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Want to Reach Your Next Great Customer? Let’s Get Down to Business!

May 16, 2012 By Dave Charest 2 Comments

In honor of Small Business Week, Constant Contact is hosting a series of free events in 50 cities to help small businesses reach their next great customer.

Meet and mingle with other small businesses and local influencers while you learn from the industry’s top experts in email and social media marketing.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn:

Proven tips and strategies for reaching your next great customer
How to get existing customers to bring you new ones
How to create engaging marketing campaigns
And much more

Sound good? Events run May 16 – 25, 2012. Find an event near you.

Watch the Small Business Week 2012 “Welcome” video from Constant Contact CEO, Gail Goodman:

Are you planning to attend any Small Business Week events? Tell us which ones below.

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: #SBW2012, Featured

This Week’s Free Webinars: 5/14 – 5/18

May 14, 2012 By Heidi Tobias Leave a Comment

Looking for some tips, tricks and best practices for getting the most out of email marketing, event marketing, social media campaigns and local deals? We have a whole host of webinars that will show you how to do just that.

Join us and discover new ways to make your communications more effective. Have questions? Our expert hosts will be happy to answer your specific questions during a live q & a session following the presentation.

Take a look at what’s on tap for this week!

Tuesday, 5/15

1. Email Marketing: How to Get Started with Great Design – Tuesday, 5/15 at 11am EST

How often do you come across an email in your own inbox and actually do something with it? If you notice the emails that you open, click on, forward to friends and share in social media, what do they have in common? Odds are they look good and give you information that matters to you in a quick and easy way. Here, we will teach you real life best practices using Constant Contact’s email templates to make your email the one that gets noticed.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

2. Planning Email Marketing – Tuesday, 5/15 at 2pm EST

When it comes to your email marketing efforts, do you find yourself wondering what emails to send, how often to send and what to say? Join us for “Planning Marketing Emails” where we will cover all the basics to plan your email marketing program. We’ll review the different types of emails you can send and help you define your goals. Learn how to craft a strong call to action and understand how to determine when and how often to send your emails. As a special bonus, you’ll leave with a calendar to help you plan and a list of questions you should know the answer to before you send.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

3. The Non-Profit Event Management Success Formula: Planning and Promotion – Tuesday, 5/15 at 4pm EST

You do events, but can you do better? Learn the techniques to plan a successful event for your nonprofit, an event that creates buzz, increases registrations and maximizes attendance. Master the formula to get the most out of your event management. Walk away with specific tips to plan smooth and successful events that capture your attendees’ interest and make them a huge referral engine for your next event.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

Wednesday, 5/16

1. Event Marketing Live Product Tour – Wednesday, 5/9 at 11am EST

Let Constant Contact’s in-house experts guide you step-by-step through using Event Marketing successfully—live, from the comfort of your home, office, or wherever you are. We’ll answer your specific questions, provide insider tips, and show you how to set up and promote your event. We’ll also show you how you can use Constant Contact reports to gain useful information about your target audience.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

2. Email Marketing: How to Build and Manage Relationships with Your Contacts – Wednesday, 5/9 at 2pm EDT

What makes up your contact database and social networks? It’s the people you’ve formed relationships with – customers, potential clients, members, vendors, partners, or just interested individuals. By discovering as much as you can about these people, you can increase the success of your email marketing, event marketing and social media marketing. Explore how Constant Contact helps you manage and build relationships with your contacts.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

Thursday, 5/17

1. Email Marketing: Newsletter Makeover – Thursday, 5/17 at 7am EST

An effective newsletter builds relationships, retention and loyalty. Is yours doing that? Learn what you should be doing to make sure your newsletter not only makes it into the inbox …but also gets opened. See examples of well constructed newsletters and get design tips that you can use to make your newsletter a “must read” for your audience and help you get the results that you want.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

2. Email Marketing: How to Extend the Life of Your Email Beyond the Inbox – Thursday, 5/17 at 11am EDT

You spend a lot of time perfecting your email. Why not make sure it has the best possible reach? Don’t let it “die” in the inbox! Join us for this webinar and learn how to schedule your email to hit your customers’ inboxes at the right time and how to expand the reach of your email through forwarding and social sharing. You’ll also learn about Constant Contact’s reporting tools and learn how to use this information to improve future emails.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

3. Getting Started with SaveLocal – Thursday, 5/17 at 4pm EDT

Thanks to Constant Contact’s SaveLocal, small businesses can finally get great new customers from local deals, and make money doing it. Gone are the days of paying 50% of your revenues to a deal provider that brings you only deal-seekers who are unlikely to return! And, it doesn’t end there – we also help you stay in touch with new buyers to keep them coming back. Learn the best ways to promote your deal with SaveLocal.

Get more details and reserve your spot.

Want more?

If you can’t make any of these sessions or want to see what other webinars we offer, check here for a complete list of our Best Practices Webinars for both live and recorded versions.

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: webinars

Want Great Marketing Advice? Look to Your Peers [Let’s Talk Shop]

May 10, 2012 By Peter J. Crosby Leave a Comment

Let's Talk Shop Whenever I talk to one of our customers, they blow me away with their marketing smarts.

They know what works.

So we thought, if we always had a camera ready when talking to a customer, we could suck the marketing genius right out of their brains and share it with everyone else.

Eureka! Here’s our first installment in the Let’s Talk Shop guerilla video series: our customers giving their best marketing advice to other small businesses and nonprofits.

Meet Jo James, Director of Amberlife in the UK. Jo focuses her time and attention to empower women to build their successful businesses and enjoy the journey along the way. She’s learned a lot building her own business, and she gets a 30% open rate with email marketing by Making Mondays Matter.

Want to find out how? Give Jo a minute and 30 seconds of your time, and you’ll get a great idea for your own marketing.

Are you a Constant Contact customer and want to Talk Shop with us? Send us an email or comment below, and we’ll get you on camera. Or Skype. Or finger puppets.

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: customer stories, Email Marketing, Featured, UK, let's talk shop

Ask an Expert: How Can Small Businesses Run Local Deals That Actually Work?

May 10, 2012 By Ryan Pinkham Leave a Comment

Local deals can, and should work for small businesses.

What does it mean for a deal to work for small businesses? It means a deal that generates more than just short-lived attention from people who are seeking discounts. It means a deal that allows you to connect with the people who are already living and working in your community but haven’t discovered you yet. It means a deal that gets people talking and drives long-term business results.

It means a deal that helps you reach your next great customer.

In this week’s Ask an Expert, Dave Gilbertson, vice president and general manager of SaveLocal, discusses the elements of a successful local deal and how local deals can be used to generate new long-term customers. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: Ask an Expert, deals, Featured, SaveLocal

Hiring? First Day Blunders Can Be Costly Mistakes

May 8, 2012 By Susan Solovic Leave a Comment

Teacher in classroom with students raising hands Remember, your first day of school?

Butterflies flickered in your stomach. What would your teacher be like? Who would you play with?

Because you didn’t know what to expect, it was pretty scary.

The first day on a new job is much like the first day of school.

A new employee is both excited and apprehensive. With that in mind you should do everything you can to make your new team member feel comfortable and accepted.

Unfortunately, many small business owners spend a great deal of time and resources carefully recruiting and selecting the right employee, but they drop the ball once they’ve made the hiring decision.

You only have one chance to make a good impression

That first day on the job sets the tone for your employee’s perception of your company and first impressions are often lasting impressions. As a result, employees who have negative experiences typically don’t stay around for long. That means you’re back at square one.

So why not take the time to do it right?

Every business person understands the necessity of getting all the employee paperwork taken care of on the first day. But a good first experience involves much more than filling out forms.

Prior to the first day, mark off sufficient time on your calendar to spend time with your new team member. If you have other employees, make sure you introduce them to everyone. And make it a priority to actually get to know your new addition to your staff. Ask them about their hobbies and interests and look for common areas of interest. This gives you the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level.

Consider putting up a welcome banner in the new employee’s workspace. In my company, we used to greet a new team member with a balloon display and a basket of goodies on their desk.

Plan ahead

Don’t stick the employee in a make-shift work area. Be sure their work space is prepared. They should have the work tools and supplies they need to get started.

In addition, provide them with their e-mail address, initial password and telephone number so they feel as though they are connected. You might also want to give them a specific assignment – something they can get started on to feel as though they are contributing.

Touch base with the new employee throughout the day to see how things are going. Keep communications flowing so your new employee feels comfortable asking questions and learning the ropes.

Avoid the first day blunders

When your company loses an employee it also loses money and productivity. Once you’ve found a good person to add to your team, take the necessary steps to help ensure they stay. Make the first day a memorable and positive experience.

Do you have any first day experiences to share? Tell us in the comments.

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: Featured

This Week’s Free Webinars: 5/7 – 5/11

May 7, 2012 By Heidi Tobias Leave a Comment

Wondering about how to get the most out of email marketing, event marketing, social media campaigns and local deals?

We have a whole host of free best practices webinars that will show you how to do just that. Join us as we offer best practices, tips and tricks to make your communications more effective. Have questions? Our expert hosts will be happy to answer your specific questions during a live q & a session following the presentation.

Take a look at what’s on tap for this week! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: Email Marketing, event marketing, Facebook, Facebook marketing, SaveLocal, social campaigns, social media, webinars

Facebook Tries to Friend Stockholders, and This Week’s Other Hot Topics

May 4, 2012 By Blaise Lucey Leave a Comment

This May, some people may be getting ready for prom. Others may be getting ready for graduation. But on Wall Street, everyone’s getting ready for Facebook.

That’s right, the social network has actually set a date for an initial public offering (IPO) and it remains to be seen just how many friends Facebook will have among stockholders.

Social networks continue to gain traction elsewhere, too. Colleges are using Pinterest for educational purposes and a new study found that poor customer service on Facebook or Twitter can be a serious problem for businesses.

Learn about these topics and more in this week’s news breakdown!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Fresh Insights Tagged With: Featured, weekly news

Fresh Insights

Want to Reach Your Next Great Customer? Let’s Get Down to Business!