👋 Where to find Paul’s Beauty Warehouse: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions. ... View more

When you want to create a successful business, it’s important to not just focus on making money. When you focus on all the parts of a business that form the bigger picture, like Paul Baik of Paul’s Beauty Warehouse, success will follow.   It’s never just about the customer. It’s also about vendors, employees, and the customer’s customers. That’s why Paul considers his business a “circle of joy.”   “We wanted to focus not on making money, but making people beautiful… We look at everything holistically now,” Paul says.   Give this week’s episode a listen and hear Paul talk about the challenges and victories of serving the haircare industry and why email marketing plays an important role.   ... View more

Marketing doesn’t have to be an obnoxious task you dread. Many small business owners are uncomfortable talking about themselves and their work with the public. Create an Instagram Reel? With me on camera? No, thank you.   According to Nicole Stevenson, CEO and Creative Director of Dear Handmade Life, it’s not about you. It’s about your message.   “I can’t serve my community if nobody knows about me,” she says.   Dear Handmade Life curates events, education, and community for creatives and small business owners. During her time as CEO, Nicole has done many things that made her uncomfortable. Marketing is one of those things. In her work with other small business owners, she finds this attitude toward marketing is pretty common.    Sharing your story is essential to building a community. And for Nicole, that community is everything.   “I would not have a business without this community that we’ve curated,” she says.   On this episode of Be a Marketer, Nicole and host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, discuss being more open to new systems and technologies, creating processes to complete your big tasks, and why it’s important to sit back and appreciate yourself once in a while.   👉 Marketing for Makers Summit, July 11 & 12, 2023 👉 How to Create a Custom Landing Page with Constant Contact   Meet Today’s Guest: Nicole Stevenson of Dear Handmade Life ☕ What Nicole does: Nicole is the CEO and creative director of Dear Handmade Life, which helps curate events, education and community for small business owners.   💡 Nicole’s key quote: “Don't wait ‘til you're ready. Just dive in and get started. Just build that list. Do not only rely on Instagram or social media. Just don't do it. You've got to focus on email marketing as well.”   👋 Where to find Nicole: Instagram 👋 Where to find Dear Handmade Life: Website | Podcast | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest ... View more

How do you compete with giants? Ed Bernstein, President of 25Score, a loyalty program local to Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley in California, has some ideas.   When some of your biggest competitors are Groupon and LivingSocial, it’s important to hone in on what your program does best, be efficient in your processes, and build a reputation that rallies your community around you.   Despite the aforementioned competitors and a pandemic that saw many of his vendors closed temporarily, Ed’s managed to keep his business up-and-running.   Tune in this week to hear how Ed’s approach to solving problems with abundant thinking helps him compete with the big names by bringing his clients as much value as possible.   ... View more

It’s possible you’re one moment away from that push that will propel you towards your goals. Lisa Hammer and Dave Newman met while working for different companies and bonded over the shared challenges they faced as managers. After establishing a group to discuss handling personnel issues, it was one comment from one of the participants that pushed them to launch their own company: “You two are so passionate about this. Why aren’t you teaching it?”   Thus, Leadership Techniques LLC was born. The company offers courses and consulting to help people become better managers and leaders. What’s the secret? Love what you do, even if what you do isn’t always easy.   Tune in this week to hear about how Lisa and Dave share business responsibilities, how to adapt to change, and why they love email marketing as a tool for growing their business.   ... View more

When Ricky Carruth first got into real estate, it was all about the money. Close the deal and move on. After the market crash in 2008, Ricky had to build himself back up and reevaluate what success meant for him. His new approach? It’s all about the people.   Ricky used email marketing to help build relationships with his customers and stay in touch, long after the sale. He wasn’t satisfied with simply working in real estate, though, and launched the world’s first, free real estate coaching program called Zero to Diamond.   This week, Ricky and Dave talk about his approach to staying top of mind and building relationships through email marketing. Listen to the full conversation to hear the full scoop on how Ricky got into real estate and how he’s managed his success (with a few bumps along the way), as well as his top advice for aspiring real estate agents trying to grow their business.   ... View more

What will it take to make your business successful? Everything, potentially. That didn’t deter Sonja Rasula, founder and owner of the large-scale pop-up market company Unique Markets. She believed in her business idea so much, she was willing to empty her 401K to do it.   “I do believe in the idea of go big or go home,” she says. “I wasn't going to create a little market that could happen outdoors in a parking lot. That's already out there. I wanted to create something new. I wanted to disrupt an industry.”   Sonja joins Dave this week to talk about her entrepreneurship journey, her case for using email marketing and not falling into the social media trap, and the importance of self-care for business owners. Did you have an “all or nothing” moment when deciding to start your business?   ... View more

Sending out your first marketing email can seem like a daunting task. You might be asking yourself, “Where do I begin? What should I talk about? Do I even have enough content? Will anyone even care to read?” The good thing is, you probably have more content than you realize. This week’s guest, Ken Countess of Ken is Email, wants to assure his clients that email marketing doesn't have to be complicated. And he should know! Ken has helped many customers up their marketing game over a span of 22 years.   It's important to keep in mind that simple, short and sweet marketing wins over long, drawn-out newsletters. People don't have long attention spans. Focus on your brand and call-to-action. Keep it simple, concise, and build a relationship with your audience over time.   If you're having trouble figuring out how to simplify your message, listen to this week's episode between Ken and Dave for inspiration on how to focus on the content that is most valuable to your customers. Then let us know: do you see better engagement from your shorter emails? Or longer ones?   ... View more

After 30+ years in business as the president and founder of The Research Group, Barbara Gassaway points towards a culture of personal and professional growth for her employees as a major reason for her business’ success. Whether you’re leveraging the help and advice of a mentor to grow or using your own leadership skills to enable your own employees to grow and develop, this idea of lasting personal and professional growth is essential to the evolution of your business. As you grow and develop personally as a small business owner, your business will grow along with you and you’ll become a boss that employees look forward to working with. On the flip side of that, investing in your employees’ growth will make them even better at what they do, which leads to a better experience for your customers. Your business’ growth starts with you, so listen to the full conversation between Barbara and Dave to learn more about investing in yourself and your employees to build and scale.   ... View more

One of the most difficult parts of starting a small business is getting the word out about your product or service. In today’s tech-first world, cutting through the noise has become harder than ever.   That’s why Joan Noe, former Director of Partner Engagement at Senior Options, LLC, made sure that any messaging sent to her lists is both clear and concise. Joan knows that you only have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention, so she uses feedback from her customers to craft messaging that directly resonates with each audience. “Everybody's got a lot of distractions around them from their phones and other devices at all times,” she says. “So you’ve got to get their attention. And you've got to make sure your message is as clear as it can be.” Joan says. Listen to the full episode below to hear  more about how Joan leverages customer feedback to craft clear marketing messages.   ... View more

It’s one thing to build trust with your customers, but it’s another thing completely to give them something for free. For team-building expert and Training Wheels founder Michelle Cummings, the two go hand in hand. Now, Michelle might not be giving away products or courses from her team-building resource company, but she is giving away little pieces of knowledge and expertise in the form of content. Whether it’s through podcasting, weekly newsletters, or a free e-book when new members sign up for that newsletter, Michelle makes sure that a prospect’s first interaction with her brand is one full of value. She takes pride in creating and sharing meaningful content that helps consumers and positions her team as a thought leader in the industry. By doing so, Michelle is building trust with customers and prospects and positioning Training Wheels as the first place to turn to when looking for help with team-building. Michelle sat down with Dave this week to talk more about her marketing approach, so tune in below to listen to the full episode.   ... View more

After hosting our community SMS Sneak Peek virtual event last week, Constant Contact product marketer Hannah Khouri and product manager Zachary Robertson sat down with Dave on a special episode of the Be a Marketer podcast to dive even deeper into why SMS marketing is a must for small businesses.   Aside from learning more about why it’s important to land in your customers’ text message inbox, Hannah and Zach talk through ways to be timely and creative in your messaging. They help explain ways to integrate SMS marketing into your current marketing mix to help you deliver the right message, to the right person, through the right medium, at the right time.   Listen to the full episode now and let us know the creative ways you use (or would like to use) SMS marketing to boost your business.   ... View more