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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 2x Webby Award Honoree Be A Marketer podcast!
On today's episode, you'll hear from an executive director on a mission to promote the place she loves to live. This is the Be A Marketer podcast.
Dave Charest:My name is 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 what it really takes to market your business even if marketing's not your thing. No jargon, no hype, just real stories to inspire you and practical advice you can act on. So remember, friend, you can be a marketer.
Dave Charest:And at Constant Contact, we're here to help. Well, hello, friend, and thanks for joining us for another episode of the Be A Marketer podcast. This can mean only one thing, and one thing only, that Kelsi Carter is here with me. Hello, Kelsi.
Kelsi Carter:Hello, Dave. I love that introduction. I should be hyped up every single time.
Dave Charest:Every time. I gotta I gotta find new ways to hype you up. It's great. It's what it's one of my favorite things to do.
Kelsi Carter:It's one of my favorite things to hear.
Dave Charest:Alright. I've got a question for you, or I should say I have a statement, and then I have a question. But we have a few things in common. One of them being, we both lived in New York for a while. Mhmm.
Dave Charest:How long were you away for?
Kelsi Carter:I was there for two and a half years in New York, and then I lived in New Jersey for 2.
Dave Charest:Okay. So a 4 year total away from home.
AljolynnSperber:Yeah.
Dave Charest:I was in New York and all around. Right? If I'm talking, like, Brooklyn, New York, and New York City proper, and kind of all around the place. I was there for, I guess, about 15 years. Oh, wow.
Dave Charest:Before actually coming back to my kind of hometown area and similar with you. Did you find being away and then coming back, I mean, did that make you appreciate your hometown a a little bit more?
Kelsi Carter:I think it made me appreciate, like, my family more. I always felt coming back from New York because it is such a diverse place in coming again, going back to New Hampshire where it's not quite as diverse. Yeah. I felt like I kinda stood out just a little bit more there. So I always felt like there was, like, a little bit of an uncomfort when going back.
Kelsi Carter:But I think it's just because too, it's like I lost that familiarity
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:A little bit.
Kelsi Carter:And then going to New York where everything is just so different that it kinda, like, brought me back to the small world. But I do like having the space. I like having a yard, and I like being closer to my family. I'm a very family oriented person, so that to me is, like, the most important.
Dave Charest:Yeah. Well, that's a huge piece of it too. And I think similarly, right, like, we wanted, you know, more space, and we had young kids at the time. Girls have grown up. And, you know, again, being closer to my side of the family and all of that is is definitely a thing.
Dave Charest:And and our guest today is someone who also grew up in an area. Right? She went away for about 18 years. She had a startup that she exited, and then she came back with her son to be closer to her family, much like you and I. And, she's the type of person that really kind of architects, the phases of her life, and she had been doing a lot of consulting with some local organizations.
Dave Charest:She's got this huge heart for, small businesses. And when the role that she's in today opened up, it was like a sign from the universe for her. And and she thought, you know, wouldn't it be great if she could promote the place that she loves to live? So Kelsey, I'm gonna go to you. Who's joining us today?
Kelsi Carter:Today, we have Aljolynn Sperber. She is the executive director for Visit Kitsap Peninsula, which is the official tourism organization for the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state. So they serve as a resource for travelers looking to explore the area, and they offer information on events, lodging, dining, and activities to do. And now this is all to just encourage visitors and support the local community.
Dave Charest:Yeah. So, I mean, not only does she have to attract visitors, but she has to pull in community partners, like government officials, chambers, small businesses. She's gotta report to her board of directors. And, of course, she you know, she's been able to pull from the skills that she's learned not only as a founder, but also as a managing director marketing agency in Los Angeles during her time away. And, one of the things that Algeline mentioned in our conversation in regards to her new role was really this dynamic between sustaining what you have, but also being able to innovate.
Dave Charest:And, you know, it really got me on on this path of thinking about innovation. And I would say that, you know, innovation isn't just about introducing something entirely new. It's really also about enhancing something that already exists to make it better, more efficient, more effective. So, let's go to Algeline as she talks about how she thinks about bringing innovation to her role and more specifically to the visit Kitsap website. Let's go to Algeline.
AljolynnSperber:If you visited visit kitsap.com between June 27th and the end of July, what you'll see is a bit of an outdated website with a lot of great information and content, but it's not adaptable to what people need today. It's not responsive.
Dave Charest:Mhmm.
AljolynnSperber:So you definitely have to zoom in and out to read the things. It's hard to navigate. So the innovation part that we're doing, it may seem small to other people, but to us, it's a big step is to have a more responsive website, a website where it's easy to navigate and a website that is clean and has our brand refresh. So we also went through a brand refresh this year. And we really wanted to make sure our new branding represented the area that surrounds us.
AljolynnSperber:We're surrounded by water, So why doesn't our branding have more blue in it? And so when the new website goes live, there will be a lot of flow to it because that's so important to where we live. And so that's the first step in having an updated website that's easy to navigate, has updated information and resources. The next step, and that'll be a couple of years, is getting it to a place where we can have personalized itineraries for visitors. It's happening a lot right now with travelers.
AljolynnSperber:They use different apps like I think the app name is Trava or Wander Maps, where those apps are helping people build personalized itineraries. So we wanna be able to do the same thing, which is different from a lot of destination marketing organizations. They're not using they're not thinking about personalization. They're not thinking about augmented reality or virtual reality. And that's what we're thinking about first is being able to have personalization as a part of the user experience because that's what people want as a traveler.
AljolynnSperber:And the other part is voice assistance. So if you think about the consumer behavior right now, we're asking well, I can't say mine, but asking Google or Siri or Alexa, like, hey, bring this up. And and so we wanna be able to have that similar voice assistance for consumers.
Dave Charest:Very cool. So you you mentioned the things you kinda love and the things that you have coming up in in in terms of, like, innovation, and I wanna talk some more about that and how you start thinking about marketing that. But I guess my my first question before we get there though is, like, what do you find most challenging about the role then today?
AljolynnSperber:Helping people understand what a destination marketing organization does. A lot of people and we're going through a whole revamp process countywide because we have county committees a county committee that helps figure out who's gonna get funding from lodging tax because that's how we're funded is through lodging taxes. And then we have city committees of 4 cities that have their own lodging tax committees. And so what I've learned in the past 10 months that I've been in this role is that there's education needed to help people understand what a destination marketing organization does, what a chamber does, what a downtown association does, and then how do events impact lodging, which types of events impact lodging. So that's the most challenging part is educating them.
AljolynnSperber:Hey, here's what a DMO does, here's what we're going to do, here's our line item budget, and a lot of it has to go towards marketing to people that live out of state. However, we have a lot of community events that attracts a lot of locals, which is wonderful, but it's not going to attract somebody from New York or LA, but maybe, like, a parade that's like what they do in Norway would because people love the parade in Norway because it's their heritage. So people just have to better understand what activities actually drive tourism.
Dave Charest:Are there any particular projects or initiatives aside from, obviously, what you're doing from the website and a brand refresh and all of that type of thing, but are there any things other than that that you're doing to help people understand this or that you're excited about?
AljolynnSperber:I guess the one that we haven't launched yet, because we're in the process of setting and and acquiring influencers or talents, something called a tails and trails campaign. We have a lot of trails, water trails and forest trails, and people have a lot of tales, t a l e s, to share. And so we're leveraging local influencers or residents to have them share how would they spend a day or 3 days in the town that they live in and love to live in. And so, they'll either build or or create a blog post and or a social media post. And from there, we can use that content in Constant Contact so we could send an enewsletter to help drive more traffic to the content that they're posting.
AljolynnSperber:But having, like, a 1 or 3 day itinerary giving people ideas of how they can spend the long weekend in Poulsbo or Port Orchard or Brammerton is gonna help people understand, oh, okay. This is what they mean by tourism and attracting people to stay in a hotel or Airbnb.
Dave Charest:So with the marketing background that you have, I have to imagine when you come in to enroll and you've been in this role for a year now, I believe you said. Right? Clearly, you've talked about the website and the brand refresh and that type of thing. I mean, were those the first items that you identified as, okay, this is where we need to start. Talk me through that process.
AljolynnSperber:Yes. So the audit, the marketing audit was, what do things look like? How do things work? From that, we identified that we needed to update the brand that it could be timeless because that wasn't so important because a lot of branding will tend to get updated anyway in the next 10 to 20 years, but we still wanted something that could still be timeless enough. And so we had something very clean and it still stands out against other DMO's logos.
AljolynnSperber:But we also wanted to make sure that we're not just promoting us, we're promoting the destination because that's what we're supposed to do.
Dave Charest:Mhmm.
AljolynnSperber:Then from there, updating visual assets. So we needed new photos and a new video. So we are about to finish our 32nd video and the the vibe and theme that we want there is to help people understand that they can unwind and disconnect to reconnect with themselves when they come to the Kitsap Peninsula. And that's what a lot of the visual assets that we are, building will do too. And so then being able to use the brand refresh, the new visual assets, new content, apply that to the website, and then show people this new website that is easier to navigate and help people make easier decisions, you know, building an itinerary or figure out where they wanna go and Kitsap.
Dave Charest:As you're going through this process, and I think you said you're about a month out from really relaunching the website, I'm assuming that is also gonna be the launch of the new brand, or is that out in the wild already? The same same time.
AljolynnSperber:We're doing teasers right now.
Dave Charest:Got it. Okay. Well, I was gonna say so that was gonna be my next question. So what is the process that you're using, or how do you think through, I guess, a couple of things. Right?
Dave Charest:So, like, I'm I'm assuming that you're probably setting goals against some of this stuff. Maybe you can talk me through that a little bit. But then also yeah. What is the what does this launch look like or relaunch. Right?
Dave Charest:Like, what does that look like, and and how do you think through that process?
AljolynnSperber:Oh, you're asking such, like, cognitive questions. And they're they're questions, but, like, you know, processing questions. So how we will launch essentially is we'll have, like, a an initial soft launch for the website and we'll send an email out to our, you know, close partners and we'll share we'll say, hey, here's our website. And a lot of those partners will be people that will be listed on there so we can make sure that one, the images that are on there are what they want, the information is correct. And then also just get them excited about having a new clean, fresh, easy to navigate place to send people.
AljolynnSperber:And then the other the more like grand reveal will be at a an in person reception. We haven't landed on the date yet, but it's either August or September to really reveal the the full process of the evolution essentially of, you know, here was this website that had a wonderful information, and then here is this new website that has all this wonderful information in easy and digestible places. From there, like, just the process of it, we really want to increase the time that people spend on the website. Right now, we did we did do advertising to have more brand awareness, so destination awareness.
Dave Charest:Mhmm.
AljolynnSperber:And from there, we're learning that people are spending less than a minute on the website. So if we can get people to spend longer than a minute on average on the website, that'll be a win for us, by the end of the year because it's not so much about getting so many sessions or website visitors, which we get about 20 k a month right now and it would be wonderful to have more than that. But really we want people to spend more time on it. So then that way we know that they're really showing interest in visiting the Kitsap Peninsula.
Dave Charest:So what I love about kind of some of this discussion is not knowing that, like, there's there's kind of like a before and after here. Right? There's, like, a big reveal as part of this, which is really exciting. So I'm excited to, 1, hear you talk about it, and then you can start to, like, oh, like, see that come to life when you actually do launch this. So that's very interesting.
Dave Charest:I'm wondering when you think of is there anything else that you're looking at just in terms of, you know, obviously time on-site is one of those things. Is there any other things that you're looking to use as, like, success metrics when you're when you're thinking about this?
AljolynnSperber:We're getting traffic from right now, there's a lot of in state, which is pretty normal because, people are coming to Kitsap either because they already know about it or they watched or read something about a restaurant or a museum or some kind of attraction. So and that tends to be a lot of in state. And it would be wonderful to see more out of state, maybe like a 3 to 5% bump. I would be happy with that for out of state. Especially from California and Texas, we surprisingly get a good amount of website traffic from Texas.
AljolynnSperber:And then Idaho, just essentially west of the rockies. I haven't come up with a plan to attract more east coast people yet. So that'll probably be a 2025 thing, especially since the, 2026 will FIFA World Cup. And there's a couple games, playing in Seattle. So we'll have a stronger idea and plans that in 2025 to help attract more visitors nationally and internationally.
Dave Charest:So when you think of you you mentioned, of course, people that are kind of in like a 50 plus mile radius, in terms of getting more people to visit. Then you mentioned, you know, people unplugging and kind of, you know, that organic beauty, for lack of a better term to say that. But like, is there a specific, I guess the audience that you're going after, is there a specific tone, a specific type of person, and I guess what's that overall story that you're trying to tell?
AljolynnSperber:The overall story is we want people to feel like they belong when they come here. In our 32nd video, we have the final line or the final word is belonging. And so that is the most important. And so for any visuals that we have, representation matters. And so we've been very intentional about who we have in photographs and videos because when you go to a place that has pride flags, the LGBTQ plus community will feel like they belong.
AljolynnSperber:If you see a shop owner who's black, the black American community can feel like they belong too. If you see, somebody that has an easy time traveling through our roads and streets and sidewalks, then somebody else that is in a wheelchair, will feel like they belong. So that is the biggest thing. The type of people that we tend to attract are people that really enjoy the outdoors, which again is why we wanna have that sense of belonging. And there's a lot of work that needs to be done to make the outdoors more accessible for all types of people, but we do tend to have people that love hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, road biking, just anything that gets your endorphins running, your adrenaline running, and people that will just, like at the end of their activity, they're like, oh my gosh.
AljolynnSperber:That was awesome. Let's go eat.
Dave Charest:So tell me a little bit about because because I wanna understand. So, obviously, right, 2 person team, you're doing a lot of the marketing hands on stuff. So as with many business owners that are Constant Contact customers and people that we talk to, similar situation. Right? It's really about how do you find the time to do these things?
Dave Charest:And so I wanted to get a sense of, before we get into the marketing piece, but like, what does a typical day look like for you these days if if there is a typical day?
AljolynnSperber:I wish I could just send you a whole screenshot of my calendar. You'll see that there's no typical day.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:Yeah. What I try to do is time block.
Dave Charest:Okay.
AljolynnSperber:So I know that I am most productive in the morning. So if I can do, like, my hard focus work between 6 AM to 2 PM Pacific time, then I am at my optimal self, you know, performance. And then afternoon is definitely the time that I can talk and just, you know, be out in the community.
Dave Charest:And so where does then when you think about marketing and finding time to do that, is that also something you're time blocking? And then where do you I guess, how do you how do you how do you figure out how to get stuff done when it comes to the marketing pieces?
AljolynnSperber:I have and I haven't figured that out. I have my Mondays Fridays blocked off where I don't talk to anybody. I'm just doing work. And so if that's marketing, so scheduling content, that's constant contact, that's social media. Even like our media spends, you know, anything related to marketing, I'll usually do Monday Friday for sure.
AljolynnSperber:And then otherwise, like, I'm doing other administrative work, like, applying for a grant. But outside of that, if I'm out on the community, I usually will get some content anyway. If you ask my partner, he's like, oh my gosh. She's Instagramming again. But I'm really I'm working.
AljolynnSperber:And so that is another time for me to do marketing essentially is getting content when I'm out and about.
Dave Charest:Well, what do you find then most challenging about just marketing in general?
AljolynnSperber:So part of our core values so we have, like, 5 main ones, which is this you know, sustainability, representation, relationships, making a good impact, so impact driven, and then data driven. That last part, it's not the hardest, but it's the most time consuming because we wanna make sure that we're doing things at work. For example, I know that if I just need to send a quick, here's what's going on in the community email, I will only send that to my most recently engaged and my my fast five emails segment on Constant Contact. So in that way I know I'll get the eyeballs that I need on there to help a restaurant or an event get, like, those last minute attendance that they need. So the data part is not hard, but it's time consuming.
AljolynnSperber:And so Right. Keeping a track of all the data to make sure I can be intentional, like my email example is is just a lot because we have to report on everything that we do and why we do it, and that's why the data is so important, the most time consuming.
Dave Charest:And how do you balance, I guess, when you start thinking about promoting tourism, of course, and getting people to come to the area, but then also you mentioned these, like, five values that you have, and then also just kind of really advocating for just environmental sustainability and all. Are these the same things to you, or do you have to balance them when you're looking to attract? Or I guess how does that all kinda come into play?
AljolynnSperber:They all integrate.
Dave Charest:They integrate. Talk to me about that.
AljolynnSperber:So we know that our primary visitors are coming to Kitsap for the outdoors. And when we can have messaging that reminds people, pick it up, pack it up when they come visit our trails, then that's part of that sustainability. But also now using data to make sure that we have that. Or if we know that people coming from China love shopping on Bainbridge Island or in Poulsbo, we can make sure that we're communicating with, like, our tour, tour operators. Like, hey, these are the seasons that they tend to come and making sure that those tour operators have everything that they need to feel prepared and making sure our small businesses feel prepared for an influx of travelers coming from China because they just opened their borders last year.
AljolynnSperber:So just being able to use data is important there. And then the data helps us know to make sure that in any visual assets that we have that representation there too. Or data even also helps us remember, oh, I haven't spoken with a city council member from the city of Port Orchard about what we're doing for 2025. So let's make sure that we build that relationship over in Port Orchard. So they all integrate to making sure that we have a really good impact in the community.
Dave Charest:So when you think about it, I wanna maybe shift this a little to just Constant Contact specifically. Have you had any experience with Constant Contact before visit Kitsap?
AljolynnSperber:Yes. I have. For different types of clients. I can't remember fully everything that I've done before.
Dave Charest:Well, tell me a little bit about what is that Constant Contact experience been like for you?
AljolynnSperber:I will say that it is really easy to use. So it's really easy to build an email. It's really easy to upload contacts. It's easy to embed a form, a sign up form. The use of it has been easy, and I do enjoy that we can build folders in the content piece of things so we can keep things organized too.
AljolynnSperber:So then that way because succession is a big part of, like, what I have in the forefront too to make sure that, you know, anybody that comes into the organization can pick up where anybody left off. So I love the organization piece that Constant Contact also has through the content and even with the list too. So I'll say that we probably use it at at the most basic level. There is and compared to all the other ones because I've used Flodesk, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and and so many others. I do love the ease of use that Constant Contact has in the reporting.
AljolynnSperber:I mean, I love seeing that heat map
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:So much. Like, knowing where people click on there, I'm like, oh, okay. People are really into this one event or people really like this photo. So then that way I can know what kind of photo to use in the future or make sure that I have all of our events kind of like above the jump or fold. So I just love being able to use the data piece of things and the organization of Constant Contact.
Dave Charest:And so I love that organization piece that you mentioned, and I think that's actually a very interesting way to think about it just in terms of like succession planning, right, in many ways. I'm sure there are, tons of, businesses and and and nonprofits in many instances where you come in and it's like somebody new coming in. It's like, okay, what is going on here? So I love that you're thinking of it that way. You mentioned really just using it in a basic way.
Dave Charest:And I think actually through the conversations I've had over the years that many people are just using it in a basic way, and and that's often enough to get results. And so I'm I'm curious as to what would you say would be, like, notable results that you're seeing from the way you are using it?
AljolynnSperber:I mean, I love seeing a high click through rate. I love it when I see, like, a 9% click through rate. I'm like, oh, that was a juicy email.
Dave Charest:I was like, so just for people listening, I mean, 9%, that's really great. Right? When you think of just across all industries, you're probably at, like, a 2% is, like, a decent click rate. So 9%, congratulations to you. That's amazing.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:Yeah. But I'm very like, it's it's strategic too though. So I we're sending that to a segment that is highly engaged, but that's still, like, I think over 3,000 people just in that segment. And so 9% of that is great.
Dave Charest:Yeah. Well, tell me about that then. Right? So I've also often had conversations with people where, you know, so obviously, you're taking advantage of the segmentation part where you're looking at who the engaged people are. I've had conversations with people who, you know, you could say, Hey, okay, there's an opportunity to send something specific.
Dave Charest:And so I'd love your thoughts on like why you would do that because I've also had like, well, why wouldn't I just send it to everybody anyway? Right. And so maybe walk me through the thinking of, like, okay, why are you focusing on that most engaged, which I'm glad you're doing, but talk me through what's your thought process on why you would just speak directly to that most engaged audience.
AljolynnSperber:We use that segment to ensure that something important is really getting seen. For an example, I think I shared the example a couple minutes ago was there's an event that make somebody needs an extra boost on. And so we know that that segment, the engaged segment, will click on links, and they will open it because our open rate for that segment is usually around 60%. And so that's a good amount of people that are opening it, and then having that 9% of the people who opened it is a great amount still. So they these folks can have, like, couple 100 extra people showing up to their event, you know, like 50 to a couple 100 depending because not 100% of that number is gonna go.
AljolynnSperber:But it's still a helpful boost or amplification for that event or if there's a big, big news that needs to be shared too, not with our organization because I feel like with our organization's news, we'll send it to our entire list, but maybe somebody needs just, like, a quick boost about an update that they have, then we're happy to use that segment for that.
Dave Charest:As part of this rebrand that you're talking about just in terms of updating the website, I have to imagine there's gonna be a component that is also thinking about updating what you're doing from an email perspective as well too. Right? Is that flowing in there as well?
AljolynnSperber:Yeah. We already uploaded our new logo on there in brand colors. The tone stays the same because our tone is the explorer archetype already. So that archetype invites exploration adventure. And so our emails were already doing that.
AljolynnSperber:The more the look will look different.
Dave Charest:Yeah. I was gonna say I was actually looking at some of the emails as examples before, you know, talking with you today, and I was like, yeah. I really like the the tone. One of my questions is like, yeah, the tone that you're shooting for. And I'm like, okay.
Dave Charest:Explorer. That makes sense to me. Right? I I I love the way that you kinda present information in there and the things that people can do. So that's really cool.
Dave Charest:Is there a consistency to your approach to just how many emails that you do send? Like, what does that look like for you?
AljolynnSperber:When I first started, I felt like, one, how to get sent every week. And so we were doing that, but that wasn't sustainable for me.
Dave Charest:Mhmm.
AljolynnSperber:So I finally have gone to or we finally gone to monthly. And so then that way, it encompasses looking forward more than like, oh, there's this coming up this weekend. So the monthly emails will have that. And then I just test tested our Saturday snacks. And so Okay.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:If there's something that is going to be a great event or, you know, we really wanna promote something last minute, we'll use that Saturday snack as, like, bite sized updates to share with people. In the email that we sent, we put a poll in there and we asked, like, did you find this email helpful? It was a pretty good split, but there were more votes for it was either tasty or stale. So Yeah. So there are more tasty than stale.
AljolynnSperber:So we're like, okay, we'll keep we'll keep playing around with this and see what people think, but those will only get sent like Saturday mornings.
Dave Charest:So a couple of things I wanna I wanna touch on here because I think you bring up a good point and having discovered it yourself. Right. Where I think oftentimes people will ask about, right? Like what, what is the frequency with which I should send emails? And I think there's a period in time where, when maybe you're in that excitement phase of like, all right, we're going to do this.
Dave Charest:And I'm like, yeah, to your point, weekly. Right? And then, so I guess how long was it before you realized, oh, I can't really sustain doing this weekly. And then did you notice anything when you started to move to monthly, just either for your own sanity, just in terms of getting that work done, or just even the results? I said, there's a lot of parts to that question.
Dave Charest:I apologize. But I guess, like yeah.
AljolynnSperber:I think either March or April is when I really realized that doing weekly was unsustainable because I was behind. I was getting behind.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:And then May was, I think, we're still sent sent to in May. So this month in June was, like, the first one. And so I'll still need to gather some learning on that. However, I do see that people still just really love clicking on events and yeah. All of the events that are coming up or like a really great picture in the beginning.
AljolynnSperber:So I think those are the main things that I've learned so far with our with the monthly is that people really still like the events and people really love having a good photo at the top to list on.
Dave Charest:So you mentioned some of the the polls and, like, survey things that you're doing. Just to one ask about just the content. Do people find that interesting? And I'm excited that you're seeing some engagement with that. And I think these are all important things to see those click throughs, those opens, and all of that stuff because it helps you at the end of the day just in terms of just as a sender.
Dave Charest:Right? And making sure your emails are getting through the people that are gate keeping. Right? Depending on who's using what in terms of an email platform. But you're also doing, you do some like trivia related things.
Dave Charest:And so I'm just wondering, like what type of like those are all like kind of fun things. Like what type of of engagement are you getting on that stuff?
AljolynnSperber:Pretty good. I I don't have a percentage on
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:But I love when I see, like, more than 30 or 50 people clicking on those. I know when I was asking where people were coming from, there was a high response rate on that because people wanted to share that. And, it would help us figure out, okay, what content do we really need to be including? It also helped me learn, okay, we really need to grow this list, but I wanted to wait to grow the list until we have a new website.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:But yeah. So I don't have a response rate on those, but I I do know that there's usually, like, 20, 50, or more people that will respond to them, and I I love seeing those answers.
Dave Charest:So you you mentioned using it to find out, like, where people are coming from. And I'm curious, are you using are you also using that information to update, like, contact records, for example, to create other lists to, like, follow-up with people based on the yeah. Okay. Though I'm wondering if yeah.
AljolynnSperber:We do need to take care of some, like, list hygiene, and management for sure.
Dave Charest:Yeah. How do you start to think through that? I mean, are there any lists that you're building now and then maybe kind of what you're hoping to get to?
AljolynnSperber:So we have the web sign up that is growing, but again, I'm not doing doing too much on that because it's on the old website still. Outside of that, the list that were on there pre were there before me, but they need to actually be updated so that they're more accurate because it seems like these lists have the same context on there. So that's why we have a lot of list hygiene that we can take care of.
Dave Charest:Got it. When you start thinking about or maybe you're not doing it now because you're kind of waiting for the relaunch of the website, but what information are you collecting when people are signing up? Or do you plan to collect?
AljolynnSperber:Outside of the standard name and email, it's their zip code.
Dave Charest:Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Do you have any plans or or not in place yet, but is that what you're thinking of doing in order to make sure that you are collecting more contacts?
Dave Charest:Is it beyond just the website?
AljolynnSperber:Yes. When we have what so when the website is done and we're ready to have our campaigns launch, we'll have a landing page and that landing page will be more about here's some places to stay, some places to check out. And then below that, we'll have a form of like stay up to date for now because we don't have a guide ready yet, but at some point, I wanna be able to do get your own personalized itinerary and and be able to have a quiz.
Dave Charest:Mhmm. Yeah.
AljolynnSperber:Some kind of with some kind of like affinity questions to figure out like, okay, based off of this affinity, let's give them the pet friendly itinerary or let's give them the if you're a Gemini, this is what you would love. Itinerary. So more creative things like that.
Dave Charest:Yeah. So I I love the way you've been talking about, like, data and then just really thinking about this idea of of personalization for the people coming to the site. But then also I have to imagine that that will bleed into what you're doing from a communication standpoint. So I think a lot of a lot of times, you know, we talk about personalization and it's, you know, things like, of course, like, you know, using somebody's name or maybe something that we know about them. But I also think it, it comes into play when you start thinking about just like relevance and timeliness of information.
Dave Charest:And so I'm wondering, do you see a space for implementing any I know you're using it as a basic way now, but as you think and and it could be down the line, but do you see any space for using kind of like automation features within Constant Contact as well?
AljolynnSperber:Oh, yeah. Definitely. We wanna be able to work set up a workflow. Once we know what the affinity survey we would wanna set up, and so then we'll be able to set up those workflows like here's here's your itinerary, pet pet lovers. Here's your itinerary, zodiac lovers and or stuff like that.
Dave Charest:I love that. What would be your best piece of advice or number one tip for maybe someone in a similar similar position as yourself getting started with Constant Contact?
AljolynnSperber:So if they are taking over for somebody, audit, do a deep dive, don't get too excited, but or, like, too ambitious about having to do all the things and do weekly emails. Start slow. Do do testing. If you're starting from scratch, I mean, research is always research is always my go to. Do your research.
AljolynnSperber:Look at competitors, see what they've done. Look at what you naturally do, and just start slow. Just test. Test. Test.
AljolynnSperber:Test. Research. Research. Research.
Dave Charest:Oftentimes, people want, like, the answers to the question, answers to the test almost, but oftentimes, the answers aren't, as cut and dry. They rely on a couple of things, which are, like, the business itself, the audience, the personalities of the people working at the business. And so to find out what works, you really do have to try different things. And so I think that's actually really great advice, actually. Azuline, anything you'd like to add before we close-up here today?
AljolynnSperber:I love data and what it can do for people. And so take advantage of any data that you can get from Constant Contact or any other tool that you're using to help inform your decisions and make a really good impact for the community that you're living, working, playing in.
Dave Charest:Well, friend, let's recap some items from that discussion. Number 1, get a mobile responsive website. Algeline expressed how important it was for the visit Kitsap website to address the needs of its visitors. For her, that meant focusing on how information is presented and personalization. For you, that may mean having a website that's mobile responsive.
Dave Charest:Now your website serves as a first impression to your potential customer. If it's outdated and doesn't take into account how people consume information many times on a mobile device, you run the risk of losing a customer very early in the process. Visitors shouldn't have to pinch and zoom to get the information they need. Mobile responsiveness, which means the website adapts based on the device accessing it, is a must have in today's smartphone world. So if you're relying on your website to drive business, this should be a top priority.
Dave Charest:Number 2, get clear on your goals. When you're clear on your goals, the things that really matter also become more clear. You better understand where to spend your time and what you're trying to achieve. Algeline spoke about getting people to spend more than a minute on the visit Kitsap web site. In addition, she's also looking at where the traffic is coming from.
Dave Charest:Since it's a destination, she's looking to increase out of state traffic. Now with these goals in mind, she can focus on how to bring the right people to the visit Kitsap website and better serve them when they get there. The clearer you are with your goals, the easier it becomes to make impactful decisions. And number 3, engage your audience with polls and surveys. Algeline regularly asks her subscribers to engage with her email content in the form of polls and surveys.
Dave Charest:This is not only a great way to learn more about them, but it also sends more positive signals to the email hosts like Gmail and Yahoo. That means that your emails are more likely to end up in the inbox versus the spam folder. Now that's a good thing, of course. So you may consider working a poll or survey from time to time to not only increase engagement, but also your deliverability. So here's your action item for today.
Dave Charest:Create a poll or survey, then send them to your most engaged subscribers. Now, this is a bit of a 2 part action item for you today. Not only can you use your constant contact account to create a polar survey, but you can also use the segments feature to send only to those that are most engaged with your email content. So you get the best possible response. And you guessed it.
Dave Charest:I'll include some links and resources in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Be A Marketer podcast. Please take a moment to leave us a review. Just go to ratethispodcast.com/bam. Your honest feedback will help other small business marketers like yourself find the show.