Be A Marketer with Dave Charest

Despite being a newspaper, the Osprey Observer effectively utilizes digital tools like email marketing and social media. The key to running a successful local paper, for Marie, is being deeply involved in and committed to the local community. Her team focuses on covering local good news and events, and the relationships they build with local advertisers and readers.

"We laser focus on what we do. We provide customer service. We try to provide all the best services for our small businesses, and we just have to stay laser-focused," Marie explains. 

Being a part of the community and engaging in local events has helped create a strong brand for the Osprey Observer.

Listen to Marie share valuable insights on embracing the local community, the power of good news, and leveraging digital tools for better engagement, with host Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact.

👉 Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode.

Resources:

• Get Marie Gilmore’s FREE Kindle book: Open for Business! Now what? 
• Find your local chamber of commerce 
• A/B test an email subject line with Constant Contact

Meet Today’s Guest: Marie Gilmore from Osprey Observer

📰 What she does: Marie is the Managing Editor and Publisher for Osprey Observer, which started as a newsletter and now has grown into four local editions, covering the areas of southeast Hillsborough County.

💡 Key quote: “We all live and work in this community. That’s who we need to support.” - Marie

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn 

👋 Where to find Osprey Observer: Website | Instagram | Facebook

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

Thinking about importing purchased contacts into your Constant Contact account? In this episode, Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact, and Kelsi Carter, the team’s brand production coordinator, discuss why you should avoid importing purchased contacts into your account and how to grow your email list organically.

Listen in to hear how/why: 

• Email marketing is permission-based and importing purchased contacts is not recommended due to regulations, ethics, and effectiveness.
• Purchased contact lists can damage a business's reputation and sender status, and are against Constant Contact's terms of service.
• Organic list building is the best approach to email marketing, using sign-up tools and offering incentives to attract subscribers.
• The success of email marketing depends on the quality of the contact list and the relevance of the content.
• Constant Contact provides various tools to collect email addresses and grow lists organically.

Resources:

• Why Your Business Can’t Afford to Use Purchased Email Lists
• Constant Contact’s email permission policy
• Email Sign-Up Tools to Help You Grow Your List and Your Business

Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode. 

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

Identifying and understanding who your key customers are is a crucial part of marketing for Clif Johnson, especially if you’re targeting diverse audiences like professionals and consumers. 

"You really have to put on kind of two marketing hats. You have to understand the needs of both of those customers and really be able to cater to them in order to effectively market to them,” says Clif.

Once you know your audience, you can start providing them with targeted content with the help of segmentation to enhance marketing efforts.

And while initial sales are important, repeat sales indicate effective relationship management.

On this episode, Clif and host Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact, dive into the importance of understanding key customers, repeat business, and the role of Constant Contact in their marketing.

👉 Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode.

Resources:

• Top Ecommerce Integrations to Help You Sell More
• Create and manage contact lists
• Create a segment of contact by choosing specific criteria

Meet Today’s Guest: Clif Johnson from Pablo Designs

⚡What he does: Clif is the Director of Global Sales and Marketing at Pablo Designs. Pablo Designs is a manufacturer and distributor of interior lighting that challenges traditional design metaphors. Their mission is to create designs that deepen the relationship between objects, their users, and their environment.

💡 Key quote: “Storytelling sells and engages far better than numbers on a spreadsheet. You can have the best product in the world, but if you're not telling a story around it…you're going to not only lose people's attention, but in many cases, you're probably going to bore them to tears.”

👋 Where to find him: LinkedIn 

👋 Where to find Pablo Designs: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

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

Wondering how ‌nonprofit organizations can use email marketing effectively? In this episode, Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact, welcomes Kelsi Carter, the team’s new brand production coordinator. They go on to discuss the importance of storytelling, segmentation, and frequency in email marketing. 

Listen in to hear how why: 

• Storytelling and inclusivity are crucial in nonprofit marketing and why you must focus on the impact of donors' support.
• Segmentation and automation are vital for sending relevant content and improving engagement.
• You should optimize emails for mobile viewing, as many people check emails on their phones.
• Sending emails at least twice a month with limited content (three sections beyond the intro) for easy scanning, may be best for you.
• Prioritizing and acting on one thing at a time is key to getting things done.

Resources:

• Top 7 Nonprofit Marketing Integrations to Increase Engagement
• Achieve your marketing goals with Constant Contact's integrations
• _zapier Constant Contact Integrations

Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode. 

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

For Corissa Saint Laurent, building relationships, understanding your audience, and leveraging email marketing are key ingredients for success.

And when it comes to growing along with your business, it’s all about focusing on activities that align with your skills and passions while delegating tasks that fall outside your expertise.

"The goal should be to get to a place where you use your time doing the things you should be doing. Avoid the things that aren't in your skillset or that you're not passionate about," says Corissa. 

On this episode, Corissa and host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, delve into the art of building relationships, understanding your audience, and the significance of marketing in connecting with customers. 

👉 Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode.

Resources:

• 2024 Online Marketing Calendar: Template and Marketing Holidays

Meet Today’s Guest: Corissa Saint Laurent, speaker, podcaster, and retreat leader

🎧  What she does: Corissa is a professional speaker, podcaster, and retreat leader. She not only helps businesses grow, but she also helps its people grow along with it. As host of The Everyday Mystic, she delivers practical spiritual guidance for a life of greater meaning, higher purpose, and true joy.

💡 Key quote: “The more you can provide value to your customers, build those relationships, and ultimately build loyalty. Those people become promotional agents for you. They're talking about you to others.”

👋 Where to find her: Website | Podcast | LinkedIn | Instagram

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

Wondering how to better market new in-person events/classes? In this episode, Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact, shares how understanding your audience, utilizing integrations, creating a clear progression path, building urgency, and leveraging different platforms can help you reach and engage your target market more effectively. 

Listen in to hear how to: 

• Understand your buying audience and segment lists by age groups for targeted marketing.
• Use integrations between management software and marketing tools for more efficient marketing.
• Create a clear progression path for customers and get feedback from VIP customers.
• Build urgency with registration deadlines and focus on one call-to-action per email.
• Leverage different platforms like Facebook events to extend your reach.

Resources:

Achieve your marketing goals with Constant Contact integrations

Create and manage tags with Constant Contact

Create a segment of contacts in Constant Contact by choosing specific criteria

Create a ​​Constant Contact Survey Page

DaySmart Recreation Constant Contact Integration

Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode. 

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

Wondering how many follow-ups you should send after an initial email outreach? What about the timeframe in which to do so? 

🎧 Listen to our latest podcast episode where Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact, shares his insights on email follow-ups and provides a suggested timeline. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Multiple follow-ups after initial email outreach are crucial as one email is often insufficient due to recipients' busy lives.
• Factors affecting follow-up email effectiveness include existing relationships, size of the ask, and urgency of the action.
• Suggested timeline for follow-ups: announcement three weeks before deadline; reminder two weeks before deadline; last chance on/before deadline.
• Timing and urgency are important to spur people to action.
• Schedule at least three email touches to increase chances of a response.

Resources:

Why you need to send more email than you think

Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode. 

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

When Aisha James set out to create an event celebrating Black-owned businesses in St. Louis, she didn’t think she’d end up running the largest Black-owned food festival in the Midwest. 

Even while spending her days working as an Operations Manager in the banking industry, Aisha finds time to fuel her passion: bringing together St. Louis’s Black community for a weekend of culture, food, and celebration, The Taste of Black St. Louis.  

But coordinating this large-scale annual event on a shoestring budget is no easy feat. “I’m considered the little guy that makes big numbers,” says Aisha. And she’s not kidding when she says “big numbers” — in just five years, the culinary festival grew from 16,000 to 83,000 attendees. 

On this episode, Aisha and host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, discuss the unique communication challenges of planning such a big event and how technology helps her to remain organized—while also keeping her day job. 

Listen to learn the importance of developing calendars and timelines, seeking customer feedback via surveys, and leaning on segmentation to craft highly targeted and specific messaging for a variety of audiences.

👉 Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode.

Additional Resources:

• How to Create a Survey Page
• How to Use the Calendar View
• Understanding Contact Segmentation
• How to Create and Activate an Event

Meet Today’s Guest: Aisha James of The Taste of Black St. Louis

🍽️ What she does: Aisha is the founder of The Taste of Black St. Louis, the largest Black-owned food festival in the Midwest. Formed in 2018, the multi-sensory food experience was created to bring local communities and visitors together for a full weekend of culture, tasting, and shopping while shining a light on Black-owned businesses. The event has grown from 16,000 attendees to 83,000.

💡 Key quote: “Remember why you started. Understand that there’s going to be so many bumps in the road, but always remember why you started and stay true to that.”

👋 Where to find her: LinkedIn | Instagram

👋 Where to find The Taste of Black St. Louis: Website | Instagram | Facebook 

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

Wondering how to review marketing tools and approaches, boost productivity, and execute effective marketing strategies for your organization? In this episode, Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact, dives into the secrets of reviewing, planning, and executing your marketing strategies. And discover how to leverage technology to streamline your processes. 

Listen in to hear how to: 

• Review current strategies, make plan improvements, and execute the plan while boosting productivity.
• Use email marketing to connect with members and social media for engagement.
• Leverage Constant Contact features like welcome emails and resend to non-openers to enhance productivity.

Resources:

• View a heat map of the most popular links your contacts are clicking in an email
• Create and manage an automated Welcome Email
• Automatically resend an email to contacts who don't open
• Use the Content Generator to write email, landing page, and SMS content for you
• Sync your social media accounts to create social posts through your Constant Contact account
• Create a segment of contacts by choosing specific criteria

Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode. 

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

Dave Delaney, a keynote speaker, author, and business owner, shares his journey of discovering his ADHD diagnosis as an adult and how it's impacted his entrepreneurial journey and strategies.

Dave discusses the challenges he faced in 2020, his coping strategies, the importance of self-understanding, and his new podcast, "ADHD Wise Squirrels." He also delves into marketing strategies and time management techniques that have helped him succeed as an entrepreneur with ADHD.

"Your best marketing is you at the end of the day,” he says. “And if you're somebody that's cool and honest and smart and can help people, then I think that's the best foot forward with your own marketing."

On this episode of Be a Marketer, Dave and host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, discuss valuable insights into entrepreneurship, self-awareness, and marketing strategies. 

👉 Want a winning framework to improve retention, communication, and culture at your company? Get a free copy of Dave’s The Nice Method ebook using code “BAM24”. 

Meet Today’s Guest: Dave Delaney of Futureforth

☕ What he does: Dave Delaney is a keynote speaker, author, and he also offers workshops and communication consulting through his business, Futureforth. Dave also hosts a podcast called ADHD Wise Squirrels, where he and his guests discuss and explore the coping mechanisms of late-diagnosed adults.

💡 Key quote: "I've learned just to give myself more grace and understand that there are limits to some of this stuff." 

👋 Where to find him: Website | LinkedIn

👋 Where to find ADHD Wise Squirrels: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

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

Are you a Constant Contact customer with a burning marketing question? Go here for a chance to have your question featured in an upcoming episode.