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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 Be a Marketer podcast! New episodes every Thursday!
Today on episode 67 of the Be A Marketer podcast, you'll hear from a VP of marketing and communications who looks to other for inspiration. 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. Hello, Kelsi Carter.
Kelsi Carter:Hello, Dave Charest. How are you?
Dave Charest:I fooled you there for a minute. You're like, is there is there more to that or no? Just just hello.
Kelsi Carter:Brought my middle name for a second. I was about to, like, woah.
Dave Charest:Kelsi, today, our guest is Johnny Etherington, the VP of marketing and communications for Care Advantage Incorporated. Of course, we're gonna find out more about him. But, Kelsey, what can you tell us about Care Advantage?
Kelsi Carter:Of course. So Care Advantage is a home health care organization, and they're based in Richmond, Virginia. And they have about 40 locations across the mid Atlantic. Since 1988, they've been dedicated to providing the highest level of care to their patients, employees, and the community.
Dave Charest:35 years. I love this. I love hearing stories about businesses that have been around for so long. So a long time. Right?
Dave Charest:Like,
Kelsi Carter:wow. Older than me. But Johnny believes that, a big reason for the company's longevity is their commitment to the delivery of service.
Dave Charest:Now just so it doesn't shock you as we get into our conversation here today, Johnny is originally from Scotland, and his journey actually started in the agency world after he attended university. And he spent 10 years at an agency where he really started to hone his skills in brand development.
Kelsi Carter:Yeah. And it was when he met his now wife, Nikki, when he made that big move to the United States.
Dave Charest:Love that. His first job stateside was for a skilled home health care company that eventually led him to Care Advantage. He's been with the company for over 7 years.
Jonny Etherington:I'm very motivated to work with good people and people that are engaged on a daily basis and challenge you on your ideas and challenge you on your expectations. And that was clearly evident from the first day I set foot in the Care Advantage corporate office. As I said, I was brought in originally as a consultant and I'm sure you're familiar. When you start getting that feeling in your stomach that I could be here more often than I like, you know, I really sort of had an idea that this could be something in our place that I'd really like to grow and so much opportunity, so much passion and compassion within the people that work here, but also the brand itself. Right?
Jonny Etherington:It was a given. It's the things that marketers should grab with both hands and that I certainly gravitate to it was essentially a legacy brand. It was a care legacy brand where there was the previous the founder of the company had done a great job on the local level and had really built a sort of following around that, I guess, is the best way to describe it. But to take the work that she had done and build on that was something that excited me and the opportunities. And, obviously, with it being a growth market and that we knew from the get go from a financial sponsor that one of our goals was to grow and take part mergers and acquisitions, a lot of m and a activity, that that talks to the brand integration side of what I do.
Jonny Etherington:And, yeah, it was just a great opportunity to do that. But like I say, people, and to this day, really, is a driver for me.
Dave Charest:When you think about kind of as you started there and, you know, I know, like, starting at Constant Contact, and I've been at the company for 13 years. And coming in and I mean, I started as, like, a content developer when I started at Constant Contact, but there's something to getting the opportunity to come in and then start to implement ideas or get some quick wins or start to see something work
Dave Charest:in a way. Do you remember
Dave Charest:kind of, like, what was your first big win when you started there?
Jonny Etherington:Do you know what? It's funny. I was thinking about this last night driving home thinking I was hoping you might ask me this question. So when I first came in here, one of the key we had to create a culture, right, that was something that we could I don't like to say copy and paste necessarily, but something that we could grow throughout the organization and then obviously add on additional brands that we may invite in our care family. So that was something that almost the first task through the door was a rebranding of the original core brand or the core family of brands at that point.
Jonny Etherington:We had a staffing division and also the skilled home health care company, and and it was to brand those 3 original brands. So on the back of that, I was also granted the opportunity to develop those value structure and the mission and the vision. And, ultimately, we've tweaked it over the years, but, essentially, those cornerstones are still in place. They still formulate a lot of the communications that we do and the way that we expect our teams to act and carry themselves on a day to day basis. And that's without shadow of a doubt.
Jonny Etherington:I can remember the day that our current CEO, Tim Hanold, walked in. We were having a collective meeting on a Friday morning, and he was referring to the culture and the importance of these tools and these levers that we can connect with to drive culture across the footprint. Right? Because we're used to Virginia, but now we're going into other states and so on and so forth. And he goes, we kinda need, like, this outline.
Jonny Etherington:We need these words and these drivers and, like I said, these values. And I just went, you know, straight to his office after the meeting. I said, will this work for you? And he's like, you know, this is what we need. And, that was the big one.
Jonny Etherington:Again, another hook for me. So I still am smiling. I I know I appreciate it's a podcast, but it still kinda get goosebumps at that connection and then knowing that that work and your ideas that you're really overlaying on an existing structure were workable is always very exciting. Right?
Dave Charest:Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. So where you are today,
Dave Charest:what does, like, a day to day look like to you? Describe that to us in terms of responsibilities as VP of marketing.
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. Certainly. So I'm sure you get this answer a lot, but I'm glad to say no 2 days are the same. We obviously have key structures. Right?
Jonny Etherington:So be that things like creative design and brand strategy that we build out on a daily basis and but those communications, and and this is something that we'll no doubt speak about later on, is we have 2 very distinct areas of communication, and that really becomes the foundations of how our days are formed. Right? So we're we have a corporate level communications, and then we have what I call the community level communications. So although we we have 2 defined clearly defined strategies around that, so for example, on the corporate side, that might include revenue drivers, right, like digital leads or, you know, where we can create, say, market leads from digital leads partner or through our work through SEM, etcetera, and drive as a positive contribution to the business on a day to day basis. So there's a review process.
Jonny Etherington:Are we getting to the leads? Are we managing those leads? So there's that element that bolts onto the revenue side of the business, if you like. But then we have other things where we're looking to build profile and establish a profile not just in the home health care sector, but in broader markets. So we do a lot around leadership, thought leadership in particular.
Jonny Etherington:We are looking to showcase our talent and our creative you know, and our leaders and our chiefs and so on and so forth to and the different places to so they can talk about our business and what we do on a day to day basis and raise that profile to a more, yeah, thought leadership perspective. We have the day to day communications that we do to our clients or our caregivers, which is obviously very important. Communication is the name of the game for both of those key audiences, so we're strategizing around that, developing content, working out delivery, how to deliver. So that's always plays part of it. We have analysis, you know, where we're reviewing how our strategies are working and how effective they are.
Jonny Etherington:And then finally, the creative side. Right? So building out collateral messaging, be that on social media platforms, be that on paper to our referral sources, or internally to our stakeholders internally, be that, you know, our office teams, our schedulers, our caregivers, and so on and so forth, This very mixed bag of things, and we obviously slice that up in ways that we can manage on a day to day basis, but we always have the here and now and then ultimately what we're looking to achieve 3 months further down the line.
Dave Charest:So what does your team look like
Dave Charest:to help you kind of do all of this?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. So I call it an integrated marketing hub. It sounds very fancy, but it's really it's myself, network of trusted and reliable partners. Not a lot of them, but they specialize in particular areas of really of execution around things like digital marketing. I have a gentleman that I've worked with for the best part of 15 years.
Jonny Etherington:He's a freelance graphic designer in Tampa who knows my style and my messaging inside out, so that's helpful. We have, like, the like I say, this trusted stable of vendor partnerships. And then inside, we have myself. We have a corporate communications specialist who works with me closely on, as I say, on those internal strategies. And then I have a junior comm specialist who he has a specialist in cinematography, so he'll help give direction around Danny.
Jonny Etherington:We don't do huge, big budget productions, but we do find it a very helpful tool and something that we deliver frequently through Constant Contact on the that we can do those videos, etcetera to relay messaging in a different way. I think variety is the name of the game when it comes to that for us and how we deliver those messages to certain audiences. So that's pretty much it.
Dave Charest:So how do you approach getting things done then when it comes to marketing? Are you guys meeting to plan for the year? Do you have particular milestones that you're going through, and then
Dave Charest:are you calendaring this? Like like, how does the work actually get done?
Jonny Etherington:So great question. So, typically, in this December of every year, what we have to make sure is that our objectives, our tasks dovetail with the overall management business objectives of the business. So we make sure that everything that we do is positive. Right? That makes a positive impact on our overall objectives.
Jonny Etherington:So that's kind of the starting point for everything that we do. There's a review process that takes place in the November, like a a corporate get together, if you like, where these are all discussed and our expectations are laid out in front of us end of November. And then we develop our strategies going into the following year across December early January. They have reviewed, obviously, 1 past, in my case, the CEO, and signed off. And then we're held accountable to those.
Jonny Etherington:Right? So we build our strategies, like, on that, I feel like, that corporate level, pretty much at the tail end of each year. On a more departmental or, say, departmental, I think it's important to note that we work very closely with our operations team, our operations leadership, and our sales teams on their objectives so everything's key in together. So we typically do that monthly, and that's where, again, it's a good point. A key sort of buzzword that you'll hear me say is that accountability to make sure that we are delivering on their expectations and vice versa.
Jonny Etherington:And not but to be honest, it's not my other way around. Yeah. And, more times than not. But, yeah, but it's really key that especially with multiple brands and such a a number of different states, right, that we connect that regularly so we can plan out and make sure that everything is in the hands of the sales or operations teams at the right time and not just the right time ahead of time. So for example, next month is nursing assistance week, which is key.
Jonny Etherington:Right? That represents our caregivers, those people that deliver the exceptional care each day. That is planned out probably 6 weeks prior. So we we make sure that, you know, they're given a gift, a thank you gift for what they do. So we really have to think that far ahead, then we're building out a constant contact message and rights so we can deliver it by email or text and so on and so forth to say thank you.
Jonny Etherington:So that planning takes pretty much 4 to 6 weeks ahead of time. There's obviously production timelines and etcetera that dictate that also. And then on a week to week basis, I meet with my team and any of the vendor partners that I mentioned earlier. So I have a meeting every Monday morning, 8 till 10, with both Mac, who's, as I said, my corporate comms guy, and Parker, my junior comms guy. And, yeah, affectionately named donuts and destiny.
Jonny Etherington:So I bring in coffee and donuts most weeks, and then we sit down for 2 2 you know, good 2 hours. We review the week that we've just dealt with and what we encountered there and any challenges or opportunities that we saw and then ultimately what we have coming up the week ahead.
Dave Charest:What do you look for then when
Dave Charest:you start thinking about what success looks like for the business? And, like, what are the things that you're like, I guess, how do you measure that success with what you're doing?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. So it's almost like a byproduct, right, of what the overall business be it, you know, the operations delivery and the sales team. So success is obviously getting making sure that we're providing exceptional care to as many people as we can in the communities we serve. And, again, it drills back to that mission and value statement that, you know, we spoke about earlier. It's very much about that for us that as long as we're continuing to provide care in all the markets that we serve and that continues to increase, That's our measuring stick, if you like.
Dave Charest:Gotcha.
Jonny Etherington:We're helping to facilitate that.
Dave Charest:So what do you find to be particularly where you are right now, like, what do you find to be the challenges that come in the way of kind of achieving that goal?
Jonny Etherington:So I think the biggest thing as a market in general, it's quite difficult to and so reviews are important to me. Right? It's like, you know, reviews through be it through Google, etcetera. The client perspective of that is something that we are really passionate about obtaining, right, because it's a way that we can get better. And so it that is one area that I find incredibly difficult to make that connect with simply because, again, I think it's the subject matter.
Jonny Etherington:It's people's health. They're not necessarily wanting to disclose that, but, also, it's a means of just getting that initial connect point. And that's always challenging for us, like that external, that reputation management part of the equation and the volume of feedback that we would like. Not necessarily the quality of the feedback because when we have it and we get it, it's always very good. But having enough of a sample, if you like to take those learnings and make ourselves better through that, that's always, in this particular area of business, quite a challenge for us.
Jonny Etherington:I think the only other point I would sort of make around sort of challenges is really ensuring that measuring the flip side of making sure people that you want to hear this messaging because it's a really, really unique thing. Right? This could be typically someone takes our services onboard. That is a life changing moment. It's not necessarily, although it's becoming increasingly so, something that people would necessarily research, right, or ahead of time.
Jonny Etherington:This is normally something that makes people, unfortunately, have to take that service on board and look for that additional care and support. So making sure that your brands and that association is, well, is of paramount importance to me. Right? So that's one thing that I need to make sure is that when someone is faced with a situation like that, the Care Advantage or Capital City Nurses or Silver Line and Home Health, whoever, one of those brands that the association has made and that they know where to call. But it's always gonna be a challenge for us to do that, you know, because of the nature of what we do.
Jonny Etherington:Yeah.
Dave Charest:So well, talk me through a little bit here about you've got these key audiences that you're marketing to. Obviously, you're doing, like, the corporate level stuff too, but, like, also when you start thinking about you've got clients. Right? These are the people that are, like, receiving the care. Then you've got your caregivers that you're talking about here that are actually, I guess, I worked at, like, a physical therapy office in another life at some point, and the business manager and the owner did a lot of work going to the doctor's offices and, you know, making sure people knew about us so they could refer people to the office when they needed physical therapy and those types of things.
Dave Charest:So I assume you've also got this population that includes doctors, hospitals, and even the caregivers themselves that are actually doing the work for you. So, like, I guess, talk me through how do you think about these audiences, and then how do you think of like, what does that do for you just in terms of, like, your marketing plans on making sure you're communicating with them with the right types of messages? Does that make sense?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. Yeah. So your analysis is almost exactly the same as how we would approach our communication strategies. Right? So we have a sales team.
Jonny Etherington:They're actively engaged on a face to face basis with referral sources. The key communication from our side on that is making sure that we almost punctuate their visits. So we make sure that, again, to my previous point, that that brand association is made continuously almost on a obviously, they're doing a weekly basis because we have to make sure that we don't second people with the message and also and may, oh, here they come again. So we're very strategic in terms of how we deliver electronic strategy and between the face to face and day to day visits that our sales team would be making. The second audience that you identified, you're making my job easy, is the caregiver population.
Jonny Etherington:Now that can be anything from an industry recognition day, like a nursing assistant suite, or it could be something really important around, you know, like scheduling, like, for example, holiday weekends, or it could be a message that we have to communicate to a specific audience out of a specific location, or it could be around benefits. There's a whole host of reasons why we might connect with our caregivers, so that's a very important audience. Also, Again, the difficulty there is a little bit is making sure that they have the ways of receiving that message. So, again, we're looking to punctuate any messaging that might be delivered on a face to face basis from the offices with electronic communications. And then we have our clients.
Jonny Etherington:And, again, very important in terms of the overall digital strategy that we deliver. And, again, that can go everything from an opportunity where we have some kind of offer that we might want to push through, or we might have new technology or a new operation system, or we might want to talk about a family portal where they can manage their own schedule and so on and so forth. So it's really a case of selecting the audience that for the message that is relevant at that particular time with clients in particular. But, yeah, very clear and distinct markets. And then as our audiences, I should say, and then on the flip side of that, right, we have this whole internal side.
Jonny Etherington:So we have our office teams. We have our corporate teams that we're looking at communicate more of those culture drivers and and so on and so forth. So 4 pretty important stakeholders within the company.
Dave Charest:So talk me through a little bit about what you're doing then, or I wanna say what pieces like, what are you using to then when you start thinking about marketing the business? Right? So I got to imagine, of course, you know, search is gonna come into play here, messaging on your website, that type of thing. I guess, what are the channels that you're kind of using overall in your marketing strategy?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. So, again, very much around depends on the message and it determines the platform or the tool that we use. So a couple examples. So social media platforms are great. Right?
Jonny Etherington:So that's a culture driver for recruiting. So we're very much keen to illustrate, like, what we stand for as a company, and one of my key beliefs is showcasing the people that do the work. And I don't try to use stock photography as one area that I try to avoid. I think the dollars, the marketing dollars invested in photographing, like, especially around the caregiver audience as proof, you know, of what we stand for and our values. So I think it's a way of reinforcing that.
Jonny Etherington:So social media platforms are excellent for recruiting. Right? We can showcase what we stand for. We can show the community activities that we're involved with or the nonprofits that we support. We can just showcase our caregivers and just say, thanks for doing just a great job.
Jonny Etherington:Right? Same goes for our clinical teams. Right? Our nurses, our sales teams, everything goes into that and are shown to reflect the overall culture of the company. Another good example is where we might use constant contact, right, where we use the texting functionality.
Jonny Etherington:So we find for our caregivers, like our current caregiver audience, that cell phones are typically the best way to get engagement. The way we do that or the way we monitor that is we obviously have the ability to text our caregivers that are on staff, but we will typically send a link that will drive them to the landing page functionality that Constant Contact offers. And that allows us obviously to dig in, provide more information. We're just doing one currently about the caregiver journey that we offer in terms of career development and, you know, to try and encourage people to see this as a real viable option, right, as a career and how much is valued. And so what we're trying to do is we'll take 2 elements, like I say, the text and the landing page, and then work them in tandem with one another.
Jonny Etherington:Again, great way to engage with that particular audience. And then then clients, again, pretty much, like, to your point, we can use anything from, like, delivering direct well, not direct mail, but mail messaging through the snail mail, if you like, but also through the email functionality. That's paramount importance to us as well. So it really is a case of selecting the tool from the toolbox that best suits the needs at that particular time.
Dave Charest:Is there anything in particular you do to, I guess, stay on top of, like, the latest marketing trends so you can, when it makes sense, incorporate those into your strategies?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. My big reader, but an even bigger podcast listener now. So there's a number of different podcasts. I've obviously listened to a few of yours in preparation for it. It's, yeah, it's really valued.
Jonny Etherington:I think it's important. Right? But, again, key driver for me is that I believe in trying to take learnings from different industries and bringing them into communications and the messaging that we're really in. So, again, my point for us is that we're not stereotypical in terms of the way we deliver a message, especially on an internal basis. We try and be quite funky around a little bit off the page around the way we deliver this.
Jonny Etherington:I use a lot of eighties hip hop lyrics in in the class. And look for music and other culture points that I think can shape messaging, especially in something like this is kinda seen as like a kinda dry messaging. Right? And let help us stand out. So that's one of the learnings that I had from my one of my first bosses back in the day.
Jonny Etherington:He was a if you can remember the days of type designers, that was his trade, and he was very much about reads a lot, take a lot of you know, he we used to sit there with Italian Vogue, French Vogue, British Vogue. They would have everything from ID, creative magazines, campaign, etcetera. They really had them front and center. So he says, you know, take that information and look for opportunities where you can take something that's a little bit different and grab attention around that, and that's something that that's always stuck with me.
Dave Charest:You know, I think that's an interesting point that you bring up. Right? I think there are so many people in industries, industries, and, you know, health care is an interesting one in many facets just with legalities and things like that. But even when you get to this point where you're like, oh, I've kinda got, like, this boring industry, right, for lack of a better term, I would say, where people feel like, oh, how am I gonna do something? Or how can I communicate in a, I guess, a non stodgy way in many instances?
Dave Charest:Right? And I think you bring up a good point that at the end of the day, I think it's important for everyone to remember, like, we're all people at the end of the day. And, yes, you may be in a particular industry, but as long as it kinda matches your brand and, in many ways, will help you stand out and rise above the noise if you can communicate in a way that captures people's attention. And, you know, in many instances, is bring some fun to it, right, to kinda capture that. I wanna move into constant contact here a little bit.
Dave Charest:And if I'm not mistaken on the timeline here, Care Advantage was kind of using Constant Contact before you started there. Had you had any experience with Constant Contact before coming on to Care Advantage?
Jonny Etherington:No. No. Really, the first, yeah, I guess the first project that I did with Constant Contact was about, I don't know, a month or 2 after me joining the company. And it was really not very glamorous, but it was around communicating a holiday communication to clients. And constant contact had always sort of been a kind of bit of a secret to me in a way because it was managed by another member of my team, and it kind of fell between various departments.
Jonny Etherington:It wasn't like there was any real ownership around that. So it was really, like, you know, when I started to see that, I guess, the continuity between managing our less and getting you know, making sure that we have a good grasp on the less and that the people that we're receiving the communications would be genuinely interested in that. Right? So there's a lot on that preparation side that we invested time in. And once we have that and had a system around that, then we really started to see the more opportunities and the more avenues, I guess, is the best way of saying that we could connect and how we connect.
Jonny Etherington:And to my previous point, the creative ways that we could connect with these audiences such as clients and caregivers and office teams and so on and so forth. Yeah. It was kinda weakening, I guess, in the sense that there's so much more you could do with that than I'd ever appreciated.
Dave Charest:So talk me through that a little bit. How specifically are you using Constant Contact today?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. So it's like that toolbox that I was referring to earlier. It's very much it's right in there. Right? So we use that internally, like I said, to communicate with our clients.
Jonny Etherington:We use that as a it's almost our go to. In fact, there is a go to. It allows us to, I say, mass communicate, but send large number of audience members in one easy process so it's integral to our client communications. I think the just to add to that, the addition of the text and functionality was a game changer for us also. I've already touched on what I did with our caregivers and how it's almost like the preferred avenue for them to connect through.
Jonny Etherington:But, ultimately, it was very good also for, like, our internal teams that does HR. Right? For example, for example, just happened recently where there was an ticket for less campaign where people could sign up and get the opportunity to get, like, rental cars or air tickets or whatever it may be for discount. 2 years ago, we would have had one option, and that would have been to send an email through Constant Contact. Now we can send a campaign.
Jonny Etherington:Right? So we can hit them hit with email, then we can, again, punctuate in between with a text message, then follow-up with another email. So that, again, is very valuable that we can mix the method of communication as much as the core message itself. So that's really, really one of the big assets to constant contact for us.
Dave Charest:How are you using the things you're learning from an analytical side of things, reporting and those types of things? How do you use that information that you're gaining within Constant Contact to help shape your strategies?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. So, again, classic example of this conversation just a few hours ago. So we use Constant Contact for one of our like, I mentioned earlier, for our sales team. We will send again, subject matter can vary hugely, but it's typically it could be around our outcomes. It could be around an industry recognition date, so on and so forth.
Jonny Etherington:We will send that to the list compiled by our sales team, so they are contactless. Then straightaway, we can determine if they are being boxed basically and not being engaged with, but, you know, just through those link clicks that we put in there. Had the question, as I said, just a few hours ago when I was meeting with one of our senior HCS's home care specialists, and she asked, like, are these getting through? And I said, well, with the analytical side of constant contact, we can say it as or we could say it as a. I'm glad to say that they are getting through, but that's, yeah, really important really important is that measurability.
Jonny Etherington:Right? What's measured gets managed. Right?
Dave Charest:Yeah. You know, one of the questions that I receive a lot personally when I'm out and talking to small business owners is, well, you know, how often should I send an email? And I'm curious, what is your approach to determining kind of, like, the frequency that you go with? And how does that differ between audiences?
Jonny Etherington:As a business, like, we're a large business, but it's trying again, to my point earlier, it's, like, determining where we can make sure that our emails are coming through at a point where they're not gonna be getting or where they are getting a a face to face message from a home care specialist, say. So in terms of cadence, it's always I think you've just gotta think about it. It's a lot of common sense involved in this. Right? Because especially with the resend feature that you can use, I'm very much of the opinion that I don't think you wanna be sending any more than 2 to a particular audience from a services perspective on a month.
Jonny Etherington:Like, I think that's more than enough. I think but there's also you cut your cloth accordingly. For example, if there was a situation where, like, COVID was an example where we were trying to relay information to our clients in a more regular basis. Right? So Yeah.
Jonny Etherington:I think if the means and the messaging is poignant and significant enough, I think, you know, you can increase the cadence. But, again, you have to respect the inbox of the people that you're sending to. But I think the tone of messaging and the validity of the messaging has a lot to do with that. But certainly from a services perspective, I think 2 emails at most a month is typically the cadence I would recommend.
Dave Charest:Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I like what you're saying there about how it makes sense to change. I'm often saying that, really, the your frequency should match the need. And if there is a situation where people need to be communicated with more and they want to be communicated with more because you're providing value in those situations.
Dave Charest:It's one of those things where it's like, well, I only send once a month, so, you know, too bad. But it's like, okay. It makes sense to do more in that situation. You know, you mentioned the resend to non openers feature within Constant Contact, which I'm glad you're using that. Is there something within Constant Contact that you would call your favorite feature?
Jonny Etherington:I think the landing page side of things has been a game changer for us as a team simply for the fact that we can show more information on there than so we can use something, like I say, that's accessible or favored by an audience, exactly like I mentioned with caregivers. Right? They respond to texts. If we send emails, they're still engaged with, but there's not the degree that a text does. It's very much their preferred choice of engagement.
Jonny Etherington:The landing page, like I say, dovetails, and that plays an important part for us in the sense that, like I say, we can put more detailed information in there if needed. We have the nice thing about, again, with these landing pages is we can be more expansive with our creation, right, our creativity. So we can embed links in there. We can, you know, graphics, etcetera. It's more like the email, like the email sort of platform, but it can be delivered in a different way.
Jonny Etherington:And that's where I shout it out over the last 12 months. The landing page functionality has become incredibly important in what we do, and I cover all audiences with that. So it's all embracing for sure.
Dave Charest:You mentioned video earlier and doing some work with I think you're using Vimeo for that now. Are you using that Vimeo integration with Constant Contact? I think you mentioned doing some work there.
Jonny Etherington:We're in the process of yeah. But that's not something we've done just yet.
Dave Charest:Got it.
Jonny Etherington:But, yeah, that's the plan very much. So Vimeo is just to give context around that, it's gonna work around our caregiver orientation presentations Mhmm. Which are virtual. And that's what we're gonna be doing is that will be our base, will be placed on Vimeo, and then, obviously, communications around that can be delivered in a, you know, in association with the presentation. So that's the flexibility or the joining of the dots that makes Constant Contact such a key part of our toolbox, that ability to connect things like that.
Dave Charest:Well, let
Dave Charest:me ask you. What would it be like trying to run the business and doing what you do without Constant Contact?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. So especially the the last 6, 7 months, it's been it would have been very difficult. It's an avenue that allows us to like I said, the key for me is the importance of the messaging, and that's part of that messaging, like connecting with clients. And I think probably, referencing COVID again, that taught us a lot about making that connection. Obviously, it's our clients.
Jonny Etherington:Like, we're talking about people that are living home alone. Their only contact on a day to day basis might be with one of our caregivers. So making sure that they are kept and especially at those times when the industry was changing. It was very fluid. Regulations were switching, you know, on a frequent basis.
Jonny Etherington:Making sure that they were all kept up to speed and in the loop was key. Right? To do that without a platform, like Constant Contact, and we were talking about email there, It was made that I mean, I don't even know where to begin. I go with that. It'd make it so much harder.
Jonny Etherington:Say, you get out of constant contact what you put into it. So preparation in your lists, quality of the content, and to your point earlier about the cadence of delivery. If you get all those right, constant contact becomes a key tool without question.
Dave Charest:When you think about someone wearing a marketing hat and the things you've learned over the years doing this, what would be your number one tip to someone or best piece of marketing advice for a business owner or someone in a similar position to yours?
Jonny Etherington:Yeah. Definitely take inspiration from different industries. Look outside your own industry and see how you can craft and culture messaging. That's probably something that I learned in the agency back end and being exposed to so much varied content. I mean, it sounds crazy now.
Jonny Etherington:Right? But the Internet wasn't even really that prominent when I started. So, yeah, we go into magazines and we go into books and listening to music and, you know, all these album covers and CD covers and all these different things that drive our day to day lives, other people can relate to. And I think it's important if you can take just, to use a Scottish word, a wee smidge a wee smidge of that and bring that into your, the industry that you work is is really a really cool lesson to have. One other lesson that I learned, and I believe that's and I say this to my team internally, is developing strategies or concepts or whatever it may be.
Jonny Etherington:Make sure you do it on a pad of paper and a pencil before you take it to the keyboard and the monitor because I think flow of ideas and to my previous point, taking those learnings and your flow of ideas always come out better when you're working on with those 2 items than they do when you're working on the electronic side. So good ideas come from pencil and pad.
Dave Charest:Well, friend, let's recap some items from that discussion. Number 1, showcase the people that do the work. Johnny provides an example of how Care Advantage uses social media for recruiting. It's a great channel to illustrate what the company stands for. It's important to Johnny that they invest marketing dollars in taking pictures of the real people behind the work along with the activities and events that the company supports.
Dave Charest:This reflects the overall culture of the company. So don't be afraid to show the real people behind your business. At the end of the day, we all do business with people. People we know, like, and trust. Number 2, broaden your marketing mix.
Dave Charest:Johnny shares how valuable it is for Care Advantage to mix the method of communication with Constant Contact. Today, he thinks about taking the core message and then sending an email, extending on social, punctuating with a text message, and following up with another email. Using multiple channels allows him to reach his audience in multiple ways, all while supporting the core message. This approach gives you multiple opportunities to engage your audience while taking advantage of the strengths of each channel. Number 3, take inspiration from other industries.
Dave Charest:Johnny offers the importance of looking outside of your own industry to see how you can craft and culture messaging. When you can make connections to the things that drive our everyday lives, things people relate to, even what you may classify as a boring industry can become more engaging and help you stand out and grab attention. Here's your action item for today. Grab yourself a pad of paper and pencil. Now I found this to be true for myself, and Johnny agrees.
Dave Charest:The flow of ideas just hits differently using those items. You just may surprise yourself with the level of creativity you're able to reach. Then you can jump into your Constant Contact account and execute on all of your amazing marketing ideas. Oh, and PS, check out the campaign builder to save yourself some time building those marketing plans. More details in the show notes.
Dave Charest:I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Be A Marketer podcast.
Dave Charest:Please take
Dave Charest:a moment to leave us a review. Just go to rate this podcast dotcom/bam. Your honest feedback will help other small business marketers like yourself find the show. That's rate this podcast.com/bam. Well, friend, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and continued success to you and your business.