What's Up with Tech?
Tech Transformation with Evan Kirstel: A podcast exploring the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry, and how businesses can leverage them for growth, diving into the world of B2B, discussing strategies, trends, and sharing insights from industry leaders!
With over three decades in telecom and IT, I've mastered the art of transforming social media into a dynamic platform for audience engagement, community building, and establishing thought leadership. My approach isn't about personal brand promotion but about delivering educational and informative content to cultivate a sustainable, long-term business presence. I am the leading content creator in areas like Enterprise AI, UCaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, Cloud, Telecom, 5G and more!
What's Up with Tech?
Marketing Essentials for Small Business Growth
Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com
The marketing landscape is constantly evolving, but what actually works for small businesses with limited time and resources? Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, reveals the surprising truth: despite all the technological advancements, success still comes down to building authentic relationships.
Drawing from Constant Contact's extensive research with thousands of SMBs, Dave shares eye-opening statistics: 56% of small business owners have less than an hour daily for marketing, 73% feel uncertain about their strategy, and over half regularly procrastinate on marketing tasks. These challenges create a perfect storm where business owners know marketing matters but struggle to implement effective approaches.
What's truly fascinating is the generational shift happening right now. Gen Z and millennials are actively seeking out small businesses at nearly twice the rate of baby boomers. They're deliberately choosing to support companies that align with their values and create authentic experiences. This presents an incredible opportunity for SMBs willing to showcase what makes them unique.
While social media remains important, Dave cautions against over-reliance on these "rented" platforms where algorithms can change overnight. Instead, he advocates building assets you actually own—particularly your email list, which he describes as "pure gold" for small businesses. Unlike social followers that can disappear with algorithm changes, your email list represents a tangible business asset that adds significant value.
The conversation takes an exciting turn when discussing AI's potential for time-strapped business owners. Dave highlights Constant Contact's AI-powered campaign builder that can create comprehensive multi-channel marketing strategies based on simple prompts about your business goals. These technologies don't replace human connections but rather free up owners to focus on creating the personal experiences that increasingly differentiate them in today's marketplace.
Looking for practical marketing guidance that cuts through the noise? This conversation delivers actionable insights on building customer relationships, leveraging automation effectively, and finding the right balance between technology and human connection for your small business.
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Hey everybody, Super excited for this trap with a true industry insider and guru when it comes to SMB marketing from Constant Contact. Dave, how are you?
Speaker 2:Great to see you, Evan. I'm doing fantastic. We were just chatting. A little bit of heat here in the Boston area today, which is nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, special Boston edition. Summer has arrived, it's our time to thrive, but the work continues, especially for SMB folks like myself. So I'm really excited to have this chat and pick your brain on all things small business marketing. Before that, maybe introduce yourself. Many have heard of Constant Contact, but how would you describe the company these days? You have so much going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. So my name is Dave Shrest, Director of small business success at Constant Contact. I also host the Be a Marketer podcast. Former role Constant Contact I was director of content marketing as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Constant Contact Been around for this year as we're celebrating our 30 years in business and started with email and, of course, at this point, it's really an AI-powered platform that provides tools designed specifically for small businesses, and I would say I often am saying you know, small business owners first, marketers by necessity, right, and so these are folks that don't necessarily have a marketing degree. They know they need to do it. It's a necessary evil in many cases, and so we want to make sure the tools are something that they can use and put to good use and, you know, automate much of what they can. And now, of course, with AI kind of layered on top of that, it gives them the ability to really get back to the things they'd rather be doing, versus spending all day doing the marketing, where you know folks like you and I may enjoy that, but many others enjoy doing the work that they have to do with their business instead, right?
Speaker 1:Totally, and so much to unpack at Constant Contact. But we'll come back to that. Let's talk big picture, sort of state of the union in marketing. What's working right now, what's not working best for small business marketing? You've got so many channels. You've got email, you've got social. You've got messaging. You've got AI tools, but given all that noise, what's really moving the needle in your opinion?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I think what we see and I think this is true at any stage of the game right, you know, even you know I've been doing well, I've been at Constant Contact for 13 years, moving to us a little bit before that as well and you know, I think at the end of the day, it really all comes back to people, and I think there's always a new shiny thing to chase, and I think for me, it's always about just the folks that focus on the foundations are the folks that really earn the right, I like to say in many instances, to go play and try the other things right, because at that point you've got things working, you're generating revenue, you're doing something for your business and you're not just chasing, so you've got a strong foundation with which to build upon. And so the things we've heard I've been fortunate to talk with a lot of small businesses over the years and some of the key things that keep coming to the forefront and I think this is it's just valuable stuff to think about is one is really, you know, building real community relationships. I think, you know, constant contact was founded on this idea of you know, build relationships with your existing customers so you can keep yourself top of mind and they'll come back to you and spend more money with you, right, and I think it's the same today, just we have more channels with which to do that, right? And so, you know, time and time again, we hear from folks you know, the folks that actually are having the face-to-face things, and I think this is something that becomes even more and more important, particularly now in the world of AI. I think AI is going to do a really great job of kind of helping us with the things we don't want to do, and, you know, it may turn into a world of AI speaking to each other, but then people actually getting together and having real experiences with each other. That's my hope for what we do, but I think it's going to shift that way, because that's going to end up being the differentiating factor in a lot of this, right, where everybody's using AI. Everybody's got this thing, but it's the experiences with people that we can't necessarily replicate, right? Or we crave more as human beings, and so I think that's always important.
Speaker 2:We also see the folks that approach this with that learning mindset or, you know, setting themselves up in a really smart way, right, because it is that I think you have to approach marketing. You know I always look at this with the marketing lens and marketing. You know we talk about this idea of best practices and I kind of argue that you know, the best practice for one business could be the exact opposite for another business. So it really is about, you know, thinking through what is, what are your best practices? Right, like I like to offer things to people with with the idea that, look, if you don't know where to start, I'm going to give you a place. Right, here's how to think about it and here's where your benchmarks may be. But know that you're just doing that so you can find out what your benchmark is and then you figure out what is going to be the best thing for you, right? So I think you've got to really adopt that mindset of learning and testing and knowing. There's not like an answer. The only real answer is it depends, right, and it depends on what it is that you're trying to do. And then how are you going to use the tools available to help you reach that goal? Right, and we've all got access to the same things, but how we use them really changes. There.
Speaker 2:I think the other thing that we're seeing with folks that's working right now is really looking for those ways to actually adopt the automation to save time. You know, a lot of times small businesses shy away from automation in some ways because they'll feel like it's a little bit too impersonal in many ways and they've got those tight connections with the people in their local communities and those types of things. But I kind of push back on that and argue that actually automation allows you to be more timely and relevant, and that's what we really, I think you really mean by, you know, personalization, because the automation is often triggered by someone you know taking an action, raising their hand like investigating something and looking for something, and the more you can do to hit them with the information they need when they want it. Well, what's more personal than that, right? And so it's not a cold thing Like you should still be. You know sending your messages and thinking about communicating as if you're speaking to one person, except now you're just able to deliver that in a very timely and relevant time frame, right, that gets to people when they need it.
Speaker 2:The other thing I would say kind of two more things on my list here, right, I think the other is really that segmentation, I think, continues to show itself. I think that's always the number one way. If people are like, how can I get better results from what I'm doing? And I'm like, well, what are you doing from a segmentation standpoint? Right, because when you start to think about that, you start to, then you know you can get more personalized with the information that you're sharing, because you're speaking to a specific group of people and you know, I think what's interesting is, as we move into the future, is how we start to look at that from a less of a group of people perspective, but more on a one on one perspective. Right, because I think AI is going to unlock a lot of that as we look into the future of what's possible by, you know, taking into account things like you know, predictive analytics and those types of things, and so you can really build a, I want to say, like an ICP of, like an actual customer, right, you can have data on that specific customer to know what to say and when to say it, based on things they're doing.
Speaker 2:Right, and then the last thing, I think, is really just making sure that, as you're doing, all of this stuff and this kind of goes back to the learning and testing idea.
Speaker 2:But checking on, okay, what's really working, I think it's really easy to get into this habit of like let's just keep doing the things that we're doing but not actually saying, well, is this thing worth spending my time on? And you know, I think all of us know that the last thing that we have is more time to waste on something, and I think it's really not being too precious and saying you know what after you've given, I think you have to give something time. I'm often a big believer of like all right, say, six to 12 months, I'm going to commit to something and then, if you're not moving in the directions you want to be moving, maybe it's time to try something else or move on Right. But I think those are really like the themes that I'm hearing from the successful business owners that we're talking to on a regular basis. Like those five things are kind of continually come to the surface.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. So many takeaways and you work with so many customers that you have a great bird's eye view on SMB marketing. You also do a lot of first party research. I was looking at the state of SMB marketing on your website. What were some of the surprises? Maybe takeaways or anecdotes from that piece of research that's right available on the website.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I don't know if it's a surprise as much as it is a confirmation, and you know I do a presentation and I include this in there to really set up why it's so important to even be having this conversation. Right, it's just about marketing in general and what it can do for your business. 56% of the people that we spoke to in terms of the state of marketing, they have an hour or less to spend on marketing, and I mean it makes sense, right? And I mean there's so many things to do. I mean as a business owner yourself, right, I'm sure you recognize that. You know you signed up to do one thing and then you found out, oh, I've got to do these 20 other things as well to keep it going, and so finding the time to do those things are important.
Speaker 2:The other piece that I would say, this one is probably the most disturbing in many ways. Like 73% feel iffy about their marketing strategy, about their marketing strategy, and so they're doing things, but they're not really confident that they're doing the right things or things that are going to move the needle, but they're doing something Right, and I think I think you know I often say social media is very good at this right. It makes you feel like you're doing something right and you're getting information all day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Exactly, and like, okay, cool, and you're getting the dopamine hits and and all of those things, but doesn't always equal. You know money in the bank account and so, and then the other piece, and I think these all kind of fall together in many ways 52% procrastinate on on their marketing, and I think it's a combination of those right, being uncertain and not having a lot of time, and I often joke that all right. Well, if you've got a choice between taking out the trash and doing some marketing, most people are going to pick taking out the trash, because at least you know what's going to happen after you do that. Right, it's going to smell better, at least, right. So yeah, to me those were the main findings that I think were important to highlight, findings that I think were important to highlight.
Speaker 2:And just really, you know again, I mentioned this as a presentation that I do typically as we're traveling around the country to talk to small businesses, and that's really the big thing is like this is why this is important and I want to make sure that you have some ideas, or at least you can check in on where you are with your marketing now, to know that you're actually investing your time in the right things in the right ways. So you're moving forward and then can you know again, have something coming to you right, building some revenue, doing something, and then that frees you up to feel like you're not spinning your wheels and then spend a little bit more time on some of those other things that people say that, oh, you have to be doing this and you have to be doing that. Right, it kind of you may not need to be doing it, but it allows you to experiment that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Speaking of experimentation another report I'm looking at your growth in motion. Um, what experiments are working? Maybe not working. What are the trends that are helping drive some of that experience? Uh, experience, experiential marketing, I mean how are small businesses growing right now, given all the challenges they're facing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, you know a little bit of some of the things that we're seeing like theme-wise right that we were just talking about. In many ways, I think you know, in that report we were looking for this growth in motion report. This was looking at businesses, you know, born really within the last five years. And so when you consider that that are folks that are coming out of the pandemic right, where they're coming out of less than ideal economic conditions, and so these are folks that their general sense is cautiously optimistic, right, they're just being realistic about it. Right, they know there's going to be challenges, but they're also excited about that. I mean, I think most anybody, when you take that leap to start your own business, you're feeling pretty excited about it to begin with, right To do that, and it kind of keeps you going in many ways.
Speaker 2:But they also recognize that things aren't going to be perfect, and so what we see out of that, of course, is that adaptability is one of those things that you have to stay nimble because you don't know what's going to be thrown at you.
Speaker 2:I mean, take from the pandemic to where we are now.
Speaker 2:Now it's tariffs, now it's all these other things happening that are going to impact small businesses in many ways, and who knows what tomorrow is going to bring, and so you really do need to be nimble, right, you have to be ready to switch things up and really find those new ways to grow.
Speaker 2:And so what we also found that, you know, folks, marketing is a top priority, customer acquisition is something that they also find is important to do, and so, to help them kind of navigate that, they are actually adapting technology, if they're adopting that right there, uh, and also embracing ai in a way that I think we haven't seen businesses, um, or older businesses, do. Right, I think they're moving that way, um, but they're, and they're more open to it now, um, but they're really, uh, embracing that a lot more and really looking for ways to just streamline what it is that they're doing, and so, um, that really gives them up a ways to just really improve on what they're doing, um, and so that's kind of where what we're seeing with the businesses, um, that are kind of coming out of that are of the last five years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's amazing the shift it's also being led by gen z and millennials, uh, naturally, as as they are helping drive a revival or energize a small business community. Uh, beyond demographics, what do you think is is helping drive that shift? I know, when I engage, rarely but occasionally, with like a gen z or millennial client, I learn more from them.
Speaker 1:It's a completely different mindset than my gen x peers. Uh, what's your thinking behind that shift? Yeah, you know with, like a Gen Z or millennial client, I learned more from them. It's a completely different mindset than my Gen X peers. What's your thinking behind that shift?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So that was actually something that came as a surprise to us, you know, with our main report that we did just re-released most recently, really highlighted that how there's like it's just a blind spot for small businesses. I mean, when you consider the numbers, there are like 33 million plus, you know, small businesses and that makes up like 99.9% of the businesses in the US, right, and so there are so many around us all the time we don't really recognize it all the time and, as kind of a byproduct that was in there that didn't actually make that report, is that what we were seeing is that both Gen Z and millennials are actually seeking out small businesses and I think this is a direct, you know, correlation between what's happening in the world, right, I think they're. They want to spend their money and seek out experiences with businesses that really match the values that they share, right, they're looking for people that you know they're not going to feel like just a number, you know, to the business. It's not that they're not going to shop at big box stores and those types of things, right, but they are looking to go to those small businesses where you know there's authenticity. There there are people that align with their values, and they also appreciate that there's local impact. That's happening when they start thinking about those things too, and so it's really interesting, and I think it's exciting when you think about it.
Speaker 2:I mean, compared to I want to look at some numbers here so 32% and 28% actually seek out SMBs that offer, like, unique experiences, which is, you know, that's far above the boomers right, which we're at 18%, um, and yeah, I mean they feel like small businesses have a 31% and 30% of Gen Z. So millennials and Gen Z feel like these small businesses have, you know, a positive impact on their role. Z feel like these small businesses have, you know, a positive impact on their role. And so, and then like, yeah, almost 50%, both of Gen Z and millennials, as compared to 25% boomers, really seek out small businesses, right, and so it's just that's exciting to see, as someone who's, you know, supported small businesses for many years and really is, you know, rooting for small businesses to succeed and continue to be a driving force in the I think we're somewhere around 43% of the course domestic product and all of that, and so it's good to see that, because I think you can think as we start to move and we advance in technology and everything with AI, that that stuff may go away.
Speaker 2:But again, I think, as we started this conversation, I think that that's actually going to make those smaller interactions and experiences with people be even more important, and I think that's where I start to think that business owners particularly small business owners, of course really need to lean into the things that make them unique right, that make those connections share those values. I think showing who you are as people and what you stand for as a business is going to be even more and more important, and I think you know, evan, you've been around doing this for a while. In many ways, this feels like not too different, but maybe just people are catching up to the fact that how important this is, because I would argue that this is probably stuff we've been talking about a long time. You know, lean into those things that make you stand out from the big box stores and, and you know, build those relationships with people. But I think this is just another proof point that people actually want to spend their dollars and do those types of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, when I interact with a Gen Z or millennial business owner and I occasionally give advice, you know, I often give the advice to kind of focus a little more on the basics, the fundamentals. I mean there's a lot of excitement around creating TikTok content or Instagram reels, and that's great and necessary, but you know, some of the basics in business are phone calls, email. You know, platforms that their parents are on, maybe more like Facebook or LinkedIn than their peers, and so it's not always about just reinvention, reinvention what about you? What do you suggest those younger small business owners focus on to start.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the big thing is, regardless of what you're doing or what you know, a time period we're in, I think it's really focusing on those customer relationships, right. So, whatever that means, right. So that might mean you know it's Facebook today, right, tomorrow will be, you know XYZ platform right, it's always going to change and I think, if you understand those ways of communicating and connecting with people, like, I think, those fundamentals that make us human, those are the things that are always going to be the same. I mean, we know this, whether that's in business, whether it's the consumer relationship, whether it's the relationship on the block that you live, right, what do you have with your neighbors? Those are the things that really make everything run, make everything happen, and I think that's the place to really focus on, right, like that's the core of it. And so how can you continually stay top of mind, how can you continually build those relationships, how can you open up the dialogue with those people that are important to your business? Those are the things that are going to move you forward.
Speaker 2:I think it's also important to, uh, expand beyond just social media. I think you know some of the things that we found, even in that most recent study is that you know, a lot of businesses are, are are starting with social. It makes sense, right, it's. It's it's I'll use free and air quotes. Right, it's free. In many ways it's. It's something that a lot of these folks with these new businesses have grown up with. Right, like they're in it all the time, so they understand it and they know how it works. But I mean, even as we look at things like you know what's kind of still going on with TikTok right, it was banned for a while, it's back. We don't really know what's going to be the final outcome for that. Or you know, facebook goes down. Everything, algorithms change all that.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important to understand that if you're relying solely on that, you're kind of putting everything into rented land right, like somebody else owns the controls to that castle or has the keys to that castle, right, and so you have to not just rely on that, use it. It's a valuable tool. It's important to engage and reach new people and raise awareness. But make sure that you are doing those things to move people closer to your business. Right, Moving into email, as you mentioned. Right, sms is another way. Those are all. That changes the dynamic a bit, because now you have a way to directly connect with and influence whether or not your customer knows about you, comes back to you and again strengthening those relationships on your terms because you own that contact now, right, and I think also, another thing that I, you know, I saw the other day you hear that term or you hear that phrase the money is in the list and I was like, oh yeah, you know, I should have thought of that or that should have been, that should have came to me immediately was, in addition to that, when you start thinking about if you're building a business, that's also a very valuable asset if you have a list of people that you own, right, because that becomes an asset to the business as well and something that adds value as you're thinking about, maybe in the future, getting out of your business and selling the business, right, if you're, all things being equal, you have a business that has a list of buyers that come along with it versus those that don't, or you don't have this other big audience, right, you know, just think about this. This is where you know people are spending their dollars to from an adverse advertising perspective, right, like it's always about getting in front of eyeballs, and if you have those eyeballs built into your business already, that's a value add that you can add as you start. Start to think about, you know, moving beyond just what you're doing today.
Speaker 2:And I think the last piece is just really, you know, yeah, really leveraging the technology. And this could be simple things, right, this could just mean, you know, using what's in your platform, right, you know, I think of constant contact. Specifically, there are also tools beyond just email. Right, you can manage your social media, you can manage events from there, you can do SMS. Right, you can do all of these things. And then again, leverage the technology to save you time.
Speaker 2:You know, connect with the other tools that you're using. If you're a Canva user, for example, you're using Shopify, making those connections through the integrations that we have, regardless if you're using us or somebody else. But whatever the case may be, connecting those tools allows you to save yourself time. You know, I always give the example of when you think of Canva, for example. Right, what's the typical workflow?
Speaker 2:You go to Canva, you create an image, you download it to computer, then you go to your email and then you, you know, upload that to your email library and then you add it to the email, whereas if you just make the connection now, all of your pictures are there, right, and then you're just adding it to the email, versus doing the download and upload and all that kind of stuff. Similar with Shopify. If you're connecting your Shopify account through that integration right Now, you've got all the work you've already done on your website to add your products, your images and all that stuff. You've got that within your account and then it's just dragging the product that you want in and then you can make adjustments, but it's got all that information that you've already done. So you're saving yourself that doing that double work, right, that you might not do. And I think those are the big things you know focusing on the relationships, expanding beyond just social media and then really just leveraging the technology that's available to you today.
Speaker 1:Such a great point and it's almost a reminder to myself how important my I'll call it CRM. It's really my contact list, my email list that is, to my business. I mean it's pure gold. It can't be taken away, it can't be demonetized like every social media channel, and if it's curated and managed properly on a platform like Constant Contact or others, I mean I get 50% open rates because it's highly targeted, it's, it's the messaging is very clear that you know my, my audience knows it's from me, and you can't, you can't get that on social media anywhere. So it's really fundamental to my business. But just let's, let's take one takeaway as we look to the rest of the year. I can't believe it's June.
Speaker 1:We're almost halfway through the year. Is there one trend that you're excited about for the SMB world? I'll start. One is text-to-video. You know the idea of AI avatars or virtual influencers. It's incredible what's being done. For a couple hundred bucks you can create a video or an avatar or an influencer video. That would have taken thousands of dollars if at all to create just a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1:It's going to be amazing for small business owners. Not just the incredible tech, but the cost. The cost is going to be just a fraction of what it used to be, but what are you looking forward to the rest of the year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, you know, for me it always comes down to the fundamentals, right? I think the biggest thing for me is customer relationships, as always. But beyond that, I think I'm excited for the idea that, like, look, you know, I look at some of the things we're doing at Constant Contact in terms of just we call it like campaign builder, where AI can come in and you can let it know. Okay, here's what I'm trying to do. I have a sale this weekend or something's going on. You can plug that information in and then it will create a multi-channel campaign for you.
Speaker 2:So it'll think across social posts. It'll think about what the emails need to be. It'll think about do you need an event, Do you need to do something like that SMS? Right, and it will give you the structure and the timings and the number of messages that you should think about.
Speaker 2:And so I think of that as like, look, that's work you're going to have to do and that again, right, you procrastinate on the marketing we've seen the numbers there because you have so much stuff to do.
Speaker 2:This gives you such a leg up to be able to have something to react to that you may even be able to just say, yeah, that's good to go right, but if not, you got to go in and make adjustments.
Speaker 2:But at least you have the bones of something that gives you a chance to do the things that you need to do, and not just a one and done way right. And so it thinks about that holistically to getting you to reach your goal, and I think things like that are really exciting, because I think it's exciting when you can use these tools to do the things you may not want to do, but help you so that you can go and do those things that you do need to do, which I think, as we kind of started this conversation, is really going to be those experiences with people. I think those are going to become more and more important, which again leads me to be those experiences with people. I think those are going to become more and more important, which again leads me to my idea of customer relationships, right, and so I think that's the big thing that we really just need to stay focused on.
Speaker 1:Wonderful Well. Thanks so much for joining and catching up and sharing your outlook Always fascinating. I learn a lot and here's to an amazing summer in New England. It's our time to thrive. Thanks, steve.
Speaker 2:Woohoo, evan, great to see you, as always, and hopefully we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1:Thank you and thanks everyone for listening, watching and sharing and checking out the new TV show at techimpacttv on Bloomberg and Fox Business. Thanks everyone.