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New episodes coming July 11, 2024! As a small business owner, you need to be a lot of things to make your business go—but you don't have to be a marketer alone. Join host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, and Kelsi Carter, Brand Production Coordinator, as they explore what it really takes to market your business. Even if marketing's not your thing! You'll hear from small business leaders just like you along with industry experts as they share their stories, challenges, and best advice to get real results. This is the Be a Marketer podcast!
Today on episode 57 of the Be A Marketer podcast, it's another ask Dave episode, and I'm answering your questions about getting informed when people sign up for your email list. This is the Be A Marketer podcast.
Dave:I'm your host, Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact. And I help small business owners like you make sense of online marketing. And on this podcast, we'll explore how to find the time to be a marketer. Remember friend, you can be a marketer. In a Constant Contact, we're here to help.
Dave:Well, hello, friend, and thanks for joining us for another episode of the be a marketer podcast. Again, I did say us because I'm joined by Kelsi Carter. Hello, Kelsi.
Kelsi:Hi, Dave. How are you?
Dave:I'm good. How are you doing?
Kelsi:I'm doing well.
Dave:I know we have a question today, but I have a question for you before we get into it.
Kelsi:I'm intrigued.
Dave:Yeah. So what I wanna know is and maybe you can start by telling us a little bit about you're in the process of buying some ducks.
Kelsi:Oh my god. I was actually kinda hoping that maybe I got I I would get to speak about them.
Dave:So okay. First off, you've gotta tell me. Because, like, you know, normally, I'm, like, people are, like, these days, like, oh, yeah. Get some chickens, or do something like that. I'm, like, you don't really bat an eye.
Dave:But then you were, like, yeah. I'm gonna get some ducks. And then they're not normal ducks. So tell me a little bit about this.
Kelsi:Yes. So my girlfriend and I would love to get runner ducks. They have a little bit of a longer neck, and I feel like I just really identify with that as a duck. So I was just like, perfect. But we've been doing our research.
Kelsi:Of course, our interest did spark from TikTok where you see everyone with their ducks running around in the backyard. It just looks so nice, and they're so cute. So I think that kind of was the inspiration behind it, but we've been doing our due diligence. We've been doing our research for a few months now, and we've been prepping the backyard. So we finally have the backyard all cleared and leveled out because we wanna give them, like, a nice little runner and then, of course, like, a nice duck house.
Kelsi:We're trying to get 3. We only have names for 2 right now. I don't I think okay. I'll let you know what the names are. My name for my duck, my runner duck, I would like to get a black one.
Kelsi:It's gonna be goose, and then my girlfriend would like one that's duck, duck. So it'll be duck, duck, and goose. The third one and then the third one. Yeah. And then, yeah.
Kelsi:And then, like, Peter or something like that.
Dave:Okay. So I've got a ton of questions here. So one, so they come in different colors. I know nothing about a red or duck.
Kelsi:Yes. You can get them. The ones that we've been seeing that we like so far are like a chocolate mocha brown, black, and then they have fawn. So then there's also
Dave:What color is fawn? Is that, like, a light brown?
Kelsi:It's, like, white and then there's brown on it as well. So we're kind of between a chocolate and a fawn one right now. We have the black one settled, and then we have I think that's silver. It's like a silver gray. So we're still deciding.
Kelsi:So, I mean, if anyone had a preference or recommendation, I'd love to hear it.
Dave:Yeah. Let us let us know.
Kelsi:But yeah. So I'm very excited.
Dave:But I have an actual marketing related reason for asking this question, though. So you said you've been doing your research for a couple of months. So because I do wanna follow this trail for people because, like, I think this is important to understand. You said you saw something on TikTok
Kelsi:Mhmm.
Dave:That kind of, oh, peaked your interest about this kind of dunk. And then you started to do your research. So tell me a little bit about that process. What were you doing, and what did you do, and where did you end up?
Kelsi:Yeah. So the first thing I just wanted to know is how in-depth the care was for a duck, how much attention and care it needed because I also am someone that has a full time job and everything like that too. So I wanna make sure that I'm able to care for them in the capacity. And since we're getting them as ducklings as well, there's a lot of care that goes into ducklings. They have to stay at a certain temperature for the first few months.
Kelsi:They can't go outside until they're about, like, 2 months until their feathers are fully developed. So we just wanted to make sure that we felt fully prepared being able to bring that on, like, into our home because they do have to be inside for the 1st 2 months. So there's a lot of prep that goes into that. You wanna make sure that you have a proper box for them. You actually we've been talking with a few friends that have chickens and ducks as well.
Kelsi:They've been great helps. So they've been recommending that, like, start with a smaller box and you increase the size just to make sure that the heat is the right temperature for them because it's a little bit hard to control since it's just a heat lamp. So that is very particular. So, of course, and I'm also I love animals. I went to school originally for zoology.
Kelsi:So I think this also kind of scratches that itch, gives me that hobby of I wasn't really having that part of me fulfilled with animals. So now I'm kind of like, oh my god. So and it also gives me a project to get outside and do that and, like, clean up the yard. I've done a bunch of yard work and stuff, and I'm also going to be building the runner as well. So just being able to learn those, like, hands on experience through this whole process has been really great.
Dave:So did you end up at a particular site? Well, I guess, first, like, when you were searching, would you go to Google? Is this where you went to find out things? Or
Kelsi:Yes. Yes. We went to Google. So that was we, at first, went to Tractor Supply, which is, like, probably not the best.
Dave:Known for their ducks?
Kelsi:Yeah. Known for their ducks. But we've also because we have been looking at reviews and comments, and you also have to buy a package with Tractor Supply. I think it's, like, 16 or plus ducks, and we were not trying to get 16. And you cannot get 1 single duck.
Kelsi:That is, like, a big no no because they need a companion. So they do actually recommend that you do get 3 just in case something does unfortunately happen to one duck you're not running around trying to find another companion for it. So we did not want 16, so we actually ended up with Metzer Farms. They have a lot of great reviews. They do have a small delivery fee charge because we're only getting 2.
Kelsi:So it is a little bit more expensive, but they're very reliable. It's like next day delivery. And you can also pick, like, sexed or unsexed, where we do want females. We don't want males. So there's a lot of factors going into that, but we did end up finding our our good site.
Dave:So how did you end up finding this farm then that you're gonna purchase them from?
Kelsi:It was pretty much through Google Research and then also TikTok because we did see a lot of accounts that have a good following because they're known for caring for well for their animals. So seeing people that have a following and are taking care of their animals and knowing that they got them from this place that just immediately, I'm just like, okay. Let me look up this place further.
Dave:So it was a referral to this place then? It wasn't necessarily the place you found, like, on TikTok, for example?
Kelsi:Yeah. It wasn't exactly. Yeah. I do actually think I don't credit me 100%, but I do believe they have actually a TikTok. But that's not how I originally found them.
Dave:But you didn't use that to find it. Right. Yeah. So that's kinda my point. So I wanna know then when you got to this site, did the site have information to help you answer the questions, the farm site I'm talking about?
Kelsi:Yeah. So they had information, like, educational information about just the care in general for ducks and ducklings, which I think is great, especially if it's a site for the purpose of buying animals like that. You should want to provide that information for people to properly care for them. So there was a lot of information for that. They had a lot of variety of ducks.
Kelsi:They had black Swedish ducks. They had buff ducks, call ducks. So buff ducks. And they all Buff ducks
Dave:that you can They
Kelsi:do, and they all have, like, their own little personality and very particular look, which I think is great. So and they also just have more than ducks as well. They have chickens, geese. They have several other things too.
Dave:So last question maybe, and then we'll we'll come back to the ducks at another time. We will follow this journey very closely.
Kelsi:Oh, yeah. Don't you worry. As soon as I get them, everyone will know.
Dave:Everyone will know about the ducks. But I'm curious, when you got to the site and you're reading this information from this farm, did they have a way for you to sign up to get any maybe some other information or a way to sign up for a newsletter or anything like that?
Kelsi:Yes. They did. I don't remember exactly where on the site. They also had a blog and a few other resources. They had, an FAQ section.
Dave:Did you sign up for the newsletter or anything?
Kelsi:I did not, but I'm actually going to when I've just been doing the research, but I fully intend to when I purchase the ducks because I'm gonna be purchasing it through them. So I think that was just my thought process of when I was gonna sign up for it. But I do wanna keep up to date just because I am going to be a new owner of Ducks. There's gonna be a lot of things that I still have to learn. So it's just gonna be a great resource for me for them to be able to send me just duck related information.
Dave:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just for people listening, I think it's an interesting way to illustrate kind of what happens in this process. Right?
Dave:Like, when you're you're turned on to a particular thing, either because, you know, while you saw something on social or somebody mentioned something to you, you kinda end up going down a rabbit hole of sorts, right, where you're looking for information. And you're particularly when somebody mentions someplace specific, you're going to their website to verify that that's the place and that you wanna, you know, stay connected. Or I should say that you you may potentially wanna do business for so you're looking for answers to your questions, resources. You're feeling out whether or not this is the right place for you. And then I also thought it was interesting that you mentioned that you're gonna stay in touch afterwards because you're gonna have more information about.
Dave:And so I think this is another curious point is that, you know, sure, you can get prospects to buy something from you. So, you know, you're in this research phase and deciding on where you're gonna go, but you've also got this opportunity as the business owner to once somebody becomes a customer, the value to you at that point is learning things from them to become a better duck mom. I don't know whatever you want to call it, right? A duck owner? Yes.
Kelsi:I will be calling myself a duck mom.
Dave:Yeah. Excellent. And so you've got this opportunity to I look at it as, you know, strengthening that relationship by making the best use of the knowledge that you're learning from them to take to care for the ducks that if, you know, if they sell supplies or they do these other things that you need or you need another duck or somebody else is gonna rec you know, ask, hey. Where'd you get those ducks? I'd like to get some ducks.
Dave:Like, you're gonna recommend this place. Right? And so it's just that that cycle that happens, and and we're kinda almost seeing this happen in real time with Kelsey here right now. So I just wanted to make note of that because I could I think it's something, again, if you don't understand how this process works or online marketing can get confusing because there's so many other things and terms that don't make a lot of sense. But at the end of the day, this is the process that people go through to end up finding you and potentially doing business with you.
Dave:Okay. Well, Kelsey, thank you so much for sharing a little bit about your duck journey. I can't wait to be able to share more with people.
Kelsi:Yeah. I'm excited. I'm definitely gonna update everyone, and I was very happy to be asked that question. I love talking about ducks.
Dave:Excellent. Great. You heard it here first, folks. So so I know we do have a question today. So why don't you tell us what we do have?
Dave:A question from one of our listeners.
Kelsi:Yeah. So today, we have a question from Rick, and he's a founder at a company that provides a product to create personal immersive audio experiences with music, video games, and movies. Rick's question is, how can I get informed when people sign up for my list?
Dave:Okay. Very cool. Good question, Rick. So I am a little bit of a a tech nerd in some of these things. So I love, like, headphones, and I love microphones, like, all of that kind of stuff.
Dave:And so I'm intrigued by this immersive audio experience because I love all of those. You know, you can kinda sit and just listen to music, and I love I love all that stuff. So a side note there. But so how can you get informed when people sign up for your list? So, obviously, I'm gonna be talking here about Constant Contact customers.
Dave:And and one of the reasons why I really like this question a lot is because I think time and time again we've seen, and I'm sure Kelsey, you've probably seen this in your own life. Right? When you focus on something, that is the thing that tends to flourish in your life. Right? And so, like, right now, you're highly focused on these ducks, right, and making things happen so that you have the ability to kind of raise these ducks.
Dave:Right? And so similarly, I think it's important when you're I love the question because it means Rick is focusing on his contact list and wanting to know, hey, when are new people signing up? And I think through that focus, he's actually gonna end up growing his list. Right? And so I think that's important thing for people to hear because it's one of those things that I think you should always be doing.
Dave:It's not that you need 100 of thousands of emails on your list, and and you may be a business that reaches that level and good for you, but most people are typically not there. And depending on the size of your product or service, like the sale process and what that looks like, if it's a high ticket item versus a low ticket item, you know, you may not need that many people to begin with, but you do always wanna kind of get those people on your list. And so I just wanted to mention that because, again, list growth is important. Make it part of your process. Make it part of the thing, and I'm not gonna go deep into, like, the ways you can do that here.
Dave:I think we've handled that in other places, but and we'll include some resources in the link, in the show notes too. But I did wanna say, you know, just make sure that you're doing that and glad to hear that somebody is is thinking about that. The other thing I'll say is to really keep track of this, there's a couple of things that you can do. One, I think it's important to download the Constant Contact mobile app. And so you you might not know that we have a mobile app.
Dave:Well, we do.
Kelsi:Yeah. I think a lot of people forget or don't even know about it.
Dave:Yeah. And so on that app, of course, you can create emails. You can create social posts. You can do all of that. But another aspect of it is the ability to manage your contacts.
Dave:And so not only can you upload contacts to it and add new people to that contact list, but you can also keep track of, you know, when people are signing up. And so I actually will do that quite regularly where I'll go into the app and see, like, alright. How many subscribers did I get today? And I'll take a look, and you can organize them by the date they were added to the list, and you can kind of see, you know, where people came through. And and so it's a good way to start, again, paying attention and focusing on maybe even setting a goal.
Dave:I wanna get to, you know, a 100 new contacts by the end of the month or whatever the case may be. And so checking in on that regularly to kind of get a sense of what it looks like. So then it's through that looking at those things too, and you can go into your constant contact reports and see how your list growth is going and where people are coming from and all of that kind of stuff gives you, again, the next time you go in to look, it gives you kind of direction on how you're doing and what you can do to improve that moving forward. So I think that's important. The other thing I'll mention is that also within your Constant Contact account, you can actually go to your contacts page, and you can set up an email notification to let you know about when you get new contacts.
Dave:And so you can set that to send to you either daily or weekly. And that sends to you, and it will let you know how many new subscribers that you have via email, and it will also let you know how many people have unsubscribed from your list. So you can just keep an eye on that stuff. And so, again, just to kind of let people know that that's a good way to start paying attention to the list, helping it grow, and, you know, helping you move forward with getting more people on there. So I think, again, focus on that list growth because I think it's really important.
Dave:Make sure you download that Constant Contact mobile app because that allows you to kinda do that anywhere anywhere you want and take a look at your phone. And then set up those email notifications. We'll include links to all of that stuff in the show notes, of course. And then, yeah, Rick, I hope that kinda answers your question there on doing that, and thank you for sending in the question. And, again, I'll remind people to check the show notes because we're going to put some resources in there on the mobile app and show you how to set up, notifications, all of that.
Dave:Alright, Kelsi, if someone has a marketing question they wanna send in, how do they do that?
Kelsi:Well, if you're a Constant Contact customer, you can head right over to the Constant Contact community to post your question for an upcoming Ask Dave episode. You'll find that link in the show notes. But, Dave, if people want to rate or review this podcast, where can they go?
Dave:Oh, I would love that. And guess what? They can also go to the show notes. You'll find a link in there as well to leave a review. And I would appreciate if you've been a regular listener of the podcast.
Dave:It really does help the algorithms tell the different sites that, hey, this is a podcast worth listening to, and so it'll help other small business owners like yourself find the show. So be sure to check that
Kelsi:out. Thanks, Kelsi.
Dave:Thanks, Dave. Bye, y'all. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Be A Marketer podcast. If you have questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me directly at dave.charest.@constantcontact.com
Dave:If you did enjoy today's episode, please take a moment to leave us a review. Your honest feedback will help other small business marketers like yourself find the show. Well, friend, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and continued success to you and your business.