{"id":23396255,"date":"2024-01-31T21:53:06","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/?p=23396255"},"modified":"2026-01-21T21:13:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:13:38","slug":"strategies-to-overcome-online-marketing-challenges-for-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/strategies-to-overcome-online-marketing-challenges-for-small-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"702: Strategies to Overcome Online Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses | Dave Charest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_code _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<script async defer onload=\"redcircleIframe();\" src=\"https:\/\/api.podcache.net\/embedded-player\/sh\/4f451305-e5b4-4878-b293-63e3057356b8\/ep\/849a715f-3267-4138-ac4e-0761cb5209d3\"><\/script><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    <\/p>\n<div class=\"redcirclePlayer-849a715f-3267-4138-ac4e-0761cb5209d3\"><\/div>\n<p><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    <\/p>\n<style><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:link {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        text-decoration: none;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:hover {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:active {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:visited {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><\/style>\n<p><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><pee style=\"margin-top:3px;margin-left:11px;font-family: sans-serif;font-size: 10px; color: gray;\">Powered by <a class=\"redcircle-link\" href=\"https:\/\/redcircle.com?utm_source=rc_embedded_player&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_campaign=embedded_v1\">RedCircle<\/a><\/pee>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>How can small businesses conquer the challenges of online marketing?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Join us on the Conquer Local Podcast as we welcome\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/davecharest\/\">Dave Charest<\/a>, Director of Small Business Success at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.constantcontact.com\/?&amp;cc=GOO-231107&amp;pn=search&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiA_OetBhAtEiwAPTeQZ86yJZnXaQ5IqU_hGixzTzFVJ0Fic9yU_4dIQnADrGjevC7A_Yzi7RoChMEQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds\">Constant Contact<\/a>, the trusted online marketing leader for millions of small businesses. An educator and advocate, Dave shares practical marketing advice for small business leaders and nonprofits.<\/p>\n<p>With a passion for simplifying the complex world of online marketing, he\u2019s an award-winning marketer, dynamic speaker, creator, and host of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/community.constantcontact.com\/t5\/Be-A-Marketer\/bg-p\/podcast\">Be a Marketer podcast<\/a>. Get ready for insights on email marketing and more!<\/p>\n<p><em>Conquer Local is presented by\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"\/\"><em>Vendasta.<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners, agencies, and enterprise-level organizations. Learn more about Vendasta, and we can help your organization or learn more about\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"\"><em>Vendasta\u2019s Affiliate Program<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and how our listeners (like yourself) make up to $10,000 off referrals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Then, keep the learning going in the\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/academy.vendasta.com\/\"><em>Vendasta Academy.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Strategies to Overcome Online Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Introduction\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Welcome to the Conquer Local Podcast! Our show features successful sales leaders, marketers, thought leaders and entrepreneurs who will inspire you with their success stories. Each episode is packed with practical strategies, as our guests share their secrets to achieving their dreams. Listen in to learn the highlights of their remarkable accomplishments and get tips to revamp, rework, and reimagine your business. Whether you\u2019re a small business owner, a marketer, or an aspiring entrepreneur, the Conquer Local Podcast is your ultimate guide to dominating your local market. Tune in now to take your business to the next level!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to mess up the timeline a little bit here and let you in on a .. Well it\u2019s probably not a huge secret. But we record these intros and the outros separately from the episode =just to be efficient in the way that we put the whole thing together. And you\u2019ll notice at the beginning of the episode I introduced Dave Charest as Charest with my French Canadian accent and I didn\u2019t want to make that mistake in the intro and outro as we record it. And so with the proper Bostonian pronunciation it\u2019s Dave Charest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Jeff Tomlin and on this episode, we\u2019re pleased to welcome Dave Charest. Dave is the Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, the online marketing leader trusted by millions of small businesses.\u00a0 In his role, Dave acts as an educator and an advocate for small business leaders, marketing professionals, and nonprofits by providing practical marketing advice to help them achieve their goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He is a dynamic leader, speaker, creator, and award-winning marketer who strives to inspire small businesses by simplifying the complex world of online marketing. He\u2019s also the host of \u201cBe a Marketer\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n<p>Get ready Conquerors for Dave Charest coming up next on this week\u2019s episode of the Conquer Local Podcast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin<\/strong>: Dave<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Charest, welcome to the Conquer Local podcast. Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to join us here. How are you doing?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Good. Good, good. Thanks for having me here. So I have to stop you for a second because I think what you did\u2026 First, you\u2019re in Canada, I believe, correct?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I am.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:<\/strong>\u00a0You gave me the Charest. So it\u2019s Americanized for me over here, so we say Charest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Charest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>But our CEO at Constant Contact is from Canada as well, and so he\u2019s always jabbing me. He\u2019s like, It\u2019s Charest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s Charest, Charest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>So I was like, \u201cOh, there. Yep. Okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>You Bostonitized the name.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yep.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I won\u2019t make that mistake again. How are you doing, man?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m doing great. Thanks so much for having me. Looking forward to chatting today.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Email Marketing has Evolved but Remains a High ROI Strategy.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Hey, Constant Contact\u2019s been a long-time partner of Vendasta and one of our good friends in the industry. You\u2019ve been doing this since the 90s and you\u2019ve seen a lot of things. Maybe just start with your reflection on how email marketing has changed over the past couple decades.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s an interesting thing. It\u2019s even a more interesting thing to say that out loud, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>The past couple of decades. I mean, Constant Contact has been doing this for what, 28 years? I\u2019ve been at the company for 12 of those years and it\u2019s one of those weird things. I think, it\u2019s changed, and it hasn\u2019t. So of course, a lot of technical things have changed. Just the product in general, when you start thinking about a better editing experience for our customers, you start thinking about\u2026 Of course, the mobile device came out, so you got to think about mobile responsiveness, those types of things. Then of course, there\u2019s the other things in terms of just like regulations. Making sure that you have implied and expressed consent, all the different things in there with GDPR and all of that other stuff that comes into play. I think changes more recently that are happening just in terms of deliverability where people like Google and Yahoo are asking for authentication and things like that to happen. And then you think just in terms of the advances in automation, things like dynamic content, all of those things have come along to really accentuate what you can do with email marketing. But I think, realistically, at its core, it\u2019s really the same. And it\u2019s just a high ROI, way we see this time and time again that really allows our customers, particularly when I\u2019m thinking about small business customers, folks that don\u2019t have a technical background and folks that aren\u2019t necessarily marketers by trade, they\u2019re marketers by necessity more than anything else. It\u2019s just a really simple way for people to keep their business top of mind and really drive more business for themselves. And so I think that\u2019s the interesting dynamic of it. It\u2019s changed but hasn\u2019t changed at the same time, which is interesting.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Constant Contact has Diversified into a Full Marketing Platform.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. Right there, I wanted you to reflect on that journey that email marketing\u2019s taken. But really, Constant Contact now is, you\u2019re not just an email marketing company, you\u2019re sort of synonymous with email marketing, but you\u2019ve really diversified now, and you\u2019ve got a full marketing platform. And so talk a little bit about the experience that you guys are creating now for the marketer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s interesting. It always comes down to this core thing and how you branch out from there. And for us, it\u2019s always about like, \u201cHow do we help the small stand tall and compete against their larger competitors and do those things?\u201d And so email, of course, was that first tool that really allowed people to build those relationships that are important to them. To build those relationships with their customers so they could drive repeat business and raise awareness and do all that. So it started with email, Constant Contact quickly branched out into doing things like surveys, so you could get more feedback. And running events because that was another way that people could, one, either do\u2026 Well, back at the time when it started, it was really more about in-person events. So really, start to build those relationships and cement them even more by having in-person events. Then social media comes along and now, you\u2019ve got this whole other way to keep your business top of mind, and communicate, and reach a wider audience. And I think it\u2019s really thinking about pulling those things together and giving people the right tools that allow them to manage that stuff all in one place. And then of course, online marketing gets a little bit more sophisticated, so you start thinking about things like SEO, Facebook and Google Ads, even SMS marketing for that matter. And so it\u2019s really about like, \u201cYeah. How do we give people a place where they can have everything in one place?\u201d And again, I have to harp on this idea of design for small business owners. And so I think there are so many great tools out there for the enterprise level when you think of things like that and a business that has a team dedicated to doing that specific thing where a small business owner is taking out the trash, dealing with customers and doing the marketing. So doing all of these things on top of it. And so for us, it\u2019s all about how do we put it all in one place and again, how do we design it in a way that\u2019s more intuitive and is simplified for that small business owner?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. I mean, you\u2019re so right. You got people taking out the trash and ringing the cash register. And running all aspects of their business and they\u2019re busy. When you look at the analytics behind it, email marketing still has the highest ROI across different marketing activities that you could be doing. I know people always gravitate to the \u201cWhat\u2019s the new thing that I should be thinking about?\u201d Whether it\u2019s this social platform, or that social platform, or this new thing. But for the length in the period of time that email marketing has been around, it still produces the best ROI that you can get out of the myriad of different activities that you could do. Man, there are probably aren\u2019t many business categories where email marketing isn\u2019t a good idea for them to embrace. But maybe talk about some of the categories where people are really having success. I don\u2019t know if you have any specific stories, but yeah-<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think I\u2019ve been fortunate in my career at Constant Contact to have a lot of interaction with our customers. I mean, most currently, I host a podcast called \u201cBe A Marketer,\u201d and we talk to our customers who have been in business five-plus years. So they\u2019ve had that longevity, made it past that point where most businesses typically fail. And we talk to them about that journey and how they\u2019ve used marketing in general and then Constant Contact specifically to help them do those things. And so some people come to mind and I think what\u2019s interesting about what you\u2019ll hear as I start to tell some of these stories is that it\u2019s not like they\u2019re doing advanced things, it\u2019s very basic things that I think\u2026 Even as you talk about, \u201cOh, what\u2019s the sexy new tool? What\u2019s the sexy new thing?\u201d I\u2019m always like, \u201cStart with the basics and then build on that as you want to or as you feel you need to.\u201d But if you\u2019re always chasing the sexy thing or the new thing without having that strong foundation, I always say like, \u201cLet\u2019s earn that. Get the foundation in place so you\u2019ve got something working for you, and then you earn the right to try those other things and try to make it better.\u201d But until you\u2019ve got that, you\u2019re just wasting energy because you don\u2019t even have anything working yet. Right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yep.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Consistency and Email Newsletters Drive Success in Businesses.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h3>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>So we have one customer, his name\u2019s Ricky Carruth, and he\u2019s a real estate agent. And he\u2019s been sending a weekly email since 2007. And all he does is share his expertise and his analysis of the housing market. And since 2017, he closes 100 deals a year and he doesn\u2019t do any prospecting. It\u2019s just from keeping in touch with that audience that he\u2019s built over time and whenever they got something to buy or sell, who this the first person they contact, it\u2019s Ricky. And so again, that\u2019s all he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s not using social on top of that, he\u2019s using social for other things now. But in terms of his real estate business, that\u2019s all he\u2019s doing. And so again, simple. I think of folks like Michelle Cummings, she has a team building and she\u2019s a leadership coach. And again, another consistency is something you\u2019ll hear here. A weekly email that has tips in it about some type of leadership activity. And then she has a deal every Wednesday on some of the products that she offers for folks who are in that category. And she says, \u201cWednesdays are always good sales days.\u201d Because people are getting the value from the newsletter and then they\u2019re finding an offer in there there, that\u2019s helpful to them as well. And then we have a husband-and-wife team, they sell hot sauce, Chris and Mary Ginder of Gindo\u2019s Spice of Life, and this is actually one of my\u2026 I like to do for Christmas for folks is get them some of these gift boxes of the hot sauces they have, it\u2019s like a fresh pepper hot sauce. It\u2019s amazing. If you\u2019re in the hot sauce, check them out. But they have a email newsletter that regularly drives sales and details on their limited edition sauces, the recipes that they have in events. And again, just the regularness of it, that consistency, they\u2019re just putting in deals, sharing information. Of course, there\u2019s that element of making sure that the people that are on your list have signed up for it. You\u2019ve gotten that permission, they\u2019ve raised their hand.<\/p>\n<p>And I think that, combined with the consistency, are really the things that drive people\u2019s success with this. Top of mind, keeps your business there. And when somebody is either looking for what you have or somebody is asking them if they know somebody who has that thing that you sell, you\u2019re going to be the first person that comes to mind. Yes, it can get more advanced, but at the core, if you can do that, you\u2019re going to see success with it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Oftentimes, when people switch activities and they start doing something new to try to fix the trajectory of something, \u201cHey, I need some sales. Or I need to fix something.\u201d But those two examples, the hot sauce business or the real estate, two very different in terms of the frequency by which you would engage with those clients. And a really good example, especially in the real estate space, to build that brand. You really have to be consistent and be invested in the long haul. And that\u2019s when you really see the fruits of building that brand, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. I mean, that\u2019s the big thing. We\u2019ve talked to people that they almost put it as a challenge to themselves. It\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, I have to\u2026\u201d Whatever the consistency is, if it\u2019s once a month, if it\u2019s once a week, if it\u2019s every other week, they have that date in the calendar. They know that that\u2019s when they\u2019re going to send out that newsletter, send out that email. And it\u2019s like a little personal triumph to make sure that like, \u201cOkay. That email got out.\u201d They\u2019re just showing up and that showing up sometimes is more than half the battle a lot of the times, right?<\/p>\n<h4><strong>SMS is Popular Due to its Personal and Immediate Nature.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. Yeah. Another method of communication, SMS has become really popular and especially, for its response rates because how much in a more personal it is because our email addresses get out and sometimes our inboxes get junky. But don\u2019t so much have that challenge with SMS, although you might be getting it down the road. But talk a little bit about what you guys are doing with SMS and how people are using it now because people that I talked to that are really leveraging it, have a ton of success.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. Yeah. So that\u2019s one of those things that\u2019s interesting because of that fact. That we\u2019ve all got this device with us all the time, and if that thing dings, we\u2019re looking at it right away. And it\u2019s through that, it\u2019s that immediacy that you have that presents that opportunity. And particularly, when you start thinking about even the other channels you have available to you, they each have their kind of strengths and weaknesses. When you start thinking about social, for example, that\u2019s obviously great to engage with people and reach a new audience. But you\u2019re limited by algorithms now, you\u2019re not always in control of that and you don\u2019t own that audience. So that kicks you to email, which again, great, because you own that list. You can contact people on your terms, you can reach people directly. But to your point, everyone is using email now, and so you\u2019re often filled up with these other things that you\u2019re competing with in the inbox, both from a personal perspective, from a work perspective, whatever the case may be. And so that gets challenging.<\/p>\n<p>But the opportunity again, is that immediacy with the SMS channel. And the challenge though, is how do you do it in a way that doesn\u2019t, for lack of a better term, upset people and just make people want to unsubscribe? And so you really got to think through that, and I think, with any of these things when you\u2019re thinking about marketing across any of these channels, it\u2019s how are you providing value and how are you finding that right balance of being promotional and providing that value? And I think there\u2019s a few questions we tell our customers to really think about when it comes to whether or not SMS is the right channel for the message that you\u2019re sending out. One, is it timely? There\u2019s something to that immediacy. So you want to make sure the thing that you\u2019re sending has some type of timeliness to it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>I also think it\u2019s important to think about exclusivity. Because if somebody has given you that text message or that text number and the ability to reach them immediately like that, use that for something special. Treat those people as VIPs, if you will. The other question is really, is it of interest? Is this something that person\u2019s going to get and be like, \u201cOh, okay. Yeah, I\u2019m happy I received that.\u201d I think the other thing is the nature of the channel is a lot more personal and a lot more conversational. And so you also want to ask that. Is the message you\u2019re sending, is it just like a \u201cHey, 50% off,\u201d or does it actually feel like it\u2019s coming from somebody and somebody\u2019s writing to you? You would use that text channel because that\u2019s how we\u2019re used to using it. So does it feel personal and does it feel conversational? And I think if you can start to think through those lanes, you\u2019ll start to use that more pointedly rather than just saying, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m going to post about my sale on social. I\u2019m going to post about my sale in an email. I\u2019m going to post about a sale in my SMS.\u201d Right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019re just creating noise in those channels that way. And so I think that\u2019s how we start to think about it.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Integrating Different Technologies for a Personalized and Engaging Customer Experience.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I love that. And by the way, everything you said there resonated with me. I\u2019ve got a great example, just showed up in my SMS this morning. I got my regular six-month notification from the Great Canadian Oil Change. And so I\u2019m a loyal customer, always go and get my oil change there. Their timing is great because they only SMS me, they text me twice a year and they know that based on the last time I was there that it\u2019s pretty close to needing an oil change. And then the second thing that you mentioned, they make me feel special. I\u2019m a loyal customer, I\u2019m going to go there anyways because it\u2019s convenient for me. But every time they remind me, they give me another 20% off coupon to use. And-<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, there you go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>\u2026 great example of timing and personalization, making me feel special and using that channel in a responsible way. Yeah, great examples. So we talked about email, we talked about SMS. Those are two different tactics in your toolbox. Oftentimes, creating a great online presence and experience for your customers, it involves integrating different technologies. And so integrating these things is really, really important. Something that you guys do really well. And so wondering if you could just talk a little bit about some of the best practices in integrating different technologies in order to create the ideal experience for your customers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, I think it\u2019s really thinking through how you can use these channels. So if we go back to what we\u2019ve been talking about and thinking about social in terms of, again, giving one place to do those things so you can manage your social channels. You can post, and you can see who\u2019s responding, and doing all that. And obviously, manage your email and SMS, that type of thing. But if we think across those three channels, I mentioned earlier\u2026 You\u2019re saying, \u201cHere\u2019s my 20% off here, and 20% off on this channel, 20% off on that channel.\u201d And that\u2019s fine, but if you think about what that really means is if you\u2019re doing the same thing everywhere, somebody doesn\u2019t really have a reason to follow you on all of those things. And I think because we\u2019re spending so much time in each of those channels, you want to be there so you\u2019re constantly top of mind. And in order to do that in a way that keeps it interesting and engaging is to really think about leaning into each of those channels and using what they\u2019re good at to support, let\u2019s say a particular theme of something. So I\u2019ll give you an example. For example, when we were coming up with SMS for our customers, I would use LinkedIn for example, to put up a poll. LinkedIn polls work really well and would ask people, \u201cHey, are you thinking about adding SMS?\u201d So we get people thinking about this thing that we want them to think about. And in email newsletter, we would have more in-depth articles about SMS, there\u2019d be more things about that topic, and we also highlight a webinar. And then through the text channel, we were sending people an invitation and reminders for an exclusive webinar.<\/p>\n<p>And so it\u2019s not, we\u2019re just saying, \u201cSMS, SMS, SMS.\u201d We\u2019re saying, \u201cHey, let\u2019s engage on social.\u201d That\u2019s where that engagement stuff happens. Let\u2019s get some conversation around a particular topic. Let\u2019s go more in depth with the email newsletter where we can reach people directly and point them to more resources. And then let\u2019s use that text channel as a way to be exclusive and offer them something that they\u2019re not going to get. And so if you start thinking about it that way, now, yeah, you\u2019re using each of those channels, you\u2019re supporting the goals that you\u2019re setting for yourself and the topics that you want to cover, but you\u2019re doing in a way that if I see that on social, and I get an email, and I get a text, I\u2019m not like, \u201cUgh, this again?\u201d Right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019re actually like, \u201cOh, yeah. This is a more in-depth kind of look at it as a whole.\u201d And I think that\u2019s the big opportunity with these things. It\u2019s not about just doing the same thing everywhere, it\u2019s like how do you lean into the strengths of those things, then create a plan that allows you to expand and keep yourself top of mind there without being annoying, I guess, is the way I\u2019m trying what I\u2019m trying to say.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>AI Automates Repetitive Tasks for Better Marketing Efficiency and Deliverability.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s a great insight on how to think about the different channels and how to use them differently because I think a lot of people sort of struggle with that. \u201cHey, I\u2019ve got half a dozen different channels that I\u2019m posting stuff to, should I be posting the same thing all the time and cutting and pasting over there. Or should we be using these things differently?\u201d And so I think that perspective is super helpful in creating a really good experience because it is annoying if you just post the exact same thing on all the different channels. And probably, not very effective at all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>One thing I wanted to get your perspective on, on the podcast here, we ask a lot of questions about AI because clearly, it\u2019s top of mind of everybody and everyone\u2019s thinking about how can I really leverage it in order to create efficiencies no matter what sort of aspect of my business that I\u2019m taking a look at. And particularly in the marketing technologies, we\u2019re finding in Vendasta that it\u2019s really helpful if we think about it, and I\u2019ll use an annoying term, but to help with sort of robotic process automation, which means those things that are really repetitive. That AI is really good at automating to make you more efficient in the things that you\u2019re doing. But I wanted to get your take on the role AI is going to play right now, but into the future in making people better marketers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. So I\u2019ll give you some ways that we kind of think about it and I\u2019ll even share some of the ways we use it internally. And I mean, we\u2019ve been using AI since probably around 2019 or so behind the scenes, and we use that to help us maintain our industry leading 97% deliverability rate. So we have a tool we call the spamminator, internally. And what that does is help us process emails behind the scenes so we can identify potential bad actors. And it allows us to do that at a rate that of course, if you\u2019re sending billions of emails. You have to be able to do that that humanly, we just can\u2019t catch everything. Right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>AI Aids in Content Creation, Data Processing, and Marketing Efficiency.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h4>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>And so this allows us to flag certain accounts that may be bad actors or somebody mistakenly doing something, but allows us to then take that next step and reach out to stop that from happening before it causes a problem for our customers. And so that\u2019s one way, we\u2019re just using it internally. And I think those things will continue to develop, the tools that you\u2019ll use internally. But when I think of the small business, specifically when it comes to AI, I think of course, there\u2019s the content creation piece of it. I mentioned a majority of our customers aren\u2019t necessarily marketers by trade, they have a marketer hat on. So they\u2019re not necessarily in the place where they have the brain for the marketing or thinking through it that way. And I think we\u2019ve got a content generator within the product that allows people, whether they\u2019re posting on social text, whatever it is, you can put in a few keywords to let it know what you\u2019re trying to do and then we\u2019ll give you some pretty decent copy to start with or even use as is if it meets your needs. But allows you to save time on staring at the blank page and trying to struggle with what it\u2019s I\u2019m supposed to say there. I think the other thing that we\u2019re probably missing in the big conversation with generative AI, particularly right now, because that seems to be the hot button, is the ability to process data. And I think to me, this is actually the most exciting thing, and I hope we get to a place where it becomes even more readily available, particularly to our small business customers. Because the fact that you can just process the data in a way that you wouldn\u2019t humanly be able to. And then recognize patterns and make predictions as to what would be, let\u2019s say, the next best message to send somebody, will help you uncover sales in ways that you just wouldn\u2019t be able to do otherwise. Typically, what we would say is do promotional emails and non-promotional emails. So you\u2019re promoting things at times when people are ready to buy, and you are keeping people, and you\u2019re keeping your business top of mind and engaged when they\u2019re not ready to buy. For example, if you sell coffee, one person drinks 10 cups a day versus somebody else who drinks 2. Knowing when to send the \u201cHey, is it time to reorder?\u201d email for each of those people is going to get you a better result than not knowing. And treating kind of a group of people as a whole almost. And so that to me, is really exciting because it gets us to that point. As marketers, we always love to say like, \u201cSend the right message to the right person at the right time.\u201d AI actually will get us to those place where we can send the right message to the right person at the right time. Right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>And treat people as individuals and I think that\u2019s actually really interesting. The other thing I think is it\u2019s going to help people be able to plan, particularly when you don\u2019t have that marketing knowledge necessarily when you\u2019re first coming in. It\u2019ll give you things to think about, \u201cOkay, here\u2019s what you\u2019re trying to do.\u201d Here\u2019s how will help you build a plan for that and that\u2019s where we\u2019re moving with Constant Contact. The other is just really acting as a coach and an assistant to get stuff done within the marketing realm. I think all of those things are going to be really interesting and exciting. In the marketing world, I think we\u2019ll have some other interesting and exciting things or maybe scary things to talk about in the world at large with AI. But from the marketing perspective, I think it can definitely be beneficial in terms of just helping with what should I do next? How do I build on what I have and how do I save myself time?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>AI Analytics, Human Interaction, Customer Support, and Valuable Innovations.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. I like that a lot. And likewise, I\u2019m as excited as you are about the analytics and what we can do with AI in terms of interpreting it. We\u2019ve all got our analytics dashboards and sometimes, we don\u2019t look at them enough. But you look at them, but the question is, \u201cHey, what is the insight and then what should I do?\u201d And that\u2019s the hard part oftentimes. And so yeah, likewise, I\u2019m super excited about that. Any other big innovations that are coming down the pipe in the future that you think that \u201cHey, these are the next big changes that you\u2019re going to see in the marketing world?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. It\u2019s an interesting question. I think, definitely, this AI stuff is going to have more and more build on to it. That\u2019s going to be the next kind of wave of things. I think there are two types of people in the world where it comes to innovation, and where things are changing, and moving forward. There\u2019s kind of the folks that are early adopters. And if you\u2019re one of those people, I think it\u2019s really just jump in. Whenever something new comes out, jump in and take a look at it and have an eye toward how can I use this to my advantage? And then if you\u2019re not an early adopter, I think the other thing is really looking for tools you\u2019re using or integrations with tools that you already use that are really just designed to save you time. I think that\u2019s the big thing. So you just take advantage of this technology. And I think as we get further away, I always say we\u2019ve been talking a lot about just the busy season right now. It\u2019s of course, the holiday season and people are shopping and it\u2019s important time for small businesses. When we\u2019re talking about why should someone shop small? I often lean on the fact that when you think of where big businesses these days are really trying to take the human equation out of things, when you think of when you go and you\u2019re scanning your own items at the store and you\u2019re bagging your own groceries, you\u2019re doing all of these things. There\u2019s something special now, which seems strange to say, but there\u2019s something special about having an experience with somebody who knows what they\u2019re talking about. And as a human, in front of you-<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>No kidding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>\u2026 or even on the phone or wherever the case may be. And so this is where I think there\u2019s a real opportunity. And so if I\u2019m thinking about it as I\u2019m saying it out loud, the innovation is to go back to a simpler time where you\u2019ve got humans involved in the mix. And you\u2019re talking to your customers and making that feel like a special experience, you\u2019re creating unique experiences for people in a way that, I\u2019m sorry, but robots cannot do that. Right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>I mean, actually, when I start to think about that too, it\u2019s like that\u2019s what I love about working at Constant Contact is that our customers can actually pick up the phone and talk to someone if they need help with something. And I think that\u2019s a valuable piece of information or thing to have for people as well, because we know people need that help.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Discussion on Future of Marketing and Customer Experience Innovations.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Man, I\u2019ll give you a big amen to that. I remember coming back from a conference and sitting in the, I think it was a Minneapolis airport, and went over to a bar to get a drink. And well, the bartenders really don\u2019t talk to you anymore, you\u2019ve got a little iPad in front of you, and you order on the iPad and then your drink shows up. And I remember putting out on my Facebook page, \u201cBoy, I really liked the old days when people would\u2026 We acted like humans and talked to each other.\u201d That\u2019s interesting, your take on looking at the future, bringing back some of the old, and thinking about how to make a great experience and what that is. Hey, David, it\u2019s been an absolute pleasure spending a few minutes with you and chatting about the innovations in marketing and taking a little look at the future here. If people wanted to get ahold of you, how do they reach out and contact you to continue the conversation?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, sure. Jeff, also, great chatting with you today. I appreciate the opportunity. Of course, if people want to learn more about Constant Contact, constantcontact.com is the place to go for that. Me, if you want to reach out to me, I\u2019m on LinkedIn, Dave Charest on LinkedIn. And if you want to invite me to your inbox, you can go to my website, davecharest.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter as well. But yeah, love to connect with people wherever they feel they want to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Dave, it\u2019s been an absolute pleasure having you in the Conquer Local podcast. Best to you and hope you come back and spend some time with us in the future and we can continue the conversation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Charest:\u00a0<\/strong>Thanks, Jeff.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Conclusion<\/strong> <\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s been an engaging conversation with Dave Charest! We\u2019ve covered a lot, but two key takeaways stand out. Firstly, the evolution of email marketing for small businesses is more crucial than ever. I enjoyed Dave\u2019s testimonials about their client\u2019s success in multiple verticals, as well as personalized content illustrating the lasting impact of mastering the basics and staying consistent. And I couldn\u2019t agree more!<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, Dave mentioned the complexity of multi-channel marketing, emphasizing the need for unique content across different platforms and channels. His insights on the responsible use of SMS, the power of immediacy, and Constant Contact\u2019s AI-driven efficiency offer practical guidance for businesses navigating, you know, a pretty complex marketing landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed\u00a0<strong>Dave Charest\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0episode discussing\u00a0<strong>Email Marketing<\/strong>\u00a0keep the conversation going and revisit some of the older episodes from the archives: Check out\u00a0<strong>Episode 645: Boost Sales and Monetize Your Online Presence with Effective Strategies<\/strong>\u00a0with\u00a0<strong>Stefano Colonna or Episode 638: Achieving Agency Success with Direct Mail with Brian Davidson.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Until next time, I\u2019m Jeff Tomlin. Get out there and be awesome!<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can small businesses conquer the challenges of online marketing?\u00a0 Join us on the Conquer Local Podcast as we welcome\u00a0Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at\u00a0Constant Contact, the trusted online marketing leader for millions of small businesses. An educator and advocate, Dave shares practical marketing advice for small business leaders and nonprofits. With a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":23396258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23396255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Strategies to Overcome Online Marketing Challenges for<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Overcome online marketing challenges for small businesses. 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