Be A Marketer with Dave Charest

From Colorado ranch life to NFL stardom, Austin Ekeler has built multiple successful ventures through resilience and strategic marketing. In this episode, Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, explores how the Washington Commanders running back applies the same determination to his business ventures as he shows on game day.

As founder and CEO of the Austin Ekeler Foundation and Eksperience content platform, Austin shares how his early marketing efforts yielded diminishing returns until he discovered the power of audience segmentation. "What makes marketing successful? Consistency," Austin explains as he reveals how automated messaging and targeted communication transformed his business relationships.

Austin candidly discusses his $1.2 million tech investment misstep and how that painful lesson shaped his more measured approach to business growth. His marketing journey began with simple email collection during his Twitch streaming days and gradually evolved as he expanded into multiple ventures, including real estate projects and an investment fund.

Whether renovating high school weight rooms through his foundation or helping athletes connect with fans via Eksperience, Austin demonstrates how proper audience segmentation builds authentic relationships. His methodical approach offers a practical blueprint: start small, test strategies, learn from setbacks, and thoughtfully implement technology to maintain personal connections at scale - a balance of automation and hands-on engagement that any business can adapt for their marketing efforts.

Additional resources:

• Create and Manage tags
• Use the Automation Path Builder to add or remove tags from your contacts
• Automatically send a series of emails when a contact joins your list

Meet Today's Guest: Austin Ekeler of the Washington Commanders and the Austin Ekeler Foundation

🏈 What he does: Austin Ekeler is the current running back for the Washington Commanders. He's also an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of multiple business ventures, including the Austin Ekeler Foundation, which renovates weight rooms in high schools nationwide, and Eksperience, a content management platform for athletes and organizations. 

💡 Key quote: "I think it's important to know that the journey doesn't stop and it's not an unsuccessful journey if your business is not successful. I think it's only an unsuccessful journey in the business world, entrepreneurial world, if you don't take the lessons that are learned from your wins and from your losses."

👋 Where to find him: Website | X, formerly known as Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

👋 Where to find Eksperience: Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

👋 Where to find Austin Ekeler Foundation: Website | Instagram | Facebook 

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

What happens when you take your marketing questions directly to the source, live and in person? You get real, unfiltered conversations with small business owners tackling everything from email strategy to AI content creation.

To celebrate National Small Business Week, Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, hit the road for live Q&As at Small Business Expo events in Boston and NYC. In this special “Ask Dave” edition of Be a Marketer, he answers real questions from real business owners on the spot.

In this conversation, you’ll hear insights on how to get started with marketing when you’re new to it, ways to clean up and grow your email list, how introverts can build a content strategy that feels natural, and how to use automation, segmentation, and AI to stay consistent without burning out. Whether you’re running a solo business or building a growing team, you’ll walk away with honest, tactical advice straight from the field.

Additional Resources:

• Getting started with Constant Contact
• Understanding contact segmentation
• Schedule and send an email
• Create a Social Post and schedule it to publish on social media
• Create and activate an event
• Automatically send a series of emails when a contact joins your list
• "Ask a Trainer" Daily Drop-In Sessions
• Kickbox integration with Constant Contact
• Keeping clean contact lists
• View the location of your clicks in the Email Heat Map
• Use the Content Generator to write email, landing page, social, and SMS content for you
• SCORE

Meet Today’s Guest:

This episode features a wide range of small business owners who stepped up to the mic during our live Q&A sessions at the Constant Contact booth. From marketing agencies and HR consultants to spa owners, content creators, and market researchers, these entrepreneurs brought their most pressing marketing questions to the table.

In their conversation with Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, each offered a different perspective on the small business journey. You’ll hear thoughtful questions about finding your audience, creating content that feels true to who you are, staying consistent with marketing efforts, and making technology work for you, not the other way around.

As Sophie put it: “I’m trying to figure out the best way to connect with people when I’m stuck in that introverted way.” That moment captured exactly what this episode is about, meeting business owners where they are, and helping them build confidence and clarity with every step forward.

These conversations were recorded live at the Small Business Expo events in Boston and NYC.

Aleah Carter: Marketing professional at Jillian Circus, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Long Island, NY 

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn

David Williams: Founder of Triton Talent Solutions, an HR consulting firm focused on recruiting for small businesses 

👋 Where to find him: LinkedIn

Sophie Lee: Founder of a multimedia production company

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn

Tatiana Guerrero: Director at Diamond Aesthetics Academy and co-owner of Diamond Skin and Body Spa in the North Shore area 

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn

Alice Sungurov: Freelance content and marketing consultant exploring a business in art licensing 

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn

James Saunders: Founder of EventAndTravel.com, a long-time event and travel professional based in NYC

👋 Where to find him: Instagram

Rob Hebron: Commercial real estate broker and third-generation partner in a family-owned firm

👋 Where to find him: LinkedIn

Martha Hayward: Founder of Bird Dog Insights, a market research company helping businesses better understand their customers

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

Four hours per week. That's all Mike Allton needs to run a content machine that includes newsletters, blogs, and multiple podcasts. As an AI strategist, podcast host, and chief storyteller at Agorapulse, Mike has mastered the art of efficiency.

His secret? A strategic blend of AI tools and email marketing automation that turns one piece of content into many, all while building deeper connections with his 45,000+ subscribers.

"AI is not a tool. It's a technology. It's an underpinning to everything that we're doing today. It's like electricity or the Internet," Mike explains on this episode of Be A Marketer.

In his conversation with Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, Mike reveals his approach to creating high-quality content at scale and how his open rates increased by 100% after switching to Constant Contact.

He also shares practical ways to use AI as a collaborative partner in marketing and explains why welcome emails and segmentation are crucial to email marketing success.

Additional Resources:

• AI Content Generator
• Automatically Generate a Marketing Campaign
• Agorapulse podcast episode with Dave Charest (Three Actions That Drive Small Business Marketing Success)
• Create a Segment of Contacts
• Grow Your Contact List With Sign-Up Forms
• Using Click Segmentation in an Email
• Resend to Non-openers
• Create and Manage an Automated Welcome Email

Meet Today’s Guest: Mike Allton of The Social Media Hat and Agorapulse

🎯 What he does: Mike Allton is an AI strategist and podcast host at The Social Media Hat, as well as the chief storyteller at Agorapulse, a social media management tool. He has spent over a decade in digital marketing, helping marketers make sense of blogging, SEO, social media, and now AI.

💡 Key quote: "We are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, the AI revolution, where everything we do and know as a society is literally changing. And that's not just hype, that's actually what's happening right now."

👋 Where to find him: X, formerly known as Twitter | LinkedIn  | YouTube | Instagram  

👋 Where to find The Social Media Hat: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

👋 Where to find The Agorapulse: Website | Instagram | X, formerly known as Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

Have you ever wondered why some of your emails land in the inbox while others mysteriously vanish? The secret to successful email marketing isn't just what you send, it's who you're sending to. The foundation of effective email marketing starts with how you build and maintain your list.

Jennifer Nespola Lantz, VP of Deliverability and Industry Relations at Kickbox, brings over 15 years of expertise to this critical aspect of digital marketing. What began as an accidental career shift has blossomed into a passion for improving email deliverability and helping businesses connect reliably with their customers.

"Consent is number one. And this consent needs to be clear and conspicuous so that when somebody gives you their address, they know exactly who they're giving it to, what they're getting in return, and how often," Jennifer emphasizes on this episode of Be a Marketer.

On this episode, Jennifer joins host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact to explore why growing your email list the right way matters more than growing it fast, how to protect your list from bots and bad data, and what email verification does for your business's reputation.

Additional Resources:

• Integrating with Constant Contact
• Install a Contact Sign-Up Form on a Website
• What is a DMARC Policy and Why Do I Need One?
• Collect new sign-ups with a Lead Generation Landing Page
• Create a Segment of Contacts by Choosing Specific Criteria
• 🎧 What You Can Do to Avoid the Junk Folder With Jon Marburger and Tara Natanson

Meet Today’s Guest: Jennifer Nespola Lantz of Kickbox

✉️ What she does: Jennifer is the Vice President of Deliverability and Industry Relations at Kickbox, an email verification and deliverability service based in Texas. She leads Kickbox's consulting team, helping businesses improve the quality of their email lists and ensure their messages get delivered. She's been doing email marketing for over 15 years.

💡 Key quote: "An unsubscribe, though, is a much more desirable action than a spam complaint. I think we tend to forget that there are people on the other end of that email."

👋 Where to find Jennifer:  X, formerly known as Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

👋 Where to find Kickbox: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | GitHub | X, formerly known as Twitter

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

A section of a train in his basement isn't the most interesting thing about Jason Shron. It's how he turned an obsession with model trains into a thriving international business — simply by being himself. In fact, he left his PhD program in art history to pursue his passion full-time.

Jason, two decades later, is the president of Rapido Trains Inc., Canada's largest manufacturer of high-end model trains, with operations in North America and the UK.

Rapido is built on a foundation of attention to detail and radical transparency. "If we screw up, we just tell people," Jason explains on this episode of Be a Marketer. "Being totally straight with customers has transformed how they connect with our brand."

What can small business owners learn from a company that achieves 81% email open rates? On this episode, Jason and host Dave Charest unpack how obsessive honesty drives customer loyalty, why embracing your passion is marketing magic, and the incredible ROI of knowing your audience.

Tune in to discover how your business can harness Constant Contact tools to build deeper customer connections and resonate with your audience.

Additional Resources:

• Overview: Email resend options
• Understanding contact segmentation
• Install a contact sign-up form on a website
• Create a sign-up landing page 

Meet Today’s Guest: Jason Shron of Rapido Trains Inc.

🚂 What he does: Jason Shron is the president of Rapido Trains Inc., Canada's largest manufacturer of high-end model trains and accessories. After leaving his PhD program in art history to pursue his passion, he built an international company with operations in North America and the UK. Fun fact: He has a 20-foot section of a real train in his basement.

💡 Key quote: "We want to tell people what's going on, and there will be people who are not reasonable… But that honesty, I think, is very important. And the newsletters are a great way. It's a direct way to communicate with the end customer."

👋 Where to find Jason: LinkedIn | Instagram

👋 Where to find Rapido Trains Inc.: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | TikTok

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

Building your business on social media is like renting a house—you've decorated it beautifully, but the landlord can change the rules anytime. Your email list, however, is property you own outright. This distinction can make or break a small business when platforms change algorithms or face potential bans.

In this episode, Dave Charest speaks with Constant Contact product leaders Jesus Flores, Product Manager focused on audience growth; Ryan Burke, Director of Product specializing in small business growth; and Mike Crawford, Senior Product Manager responsible for the contacts experience. They discuss the risks of relying solely on social media for marketing and why building a contact list you actually own is the foundation of sustainable marketing.

"Owning your audience means having a direct line of communication with people who have explicitly shown interest in your brand, typically through an email list without a dependency on a governing social platform," explains Jesus. "It's your list, you own it. You can carry it from platform to platform."

The team discusses how businesses can convert social followers into email subscribers, introduces Constant Contact's new Lead Magnet tool, and explains how contact data helps create more effective marketing campaigns.

Whether you're just starting to build your contact list or looking to better leverage your existing contacts, this episode offers actionable strategies to help turn audience growth into business growth.

Additional Resources:

• Create a Facebook and Instagram Ad
• Create a Pop-Up Contact Sign-Up Form for Your Website
• Create a QR code from a URL
• Create a Google Ad with Kliken
• Using Contact Lists, Tags, and Segments Based on Your List Size
• Overview: Email Reporting
• Install a Contact Sign-Up Form on a Website
• Create a Sign-up Landing Page to Collect New Email and SMS Contacts Online
• Create a Lead Magnet and Capture Leads
• Create and Manage Custom Contact Fields
• Latest Small Business Now Report

Meet Today's Guests: Jesus Flores, Ryan Burke, and Mike Crawford of Constant Contact 

Jesus Flores 

👨‍💼 Who he is: Jesus is a Product Manager at Constant Contact who works on the audience growth team. His entire initiative is focused on helping small businesses and nonprofits grow their audience through multiple channels. He specializes in strategies that convert social media followers into owned contacts through website traffic, social media platforms, and in-person interactions. 

💡 Key quote: "That engaged email list allows you to nurture those leads, build customer loyalty, and directly promote your products or services without the reliancy on social platforms that you just candidly don't own."

👋 Where to find Jesus: LinkedIn

Ryan Burke 

👨‍💼 Who he is: Ryan is a Director of Product at Constant Contact focusing on small business growth. He helps businesses early in their journey get up and running, and hit "day zero" when they're ready to operate. Ryan has been at Constant Contact for about 18 months but brings almost 15 years of experience in product and digital marketing. 

💡 Key quote: "It's a marathon, not a sprint. So I think there's trying, there's changing, there's pivoting and being comfortable with that kind of ambiguity that how you're working and how you're running and launching and growing your business, it takes time."

👋 Where to find Ryan: LinkedIn

Mike Crawford 

👨‍💼 Who he is: Mike is a Senior Product Manager at Constant Contact responsible for the contacts experience since 2021. He focuses on helping businesses manage their contacts and all the data around them, working to make Constant Contact the source of truth for contact information. Mike specializes in leveraging contact data to power more targeted marketing campaigns. 

💡 Key quote: "We see a lot of return on users doing a segmented send rather than just a bulk list send. They get better opens, they get better clicks. So that would be the first step I would take."

👋 Where to find Mike: LinkedIn

👋 Where to find Constant Contact: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Pinterest | LinkedIn | Podcast

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

Imagine a baseball team that throws out the rulebook—not just for the game, but for how they do business. Meet the Savannah Bananas, a team that's less about scoring runs and more about sparking joy.

Led by owner Jesse Cole, this isn't your typical sports team. As Jesse puts it, "We have no interest in being a billion-dollar business, but we want to create a billion fans." The Bananas have grown into a fan-driven phenomenon built on a simple but radical idea: put fans first and never stop entertaining. When most teams chase sponsorship dollars, the Bananas ditch ads and create experiences people can't stop talking about.

Their approach is delightfully unconventional. They've removed third-party ticketing fees, sent handwritten thank-you notes, and featured players who might break into dance mid-game. Marketing that doesn't feel like marketing. 

The result? They recently sold out their first NFL stadium, are building a passionate fanbase, and proving that when you truly put people first, the money follows. Join Jesse, Kara, Carson, and host Dave Charest for this masterclass in customer experience that any business can learn from.

Additional resources

• Create and Manage Tags
• Understanding Contact Segmentation
• Getting Started with the Automation Path Builder
• Connect your Shopify account to Constant Contact

Meet Today's Guests: Jesse Cole, Kara Heater and Carson Bowen of Savannah Bananas

🍌 What Jesse does: Jesse owns the Savannah Bananas and founded Fans First Entertainment. A former baseball GM turned showrunner, he reinvented the sport by blending Broadway-style entertainment with baseball, building a loyal fanbase and a sellout sensation that puts fans at the center.

💡 Key quote: "We will never put added fees on people. We will never do things just for money. We will never take a sponsor just to take money. We will never do any of that. If we can do things to be a better experience for fans, we'll always try to find a way to say yes to that."

👋🏼 Where to find Jesse: Linkedin | Instagram | X, formerly known as Twitter

⚾ What Kara does: Kara is the Vice President of Marketing at the Savannah Bananas. Starting as an intern in 2018, she now leads a cross-functional team that turns live moments into viral content. Her strategy: tell stories that fans love, without pushing product.

💡 Key quote: "We never want to be the people who are sending 52 emails a day, and they have to unsubscribe 82 times to try and finally get rid of them out of their inbox. That's not us. We want people to get the information that they've asked for."

👋🏼 Where to find Kara: Linkedin | X, formerly known as Twitter

🎫 What Carson does: Carson is the Director of Ticket Experience for the Savannah Bananas. After six years with the Wilmington Sharks, he joined the Bananas in 2020 to rethink ticketing from the ground up—building a system that removes friction and centers joy in every detail.

💡 Key quote: "It's not just buying a QR code; it’s buying a family outing. It's celebrating someone's birthday. These things represent something. It's not just buying a ticket."

👋🏼 Where to find Carson: LinkedIn | X, formerly known as Twitter

👋🏼 Where to find Savannah Bananas: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X, formerly known as Twitter | Youtube | TikTok

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

Dan Knowlton didn’t plan to build a top-performing content agency by dressing up in wigs and fake mustaches — but that's what helped him stand out.

In 2015, Dan and his brother Lloyd launched their marketing agency, Knowlton, from a spare room in their parents' house. No roadmap. No fancy setup. Just two brothers figuring it out as they went. What changed everything? Defining clear roles, setting long-term goals, and creating content people actually want to watch.

"It has taken us so much longer to get to where we are now than I thought at the start point," Dan says, reflecting on the patience and persistence it took to grow a sustainable business.

In this episode of Be A Marketer, host Dave Charest talks with Dan about growing from chaos to clarity. They unpack how to align your marketing with your strengths, what most small businesses get wrong about content, and why measuring results will sharpen your focus.

You’ll hear how Dan treats his agency like a client, how one strategy helped them double in size, and what Dan thinks every small business owner should start doing today.

Additional Resources:

• Getting started with the Automation Path Builder
• Using Constant Contact SEO tools
• How to Set Up an Effective Automated Welcome Email Series (with Examples)
• Set up to automatically resend to contacts who don’t open their email feature in Constant Contact

Meet Today’s Guest: Dan Knowlton of Knowlton Marketing

☕ What he does: Dan Knowlton is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Knowlton, a UK-based marketing agency he started with his brother in 2015. The duo is known for blending creativity with strategy to create content people actually enjoy. Knowlton has worked with major brands like the BBC, Nestlé, and Constant Contact.

💡 Key quote: "No one cares about your brand. All they care about is problems they've got and how they can most effectively solve them."

👋 Where to find Dan: X, formerly known as Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Podcast

👋 Where to find Knowlton Marketing: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | TikTok

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

The Gregangelo Museum wasn’t supposed to exist. It began as a run-down rental in San Francisco — a place where artist Gregangelo Herrera patched collapsing rooms with found materials, turning repairs into creative experiments. One of those repairs became a full-blown art installation. One became two. Then three. Forty years later, the house is a city landmark, and the team behind it is reshaping what immersive art and marketing can look like.

In this episode, host Dave Charest talks with Gregangelo Herrera, Artistic Director of the Gregangelo Museum and Velocity Arts & Entertainment; Angelica Irreno, Artist Manager and Marketing Coordinator; and Marcelo Defreitas, Creative Director. Together, they share how they transformed a private home into an immersive storytelling experience — and how that became their most effective marketing tool. “We didn’t sit down and make a strategy,” Marcelo says. “By doing it, we reinvented.”

Tune in to hear how they leaned into storytelling over ads, how this small team markets through meaning, not money, and how their outdoor art garden helped them stay open during the pandemic.

Additional Resources:

• Create a reusable email template
• Guide: Create, customize, and send an email
• Understanding contact segmentation
• Compare reporting stats for multiple emails
• Constant Contact: Email Marketing

Meet Today's Guests: Gregangelo Herrera, Angelica Irreno, and Marcelo Defreitas of Gregangelo Museum and Velocity Arts & Entertainment.

🎨 What Gregangelo does: Gregangelo is the Artistic Director of the Gregangelo Museum in San Francisco. A lifelong artist and performer, he founded the immersive museum experience inside his own home, blending storytelling, installation art, and cultural rituals. He’s also the founder of Velocity Arts and Entertainment.

💡 Key quote: “My form of marketing has always been to show up and invite people in.”

👋 Where to find Gregangelo: Facebook | LinkedIn

🎭 What Marcelo does: Marcelo is the Creative Director at the Gregangelo Museum. He brings a background in nonprofit leadership, events, and design. After hiring Gregangelo’s troupe for an event years ago, Marcelo joined the team and now leads strategy, operations, and creative direction for the museum and its experiences.

💡 Key quote: “We’re not just performing anymore. We’re helping people reconnect—with themselves and with each other.”

👋 Where to find Marcelo: LinkedIn

📱 What Angelica does: Angelica is the Artist Manager and Marketing Coordinator at the Gregangelo Museum. Originally from Colombia, she began as a marketing intern during the pandemic and helped reimagine how the museum connects with its audience through storytelling and content.

💡 Key quote: “At the beginning, I didn’t quite get the selling point. Then I realized—it’s not just the art. It’s the stories.”

👋 Where to find Angelica: LinkedIn

👋 Where to find the Gregangelo Museum: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | TikTok

👋 Where to find Velocity Arts & Entertainment: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | TikTok

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.

Selling a business wasn’t part of Lorraine Ball’s original plan. But after nearly two decades of running her marketing agency, Roundpeg, she knew it was time for a change.

Rather than walking away entirely, Lorraine kept the pieces she loved — her podcast, “More Than a Few Words”, and her consulting work — while selling the rest. “The day you start [your business], you need to think about your exit,” she says on Be A Marketer. “You want to build a business that someone will want to buy.”

On this episode of Be A Marketer, host Dave Charest sits down with Lorraine to explore the key lessons she's learned along the way. She shares why answering customer questions is one of the most effective ways to improve marketing, how business owners should plan for their exit strategy from day one, and why automation is essential for filtering and prioritizing leads.

As a longtime Constant Contact Partner, Lorraine also dives into how marketing automation and email segmentation have helped her streamline her efforts, engage her audience more effectively, and deliver personalized experiences that drive results.

Additional Resources:

• Email Marketing Automation Software
• Click Segmentation Feature
• Constant Contact Integrations
• Constant Contact Partner Programs

Meet Today's Guest: Lorraine Ball of More Than a Few Words

☕ What she does: Lorraine is a marketing strategist, Constant Contact Partner, and host of the More Than a Few Words podcast. After nearly two decades running her agency, Roundpeg, she transitioned into consulting, helping businesses refine their marketing strategies and improve their results.

💡 Key quote: "When you get people from different kinds of ways that they find you, and you dump all of them into one email list, and you send them all the same email every single week, you're going to watch your open rates fall, you're going to watch your engagement fall, you're going to see a lot of unsubscribes. When you start tying different people based on how they come to you to different campaigns, and you start sending them information that is relevant to what they're looking for, it has a level of personalization. It feels more like you're talking to them. People love that.”

👋 Where to find her: X, formerly known as Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

👋 Where to find More Than a Few Words: Website | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Amazon | Pandora | Podbean

If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/bam and follow the simple instructions.